This Las Vegas Middle School Connects Students to Lessons With This Unique Approach
Best Las Vegas Middle School | Innovation Academy Montessori
What is the hallmark of a “good” education? Different people will have different answers. Answers may include high standardized test scores, high grades, or even the ability to get a good job. Indeed there are many factors that go into a quality education. At Innovation Academy Las Vegas, one of our priorities is to ensure we engage our students with their lesson. We believe that forming a connection to the lesson will help them understand it better. Remember it better. And apply it to life better. These are things we believe contribute to the best education.
A Different Approach to Teaching
This middle school takes a different approach than most public schools. Innovation Academy is a private, Montessori based school. We blend the Montessori philosophy with today’s STEAM curriculum, to provide a very blended teaching style to our students. Some of the features of our style include:
- understanding the individuality of each student
- purposeful physical engagement with lessons
- strong emphasis on team work and cooperation
- embracing appropriate use and application of technology
- combining the arts and the sciences
- developing character along with academics
Most of all we believe that our approach makes learning fun! Students that are having fun are actively engaged, and are connecting to their lesson in a meaningful and memorable way.
Mind Muscle Connections Help Students Learn
One thing I think most parents can agree on is that it can be difficult to keep kids’ attention. So how can we keep their attention when it is time to learn something tedious, like math principles? Certainly not by forcing them to sit still while we lecture to them. At Innovation Academy, we look at our lessons as a “3-D” approach, where the normal sit and lecture approach can be considered “2-D”, or two dimensional.
What this means is that our lessons include aspects of lecture, as well as reading. However, we then connect the lesson to something physical that requires hands on engagement. This accomplishes
a few things. For one, it gets them up and moving. This improves blood flow and stimulation. This also requires them to take the lesson they were just learning about, and apply it in a physical and tangible way.
A recent research study supports why physical movement in the classroom is so critical. The findings included:
- The use of physical activity in cooperative learning is correlated with increased academic achievement.
- Increased attention-to-task and increased student motivation to learn with physical movement.
- Students with increased physical activity also had increased fluid intelligence ability and cognitive activity.
For example, in a recent anatomy lesson, as students started to learn about the function of the heart, and areas of the brain, we connected the lesson to something physical. We had the students draw out and label the heart, true to size. We also created “brain beanies” to wear, which the students had to label to show which part of the brain controls which function.
This practice enabled the students to actively and physically put what they were learning into something tangible. Ultimately this will help our students have a deeper understanding of their lesson, and hopefully remember the FUN they had in applying their knowledge!
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Learn more about Innovation Academy!
- Tips for Distance Learning During COVID-19
- A Better Way to Manage Students with Food Allergies
- Montessori is Not Just For Little Kids
Best Las Vegas Middle School | Innovation Academy Montessori