As teachers, it is our job to help our students see that the material they learn reaches far beyond the simple facts of the matter. Beyond the end of the chapter test, beyond the four walls of their classroom, and beyond the subject itself. This isn’t an easy task, and it isn’t one that can be done by relying on traditional teaching techniques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We must help our students reach beyond the monoculture, the center of a subject, and move into the margins, but what are the margins?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Margins Are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What Margins Are Not:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do I help my students move to the margins?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First, it is important to note that you cannot have moments in the margins without first having a center. There is no place between forest and cornfield without the orderly cornfield being placed first. Students need a foundation before we may ask them to wonder and go beyond the facts in their textbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes moving to the margins happens organically<\/strong>. Your student asks a question, maybe it is about something that popped in their head during a reading. Maybe it is something that intrigued them on their walk to the bus, or possibly it is some random object you have in your classroom that piques their interest. When your students ask, do not turn them away, instead lean in. Foster their interest, and explore the possibilities. Ask them to share what they think and continue to ask questions to help them form their own connections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other times moving to the margins can be more planned.<\/strong> Instead of working on an ‘experiment’ that is structured with a worksheet with fill-in-the-blanks and has every student doing the same thing and only searching for the answer, provide your students with a question, a box of items, or simply their own thoughts or questions about the topics at hand. From this, they work together to study, question, design, create, and work with what interests them. This leads the students into the margins where they learn to solve problems or find resolutions in different ways and to make connections and assumptions beyond what is simply given to them. Give your students the freedom to be creative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Continue Learning: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/files\/2023\/09\/Margins-Is-1.png?resize=1024%2C684\")
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