RE: Always Be Learning and Growing - Elon Musk Does
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During my time in education, I had the privilege of working as a consultant for the local education board within the district I had taught in. My job allowed me time to re-read and reflect upon educational theories that I had first covered as a student-teacher years before. The benefit of this was that I got to look at my own practice as a teacher, and actually see how the theories played out.
One of the areas that fascinated me was the development of teaching metacognition within the classroom. It was powerful stuff. It crossed all subjects and allowed students to understand themselves as learners.
Much of what you have written in this article reminds me of this. Asking pertinent questions regarding your learning is key. Questions like:
What do I already know about this topic? Before beginning new research.
What did I find most confusing about what I studied? Both during, and at the end of exploration on a new topic.
How did my understanding/thinking change (or not change)? Following a course of study.
There are many more questions but they all tie into becoming a reflective learner, who is able to evaluate the process of learning, which in turn enables said learner to go much deeper into the acquisition of knowledge.
Like you, I'm an advocate of deep (and wide) learning. 😊
It was really rare to hear any of my teachers actively integrate learning in one subject with another. It was like they were all silos. It took a long time for me to start making the integrations on my own. Probably one of the reasons I was a bored student most of the time but would happily dive into books to learn other stuff. Made my own connections.
It's a shame that it has not moved on more. I think mixing elements of different subjects and working on cross-curricular projects allows for both more enjoyable learning and better interaction between students.
I agree.. understanding how things interact and overlap can help people understand the bigger picture of what is going on in the world. Their not understanding makes them vulnerable to charlatans and manipulation.
Absolutely. It would probably do away with kid mantra, "How is this useful in real life?" too. Or at least, it would lessen it. Imagine a project where you have to create something for a Spanish Tech boss. The overlap of subjects and creativity would be so much closer to the way the world works and open up opportunities for teamwork, leadership and so so much more.
Thanks for the ongoing conversation, Shadows. It's been a while since I explored the possibilities in education. ☺️
I would hope by now schools are moving into a more real world application style of teaching kids. It has been a few decades since I graced the doors of a school.
Unfortunately, schools have not moved very far yet.