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AEP Online |
Curricula for the 21st CenturyThis article is the fifth in a series recapping the themes and issues most relevant to the future of the educational publishing industry, as told by the slate of expert speakers at the 2007 Educational Publishing Summit. This installment focuses on Monday's second general session, "Big Picture Thinking," which looked at four key areas of change within the industry: The Business of Publishing, Curriculum, Changing Demographics, and Educational Technology. In order to meet the needs of the 21st Century learner, curricula should focus on process knowledge as opposed to fact knowledge, or teaching kids how to learn in addition to what to learn, according to Michael Jay, president of Educational Systemics. Jay, who presented Curriculum: Time for Fundamental Change as part of the Summit general session "Big Picture Thinking," believes that today's learner is fundamentally different from students of the past. "[Today's students] are finally begging for constructivism," he said. "When I was a teacher...kids used to tell me all the time, 'just tell me what you want me to know.' Today's kids are saying, 'let me go find it; let me go figure out.'" To this end, he recommends taking what he calls the "National Park Service approach," or providing paths with soft edges that give students direction, but that let them explore and discover things on their own. With this approach the teacher takes on the role of "guide by the side" rather than the conventional "sage on the stage." A major obstacle to this approach comes in the form of assessment --how does one measure metaknowledge or students' abilities to learn? Jay admits this is a huge challenge, but feels that teaching students how to learn and reason will actually improve their performance on standardized assessments. "You're not going to be able to teach everything that's going to be on that assessment," said Jay, "so the student needs to be an engaged learner who is actually able to infer and make sense around new information--a lot like what they're going to need in real life." And in order for assessment to be effective, it must come in many forms--discussions or projects, for example, not just standardized tests--and it should directly impact and dictate classroom instruction. Unfortunately, the standards often say one thing while the assessments measure something else. This feedback loop must be established and strengthened, said Jay. The next big change in curriculum must come in how schools are addressing remediation. Rather than covering the same concepts every year because a handful of students didn't get it the first time, schools need to be more proactive with remediation, and publishers need to create intervention programs that cater to what Jay calls asynchronous learning. "We're not driving a whole class at the same time down the road, but in fact, it's like having a motorcycle gang," he said. "Some of them are vrooming their engines, some of them are going sort of slow, some are traveling together, sometimes there's a lone wolf out there. So we need to think about how we can produce materials that support the gang and how we can produce materials that help the teacher manage the gang." This sort of differentiated instruction will allow the students who are getting it to move ahead and not be bored, while at the same time giving the educator the type of skills they need to manage those students who have taken a slightly different path. Jay is confident that, overall, schools, teachers, and publishers are headed in the right direction. "No Child Left Behind was a catalyst," he said, "but the goal is now Every Child Helped Ahead."
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
If you attended the Summit and would like a copy of Michael Jay's presentation, please contact Doug Ferguson. Click here for more information on the 2007 Summit.
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2008 The Association of Educational
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