My Best Learning Experience was in my sixth grade science class. It was a typical science environment with black science-like lab tables put into rows and everybody had a lab partner. The room was lined with animals-mostly snakes and their prey, fish, and every now and then a rattling bird.
I remember coming into class that day and noticing a tray on every other lab table. I hated these days! Of course it meant we were to work in groups of four and I was as introverted and shy as ever. I also hated having to delegate or be delegated the different roles we had to take in this scene. I wandered quietly over and sat down nervously at my seat. I needed something to distract me while the other kids filed in to so I opened my backpack and pulled out a notebook to look busy doing something.
My teacher called us together and told us two things- “Work in groups of four and use all of the materials provided to make it work.” That’s it. Nothing else. No explanation. No expectations. Just- here you go. Mortified. I was completely lost in what was going on. No structure or guidance meant we would have to talk to each other! Our group quietly came together to survey our materials and make sense out of this whole ordeal.
I think we had a large battery, two or three wires, a potato, and a light bulb. This being the time of my life that nothing mattered except friends, boys, and me, I really had no idea what we were supposed to do with all this. How did the potato fit in?
We got to work and I ended up taking one for the team and started asking questions of who has an idea of what we’re supposed to make and has anyone ever done this before or used these materials before? Of course no one did. So off we went sticking wires here and there trying to get the light bulb to light up. Nothing ever happened. My teacher just walked around and studied us giving us strange little looks as he was inspecting our work and trying to figure out our thought process. I remember looking around to see how other groups were doing. We all had confused, frustrated looks on our faces and no one was getting anywhere. This went on for what seemed like days- of course it was only about thirty minutes. As the time went on and we analyzed and evaluated the different arrangements, my group started to open up and feel comfortable with each other. We had finally found a common ground together and could start cracking jokes about this project. Eventually we were able to get our light bulb to shine! We were all excited and cheered for our success and were able to explain our thinking and how our circuit worked. I thought about this experiment often and how involved it made everyone. We all left knowing and being accountable for our own learning that day.
This was my best learning experience- complete discovery.
Answers & Comments
Example Best Learning Experience.
My Best Learning Experience was in my sixth grade science class. It was a typical science environment with black science-like lab tables put into rows and everybody had a lab partner. The room was lined with animals-mostly snakes and their prey, fish, and every now and then a rattling bird.
I remember coming into class that day and noticing a tray on every other lab table. I hated these days! Of course it meant we were to work in groups of four and I was as introverted and shy as ever. I also hated having to delegate or be delegated the different roles we had to take in this scene. I wandered quietly over and sat down nervously at my seat. I needed something to distract me while the other kids filed in to so I opened my backpack and pulled out a notebook to look busy doing something.
My teacher called us together and told us two things- “Work in groups of four and use all of the materials provided to make it work.” That’s it. Nothing else. No explanation. No expectations. Just- here you go. Mortified. I was completely lost in what was going on. No structure or guidance meant we would have to talk to each other! Our group quietly came together to survey our materials and make sense out of this whole ordeal.
I think we had a large battery, two or three wires, a potato, and a light bulb. This being the time of my life that nothing mattered except friends, boys, and me, I really had no idea what we were supposed to do with all this. How did the potato fit in?
We got to work and I ended up taking one for the team and started asking questions of who has an idea of what we’re supposed to make and has anyone ever done this before or used these materials before? Of course no one did. So off we went sticking wires here and there trying to get the light bulb to light up. Nothing ever happened. My teacher just walked around and studied us giving us strange little looks as he was inspecting our work and trying to figure out our thought process. I remember looking around to see how other groups were doing. We all had confused, frustrated looks on our faces and no one was getting anywhere. This went on for what seemed like days- of course it was only about thirty minutes. As the time went on and we analyzed and evaluated the different arrangements, my group started to open up and feel comfortable with each other. We had finally found a common ground together and could start cracking jokes about this project. Eventually we were able to get our light bulb to shine! We were all excited and cheered for our success and were able to explain our thinking and how our circuit worked. I thought about this experiment often and how involved it made everyone. We all left knowing and being accountable for our own learning that day.
This was my best learning experience- complete discovery.