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    21st Century Ideas: How do we prevent education being a limitting force to progress?

    Started by: john.ashton Raves:6

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    If the state of the art in human thought is changing then teachers and students are exeriencing the same learning curves almost simultaniously. The more experienced teacher builds on yesterdays state of the art by adding a new trick. However they can't then have direct experience of going from zero to the current state of the art directly. How do we therefore understand how best to teach the next generation to cope with these new technologies in the most efficient way? Do we teach maths differently once basic arithmetic can be offloaded to computer assistance? What level of understanding do we really need as computers can support more complex functions? I'm not interested in the best way to teach them what we know now. More what processes and skills are required to continually adapt these teaching approaches as new technologies are invented. Are these processes and skills stable over time? (At least looking back over history?)

    john: I taught my way through grad school. About 10 years ago, I really found my teaching voice, which was to convince the students that I was _not_ the ultimate authority, and that I was there to teach them to teach themselves. I\\\'ve continued refining ideas in my work with Open Source Teachers. Actually, I owe them a video report---I\\\'ll get back to you when it\\\'s up.

    I think the best way forward is to keep firmly in mind that existence itself is ever-changing and our ideas should be as well. Stay mobile, and always know that what you hold firm today, will evolve, grow or die off in the future. The only constant is change, and despite the fact that i\\\'ve chosen a career in the preservation of history, even I have to admit that nothing lasts forever. Thus it should be key to every education strategy that everything is taught as \\\'this is what we believe to be correct\\\', but with full disclosure of the impermanence of it all. This will inspire young minds to find new truths and continue to move the species forward, so we do not fall too far behind our machines.

    By teaching people the joys inherent in teaching themselves!

    There are basic skills that will remain constant in the face of changing environments and technology. Literacy and numeracy are two of these skills, because they are the fundamentals of communication. Beyond the basic skills, however, we have to start moving away from prescriptivist education that teaches students to believe in one absolute truth, one viewpoint, one way of thinking about a situation. In my opinion, the most important skill we must teach the next generation is that of critical thinking. We must teach them how to learn: how to question, how to find answers to those questions, how to determine if the sources are credible, etc.

    I have to laugh because I was a teacher for about 10 years and there was often little joy in it. Teachers are incredibly oppressed by the administrations they work for. If, for example, we were learning about fish and I wanted to bring in a goldfish, I\\\'d hear \\\"You can\\\'t do that.\\\" Because some kid would kill the fish accidentally during recess when I had my back turned. Then another kid would be traumatized. Then they\\\'d pull their kid from the school and that would be about a 10 grand loss a year for the school. Anything that involved any risk would be absolutely and authoritatively shot down. The kids would get bored. And act up. The teacher wouldn\\\'t be able to control the class. And the cycle would continue. Some important stuff is learned at school! BUT! The real stuff, like creative thinking, critical reasoning, exploration, the thrill of learning-- it absolutely has to happen at home with the parents. Parents need support so they have the energy to really engage with their kids at home, where the kids spend the majority of their time. Turning off the TV and computer and actually being involved in the world-- that\\\'s education!!

    \\\"Do schools kill creativity\\\"? Sir Ken Robinson has a marvellous presentation about this topic (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html) Unfortunately, nowadays schools tend to make kids less creative instead of the opposite... What we can do to change this? * Make sure we attract creative and of course GREAT teachers, * make all disciplines equally important (yes, art is as important as mathematics - in fact, they have much in common!); * don\\\'t forget \\\"education is what remains after the students forget what you\\\'ve told them in school\\\". Great forum subject : I agree that education will be one of the things we\\\'ll have to rethink in 2019... Some great experiments are already taking place, but we need ways to upscale these...

    In 2019 we might see the collapse of traditional classrooms. Present whatever kids have to learn as a game and make kids score. If they attain a new level, introduce a new piece of knowledge. Once assimilated, nobody involved wants to go back to the old model. Educators who get tangible, falsifiable results by programming these \\\"edugames\\\" make a lot of money. We cant afford the old school system anymore in 2008, and by 2019 the whole classroom paradigm has become a historical joke.

    The traditional classroom is a hindrance in teaching our children anything these days. With education as it was in the early 21st centure, there was such an emphasis on teaching children to pass a test and secure more funding, that children didn't learn how to THINK, and were hobbled before being let out into the realm of secondary and post-secondary education. We need to remember that if we stifle the brightest to keep the dimmest up to par, we are damaging our future on a scale we may never know.

    I believe the future of teaching is based in creative interconnected practice and deep mindfulness. See http://sites.google.com/site/tosomaheliakon/

    Always always remember Daniel Quinn's touchstone; 'school' should feel like a traveling circus down the road that the kids can't wait to finish their breakfast to get there. Or like Dorothy Fadiman, film director, in her movie, "Why Do These Kids Love School?" - her kids would pretend on days they were sick, that they were really okay, they so much wanted to be at school... As if we don;t know when all the joy has drained out of our kids!! John Holt (love him) had his epiphany after decades of regular teaching: what are we doing to kids that they come in at 5 yrs old spontaneous, excited, thrilled to be here... and by the age of 9 they are jaded..THAT is alarm bells, right there!!!

    Ruud has it. We have to figure out how to let them work at education without us all in the way. Also letting your kids zone out on TV and interacting with them while they are on the computer are two different things. Keep all the rigs together in the livingroom and hang out. Talk about what you are seeing, and even share a common screen to look at what you are interested in all together. Game up! Level up!

    Interdisciplinary approaches may be the key! The key to creativity and the key to solving (today's and tomorrow's) problems. What will become increasingly important will be the ability to see the big picture. Therefore I suggest that schools should focus more on the connections between the disciplines. What does technology has to do with society and politics, art with mathematics, music with geography (if you record samples of traditional folk music from different countries going from west to east, it almost sounds like a continuum), what has the past to do with the future etc. This is how I learned *after* I left school - and it brought me much more than all the 13 years before. Humans - and children - are curious by nature. They just have to be encouraged to stay that way! You hardly achieve this with dull and uniform, non-connected school lessons where children just learn to remember single facts.




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