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Curriculum Framework

Relevant Learning

Overview

Learners enter school with a vast amount of knowledge and experience. Relevant learning involves activating joy and excitement for learning by connecting to each learner’s funds of knowledge. Providing relevant learning opportunities helps learners set personal learning goals, connect their knowledge to the world around them, and sets them up to achieve their goals in school and beyond.

Elements

Relevant learning typically refers to learning experiences that are either directly applicable to the personal aspirations, interests, or cultural experiences of students (personal relevance) or that are connected in some way to real-world issues, problems, and contexts (life relevance).

Relevant learning enables learners to understand the subject matter being taught with more clarity and motivation. It adds value to the subject matter since it answers the question, “Yeah, but what am I gonna use this for?” (Briggs, 2014). Relevance in teaching and learning supports learner growth in responsibility, self regulation, determination, agency, and motivation.

A misconception about relevant learning is that by letting learners work on projects that they are in interested in or passionate about, academic rigour is lost; however, relevant learning allows learners to see the value in what they are learning, it helps to create a deeper connection to the curriculum and a more authentic learning experience, and often stimulates increased motivation.

STRATEGIES

To make learning more relevant:

  • Build relatedness by first developing a relationship with learners. Learn their interests and what is personnally relevant to them;
  • Use examples of how the subject matter relates or is applied in everyday practice;
  • Find and discuss applications in current newsworthy issues and events; and
  • Make it learner-directed with choices for representing and expressing their learning (Briggs, 2014).

RESOURCES