When babies enter the world, they have only a handful of innate instincts to guide them. From there, they spend a lifetime developing knowledge and skills that will help them survive, advance, and participate in society. New Beginnings High School in Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Fort Meade explores diverse avenues of instilling a lasting love of learning and empowering students to direct their ongoing educational journey.
What Role Does Curiosity Play?
Learning is about more than just survival. Knowledge helps people understand themselves, others, and the world around them. Acquiring information and developing new skills contributes to growing intelligence, enriching one’s life, and maintaining human health — physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual.
How does curiosity fit in? It’s a driving factor in learning. Fostering this trait in students requires encouragement and praise. With openness, enthusiasm, and flexibility, instructors can engage student interest and create a learning environment that supports and rewards curiosity.
Inspiring students to explore their passions and interests, ask questions, and actively participate in their educational experience promotes a sense of joy and fulfillment associated with the act of learning.
Beyond Reasoning: Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Information is everywhere, bombarding the senses and demanding attention. Humans must learn to sort, analyze, and prioritize information or think critically to survive.
Critical thinking goes beyond logical reasoning; it helps people learn from their mistakes, improve their processes, and make better decisions in the future. It’s an important component of developing new ideas and even plays a role in the ability to understand and empathize with others.
Developing this skill set requires a multi-pronged approach that requires students to:
Ask questions
Consider different viewpoints
Work with a group
Make decisions
New Beginnings High School uses a range of modalities to help students improve their critical thinking skills.
Engaging Students Through Self-Directed Exploration
Self-directed, or discovery learning, lets students make decisions about their own educational process. Students are encouraged to take the initiative when it comes to what they want to learn and how they choose to do so.
This isn’t to say the learning process is without structure and guidance, but when students are engaged in the learning process, they’re more likely to become invested and immersed in subjects.
With clear parameters, monitoring, and resources in place to support students, self-directed exploration may alleviate barriers related to diverse learning styles and paces, potentially helping reduce challenges like lack of focus, motivational issues, and fear of failure.
New Beginnings High School has innovation labs that allow students to learn problem-solving through the creative process and project-based learning. Teachers can help guide and coach students, but these studio courses are generally self-directed and allow students the space and opportunity to grow their knowledge and confidence.
Empowering Students to Become Lifelong Learners
People who love learning tend to be curious, creative, and intelligent. They are more adaptable to change, better at solving problems, and more capable of understanding and empathizing with others.
New Beginnings High School aims to encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and self-directed learning so students have the agency to explore their interests and develop a love of learning that continues to serve them throughout school and beyond.
They work to connect students with colleges so they continue their learning and studies beyond a high school degree. They also provide life skills classes to help students prepare for life after schooling so they can continue to learn and grow.
About New Beginnings High School
Launched in 2011, New Beginnings High School is a non-traditional charter school based in Central Florida that offers personalized academic options for students aged 15-24 who want to earn their high school diploma. New Beginnings High School in Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Fort Meade serves over 1,000 students.
