image courtesy of Modern Governor
Learning is contextual. Knowledge, skills, and dispositions are learned in context, not devoid of it. School is no longer an alternate reality, but a place for students to try some things out before the stakes increase. School is a place where they develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions and most importantly, learn how to learn. It is not my intent to coin a new phrase or acronym. Instead, I propose that ALL learning be contextual. The underlying foundation for PBL (both project- and problem-based) is that learning is most effective in context. Context matters. Finding context will require us to think deeply about the content, courses, and subjects we teach. Start with the question: what is it about the content/course/subject I teach that makes it important enough to be part of the required curriculum and instructional program? Organize your answers to this question into four categories: kid, adult, student, and professional. This exploration of context in four aspects is not a new idea. If you've ever met Chris Gareis or seen his work on Performance-Based Assessments, you will know quickly that this thought-provoking question and organization of context matters. For most of us, the professional column might be the most difficult for educators to fill. We all have experience with the other three; we have been kids, students, and adults. This shift from isolated skills to context-rich learning will require us to re-think and re-imagine curriculum, instruction, and professional development. Curriculum Curriculum will need to shift by developing content in context. What if we thought of content in terms of context instead of subjects? For example, what if students had a semester of buildings and bridges? What knowledge, skills, and dispositions currently taught in isolation within a student's schedule (four core, world language, elective, and health/PE) would be developed in context? What about a semester in DNA manufacturing? Bio-mechanical engineering? Agriculture, Horticultural, and Environmental Responsibility? Students would no longer have subjects in isolation, bells that ring, or even thinking about "When am I going to need this? Why do I have to learn this?" A context-based curriculum would also more readily embed the skills (The Commonwealth of Virginia refers to these as the 5 Cs - Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Citizenship) and both internal (adaptability, flexibility, grit, determination, risk-taking) and external (compassion, gratitude, humility, service) dispositions. This is not a new idea. Finland has already begun the work of un-subjecting schools (click HERE to read about Finland's approach to "Phenomenon-Based Learning"). In a curriculum such as this, students would learn all knowledge, skills, and dispositions within the K-12 experience in context. Instruction Instruction in the form of project-based learning allows our students to find relevant problems and learn curriculum, skills, and dispositions in context. Instruction in the form of guest speakers, whether community-based (face-to-face) or global (technology), brings experts in the field to connect the context directly to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Instruction in the form of internships, externships, job shadowing, and community service creates authentic learning experiences that are relevant and personalized for each student and engages context to connect to knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Again, not a new idea; however, in a system that is looking to re-define and re-design its approach to learning, schools must be given the permission, freedom, encouragement, and resources to take the risks necessary to work collaboratively with students and community leaders to engage in authentic learning experiences. Professional Development Finally, this thinking will require us to re-define professional development and teacher-prep programs. What if educators did summer internships in professions that used their content areas in context? This would allow our educators to provide rigorous and authentic learning experiences because they actually lived them as part of their growth and development. In teacher-prep programs, we will need to re-imagine content-heavy specialties and instead explore pedagogy in context-heavy experiences. This is not a new idea. To some extent, the University of Cambridge is using Job Shadowing for professional development. Re-think, Re-imagine, Re-define, and Re-design For our students, the high school experience looks very much the same in 2018 as it did for me in 1995, and my parents before me in 1975 (and their parents in 1955). In the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are placing an emphasis on re-imagining and re-designing the high school experience. In our commitment to re-think and re-define what's possible, we must be equally committed to our approach to curriculum, instruction, and professional development. In the "new" school, context matters.
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