As Process Educators, we’re big believers in relevance, especially the relevance of knowledge and learning to its application in the world beyond the classroom. We know that simply giving students a learning activity or course content is generally not enough to motivate them to do anything other than go through the motions or memorize information.
Step 1 of the Learning Process Methodology (which is the heart and soul of activity and curricula design) is, “Why?” This is because the motivation to learn depends upon the relevance of learning to personal, educational, career, and life goals. The “Why” statement in a learning situation makes clear why learning about a given topic is important and how it is relevant to the needs, interests, or concerns of the students. For a strong “Why” statement, it is critical to think beyond immediate needs and the perspective of the instructor.
Instructors should be aware of the relevance required by a “Why” statement, as not only have they designed the curricula, activity, and/or learning experience, they also have life and professional experience beyond that of their students. Students have the benefit of neither of these perspectives.
In order to write strong “Why” statements, it is necessary to dig deep into the issue of relevance. One excellent way of doing this is to assume a sceptical perspective and ask, “So what?” While “Why?” can be answered with “Because I said so” or “Because it’s required,” asking “So what?” begs for relevance and makes a glib response much more difficult. Asking “So what?” again and again allows for an increasing clarification of relevance.
Mindtools.com recommends this same technique, called “Appreciation” which is frequently used by military planners, as a way to extract the maximum amount of information from a simple fact. Here’s their example:
Fact: It rained heavily last night
So What?
The ground will be wet
So What?
It will turn into mud quickly
So What?
If many troops and vehicles pass over the same ground, movement will be progressively slower and more difficult as the ground gets muddier and more difficult.
So What?
Where possible, stick to paved roads.
Otherwise expect movement to be much slower than normal.
Here’s an example with a focus on unit rates (the mathematical concept) for a theoretical learning activity.
Statement: Today we’ll be learning about unit rates
So What?
Unit rates are commonplace in everyday life and you’re likely to encounter them when comparing things like gas mileage where the rate is ‘x miles per 1 gallon.’
So What?
If you are able to understand how the unit rate for gas mileage works and how to work with this kind of rate, you will be able to compare the gas mileage for two different vehicles or even two trips in the same vehicle.
So What?
If you’re able to work those kinds of rate comparisons, you’re likely to end up making wiser driving and vehicle purchasing decisions.
So What?
Knowing how to work with unit rates can help you save money.
Of course this isn’t the only relevance of unit rates but the “So what?” analysis allows us to uncover at least one point of the content focus that is likely to be relevant to students. And when students find content relevant, they’re motivated to learn!