Going back in the story, during Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace, a young Anakin Skywalker is a slave on the planet Tatooine. Even though Anakin is a nine year-old slave, he has impressively built a protocol droid, C-3PO, and is a skilled podracer.
Thinking about this from an educational and developmental standpoint, it is amazing what this nine year old boy can do! He has had no formal schooling or training, yet given a problem and a reason to learn, he has. This is problem-based learning rooted in real world application. Educators need to give students the ability encounter problems, and then work to fix or improve those problems. This type of approach motivates students to learn and requires them to develop and use critical thinking skills.
A student can learn the rules of grammar, but that does very little for him/her unless they can use them to effectively communicate. A student can memorize history facts/dates, that does very little until they can use that information to see patterns or cause/effect and make informed decisions. He/she can memorize an algorithm, but that won't help them in a job until they can apply it to situations. By giving students a problem to solve, he/she will learn the grammar, history, math, etc that will help to solve the problem. They will be able to apply the grammar, history, math, etc and isn't that the point of education? To help students learn the background knowledge they will need to apply to decision making in their adult life!
If Anakin* can do such high ability things with little more than a problem to solve, and perseverance, our students can with teachers who are willing to step outside of their comfort zone. Think of what students can do if they were only given the chance!
* Anakin also had "the force" working for him, but hey, our students have gifted, talented, dedicated, and passionate teachers in their corner!
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