Opinion

Students will learn more if they're interested

By 2016-07-14T08:11:00

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Neil Monteiro argues for engendering an interest in science in our students

Does it matter if our students are interested in the subject we are teaching? Should we care if they are enthusiastic or engaged? 

Most educators, quite understandably, see their role in engendering interest and curiosity as subservient to their main goal of teaching the facts of their subject. A fascinating demo can be squeezed in if time allows. But are we missing something by taking this approach?

Instead of trying to cram more into the grossly overburdened school day, we should look to enriching the vast majority of students' time. And opportunities are available. YouTube, with all its superficial videos and vlogs, contains a huge amount of science content. Smarter Every Day, Veritasium and Crazy Russian Hacker are some of the most popular channels on the site and all of them are about science. 

Neil Monteiro discusses how to use students' interests, YouTube as a teaching resource, and encouraging self-learning. 

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