Twenty-first century education won’t be defined by any new technology. It won’t be defined by 1:1 laptop programs or tech-intensive projects. Twenty-first century education will, however, be defined by a fundamental shift in what we are teaching—a shift towards learner-centered education and creating creative thinkers. Today’s world is no longer content with students who can simply apply the knowledge they learned in school: our generation will be asked to think and operate in ways that traditional education has not, and can not, prepare us for.So, students in Mrs. Smith's and Mrs. Moritz's classes, is Anthony right? (Make sure you read the entire post.) You probably want to comment on his post or, of course, you're welcome to comment here. (Or both!)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thinking Creatively
To go along with our AWNM project, I thought this post by Anthony over on Students 2.0 was worth passing along to our students discussing these ideas.
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This was a well written blog. I agree about the whole educational innovations. I think that everything that we are doing has been very worth while. I like the way that you think, and how you feel strongly about our education and 1:1 technology. Mr. Fisch-thanks for adding the link to Anthony's blog!
ReplyDeleteI think Anthony is right and has some great points. This goes right along with the content of AWNM. My English class has been preparing me for this world all year long, and until I entered this class I had no idea about this change that's taking place. Now that I see it, I don't think that many of my classes are preparing me for this, as it said in the blog. Overall, I think this was a great post with many valid points.
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Anthony that we need to think differently and creatively, but where will we learn to do so? If our schools are not encouraging us to learn differently, where will we develop the skills to think successfully? I don't about you guys, but it scares me to think about being unprepared for the future, without the correct kind of thinking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anthony Chivetta's blog. If Dan Pink is correct with his predictions of the future, Anthony's description of the future is also correct. If the economy does switch to a more creative, right brained perspective, then students need to be taught a curriculum to support that.
ReplyDeleteAnthony made some great points, and his entry fits in perfectly with what we are currently discussing in class. Thanks for posting the link! It was a very interesting read!
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I agree ith all the points you mad up there about how it will no longer be sufficient just to supply these analytical tactics, but how we need to utilize these tactics and present them in a creative, artsy way. I also like how you divided up this movement into two complementing parts of experiental learning and project-based learning. It is also cool how the to are similar movements but are separated to occupy the whole day.
ReplyDeleteI think that the project-based learning is something that we have recognized but haven't quite put into action yet. Its a great way to express our left brain thoughts and research in an infinite realm of design and creativity. I like the way that you are spreading this message to the people and I think you should continue to spread your words and thoughts to everyone.
Javon
I agree that this is well written. It really reminds me of A Whole New Mind. He even says "As we move into a world where outsourcing, automation, and the ability to produce a product..." which is pretty much what Pink says with Abundance, Asia, and Automation. I agree with Anthony that we aren't being taught all the things we need though I'm not really sure how you'd teach the things he's talking about in school. I'm just not sure how you teach someone to learn which is why i probably won't become a teacher. And thanks to Mr. Fisch for showing us this blog.
ReplyDeleteAnthony- I definitly agree with the aspect of education that you described in this blog. One of my classes is technology based English. I feel that this is a very good way to expand my learning in school. It has come to my attention that the world is changing quickly however, learning is not really changing at all. This scares me because who knows what the world could be like when I am finished with school. At this point, I don’t feel like my education will be adequate for my future because I am learning the same things that were taught 25 years ago and yet, I am living in a completely different world.
ReplyDeleteAnthony is completely right. While a focus on technology is good, it needs to be coupled with a shift towards creative learning. For example, in computer class, why do we learn to use Microsoft Word, while learning to use Photoshop may be so much more important in the future?
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I think you have a valid point, that our education will not de defined by any technology, but by how we use our knowledge, in creative ways. But I'd like to see how you think twenty-first century educaton will change. What Changes will be made, and how soon will they be made?
ReplyDeleteAt the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) meeting last night, one of the parents defined value as quality times productivity. I wonder if educational terms like innovation and achievement might make an equivalent formula for educational value.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree that 1:1, or any other technology configuration is not the benchmark of success; no more than a basketball court assures winning teams. It always comes back to the human element. What the players and coaches do on the court; what teachers and students do in a 1:1 environment is what defines the success.
I've long held that technology is a liability; people are assets. And having worked with dozens of school districts around the state of Colorado, I can say that Littleton has some of the best assets around. And yes, I include Karl Fisch in that statement although he'll make me pay for that later [;-)
Seriously, for those reading this blog, I'm sure you can tell that Karl's brand of innovation, energy and perserverence make him an amazing leader for the school and for our district. I'm looking forward to visiting AHS tomorrow both to visit with the students in this project but also to watch how Karl orchestrates this whole new learning enterprise.
Anthony's post goes right along with AWNM. It seems he says that instead of students having to have a great capacity for memory that instead they have to be smart and creative. They will end up using a lot more of the right brain than left in order to be successful at their future job. This shows me how I should change my learning style now to be successful in the future. I believe Anthony was right.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Anthony in that a traditional education will probably not be sufficient in today's changing world, but the way he words it, it seems like he is almost against our generation going to school at all. It seems like he is saying that we should do something else that will better prepare us. Like Pink's "left brain necessary but no longer sufficient" idea, a traditional schooling is still completely necessary, but today's generation of students need to do more to prepare themselves for the "new" future.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Anthony. Since our world is changing so rapidly, education will need to change as well just to keep up with the fast pace of our lives. Students have been taught the same way for many years, but that technique of being educated isn’t satisfactory anymore. And besides, who wants to be taught the same way our parents and our grandparents were taught? As a new generation, we need to find our own way to leave our mark on the world. Being creative in school is one step closer to being creative in the rest of our lives and especially in our future. This way, we can continue to grow as a society and produce even more and better items than what is on the market today. Of course some jobs do require the education that we are given, such as medical and political fields, but not everyone is going to be a doctor or a lawyer. We all need a little more creativity in our lives in order to accomplish what we really want to.
ReplyDeleteToo often I come home from school and wonder what I really learned. I highly doubt much of the material I learn at AHS will apply to my future life. Facts, useless work, and homework take over the time I should be spending with my family and doing the things I enjoy. Why do I go to school? Why do I get up every morning to stress out and get discouraged? The truth is, students do learn in high school. I’ll never remember what I was taught my freshman year in ERE, but I’ll remember what I learned my first year of high school. Lessons about relationships, failure, perseverance, love, and trust are the lessons I will take with me for the rest of my life. I will remember the tears and disappointments as well as the triumphs and the successes. When I throw my graduation cap up in the air, I will be thinking of all the obstacles I have overcome and what I still have to accomplish. When high school is all said and done, I will remember how I grew, and what I chose to learn.
ReplyDeleteAnthony’s post was very interesting, but some of the topics on his post just did not make sense to me. His ideas defiantly followed Mr. Pinks ideas, right-brained versus left-brained, but we still need our left-brain too. You can not just eliminate left-brained classes because our world is becoming more right-brained. Experimental learning and project-based learning are GREAT ideas to increase the amount of right-brained activity, but these ideas should also be incorporated into left-brain activities so that students are well-rounded and could solve problems with both sides. Creativity would increase the projects’ meaning, but analytical thinking could insure the projects’ accuracy. Thanks, Mr. Fisch, for posting these ideas!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what anthony has to say, it was a very interesting point. Education needs to be modified as society is. But, it is difficult to effectively change how students are educated in a way that will prepare them for the future while remaining in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteWell I agree with Anthony's post. Now I think that teachers are starting to realize that they are going to have to redesign their teaching style to better prepare students for the future. Many of my teachers already are teaching with Project-based learning and experiential learning.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with his idea’s about 21st century learning, being a student in this environment it is easy to see the flaws in the design of our current learning structure. I feel if we do start to have the change from just learning the knowledge to applying this knowledge and learn how to learn it would benefit us in many ways. His idea’s go hand in hand with Mr. Pinks and having the opportunity to read and learn about his idea’s will really help us in the shift we are about to see.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with Anthony's post. The earth has evolved to the point where the analytical and logical sequence of facts (typically abundant in primarily orthodox schools) is no longer sufficient to achieve success in this new age of abundance, outsourcing, and automation. As Anthony stressed, the only way to differentiate between a successful person and an opposite is creative ability. If that ability is not abundant in primary learning curriculums, people will experience the displeasure associated with job relocation. For this reason, I can also agree with the implementation of "experimental learning" in classrooms; it's a necessary component in the feat to achieving success!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what Anthony says regarding the types of education. Although traditional learning is very important, in order to get ahead in the future, students are going to need experiential and project-based learning far more often. In traditional learning, we are just taught the facts. However, experiential and project-based learning give the student the experience needed for a changing world regarding education. Through these two different learning styles, students are required to participate in the hands on learning and have something to remind them of what they did to learn the material.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post and a real thought provoking idea. I think Anthony is right on by saying that knowledge is no longer acceptable and you have to be creative too. Anyone can memorize trivia and facts and dates and figures and events, but each person is creative in their own way and that will make them stand out and secure their future.
ReplyDeleteLike many people from our classes, I agree with what Anthony had to say. And some how he managed to wrap up many of the thoughts I have been having this year in to a clean post, while adding some great new ideas. This post directly relates to A Whole New Mind and ties in well with many of the points that Daniel is trying to portray through his book. I also have to agree that many times I find myself thinking that many of the facts we are forced to swallow today, will not really be of use to us in the future, or we will be able to find the answer right at our fingertips. Knowledge is right in front of many people these days, but as Anthony noticed, it's about how we use and create things with our knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what this post says also. I think that this post lightly states one very important point, a point that I believe Mr. Pink was trying to get across in his book, A Whole New Mind, also. It is that we need a WHOLE new mind, a mind that has a balance between the right and the left skills, so that we can integrate skills from both sides of the brain to accomplish the task in a way that no higher technology would be able to do. The same applies for education; we need to combine the traditional learning with critical thinking and creative ideas. There is not one way that is better because you need both to survive in the world. You need the traditional knowledge, like the capital of Florida, and then you need to use it in a creative, critical thinking way.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is a lot of truth and insight to Anthony’s blog. I still think, however, that although the ability to think critically will probably not be as important, it shouldn't be thrown away so suddenly. Although it is easy to access information through the computer, if one does not know how to remember the information, then this becomes a problem. A computer or cell phone will not always be able to magically appear whenever we need it. This shows how dependent we are on technology and if the only way we obtain information is from the internet, then we have become a society that will never learn how to think for ourselves. I definitely agree that we will have to learn how to determine good information from bad information. I think that learning critical thinking related material in classrooms is a lot better than learning it off a computer because it is the internet is only one type of source and can also be misleading. Also, learning about Geography on the computer for some people would not be as effective as learning it from a physical person in class. I think there is still a purpose to learning and remembering the capitol of Florida because it helps you have a greater understanding of the world. When talking about experimental learning and how this is mainly through extracurricular activities, would sports be included in the "extracurricular" category? I don't know if this represents only my thoughts, but at my school there seems to be a greater emphasis on the importance of sports at the student mental level and in some cases, the faculty level. If experimental learning can't really be applied to sports, which the majority of schools are centered around, maybe the first step to create more creative people is to emphasize a greater importance of non-sport activities, like band, strings, art club, and speech club. If this was done then experimental learning would have a greater demand and quantity in schools. I also don't think that we should dismiss our current school system so suddenly, we should just add more project-learning curriculums and place greater importance on extra curricular activities. The school system that we have has gotten us far, it just needs some editions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anthony. Tomorrow’s world is going to require a change in education. I have experienced this different approach to learning in my English class. My teacher provides us with the basic tools, like Anthony said, then sets us free to learn, process, and display the information in our own way.
ReplyDeleteOur class is currently reading Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” and reflecting in journals as we read. Through this process of simply composing and cultivating my thoughts without a strict rubric to follow, I believe I am learning and understanding the book and the topics it presents more thoroughly.
As I read and understand Pinks ideas, I try to think how education needs to change in order to equip students with a mind compatible to this new age. Reading Anthony’s blog helped me organize my thoughts. Education needs to become more of students discovering and learning on their own. Teachers are meant to guide and direct students in their learning, not hold their hands and spoon feed them knowledge.