Week 3 Reflection

     This week was another enriching week for me as an educator because I was challenged and learned about many education related topics. In my technology class I got a chance to learn about the work of Sugata Mitra who is an expert in student driven learning. In his TED talk he revealed his research on how students are able to learn so much when they are interested in a subject and are able to discuss in small groups. When the students are able to facilitate their own learning they become self motivated and reach their maximum potential. In addition, I learned about more applications which I could use to help my students visualize the lesson I am teaching, like a timeline for example.
     My main focus this week was building on my research for my Genius Hour question which looks into the academic benefits of participation in sport for students. So far I have learned that there are almost endless benefits to enrolling in school sports. One of the main reasons I have discovered is that participating in sports can teach life skills which can be transferred to the classroom. Traits like determination, co-operation, and leadership are just some of the skills learned when you are involved in a sport. It also provides an opportunity to build deep relationships with your peers and connect to a teacher-coach. Sport also is a motivation to perform better in school for reasons like scholarships or the need to maintain a certain average in order to participate. Sport also reduces stress levels and provides an avenue of escape for many kids.
     Despite this plethora of information, there are still some challenges that have already arisen and some questions I need to address. One is that there is so much information that I need to find a way to organize it all into succinct categories. In addition, I want to know if there are any statistics proving that these benefits have in the classroom. Is it possible to measure how the development of life skills help in the classroom? Also, do I discuss some of the possible consequences of participating in sport? Another challenge that I have come across is information from a student perspective and what students say are the benefits of them participating.
      In order to progress in my Genius Hour research I believe I need to categories the topics I want to explore and find the appropriate avenues of information. Also, I believe I need to widen my search by looking at a variety of sources. I must also search for research which demonstrates the direct relation between sports and academic success or see if that is possible to be measured.