I had a discussion with two colleagues today at lunch. One teaches 8th grade science and the other 8th grade math. The science teacher was describing the new "hands-on" program they've implemented this year. The program emphasizes an inquiry approach with several experiments per week. The teacher likes the program, but she's not sure it's working with her students. We ask what the problem is. To summarize her response- how are experiments going to help these students learn science when they can't do the basics? The math teacher then chimed in with the fact that her students can't multiply numbers or add a positive and negative number without a calculator. In fact, they don't know their times tables, which we all had to memorize in what, third or fourth grade?
So, being the devil's advocate, I asked the teachers- but in today's society, do they need to have the times tables memorized? Do they need to know how to spell every word correctly? Do they need dictionary skills? Technology enables them to access tools to handle these seemingly 20th century skills or tasks. In the 21st century, aren't we more interested in process and content?
The teachers responded with YES! Students still need to know the basics. What's the point of developing new types of learning experiences if they cannot read, write or compute on the most basic levels? Although the teachers couldn't cite a single article, study, or hard evidence, they both strongly felt that because students were not memorizing or practicing the basics, something was being lost. Somehow, we benefited from having to know what 12 x 12 equaled. Perhaps it just exercised our brains...
The point of this conversation replay? I agree with them. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around "old school" and "new school." Is one really better than the other? A balance needs to be created- 21st century learning built upon a strong foundation of the "basics." I have a difficult time, in some regard, implementing a 21st century project when the kids can't (or won't) read.
Then, throw assessments into the mix- now we're really pushing it. How are we going to assess what students can do in the 21st century? What is the 21st century yardstick, and will our students measure up?
On a tangent... I've had 8th graders in the library all week conducting a research project about an author of their choice. I explain the print and online resources available. They are required to utilize one print resource. They all run to the computers. Normally, I have students work with print first. However, I let students choose as a way to accommodate the digital native in them. Many of them don't want to use books anyway. The students then locate some online websites and databases. Here's what I don't understand... They don't want to bother with books, they only want to search the web, and yet, they want to print everything out...
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That is sooooo funny, and soooooo true that kids veer away from the books, but they print everything without any kind of real selectivity. And I often wonder if they look at the pile that they've printed. Watch out trees!
And those old school skills? How will they ever understand the information presented if they are not solid readers? This is what slays me...isn't a majority of the information on the internet in print, anyway? Sure, we have storyboards, lots of visual, and even interactive, etc., but for most informational material, we need to read the print.
Math skills? Don't people have lemonade stands anymore? Isn't that where it all starts? Don't they want to be able to check their numbers?
I can't think of any of those basic skills that we can afford to throw out of the window.
I wonder to what extent these kids are caught in the middle - a time warp if you will. So much is changing at the elementary level now in terms of how kids learn the basics. In our district they have implemented Chicago math. I know that some parents hate this program because it forces them to relearn a lot of what they thought they knew, but for my kids it's been great. They have a very firm grasp of "the basics" (and some things that are far beyond the basics) but they also are getting a huge dose of mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills. My second grader was motivated to learn multiplication on his own in order to solve more interesting problems. I wonder if the kids coming along will be better able to handle the type of curricular changes you and your colleagues were discussing.
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