As a teenager I went to a very academically demanding high school, where we learned –among other deeply knowledge-based concepts– about solar prominences, and how to calculate orbital velocity. :O
I remember tuning out a lot (…a LOT!) during these science lessons there, because, well, … I wasn’t an astronaut!
The only situation in which I imagine I could have authentically become curious about these formulas is if I had, say, won a NASA scholarship, and for me to be able to stay ALIVE in space I would have needed to know of, or even calculate these things.
In other words, if there is immediate APPLICABILITY of a skill, that tends to generate CURIOSITY.
I believe that compared to older ways of teaching that used to focus mostly only on the 3 lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (i.e. remember, understand, apply), the world – and education – are going in a direction where we will be increasingly aiming to jump start any learning process by aiming for the HIGHER-TIER thinking skills such as CREATE, EVALUATE, and ANALYZE.
And these will ‘organically’ incorporate the lower levels too.
How do you make sure your IELTS students get to CREATE, EVALUATE, and ANALYZE in your lessons?
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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.
Check out my courses here:
How to Teach IELTS Listening:
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How to Teach IELTS Speaking:
