By Adam Piccoli
As educators, we often hear the same question from students: When am I ever going to use this? It’s a fair and important query. When students don’t see a practical application of the content they’re learning, they can quickly lose interest and engagement consequently decreases.
A 2024 Gallup survey found that only 58% of students aged 12–18 said they had learned something interesting at school in the past seven days, down from 68% in 2023. In that same survey, just 10% of high school students said they felt prepared for the future.
What can we do in the face of these alarming statistics? The answer may be surprisingly simple: embed more life skills into our teaching.
Adam Piccoli has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and has been a dedicated high school special education teacher for over 19 years. He offers professional development workshops and consultation for educators on artificial intelligence, scientific strategies for well-being, productive disagreement strategies, life skills education, and personalized PD for innovations in teaching.
