After the group presentation we revisited some of the ideas about how education is going to change in the future. One of the ideas that came up was the new three R's of High school education: Relevance, Relationships, Rigor. However, these characteristics can also define elementary education. In order to motivate students they need to be able to connect relevance to their material. Also cross-curriculum relationships are important to foster when planning our my learning structure. If children can identify relationships between material across a number of different subjects, the probability that they will find it meaningful and remember it will greatly increase. Lastly, rigor is also important because I think that many elementary schoolers aren't being challenged enough. Teachers are too often just transmitting knowledge to them instead of challenging them to discover their own.
Idea of learning and school are too closely related. People assume one applies the other. But, just because students attend school does not mean they are learning. Professor Boyer said "I'm in favor of the idea of learning over the idea of school." Learning should be the focus, the the physical school building.
Attitudes about technology have not changed since they emerged. When cell phones came out, they were instantly banned, as they still are today. I understand that personal use of a cell phone in class could be distracting, but now with all the functions of a cell phone, it could actually be a resource for students. Same with other technologies. We need to think about what medium we are providing knowledge and if it what this generations students will relate to the best. Could we provide a more effective mode of learning through technology? And, wouldn't that better prepare them for their jobs and future learning outside the classroom?
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