Thursday, September 30, 2010

Why should learning be a BLAST?


If you’ve heard rumors that I’ve been a little space-y lately, I must admit they’re absolutely true!  I just returned from delivering a keynote address at a conference in Orlando where I caught the audience of over 400 educators off-guard by literally bounding down the aisle in an astronaut costume, taking giant “slow motion” leaps as I melodramatically made my way up to the speaker’s podium.  I can still hear the reverb of the “Space Odyssey” music theme that blared loudly over the speakers as I did so! 
The theme of this 21st Century Learning Center Annual Statewide Afterschool Conference was “Reach for the Stars: Celebrating Afterschool.” I embraced their theme whole-heartedly and titled my keynote, “Having a BLAST in Afterschool!”
Weeks before the conference I consulted with Lani Lingo, State Director of 21st CCLC at the Florida Department of Education, to ask her what direction she’d like me to take in my address to her conference-goers.  She said she wanted me to encourage Afterschool providers to keep the fun in their programs for the sake of their students.  Providers have such pressure on them to meet high educational objectives that it’s no wonder “fun” is often left out of the lesson planning equation because frankly it’s just not on their “high-priority list.”
I believe that learning should be fun, and not just for fun’s sake.  There is a lot of research that supports the idea that having fun when learning actually improves the learning process.  So I used the acronym B.L.A.S.T. to convey five reasons why “fun” improves a student’s understanding of material as well as his or her long-term memory and recall of what is taught.  During my address I included several anecdotes from my own childhood where I vividly remember what I learned because my teachers incorporated fun into the lesson delivery. 
What are your thoughts along these lines?  Can you recall specific lessons taught to you long ago that make the point that fun actually enhances learning?  If so, please share with all of us!