What’s a noun? How might you punctuate “Eats, shoots, and leaves”? What constitutes a run-on sentence? What would you use to measure a pH balance? What is the corresponding nucleotide for each of these letters: ACGT? Can you find the value of x?
These questions are examples of what’s on a STAR test. It’s important to know the basics such as names, dates, formulas, and tools, but there’s more to learning than that. During the week of STAR schedules were confusing, and there was an overwhelming feeling of apathy. Most students at TL don’t care about STAR tests, however there are also those who try to do well. We think there needs to be an assessment on the basics, but it shouldn’t be so overdone. In MSEL, our teachers help us to become problem solvers, effective communicators, productive team members, and generally encourage empathy and flexibility. The STAR test isn’t an accurate measure of these skills, however interactive projects require us to use these abilities in the field. We then are able to demonstrate our knowledge from past experience, utilizing our range of skills gained from it.
STAR testing, compared to the rest of the year, was a breeze. It represents a kind of words on paper learning compared to hands on projects like the cook-off. We as humans, learn more from experience than by conducting a simple procedure, and finally marking the correct bubble. The more that one experiences, the more that he or she will learn. Examples of hands on learning this year have been learning how to communicate better during the retreat, project week, and the cook-off. On every one of these occasions we learned from our experiences to work together, and work around hardships.
We believe that the standard curriculum should be based around hands on, project based learning because it develops your mind to solve greater problems that you will run into later in life. Project based learning increases teamwork efficiency and leadership skills. STAR testing is an inaccurate measure of knowledge because it focuses mainly on the simple, easy, basic ideas that are expanded through hands on activities.
During the first project week, everyone who participated greatly benefited in their communication skills. At times, we were in the process of planning, interviewing, filming, or testing, the atmosphere got a bit hectic. It was only our first time organizing a real project week, and we had to understand that it was a procedure of learning. Along the way we found out that if you don’t communicate, people start to get off track, and confused about what their job is. It was essential to have everyone in the group sit down, and go over what the plan for the day was. All the groups constantly had to contact and communicate with one another to be sure that they were on the same page. At the end of this chaotic experience, we all learned some important skills about staying on task and forming various ways of thinking to confront issues we came across.
During the second project week, all the groups went off campus at least once, and we all had to rely on people outside of MSEL. It was difficult at times to contact our volunteers who were at work, or contacting people from different school districts. MSELers were all over the place, and a lot of people didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of confusion about what some groups were really doing. Some groups started to do one thing, and then figured they were doing the wrong thing. In the end, we used more of our flexibility skills this project week, and learned that it takes more patience, and empathy to deal with people that won’t always be around.
At the end of a stressful and insane day, we realize that each project week highly increased our skills and abilities as people now, and later on in life. After suffering through many disappointments and struggling in communicating with students, staff, and volunteers, we end up as stronger and smarter people overall. It is very difficult to gain these skills without the hands on learning aspect. This is why MSEL is a unique program that not only teaches us about the environment, but also educates us for our futures in the working world.
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