Because Teaching is A.R.T.

Because Teaching is A.R.T.

By: Peggy Thoma

Leonardo Da Vinci said “learning never exhausts the mind.” But how many of our learners find this to be true? Unfortunately, not many. Coming back to the present, according to the World Economic Forum the demand for creative thinking will grow by 73% by 2027, followed by analytical thinking, technological literacy, curiosity, and resilience, along with flexibility and agility of thought. These predictions pose a very important question for teachers. How can we instill a passion for learning and at the same time help learners to acquire the set of life skills necessary for their future?

This is where brain science comes in. I first came across neuroscience by reading John Medina’s well-known book Brain Rules, where he describes the effects of stress and sleep, why we forget, and nine more brain rules. Then, in 2020, I was lucky enough to attend a webinar where Curtis Kelly explained how brain science findings apply to learning. That was it. I was hooked. Since then I have been reading and researching neuroscience and its applications in the classroom. I have been trying and testing brain friendly methods and have devised many different activities to help my students. Through lots of trial and error I came up with a methodology called A.R.T. This is an acronym which stands for Arouse curiosity, Recall, and Take off, and it is based on brain-friendly ways of learning which ignite the learners’ natural predisposition to learn and prepare them for their adult life.

An illustration featuring the letters A R T

So, how does A.R.T. work in a real classroom environment? This is an example of all the steps taken in a class of 9-year-old students who are currently in their second year of learning English as a foreign language.

Topic: Fiction vs Non-fiction books

An illustration of the letter A and a brainy lightbulb.
a photographed collection of interesting children's book covers.

Arouse Curiosity

Have a selection of fiction and non-fiction books scattered around the classroom. Show a couple of fiction books and a couple of non-fiction. By asking questions, help the students discover the differences. Continue until they are able to distinguish between the two.

It is even better if you prepare this before the students come in. You have already aroused their curiosity as they start wondering why these books are scattered around. That is your “hook”. 

An illustration featuring the letter R and two floppy disks.
A photograph of two overturned trash bins functioning as goals. The one on the left is labeled Fiction and the one on the right is labeled Non-fiction.

Recall

When the class meets again, play a game to help the students recall what they have learned. For this class I put a number from 1 to 10 on the books. I also put the numbers on plastic balls so that each ball corresponds to a book. The class is then divided into two groups. Each group has to pick a ball and, using a small broom, they put the balls in the correct baskets. At the end of the game, we look at our baskets and decide if all the balls are in the correct basket. (This game was adapted from Verdoukas and Dooley’s (2021) My Edutainment World ). Games increase the levels of dopamine and walking around increases the levels of oxygen in the brain. Both of these lead to better—and even faster—learning.

An illustration of the letter T and a paper airplane flying away.
A photograph of students' paper airplane book reports.

Take-off

For the final step, divide the class into two groups and ask each group to choose a book they want to read. After reading their books they write a short book report. Their purpose is to convince students from other classes to read the book they have written about. We display their reports in the common area. Students from the other classes read the reports and choose which book they want to read.

This procedure gives students a real-life experience as reports are not written for a teacher. The students see how what they learn can be applied in real life situations, which is extremely motivating. Motivation is a key factor in learning.

Going back to Da Vinci’s words “learning never exhausts the mind,” I would dare to add that learning should never be allowed to exhaust the mind. We now have in our hands brain science which helps us make sure of that. We have an abundance of research to rely on and use it to our students’ benefit. So, what is stopping you?

References

Peggy Thoma (BA TEFL, MA) has been teaching English in Greece since 2004. In 2022 she set up an English language centre where she continues teaching both online and on-site.

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