Living innovation through methodologies

Abstract

What is the main purpose of motivating children in the high school? They need to stay focused and pay attention to plenty of subjects, be still for more than five hours per day, keep quiet in every lesson and they should be well-mannered pupils, also. This conduct is the best model for them to behave though, is this situation always possible inside the classroom? The achievement of this idealistic goal seems to be a rather tough – or even impossible – job to reach for teachers. Nowadays, a large number of adolescents suffers from stress and, in many occasions, it may lead them to anxiety, depression and other severe illnesses as heart diseases. For this reason, this project sets out to firstly present different educational methods – together with their advantages and disadvantages – that could be implemented in the classroom as a way of stimulating minors’ learning. This paper points out several methods such as Mindfulness, Academic Coaching, Neurolinguistic Programming (PNL), Suggestopedia and the Traditional style in which teachers usually impart – and imparted – their lessons. Regarding the second part of the project, I carried out an investigation with 26 children in 7th grade (1º ESO) during my internship in the high school Emilio Ferrari (Valladolid). With a view to studying how these methodologies could indirectly reduce school failure, the research is conducted to show and analyse the most preferred method(s) for learners to begin their classes with. Firstly, a description of the investigation and the activities done with students is exposed. Secondly, the results are obtained by means of two surveys addressed to them and illustrated in two different graphics, which demonstrate that there is a high percentage of twelve-year-old students who chose several specific methods whereas the other styles were extremely rejected. After the theoretical explanations of methodologies, the description of the research and the interpretation of the outcomes achieved, some conclusions are drawn about education together with directions for future research in this field.