Hands-on learning expands the skills students learn
NGLC Team
Next Generation Learning Challenges
in USA
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Today’s learners face an uncertain present and a rapidly changing future that demand far different skills and knowledge than were needed in the 20th century. We also know so much more about enabling deep, powerful learning than we ever did before. Our collective future depends on how well young people prepare for the challenges and opportunities of 21st-century life.
A November 19, 2025 article in K-12DIVE by Ed Finkel explores the benefits for students when schools provide hands-on, real-world learning opportunities, based on an interview with NGLC's Andy Calkins.
Hands-on, real-world learning experiences often make instruction come alive in ways that are stickier and more powerful, according to Andy Calkins, co-director of Next Generation Learning Challenges. “There’s oceans of evidence about the importance of this kind of learning and helping learning become meaningful for kids,” he said.
While students are normally tested directly on school curricula, and there’s value in doing so, “far greater value comes when they have an opportunity to take that knowledge and those skills and apply them within a whole different set of contexts,” Calkins said. “That’s one of the primary values of this kind of approach.”
Following an example from San Diego County Office of Education, the article concludes with advice from Andy for school communities to start small and build from there.
NGLC Team
Next Generation Learning Challenges
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