A Future focus on
Knowledge: Two perspectives on the learning of knowledge in the 21st
Century.
Article Three:
Jeremy
Suisted: Basic knowledge building blocks to better minds.
New Zealand
Herald, September 17th 2013.
Please click
on the following link to view the article;
Summary of key ideas from article:
- · Knowledge is a key to ‘engaging with ideas’ which can lead to innovation.
- · Likens knowledge to building blocks.
- · Identifies Steve Jobs as an example for the need of academic knowledge for innovation.
- · Agrees there is a need for content and process, as process helps us apply this knowledge.
- · Highlights inquiry learning, critical engagement and co-creation as fundamental for learning in today’s world.
Article Four:
Jane Gilbert:
It’s what students do with knowledge that really matters.
New Zealand
Herald, September 20th 2013.
Please click
on the following link to view the article;
Summary of key ideas from article:
- · Perspectives are broadened and opportunities created from exposure to knowledge.
- · History of knowledge beginning as ‘eternal truths’, however knowledge has changed in form, capacity, rate of growth and access.
- · Future of education needs to be in working with and applying knowledge, and the ‘Nature’ of disciplines in the curriculum develops this disposition.
- · 70% of New Zealand’s curriculum is content
From these
two articles, it has come clear to me the need for innovation for the future of
and for learning. In my quest to discover
how I can most positively impact my students learning (Hattie, 2012) I will
investigate this notion, through Steve Jobs, as identified in article three,
and the founders of Google to broaden the perspective.
Interestingly
Steve Jobs first became hooked on education through a behaviourist approach to
learning (allaboutstevejobs.com, n.d.). How
the pendulum has shifted, with a cluster of schools in The Netherlands now
founded in his name. Based on the ‘O4NT’
(Education for a new era) Philosophy which bases knowledge acquisition on
discovery learning.
To find out
more about Steve Jobs School please click the link below:
The
philosophy of this school is to equip students with ICT and information processing
capability, critical thinking and problem solving skills, and a creative mind,
through collaboration. Individuals have
choice and follow their interests, self-assessing on their own web portfolio. The teacher is a ‘coach’ for learning at individualised
rates and ways of acquiring knowledge (Growling, 2013).
Google
founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, themselves were privy to a discovery
learning approach, within a Montessori setting.
In the following youtube clip they attribute Montessori’s Humanist view
of learning for their self-motivation and questioning curiosity.
Please click
link to view in youtube:
Wagner(2012)
lists the following attributes of an education that will develop innovators of
the 21st Century:
1.
Critical Thinking and problem solving
2.
Collaboration across networks and leading by
influence
3.
Agility and adaptability
4.
Initiative and entrepreneurship
5.
Accessing and analyzing information
6.
Effective oral and written communication
7.
Curiosity and imagination
I feel
slightly if I have just swung back to my original post from Dr. Rata and her
call for knowledge content to enable critical and rational thought…
The New
Zealand’s Key Competencies and Values to my mind offer me as the teacher an
approach to managing the learning of these skills in a collaborative setting,
which promotes individulised development of broad, higher level thinking skills
to aid in problem solving for the 21st Century (Ministry of Education,
2007).
This Venn represents to me, the core seeds for
knowledge acquistion in the 21st Century. Learning for students and teachers. To impact the learning outcomes of learners,
I too will need to foster these elements that stand out to me:
1.
Self regulation (assessment,motivation,
ways of learning, choices, meta-cognitive ability)
2.
Thinking skills
·
Reflective : to
aid self regulation
·
Critical: to aid
information processing
·
Creative: to
foster curiosity and imagination
3.
Problem solving
ability (aided by thinking processes)
4.
In a
collaborative environment to layer knowledge acquisition through different
perspectives
With these elements in mind for me as teacher and
learner, I see my role as facilitator of learning. Drawing on all these elements, guided by many
theories in a flexible approach which is best suited to create positive impacts
to the learning of all of my diverse learners.
I would like to investigate more into researched
impacts of teaching on achievement. I
have begun this journey in collaboration with John Hatties (2012) Visible Learning Series, however this could be content for my next blog perhaps. I also feel that to effectively address the
processes for knowledge acquisition listed above, I do in fact require further
content knowledge myself. Returning to
my initial question of this blog: Knowledge, Process or Content? I guess I will continue in the pursuit to
understand this very complex question.
 |
| A visual interpretation of my new understanding of "Knowledge - Process and Content". |
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