"For learning to really matter to learners, to kids, and to be effective for teachers, the learning has to be relevant," Yowell says. "The learners have to care about what they're being taught."
To make learning relevant, she emphasizes, "we have to connect the three spheres of young people's lives that matter the most to them. The first sphere is their social world, their peers. The second sphere is the thing that learners care the most about getting better at, what they're interested in. The third is the sphere of relevancy, making sure that the social and the interest spheres are connected to either something in the academic world or something career related or something that makes their community better. When those three spheres come together, we see kids learning not only the basic kinds of skills that are necessary to close the economic gap but, we see them learning 21st century skills that we know are going to be necessary to solve the complex problems that they're being left with."
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To make learning relevant, she emphasizes, "we have to connect the three spheres of young people's lives that matter the most to them. The first sphere is their social world, their peers. The second sphere is the thing that learners care the most about getting better at, what they're interested in. The third is the sphere of relevancy, making sure that the social and the interest spheres are connected to either something in the academic world or something career related or something that makes their community better. When those three spheres come together, we see kids learning not only the basic kinds of skills that are necessary to close the economic gap but, we see them learning 21st century skills that we know are going to be necessary to solve the complex problems that they're being left with."