Our school system is not supportive of creativity. It does not really facilitate learning in such a way that students are able to deal and tackle real problems or questions they have. We are given a problem, taught a method to solve that problem, and if each step is not followed correctly you've done it 'wrong'. It sounds really sad when you're actually honest about how we were taught in school.
As a teacher we are expected to force feed knowledge as if that is 'preparation' for university which I don't think it is at all. Most of learning in my opinion happens through experience, experimentation and interaction which doesn't really have a place in school, especially in maths and science. What should be done to inspire students an help them enjoy school is a very difficult problem considering the various different pedagogies around.
In the article entitled The Standards of Critical Digital Pedagogy (Hamilton, 2014), the author describes the standards created by organisations such as ISTE, P21 etc. are promoting ICT (Information and Communications Technology) literacy standards which are "limited, and therefore limiting". This means that although it is possible that technology could be used in innovative ways in the classroom, teachers are influenced negatively by these standards, where ideas and creativity are shut down by confined standards.
The independent project is something that comes to mind when thinking about what learners actually want to learn about. Students at Monument Regional High School involved in this project were allowed to choose their own curriculums, ask questions which were not addressed in class (or part of the general subject curriculum) and learn from each by being taught by one another. They ended up working harder, learning more, presenting what they found in a variety of ways and enjoyed their schooling much more. I am not saying that this will work as a global standard for school curriculum, but it does open our eyes to the limiting factor mentioned above.
Can self-directed learning across classrooms become a viable option to students on a global scale? I don't think enough has been done to say that with a definite 'yes', but a start to that is experimenting outside of the traditional 'teacher as the be all and end all authority' mentality of our schooling system (including how some learners and teachers think as well). This outdated way of thinking can be changed by our approach to learning - teachers have much to learn from their students, it is a two way street. It also allows us to think critically and creatively about the possibilities of schooling in the future and the position we as teachers will hold.
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