What Kind of Curriculum Motivates Teens in School?

Teens, like all people, are diverse learners who absorb and generate knowledge in different ways. Since students are motivated by different challenges, needs, abilities and opportunities for learning, the best curriculum for reaching and inspiring all learners is one that differentiates instruction, learning materials and assessments.

  1. Student-Centered Curriculum

    • A student-centered curriculum is one that gives students an active role in the classroom. Unlike a teacher-centered curriculum, which gives students a passive role in learning from an instructor who emphasizes her own teaching style and interests, a student-centered curriculum incorporates student abilities and interests and caters to their learning styles. In student-centered learning, the teacher acts as a coach or model, and teen students are motivated to work together, lead class discussion, answer each other̵7;s questions, choose learning topics and assess their own learning.

    Social Curriculum

    • Aside from the academic curriculum, another curriculum is at work in the high school classroom -- the social curriculum. The social curriculum is essentially the amalgamation of rules, expectations and behaviors that shape the class dynamic and determines how learning takes place. A clear, fair and effective social curriculum gives all teens the opportunity to contribute to learning and exchange ideas in a respectful and enlightening way. When students feel confident and comfortable contributing to group discussions and engaging in activities, they are motivated to participate and succeed.

    Discovery Curriculum

    • A discovery curriculum is one that puts emphasis on learning through exploration and other active, hands-on experiences. Instead of teaching ̶0;Romeo and Juliet̶1; from a textbook, for example, a discovery-based curriculum might engage teens in role-playing activities or a field trip to see the play in the theater setting, the way Shakespeare intended. Discovery-based curricula motivate teens by giving them opportunities to actively ̶0;discover̶1; knowledge through structured experiences and activities.

    Differentiated Curriculum

    • Curriculum needs to be differentiated enough to provide students with multiple, diverse opportunities that promote different forms of thinking. Some childhood education experts, such as Laura Varlas, contributor to the journal "Education Update," advocate curriculum that teaches content to the "full range of learning styles," to accommodate different learning needs and present content in an appropriate, relevant way. Differentiated curriculum provides fresh experiences in the classroom in a way that helps teens learn through different teaching techniques and opportunities for learning.

    2. Previous:

    Next: