- NJASA
- 2012
Tips for Engaging Students in Learning from Discovery Channel’s Danny Forster
Posted by Dr. Rich Bozza on 11/20/2012
Photo Credit: Danny Forster, host of Discovery Channel’s Build It Bigger, is pictured with
Dr. Richard Bozza, executive director, NJASA (left) and Donna Van Horn, president, NJASA.
It’s not every day that you get educational advice from a TV star. New Jersey’s chief education officers had the opportunity to hear from Danny Forster, host of Discovery Channel’s Build It Bigger, a college professor and a working architect who was chosen to design the 40-story hotel near the Ground Zero memorial in New York City.
Forster spoke at a special session sponsored by NJASA at the New Jersey School Boards Association meeting in Atlantic City, N.J. on October 24, 2012. His remarks inspired chief education officers to find opportunities to bring the real world into the classroom via technology.
NJASA brought Forster in to talk about how Discovery Education, the television network’s educational arm, can work with schools to support common core curriculum standards. The network can stream engaging, rich media. It can offer virtual labs and simulations. It also can customize a digital science textbook. In addition, Discovery Education offers customized professional development experiences for educators. The company maintains a global learning community where educational professionals can communicate through blogs, virtual conferences and in-person events, such as the one Danny Forster keynoted.
He was well received by the audience, whom he held mesmerized in the room for more than two hours. Danny’s presentation was not only interesting; it was useful as a model for making educational content more compelling. Architectural design, said Danny, can be exciting if presented in the right way. It also ties nicely into math, science, the environment, and the local culture. Educators can use a multi-disciplinary approach that has a real world application.
“We take the TV shows and give them a second life by bringing them into the classroom to enhance the curriculum,” Danny explained. “These types of real world applications, where students can become part of the process ‘virtually,’ are very compelling.”
He offered the following tips to engage students in learning:
Tip #1: Engage a student’s power of observation. Show them a photo and ask about it. Why is this skyscraper stacked unevenly? Or why does that building have curves instead of corners? Chances are, there is a mathematical, scientific or environmental reason, such as when Chicago’s highest buildings are constructed to resist wind patterns.
Tip #2: Tell the story. Every place has a story. Take the Mumbai Airport in India, for example. Here, an average of 40 family members and friends will see one person off to their flight. This required a larger-than-usual waiting area. Telling the story helps the listener to understand the decisions made.
Tip #3: Incorporate cultural elements. Consider the Viceroy Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The architects chose to wrap the hotel in the same way the local residents wore their white kanduras. Not only did the wrap keep the hotel cool, it echoed the look of the local culture. Incorporating cultural elements in your lessons, whether on architecture or other topics, will help students from those cultures to connect to the topic.
Tip #4: Incorporate the environment. There’s a renaissance in today’s architecture, to be mindful of our resources. That includes becoming aware of our surroundings. Encourage students to apply their studies on math, science, language arts, etc. to benefit the environment. That will automatically ensure a meaningful real world application.
Tip #5: Inspire students to career choices. Ask students what they would like to be when they grow up. Then, ask them what they like most about that career. The answer may open up new career ideas in related or unrelated fields.
Danny admitted choosing architecture as his field of study because of one inspiring teacher. She told him the story behind the buildings, and he was hooked. You can engage your students in the same way, and inspire a whole new generation of leaders.
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