June 1, 2010

Burlington chiropractor Dr. Robert Wingfield spoke to the Grade 5 Pauline Johnson Public School class about various aspects of spine and back health in April. It was part of the school’s ‘Contextualized Learning Activity’ (CLA) for the Grade 5 Science strand, Human Organ Systems.

Contextualized learning incorporates a learning process that helps students to make sense of the information by connecting what they are learning to real world situations in which that learning could be used.

Prior to the activity day, students were asked to research a topic of interest related to the human body, taking on the role of the professional who might work with, and treat, the condition they chose to investigate. Range of topics included diabetes, sun burn, lung cancer, eczema, blood clots and many others.  

On the day of the symposium, the students were excited to hear from the guest speakers, but even more excited to learn from each other. When the students broke out into smaller groups, they asked each other probing questions about each other’s topics and were able to respond to these questions in a mature professional way in the role of the doctor they had taken on. 

“What I really hoped the students learned was open-ended problem solving skills and divergent thinking, and how their learning is related to an authentic environment outside of the classroom,” said Darryl Sault, junior classrrom teacher at Pauline Johnson PS.