Teaching children is a challenge, especially when you need them to retain and apply the information you teach them. Many teachers have developed creative ways to engage students in all disciplines to help them retain more content and be able to use it further down the line. In the article “Harry Potter as a context for Interdisciplinary Studies” by Tisha Beaton, there are many examples of how this can be done specifically using Harry Potter and the wizarding world. While there are plenty of useful examples and clearly beneficial activities that were created, I would like to add to the list of possible exercises and explain why they would be effective for students. This will be a beneficial exercise for myself as I can apply it to real life so all my future students can all retain and apply what they are taught.
The methods applied in Beaton’s article allowed students to think creatively and make their own projects for a given subject that personally fit their thinking and learning style. The author states that, “…For some students, responding to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone filled a need for self-expression and the desire to record their thinking about the world. As Harry Potter’s world mirrors our own, the meanings they derived from the literature…”(Beaton 102). Students that were asked to think critically and creatively had more of a desire to repeat back information that they had learned or share opinions which they formed from the content they were taught. Not only does this ensure that the students remember what they have learned, it also motivates them to remain engaged when doing future assignments within other disciplines. If I could create another exercise that could require the student to think and respond in a similar way I would ask the children to read a description of the four houses of Hogwarts and answer which house they would belong to and why. This will allow students to think about themselves on a personal level while also having to support their opinion with information that they were given.
Another great approach that was taken was related to mathematics. Using Harry Potter as a concept for math is a great way to engage students who are not able to think logically as easily as others. Numbers do not always connect with students, and sometimes creative thinking can be a good way to get students to apply the topic and fully understand it. When discussing budgeting activity presented to a group of students Beaton explains that, “…Each student was assigned a character from the novel and given a different amount for his or her budget..” (Beaton 100). The use of pretending makes the activity more appealing and also encourages the children to think in a different way. The activity was successful in the classroom and the students fully understood how to budget and had a real-life way to apply the concept even though they learned it by using fictional characters. The concept that everyone has a different budget and needs to split their money differently was easy to understand, and the use of familiar characters helped promote enthusiasm and made it more likely for the information to stick with the children. If I could suggest a similar exercise for the students, I would have used Gringots Bank as context. I would use the concept of simple math and apply amounts to different Gringots coins and have the students add them or subtract them to make change. I would ask them to pick a student (Harry, Hermione etc.) and they would all have a different set of coins but would buy the same objects with different coin amounts. This would allow the students to come up with many potential answers to the same problem while understanding how to successfully do simple math.
Scientific thinking is another way to incorporate Harry Potter into the classroom in a way that is relevant. The author discusses many different categories of science, but one in particular was used to explain a complex topic in a simple way. The article states that “…The second topic was a study of matter, which drew on laboratory experiments to prove science concepts that related to the three states of matter. The students equated this to potions class…” (Beaton 100-101). Using the idea of potions allowed students to understand that when one substance is modified or mixed with another, it changes into something else or has a new effect. While potions are fictional, it gets the point across clearly and it excites the students making the students want to learn more about science. If I could develop a new activity that could be used in a similar way, I would give the students a list of “potions” and what needs to be mixed together to create that potion. The students would have to follow directions, pay attention to order and understand cause and effect. It also gives them hands-on learning experience and makes it a fun activity while teaching them a more complicated concept.
All of the methods used to apply Harry Potter in the classroom engaged, and excited students to learn and retain the concepts presented to them. Across all disciplines it was very effective to use the familiar wizarding world of Harry Potter. In addition to what was provided I was able to think on my own on how to expand of create more activities that could be effective for students. This is a real life situation for myself seeing as I am looking to pursue a career in education and it helped me to think about the types of students I may have in the classroom and how to appeal to all of them so they can walk away learning as much as possible.