SA MOD SCHEDULE
research
Too often, the traditional school calendar and schedule leads to a 'learn it for now' mindset, when we should be helping our students to 'learn it for life.' The mod schedule allows for the kind of deep, immersive learning that sticks, making knowledge more permanent and meaningful.
Research about 'the way students learn' is at the foundation of this schedule,
and more importantly, 'the way they retain what they have learned over the long term'.
How Teenagers Learn
A Schedule That is Student-Centered, Research-Based
Our philosophy of teaching and learning has always centered the individual student, and this new schedule takes that commitment further. We believe that teenagers have enormous potential waiting to be unlocked and that adolescence can be a crucial time for self-discovery and intellectual awakening, especially when the school environment is thoughtfully designed to support this growth. Teenagers learn best when they are in a connected community that supports their mental, physical, social-emotional, and intellectual wellbeing. Teenagers thrive where they have opportunities to try new things, take constructive risks, experiment, create, grow, and express themselves.
Student-centered means that the schedule is created with the idea of putting students in the best position to learn and engage in the experiences that are fundamental to maximizing their potential.
Research-based means that we are not doing anything because “that’s the way it has always been done” but instead have used the most current research and understanding about how the brain works to design a schedule that facilitates deep, purposeful, and joyful learning.
on spaced learning and retention
The classic study on the value of spacing in learning was conducted by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. Through this study, he produced the “Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve,” which demonstrates the importance of spacing in learning for retention.
Just as there is a “learning curve” as we start to learn new ideas and skills, there is also a “forgetting curve.” Through his experiments, Ebbinghaus found that when material was learned in one session, it was forgotten rapidly afterwards. But the process of forgetting could be slowed down considerably when material was learned and then revisited at regular intervals. In short: to learn something well, we must first forget it a little bit, then return to it. The process of recalling what we have learned in the recent past makes knowledge more permanent.
EBBINGHAUS CURVE
This study has been replicated again and again, and the “Ebbinghaus Curve” continues to be a deeply influential idea in psychology and education.
The Mod Schedule takes into account this “forgetting curve”—by spacing out learning, which includes remembering and revisiting content from a previous mod—we are supporting retention and deep learning. You’ll notice in our schedules that most courses will be scheduled in such a way as to have a break of about one mod in between course sequences.
on the block schedule
"In general we overestimated the retention loss if the student had a sizeable gap between sequential courses. It can still be a problem, but it wasn't as much of a problem as we thought it was going to be at the outset. To the extent that we have moved away from a lecture format, and have involved the student in the learning process - to that extent, the problem of retention after a gap has been reduced. More simply put, if Spanish gets put into the student in new ways, with the student using the language, teaching it to their peers, and being involved in a way that he never was in the past, then it stays with their in ways that it never did before."
(Block Schedule Impact: Wasson High School, Scheduling Without Conflict, ISM Summer Institute).
Rotating Block Schedule
Students (and teachers) all have different optimal times of day; the time when a class meets can dramatically affect performance in the classroom. Additionally, students do best not only when they are learning during their optimal time of day but when teachers are teaching during their optimal time of day.
The structure of the traditional school day creates a system in which students and teachers are visiting the same subjects at the same time each day, and in which students have very little choice. To maximize potential and performance, classes should be distributed at different times of day, so an early bird won’t always have their most challenging subject as the last class of the day or a night owl won’t be drowsy in the same classes first thing in the morning. In our new schedule, we will rotate class times throughout the week so that students and teachers will not be locked into the same courses at the same time of day, working with biological patterns to create better conditions for learning.
“Given that the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners.”
(Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Research Laboratory and professor in Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine)
Learning to Learn
Students learn more deeply when they can apply classroom gathered knowledge to real-world problems, and when they take part in projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration. Active and collaborative learning practices have a more significant impact on student performance than any other variable, including student background and prior achievement. Students are most successful when they are taught how to learn as well as what to learn.
“Authentic achievement requires a changed role for students in their schooling. These changes include a shift from behavioral to constructivist principles of learning, implying active learning, meaningful tasks, and the ability to use knowledge. Knowledge is not in the 'possession of the teacher, waiting to be transmitted 'but is 'mutually constructed by the teacher and the student.' ” (Murphy, 1993, p. 13).
Stress & Learning
Stress has a negative effect on learning and the typical high school day can be extremely stressful for students. Jumping from academic subject to academic subject, often with little break or time to process in between, in the context of intense social-emotional development, with little time for rest, relaxation, fun, socializing, eating, and physical activity--all of the things we know promote health and wellbeing--can make the day extremely stressful, not to mention the experience of hours of homework to do after hours spent in extracurricular pursuits and potentially long commutes home. We have devised our new schedule to reduce the stress load on our students by creating a calmer, more spacious day, with time for the things they need to support their wellbeing, whether that is physical activity, social time with friends, downtime and extra support for homework and studying, community connection time, music, affinity and club meetings, and, of course, lunch!
The Importance of Creativity in Teaching & Learning
We have always prized the role of innovation and creativity in our approach to teaching and learning, and this new schedule unlocks the potential of our teachers and students even further.
“ One of the most salient characteristics of the creative mind is an attitude of exploration. Rather than cramming information into students, teach them methods to find information for themselves. Send them on scavenger hunts on the internet or in the index section of their textbook to find answers to questions. Help them to compile information about a topic in groups or as a class. Ask questions like: 'Okay, what else do we need to know to really understand [this topic]?'” (Tips for Enhancing Creativity in the Classroom, Shelly Carson).
“ Learning - deeply engaging, personalized and collaborative learning motivated by relevant questions, problems, real world issues, and challenging projects with a focus on quality student work" (21st Century Skills, Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel).
“ Creativity is often described as an essential skill that can and should be fostered (Wegerif & Dawes, 2004). In a review of the interconnection between technology, learning and creativity, Loveless (2002) shows how technology allows individuals to produce high quality work in a range of media that provide opportunities for creativity. Lack of attention to developing creativity and innovation skills is often based on a common misperception that creativity is only for artistic-types and geniuses - that creativity is something one is born with or without (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Creativity can, Triling & Fadel argue, be nurtured by teachers and learning environments that encourage questioning, openness to new ideas, and learning from mistakes and failures.” (21st Century Skills for Students and Teachers, Pacific Policy Research Center).
Curriculum Design: Real-World & Experiential Learning
Our curriculum goes far beyond the traditional college preparatory model. We embrace academic excellence and foster critical thinking, explore problem-solving, build empathy and resilience, and integrate a deep sense of purpose to prepare our students for the future. Our multidisciplinary approach integrates the latest research, technology, and practices in fields such as sustainability, technology and AI, entrepreneurship, and the creative and literary arts. We encourage exploration and healthy risk-taking through experiential learning, our international Passport Program and Mod Abroad, outdoor education, community engagement, and real world connections and problem-solving.
Students learn more deeply when they can apply classroom gathered knowledge to real-world problems, and when they take part in projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration. Active and collaborative learning practices have a more significant impact on student performance than any other variable, including student background and prior achievement.
Students are most successful when they are taught how to learn as well as what to learn.
“ When students extend knowledge by applying it in real-world settings, they engage multiple and complex systems of retrieval and integration. With [teaching for application], we are seeking to strengthen and extend thinking and learning by applying skills and content in meaningful, creative, problem-solving tasks. Examples include conducting investigations and surveys, designing experiments, analyzing perspectives, building projects, and engaging in improvisation through visual and performing arts.”
(The Creative-Artistic Brain: Education in the 21st Century, Mariale Hardiman).
“ Emerging research encourages teachers and other educational stakeholders to a) focus on real-world problems and processes, b) support inquiry-based learning experiences, c) provide opportunities for collaborative project approaches to learning, d) and focus on teaching students how to learn (above "what" to learn). Linda Darling-Hammond, in her recent work, Powerful Learning- What we Know about Teaching for Learning, provides a meta-review of accumulated research on project-based learning, problem-based learning, and design-based learning.”
(21st Century Skills for Students and Teachers, Pacific Policy Research Center).
Resources
For those who want additional information about the educational neuroscience research into how students learn, these resources are a good place to start:
Why Don’t Students Like School by Daniel T. Willingham
Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide by Yana Weinstein, Megan Sumeracki , Oliver Caviglioli