It is post- finals here in Newport Beach and you know what that means: time for a fresh start! New chapters, new lessons, and a ton of new material in our various courses. As we dive in here at Study Hut Newport Beach, our students start to wonder WHY all of this information is relevant. “After the test I’m not going to need to remember this,” they say. “Where will I find Common Core in real life?”
Well, the past couple weeks of tutoring sessions have been all about relating our school concepts to those of daily life. Applying concepts like Common Core Math, Chemistry, Biology– you name it!–can be tough. Our tutoring sessions relate these subjects to a better understanding of the world around us.
In Chemistry, Newport students have been working on papers and powerpoints exposing each of the Elements of the Periodic Table. Students found that Hydrogen contributes to plant fertilizers in gardens, while Nitrogen plays a part in cleaning supplies.
In Common Core Math, high school students are struggling with graphing piece- wise equations, but find it helpful to conceptualize these sporadic values with examples such as, test grades, or job wages. Common Core in real life is not only present, but extremely relevant.
In Biology, students are not simply memorizing cell terminology on notecards, but more importantly they are putting vocabulary into their own words. For example DNA is “the instruction manual of the human body.”
All in all, we have been working hard the past few weeks to make sense of the material their teachers are throwing at us. Not only does it help on quizzes and tests for students to understand these topics in their own manner, but it also reminds them that what they are learning now will help them down the road.
