For the past few years at the Institute, we’ve heard stories about Brazilian teachers trying out blended learning. Since then, some of these teacher-led initiatives have flourished into school-wide programs around the country.

  • Blended learning can give students more options. Colégio Soter, a medium-sized private school on the east side of São Paulo, adopted a Station Rotation model– in stations to allow students to have choices. For example, students can learn about the life cycle of insects by watching a YouTube video, playing a matching game on a tablet, reading a story about the life of a butterfly, or creating a diagram of each stage using crafting materials. This gives students more opportunities to learn in the way that is best for them.
  • Blended learning can personalize student learning. Teachers also give personalized help to students in their rotations: the primary teacher works one-on-one with students who need more help, while the technology teacher oversees a second classroom of students going through individualized playlists, assisting where necessary. Data from all activities is collected in the LMS Moodle, which is later analyzed to inform future student groupings and projects.
  • Blended learning can improve student academic outcomes. Before using blended learning, over 30% of Mr. Rodrigues’ middle school (6th – 9th year) students were not passing his class. He knew that all of them had the potential to pass, so he started to examine his own teaching for clues on how he could help his students improve. He quickly realized that if he stopped being the “sage on the stage” and became a facilitator for learning, his students could have a richer experience that included multiple learning modalities and a competency-based curriculum.

Read more about the benefits of blended learning in Brazil by Katrina Bushko at Christensen Institute