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Putting Context Back Into Learning
The document critiques the current education system, highlighting its failure to provide context for learning, particularly in primary and secondary schools. It argues that without real-world context, children struggle to relate their education to everyday life, leading to a disconnect between theoretical knowledge and practical application. To improve education, the document suggests redefining learning to include hands-on experiences and involving older, experienced teachers to bridge the gap between school lessons and real-world understanding.
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Putting Context Back Into Learning
- 1. Jeffrey Funk Technology Consultant, Retiredfrom National University of Singapore For information on other technologies, see http://www.slideshare.net/Funk98/presentations
- 2. Primary and SecondarySchools are Failing Many books have addressed this issue A great one is Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by John Gatto Here’s his summary of what schools teach students Confusion – everything taught out of context Students must stay in the class where they belong Students shouldn’t care much about anything Surrender their will to the predestinated chain of command Wait for a teacher to tell them what to do Kid’s self-respect should depend on expert opinion Students are always being watched by teachers
- 3. Isn’t There AnotherWay? Can’t we organize schools differently, to provide more context for learning? School choice might provide alternatives, but will they be good ones? Entrepreneurs may not offer anything different Or something worse We need to rethink education, beginning with how children have learned over the previous centuries We need to rethink the types of people society needs for teaching and the types of training that is required Can we learn something from the past?
- 4. How Did ChildrenUsed to Learn? By working on farms (and some school) Learned about soil, water, crops, weather, machinery, food preparation, and more Every child learned to do measurements and calculations, and characterize and solve problems Because it was necessary for survival School complemented these activities Reading writing, math, science helped children understand and do farm work Without farm, children wouldn’t have understood reasons for school
- 5. Context was theKey Farming provided context for school Helped children understand need for reading, writing, math, and science Farming required adults and children to Count cows, bales of hay Calculate feed for cows, other animals Negotiate with distributors, suppliers Read product announcements, instructions, contracts and maintenance documents
- 6. As industrialwork replaced farm work Children were less exposed to work Skills with machinery and tools declined As did context for reading, writing, math But children still learned from parents working around home Fixing appliances, cars, toilets Modifying houses – painting, additions Preparing food Working around home also provided some context for reading, writing, math Making measurements and doing calculations Reading instructions, maintenance documents Planning work This Changed as America Industrialized
- 7. Farming Remained ImportantSource of Engineers Even in 2nd-Half of 20th Century The Idea Factory: How Bell Labs Invented the Future, by John Gertner Book shows that farmers and ranchers were over- represented in post-war Bell Labs Farming and ranching Made children curious about physical world Provided context for school work Helped them learn about science and engineering, including instruments, tools, and machinery Motivated them to learn Also provided them with physical exercise
- 8. Learning is VeryDifferent Now Few children exposed to work Few families fix cars, appliances, or plumbing because they need less fixing and when they do need fixing, We call an expert, or throw them away Fewer families prepare food since they purchase prepared food Children don’t learn complementary skills from fixing things, preparing food Doing measurements, calculations Reading instructions or maintenance documents Planning their work
- 9. Children areexpected to learn skills in school Even though they are bored Remember John Gatto’s summary of schools Then they can play after school Maybe a little homework But few after-school projects, mostly TV and phones Current Philosophy: School is for Learning and After-School is for Play
- 10. Without Context SchoolMakes Little Sense Context is needed for children to compare school lessons with real world Helps them build their own map of world Isn’t this scientific method? Compare observations to theory? Children used to learn this method by comparing school lessons to farm work or to other work at home Without context, they never learn this method and its role in life-long learning
- 11. Many Children Can’tDistinguish Between Real and Make-Believe Their lives filled with make-believe TV programs, movies, YouTube videos, toys How can they understand physical world when many believe that Iron Man’s suit self assembles from long distance Thor’s hammer can only be lifted by him Hulk can stop fast moving Spaceworm that is 1000 times larger than him Superman’s eyes can see and burn through walls Teachers won’t even use entertainment as means to discuss science, and thus lose chance to create context
- 12. Some Parents Fightback Explain differences between real and make-believe Help children make things, fix them, prepare food They might start with puzzles, arts, crafts, Lego and progress to more complex tasks Fixing meals Writing software Doing science projects Building houses, boats, computers, cars, planes But these are mostly exceptions Most kids are too busy watching TV or looking at a smart phone And when they are in class, they are listening to a lecture
- 13. Most Parents GoWith the Flow Most parents are too busy to help their kids learn Partly because they were raised in a household that didn’t emphasize learning at home Most parents want to think learning should be out- sourced to schools and other organizations But they forget that children used to learn most things at home, before technological change made our lives simpler but this technological change has reduced learning opportunities for children And schools haven’t’ introduced context to compensate for reduced learning opportunities outside of school
- 14. Reality of Education: LittleLearning is Done in Context Schools don’t teach children about work around them Agriculture, Mining, or Fishing Factories, Construction, or Services Children expected to learn everything from lectures, without context of real world Mostly theory and symbols Few projects Math and science should be discussed through context of real work Not surprisingly; most kids don’t understand importance of math and science
- 15. Without Context, LearningConsists Mostly of Rules and Facts Rules of mathematics, science, medicine Facts of history Definitions, formulas, calculations Names of people, places, diseases, things, body parts, theories Dates of events – including new leaders, laws, inventions, cultural changes But how does this help people solve problems? Either now or in the future?
- 16. Without Context, Life-LongLearning is Difficult Without context, how can people rethink rules and opinions and learn new approaches to problem solving Although they might learn new skills, they will be unlikely to change their views towards economics, psychology, inter-personal relations, technologies, or political philosophies Instead they keep roughly the same views Conservatives remain conservatives Liberals remain liberals Even developing new skills is hard because their views towards economics and technologies largely determines the skills they think are important
- 17. Learning Problems Leadto Inequality When parents fail to learn as children, they can’t teach their children 100 years ago children learned from parents because Context of farming, ranching, and fixing cars at home enabled every child to learn Thus every parent could pass on this learning to their children But now many parents don’t understand world around them because main thing they learned as a child was rules, ideology, and popular culture Negative feedback over the generations, leading to increasing inequality Children don’t learn Parents can’t teach
- 18. What Context DoSchools Need? All science and math must be learned within the context of the real world How do crops grow? How are materials mined and used? How do fish breed and grow in oceans and farms? How do factories work including global logistic supply chains How do phones, computers, displays, electricity generation, and other technologies work? Science and math problems should be used to deepen student’s understanding of these types of questions Objective is not to cram an ideology down student’s throats, but to help them understand all facets of human activity Students shouldn’t know teachers’ political ideologies
- 19. Learning Requires AllFive Senses Children should be touching, smelling, and tasting things Not just seeing and listening Most schools, museums and parents don’t allow touching, smelling, and tasting Too dangerous! they think Museums and gardens are frightened of children touching things, even if the things aren’t valuable or dangerous Why can’t staff help children do things, and not just enforce rules Children used to Touch, smell, and taste crops Touch machinery and tools (and also smell oil and other aspects of machinery) Valuable sources of learning
- 20. Projects are Needed Projects that involve all five senses and that help students understand: How crops grow? How materials are mined and used? How fish breed and grow in oceans and farms? How factories work including global logistic supply chains How phones, computers, displays, electricity generation, and other technologies work? School must go beyond words and symbols and enable students to use their hands and minds
- 21. An Historical Contextis Also Needed How have agriculture, mining, fishing, factories, and other industries changed over the last 200 years? How has productivity increased? How have increases in productivity impacted on standards of living? Roles of new products and services, innovation, technology, science, companies, and finance What are the current challenges? Slowing productivity growth Rising energy use and environmental impact Further need for innovation Science and math should help address these questions
- 22. Students Must AlsoUnderstand Current Work Banking, insurance, health care, telecommunications, logistics, retail, wholesale, information technology What are they? What do they consist of? Who creates these systems? What skills are needed to create these systems? What are roles of science and math? All of them involve machines, mostly computers, sometimes connected to other machines These machines include hardware and software Most work of the future involves the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of systems Software is a key aspect of the systems, but the context for this must be explained
- 23. A New Typeof Teacher is Needed One who can help children understand the world around them do projects with them These skills can probably be taught in lectures, but most people learn them through experience Perhaps the best teachers are people over 50 years old who have experience: Professional work Raising children Traveling Other experiences What if a school hired these types of teachers?
- 24. Benefits Students learnabout the real world including Work A context for science and math Life, family, and friends Teachers require less formal training Thus lower costs for teacher training and thus lower pay is needed Teachers need certain amount of work experience and college training that can be evaluated with a few tests Reduce unemployment of older people Older people have opportunity to share their experiences with young people
- 25. Entrepreneurs Who wantsto change the world?