2+2=5 Team*WORKS

Take a moment to think back to your last memories of school, and think if it was any more than

Step 1: Cram all of the information you can into your brain,

Step 2: Dump all of that information out onto a test or quiz,

Step 3: Forget everything.

Do you remember how to solve quadratic equations, do you remember how to solve unknown angles in a rhombus? Do you remember the code of a dna strand? That was then and this is now, but I don’t think that anyone would disagree that our nation’s children are experiencing that very same learning pattern, if not worse. There’s no question that the emphasis on standardized education today has dramatically impacted the way teachers teach.

Now, imagine a classroom where those patterns are broken down and students learn and retain. It’s being done, but rarely. I invite my readers to check out this article written by Mitchell Landsberg of the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-davinci29-2009dec29,0,6920485,full.story) who writes about Da Vinci Science High School in Hawthorne, CA.  There teachers “employ a “project-based” curriculum that allows students to learn through hands-on projects, often involving teamwork and computers.”

The 2+2=5 staff have seen first-hand the power that teamwork can have on learning. That’s in the classroom or in the boardroom. When students commit themselves to a project as part of a team they become invested in each other. Students who participate in project based learning (especially team projects) have a significantly more rich learning experience.

Take this story for example:

The Run of the Blob is an activity where team members must join the blob once they are tagged. Individual team members join the blob by joining hands with the person at one of the ends of the blob.

Shawn was the blob leader. As the game went on and on, the blob would get bigger and bigger with each person that was tagged. Ultimately, the blob would break apart in excitement causing the team to have to start over again. Shawn became more and more frustrated with the team each time they were forced to start over. After about three or four unsuccessful attempts, we talked as a class about how leadership could be important in this activity. Kathryn, age ten, said, “A leader is a person that has good ideas and listens to our team’s suggestions. It’s important to have a leader so your team stays in order.” Shawn began to listen to the suggestions of his classmates. Vinisha said, “Since you’re the leader, why don’t you call off where you want us to go, say left, right, faster, slower.” Shawn liked this idea and the activity began again. Shawn began calling out left, right and so on.

To be honest, these children would never have learned about solving this problem by studying for it, reading the solution in a book, or by taking a test on it. They had to experience it! ” And that is what 2+2=5 is all about. There is a stark difference in conceptual learning from a book or from a lecture versus experiential learning by doing, feeling, sensing, and touching. Teamwork can be taught in many environments and at the Da Vinci School they are combining science and teamwork. Landsberg writes, “At Hawthorne, Jared said, his classes were ‘pretty boring’ and he wasn’t inspired by the challenge of scoring well on a test. ‘But here,’ he said, ‘on a project, you have almost a limitless potential.’”

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/72550972/