Applying Learning to Life: Contextual Teaching and Learning

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Richard L. Lynch, professor of occupational studies at the University of Georgia, will lecture on contextual teaching and learning at two events in the UA College of Education and Health Professions.

Barbara Hinton, professor and head of the department of vocational and adult education, said, "The department is sponsoring Dr. Lynch’s seminar to generate interest in teacher education reform and to encourage collaboration among educators in promoting curriculum that is relevant for the student."

Lynch will present the annual Miller Memorial Lecture, entitled "A Model of Excellence for Contextual Teaching and Learning," to Phi Delta Kappa, the international organization of professionals in education, on Thursday, March 7, at 6:00 p.m. in the Graduate Education Building Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus. The lecture is open to the public.

Lynch will also speak at a seminar sponsored by the department of vocational and adult education on Friday, March 8, at 10:00 a.m. in the Graduate Education Building Auditorium. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers, and the public is welcome to attend the seminar.

Contextual teaching and learning helps teachers relate subject matter content to real world situations. Students make connections between classroom knowledge and its application to their lives.

"We believe students learn best when they understand the relevance of the material they are studying," Hinton said.

Lynch is co-director of the Occupational Research Group at the University of Georgia, a center that coordinates a teacher development project in contextual teaching and learning. He is author of over 100 publications with current research including infusing contextual teaching and learning into teacher education and into the arts and sciences, examining connections between education and economic development, and studying new directions in business and industry with implications for education. During the 1998-99 academic year, he was on special assignment with the U.S. Department of Education.

The Miller Memorial Lecture Series was established to recognize Donald R. Miller, a faculty member in the College of Education during the 1960s. Each year the local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa invites a noted educator to present the Miller Memorial Lecture about a research topic in education.

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Further information about Contextual Teaching and Learning is available from the U.S. Department of Education and the National School-To-Work Office at http://www.contextual.org/.