Jingling keys in front of babies might be as old as time (or at least as old as keys). We do it most likely in the hopes of finding a welcome respite from a bout of bawling. But why does it work? From our perspective, we’re just making noise with a commonplace item. However, for a baby, it can be a source of joy and a cornucopia of learning opportunities – the sound piques their curiosity as they begin to make connections between audio and visual stimuli, following the keys with their eyes improves visual tracking skills, grabbing for the keys can improve fine motor skills – but they aren’t enjoying the activity because of the learning aspect, they are learning because of the enjoyment aspect.

Sadly, by the time kids are school-age, the mysticism of the keys has faded. That doesn’t mean the joy and intrigue that once was an impetus for learning has to fade with it. Here are three tips for transforming your classroom into a learning safe haven that is engaging and dynamic.

1. Make Class Relevant – The easiest way to lose the interest of a student, or even the whole class, is by having a completely abstract lesson or one that students believe to be irrelevant. As a math instructor, this is certainly my most difficult hurdle. There is almost always an underlying skill set that needs to be mastered before being able to make broad connections and introduce real life applications. If I’m able to connect these seemingly mundane or irrelevant skills to the students personally it can help jump start their learning and even make it fun. For the elementary students, perhaps instead of memorizing the multiplication table for eight, design a study of how many Tik-Tok videos they could watch if they were allowed to watch eight videos every day for 10 days. For teenagers learning about rational functions, model the inverse relationship between the amount of time they argue with their parents and the likelihood of them being allowed out on the weekend. For adults returning to receive a degree and pursuing a second career, tailor your lessons so they incorporate examples based in their desired career paths. I use mathematics here in my examples, but the tactics and integration could be applied across all subjects.
2. Utilize Positive Reinforcement – Students nowadays are bombarded by consequences for their actions (or inaction). It seems the driving force behind curriculum development is negative reinforcement. The mantra could be, “If you don’t learn this, that, and those, then you won’t pass the next most important test of your life and your future is doomed!”. This problem has become even more pronounced in mathematics where we’ve deemed it, at least in the US, as culturally acceptable to not be a math person. Invariably, when a student claims, “I’m just not a math person”, with a little digging, they will offer up a negative math experience in their past that turned them off. Couple that with their uncle and second cousin not being a math person, and now the student believes they are genetically incapable of success and resigned themselves to their fate.This doesn’t have to be the case! If we can develop positive associations with the subject matter in our students, they can maintain a growth mindset and continue to believe they can overcome new challenges. Instead of calling on students who don’t raise their hand to force participation, engage them with a challenge that culminates in their discovery of the learning objective. Students are more likely to remember and understand what they learn if they have a part in figuring it out for themselves. Instead of saying, “I’m going to teach my students the way I learned it because it’s easiest”, show them multiple routes to attaining success. Giving students control over the methods they utilize and ways that they study can increase motivation, promote acceptance of their mistakes, and foster their freedom to ask questions. When students feel more comfortable with themselves as independent learners, they begin to see education as an enjoyable and important use of their time, instead of as a necessary burden.
3. Embrace Your Inner Child – This may sound like advice for reaching the youngest students, but I find it to be even more effective as the ages of the students increase. By the time students reach university level material, they are aware that the demands will be raised, the stakes will be higher, and the academic rigors potentially overwhelming. Combine those with the stresses of living on their own for the first time and being in a new environment, it is a recipe for a very intimidated student. As an instructor, I find the best way to assuage those feelings is to show the students I’m human: to just have fun. Whether that be by sharing the song I made up to memorize the quotient rule for derivatives, or describing the miniature basketball hoop at my desk I used to practice my jump shot while reciting proofs, or reminiscing about the time I tried to use mathematics to persuade a judge that I couldn’t have been speeding (yes, I did that; and no, it didn’t work), I always attempt to connect with students to show them that my passion, although when it comes to math, very likely not their passion, can be enjoyable to learn. The bottom line is, in order to reach the point of becoming a professor in a certain subject, I believe you had to have found enjoyment in the lessons along the way. Share those joys with your students!

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