Failure Of Skin-Deep Learning Analysis

Richard Valles
Mr. Tuckerman
English 1
February 26th, 2016
Extra Credit The three articles about the learning process and education were very informative. Although the articles were discussing different areas they all focused on keeping students engaged and how to help students learn. It made me think about strategies teachers have used in my experience as a student. Also why I had trouble in some classes or learned very little from other classes. I also learned other strategies I’ve never heard of before. In the article “Failure of Skin-Deep Learning” about how the students don’t truly learn or understand the subject that is being taught. Bruce Alberts states that trying to cover a large amount of information over the course of one school
He believes that covering such a large amount of information doesn’t keep students engaged and only a slight opportunity to fully understand certain subjects. He suggests that we learn a smaller amount of subject matter but more in depth, so we can truly grasp the idea or subject. This will allow students to also be able to relate certain subject matter to other areas. He also believes that teachers should be allowed to be the expert for teaching their students and decide what subject matter their students learn from available areas. In the article “8 Essentials for Project-Based Learning” the author discussed what teachers should do when assigning their students a project to best help students learn from the material and get the most out of the project’s experience. I learned the difference between busywork and a project that we learn
In the last fifty years a high school diploma is basically a necessity to get a job. Before, lots of people dropped out of high school because you didn’t need a high school diploma to get a good job. Numerous studies have been taken place recently and have shown that less people are completing their four years of high school. Only about seventy percent of people graduate high school, which means that about a third of people that enter high school as a freshman don’t graduate from high school. People that dropout of high school face lots of challenges to finding a good paying job, costing them a lot of money in lack of income and the United States in negative impacts to our economy. High school graduates are also more likely to raise healthier, better educated children who are less likely to be a teen parent. High school graduates are also less likely to commit crimes. They also made CTE classes which encourage students to graduate by showing them certain pathways to success. The author pointed out some strategies you can use to positively impact the dropout rate including: systematic renewal, safe learning environments, family engagement, early childhood education, early literacy development, tutoring, service-learning, alternative schools, after-school opportunities, professional development,