I’ve recently been reading the book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel. While I was required to read this book for a college class, I found myself really drawn to the message. Our world is so different from what it will be when our future student’s graduate and enter into it! I will, by the time my students graduate, be outcompeted and outsmarted by them simply because they will be adapting to an ever-changing and advancing world.
I have previously been very defensive of traditional teaching practices. I was always under the impression that lecture and memorization were characteristics of an effective teaching technique. It was scary to get to college majoring in Early Childhood Education to discover that my understanding might be outdated. In short, times have changed.
I’m truly excited to see the progress society has made even in the time I’ve been alive. I’ll be 21 this year and have already seen tremendous changes over my lifetime. I can only imagine what kind of a world we will be living in after another 20+ years when we have advanced so far already.
Realistically, I think we are closer now to what genuine learning is made to look like. Schools are adapting their teaching techniques to limit teacher lecturing and facilitate student interaction with information and encourage active exploration and learning through ‘doing’ rather than ‘seeing’. This is SO important! Humans have always learned in this manner and we have learned most effectively through exploration!
Think about it for a moment… From the day you were born you began exploring the many aspects of this world. You paid attention to noises, movements, and what happened when you flung your dinner across the kitchen. You experimented with everything by holding it, throwing it, or sticking it in your mouth. You pushed the limits of everything and developed a basic understanding of how the world works WITHOUT EVER BEING MADE TO SIT AND MEMORIZE ANYTHING! We learn phenomenally well, even before we understand speech and language.
While I will never ignore the fundamental importance of a quality mentor or teacher (because without this position there would be no reason for me to be attending school) in our society, there is something to be said about the fact that learning is truly an independent endeavor. Each individual learns at their own pace and builds upon their own schema, background experiences, and accumulated knowledge.
This is so important.
