Encourage Learning By Writing Background Information

Depending on the subject, I use KA as a quick reference. Really. I use it in the same way that one would use Wikipeida - I just check the facts. Because it is obviously much more reliable than Wikipedia, I feel much more confident that the information given is true. But KA isn't marketed as a reference website, it's supposed to encourage students to "learn anything". Sadly, the system falls short of this noble promise.

I am currently reading a book called Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels. It's wonderful. At the beginning of the book, he makes a promise: to live geography, not just study it. I found that while reading the book, I learned so many, many things, and often times could recall events in time and the dates that they happened much more frequently that I could before. I could recall them because of details. I remembered them because I thought to myself, "There was an interesting story about that in the book I read!"

When I don't remember a date, I check it out on KA. You could probably call that the wrong way of using it, but it's what I do.

So why, am I using KA the "wrong way"? Because it lacks details. It lacks voluntary information. In The Book of Marvels, Mister Halliburton will often go out of his way and tell stories pages long about the 50+ places in the book, because he has actually been in all of them! The man has swam across the Panama Canal, and payed a toll of 36 cents, because he called himself the S.S. Richard Halliburton. He has ridden an Elephant across mountains just as Hannibal did, and he has jumped into a sacrificial well used by the Mayans on 2 occasions! He has experienced all of the places, and is sharing the experience with me, almost personally. KA articles do not put this feeling of wanderlust in me. If I read an article, it comes off as dry. It's as though that the places and events are unimportant, or totally regular.

A student learns and remembers something if it's found remarkable to them. Make your articles and videos remarkable. Make them marvelous.

F'rinstance: Don't be afraid to use words like wonderful, or eerie when describing Machu Picchu. Don't just say 'Machu Picchu is often described as “mysterious,” but in fact a great deal is known about its construction and purpose.' or "The construction of the main buildings is typical of Inka elite architecture." What student is going to care about that? It actually sounds like it came out of a Wikipedia article. Writing like that isn't going to encourage learning and exploration, it will make it sound dull and uninteresting. The article also doesn't mention the 99 graves of the 100 maidens, which is something that any student would remember after hearing the full story of it.

It's basic a language arts skill: keep the reader interested. In the case of teaching, the best way to keep the student reading is by including intriguing background information.

Don't just state the facts. Turn the facts into key details of an exciting and interesting event.