It’s all about the learning, right?
Education is all about learning, so schools should be all about learning. Doesn’t that sound right to you? Unfortunately, what happens more often than not is schools, in an effort to meet the standards forced on them by state boards of education, find themselves vainly attempting to educate students by helping them pass a standardized test. Test scores represent accountability, so test scores equal a good education. Unfortunately, this process robs our students of creativity and the desire to learn. It robs them of the sense of discovery and wonder.
In his TedTalk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” Sir Ken Robinson argues in favor of designing an education system that fosters creativity. In his discussion about schools he states, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” A well-designed education system creates environments for students to explore, to make decisions, to be wrong, to correct, and to learn. Robinson claims that all humans are born curious; we are all born learners, but schools effectively educate us out of creativity.
One might look at this argument and come to the conclusion that education is broken. This is a common thought. Thomas and Brown (2011) refer to this as a mechanistic way to view education. Rather than bemoaning the “broken” state of the system, they change the nature of the conversation. They argue that learning should be viewed in terms of an environment (p. 35). In this perspective, it doesn’t compute to argue about a broken system. Instead, we should begin to think about changing the environment to nurture creativity and learning. With modern storage and accessibility of information, there is no reason to limit our students’ education to memorization and recitation of facts. Instead, we should create environments that encourage responsible use of this information, environments that allow and encourage our students to explore and learn on their own.
This sounds terrifying! This kind of learning reduces the control of the instructor and puts them on more of a peer level, that of a guide or mentor or co-learner. This is far different from the way teachers have been viewed in the previous 100 years or so. Thomas and Brown argue that learning has shifted from an educational environment of exclusively explicit knowledge (that which is “easily identified, articulated, transferred, and testable”) to one of tacit knowledge (that which is “understood as a product of experience and interaction”) (p. 74). The new culture of learning embraces the notion of inquiry. In an inquiry-based system, answers aren’t seen as the end of learning, but as the beginning of another question, which leads to greater curiosity and deeper learning. Inquiry is an invitation to deeper learning (p. 82).
This represents a shift in the way we think about and use the space and time we have. I have been privileged to be a part of a pilot program which is built around the Project/Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model. In this model, we build units around a driving question. Driving questions are meant to “initiate and focus the inquiry” (Miller, 2015). The driving question becomes both the spark of curiosity and the boundary for the project. It is the spark for their curiosity because a good driving question pushes them into new areas of learning. It represents a boundary because it reminds them of the task at hand. We ask questions about real-world problems that are relevant to the times and are complicated. For example, we recently completed a unit about globalization and international trade. The driving question asked students if globalization was good or bad. To answer this the students had to understand what globalization was, about the pros and cons of international trade agreements, and the political ramifications of global trade. They completed all the activities I would have normally assigned, but they did it on their own as a result of the question they were asked. They developed some unique and compelling arguments.
All of this happened because we let them answer the question how they wanted. They explored on their own, were frustrated with their peers, discussed the options they had, and made their own decisions. It was fun to watch. My teaching partner learned quite a bit, too. I learned about trade relationships I didn’t know existed. I learned about various natural resources of different countries and how those countries leveraged their positions and resources to get what they needed to survive.
I believe this type of learning honors my students’ time. Schools are supposed to be about learning. My students learn in unique ways that I can’t possibly account for, no matter how much I differentiate my instruction. If I ask good questions, though, my students will account for their own learning styles and will overcome my deficiencies as an educator. They will learn in spite of me (and I’ll learn something too)! In my own Innovation Plan, I propose the expansion of PBL at my high school to all core classes. I think if something is good enough for my students, it’s good enough for all of them.
While this represents a shift in thinking for our school, I have support from my campus administration. There will certainly be challenges to bring other teachers on board and it will require a further investment and commitment to technology, but I believe these challenges can be easily overcome. The main issue is a shift in educational philosophy. It is the scary part of education because it relies on teachers stepping back from the instructor role and adopting a coaching/mentoring role. But I think good planning and coaching of our teachers can compensate for this.
I was encouraged by A New Culture of Learning. Thomas and Brown challenged me to think about my classroom as an environment for learning, not a traditional classroom. The book was also encouraging because it reflects how I learn on my own. If I want to know something, I search for the answer, read what others have to say, practice, fail, try again, and learn in the process. I learn how to do it better or (better yet) how to do it my own way! Learning is an organic process. I do it naturally. Our classrooms should provide that same opportunity to our students.
References:
Miller, A. (2015, August 20). How to write effective driving questions for project-based learning. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-how-to-write-driving-questions-andrew-miller
Robinson, K. (2007, January 6). Do schools kill creativity?. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
Thomas, D. & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Printed by CreateSpace.
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Adventures in Learning 