Setting the Stage

    The set of readings provides fodder for much thought. In a way they are discouraging- as I read some of the articles I can’t help but think- “man, I don’t do that, I’m doing it wrong!”  I mostly concentrate on the traditional approach to education- throw information at the students. Teaching 1.0, if you will.  These readings emphasize more the interactive approach to education-get students to interact with the knowledge- discover it, process it and use it. Teaching 2.0.  I like it-my question is- will it work?  Several articles refer to the Flat world. No question there- but the articles seems to suggest “we” (U.S.) have to keep our competitive edge, and the articles suggest that we are not keeping that edge.  What are the educational systems like in these other countries that seem to be taking over? I know I have had several Korean students in my classes and from talking to them it seems the Korean system is much more regimented, based on rote and drill, rigorous, and very demanding, rather than developing critical thinking skills.(Please, please correct me if I am incorrect). Granted this is anecdotal evidence, but it makes me wonder if what are lacking in our educational system is respect, appreciation, and rigor? I have heard the saying “Do your homework or the Indians (as in India) will take your jobs!” What they are saying is- you need to push yourself, you need to want the education. Maybe we need to develop a better work ethic- and the critical thinking and problem solving skills will take care of them. I have heard many teachers say “I don’t assign homework because they don’t do it anyway” and am familiar with the debate about whether homework is really helpful or not.  Hall Davidson in his presentation "Revenge of the Digital Immigrants”, showed a graph of the average IQ’s, in different areas, of students over the last 50 years. The problem solving score increased dramatically- the knowledge area stayed about the same. It seems like our students pick are picking up these problem solving skills. Maybe they need work on the knowledge part,( or… maybe the tests need to be revamped for today’s needs.)

     I know of an AP chem. teacher who had to really cut back on labs because of all the content that needed to be covered- went away from the inquiry approach. Her students consistently get tremendous results on the AP chem exam- it is a very rigorous course- a lot of material and problem solving skills are emphasized, but very little inquiry.  When I talk about the class to students who consider taking it- I tell them it is the type of class that will bring you to tears, literally, because of the frustration, but when you are done, most look back and say it was the best course they took in high school. The types of students in her class are those who will make us competitive. Maybe that is the art of teaching- getting kids motivated; getting them to push themselves, getting them excited about learning, getting them engaged–inquiry is one way to do this, but there are others also. In our society we have a lot of competition for their engagement.  In other societies, I don’t believe there is as much competition, or perhaps the value their society places on education is greater.

     Well, having said all this, I find technology to be a very valuable tool in the classroom- because it does allow the concepts and content to be interactive. It does help students become engaged. It is a tool, and can be a very effective tool-for all levels of learning from memorization to problem solving and inquiry. I also think it has the ability to help students develop that work ethic, excitement and desire to learn, which is probably more important. Lastly, I realize that in several ways I have been using the web 2.0 tools in a web 1.0 way, and so I look forward to becoming more of a web 2.0 teacher.