Today’s world is ever-changing. We know that our students can expect to have around five careers over the course of their lifetime. Because of this, employers highly value soft skills in potential employees. For most industries, soft skills such as adaptability and problem solving are considered just as valuable in a new employee as the qualifications they hold.
Now more than ever, it is crucial that we integrate new learning techniques to help prepare students for the future workplace. Memorization and repetition learning styles have dominated the education system since the industrial revolution. With these methods, the student plays a relatively passive role in the learning process. More recently, it has become common practice for teachers to integrate more active learning techniques in the classroom such as experiential learning.
Join Us for Business After 5
Monroe High School is teaming up with Blackhawk Technical College (BTC) to highlight our new, fully experiential learning program named LAUNCH. We cordially invite you to a Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business After 5 at the Enterprise Center on the north side of BTC’s Monroe campus (across from Alp & Dell Cheese Store). The Enterprise Center has been transformed to meet the needs of students and business partners to tackle real world projects. The Business After 5 will be held on Tuesday, November 1 from 5-7 pm to provide tours of the facility and showcase LAUNCH. Those who attend will be delighted by tours of the new space, as well as tours of the larger BTC campus, including BTC’s healthcare and food laboratory training facilities.
Why experiential learning?
Experiential learning has proven to have a wide range of benefits for students and the community.
● Students can better grasp concepts
Students may struggle to grasp concepts that don’t pertain to the “real world.” With experiential learning through the LAUNCH program at Monroe High School, students are given the opportunity to apply data and ideas in a real-world situation where they too play an active role. As the student interacts with the information, it becomes real to them.
● Students have the opportunity to be more creative
Experiential learning is one of the best ways to teach creative problem-solving. With real-world content from business partners in our community, students learn that there are multiple solutions to challenges, and they are encouraged to work together as a team to seek the best solution to a problem.
● Students have the opportunity to reflect
By incorporating concrete experiences with abstract concepts, and then reflecting on the outcome, students engage more regions of their brain and make stronger connections with the material. They are encouraged to analyze how their actions affected their team and their outcome. This analysis helps them better understand how the concepts learned can be applied to other circumstances.
● Students’ mistakes become valuable experiences
As students engage in hands-on tasks, they will find some approaches work better than others. They discard the methods that don’t work, but the act of trying something and then abandoning it — ordinarily considered a “mistake” — becomes a valuable part of the learning process. Students learn not to fear mistakes, but to value them.
LAUNCH at Monroe School District
By engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection through our LAUNCH program, students are better able to connect theories and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world situations. When students participate in experiential education opportunities with local organizations and businesses, they gain a broader view of the world and an appreciation of our community. They increase their insight into their own skills, interests, passions and values so they can better plan for their future. They find a great deal of gratification in assisting in meeting community needs which leads to self-confidence and leadership skills.
Please join us for Business After 5 to tour our new experiential learning space and tour the BTC Monroe campus. You’ll have a chance to meet our instructors, some of our LAUNCH students and the business partners they are working with to solve important real-world problems. Tasty food and drink will be provided, along with the opportunity to learn more about how LAUNCH could work for your business or organization to solve pressing problems.
— Cara Carper is the School District of Monroe Student Occupation and Academic Readiness (SOAR) Coordinator. She can be reached at caracarper@monroe.k12.wi.us.
