We will continue today with the interview with one of the directors of the educational space Luscofusco, the innovative educational Laura Reyes Quintela, delving into what we talked about yesterday and about the ideal school and the changes that would have to be made to make it real.
What is the key to learning motivation?
The question is, what are we doing so badly to end the innate motivation in the learning of our children?
The brain's ability to learn is unimaginable.
Children learn things naturally and without a clear awareness of many things they absorb while they mature. But in adolescence the factor of intentionality in learning takes on extraordinary importance. That is why we talk about the importance of motivation and attitudes towards learning.
How can we help them stay motivated to children?
Taking into account their interests and abilities, when they occur naturally, they should be used to the fullest. But sometimes we need to find and open new fields of experiences where they can feel that they are doing things well, better than others, and they stand out. We must take into account the need to achieve what they propose, the need for emotional attachment and belonging and recognition to the group of equals, and the need for dominance, to lead or be a protagonist, attitudes, emotional state and feelings. Not all activities are fun or easy, but they can face fatigue and frustration, and enjoy learning, while maintaining a positive concept of themselves.
What things would you eradicate from the classrooms?
It would eradicate many things, beginning by considering that the teacher's fundamental role as an expert and transmitter of knowledge, because the construction of knowledge is a collective progress that the teacher guides by creating learning situations and mediating them.
In the classrooms there is plenty of homogeneity, textbooks, sending the same lesson and the same exercises for everyone, competitiveness, violence, the traditional distribution of classroom space, exams, grades and punishments.
Can alternative methodologies be adapted to the traditional school?
Of course, it is already being done, not all teachers use traditional methodologies. In the field of education there is a large group of teachers who work with different methodologies. And of course, in the current educational system there are great innovators and creatives, who organize interactions and activities so that each student faces more productive teaching situations for their learning. It is about proposing a methodology in which class work is organized differently, creating new spaces, different ways of grouping, different tasks, interactions, teaching devices etc. What is clear is that the organization of the current education system does not favor, facilitate, or value the work of these great innovative and creative teachers.
Is learning compatible and freedom to choose to learn or should everything be imposed?
As a good Galician, I will answer with another question. Is learning compatible with taxation?
I strongly believe that true learning, what remains there for a lifetime is only possible when motivation is intrinsic and we move by our own curiosity to seek answers to our questions.
We thank Laura Reyes Quintana the interview she has given to Babies and more and that has allowed us to make a first approach to what would be the ideal school.
