Posts
When I was reading through EDUTOPIA today, I was immediately drawn to the following title, "What can schools do to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and math?" I think if this was a question that had one specific answer, a lot of time and questions would be eliminated in education. My first initial thought is - conquer one subject at a time. As if this questions has not been evaluated before one should look at just one subject to start. If a teacher is trying to increase interest in science, see what works and does not work. From that, one an approach the next subject such as technology.
I think the bottom line is that schools are trying to improve their curriculum and gaining the interest of students in general. Each year a teacher learns - each year a student learns - each year the school learns. After the end of a year or lesson, one should evaluate the strong points and continue to strive for the best.
This question can not be answered from one point of view. It takes time and expertise.
That very article caught my attention as well. I agree with what you said...schools aren't going to change over night. So often we want this automatic show of growth in subjects that have been restructed. It's just not going to happen that way. Everything continually needs to be assessed, reassessed and assessed again. Things aren't going to change because we want them to.
ReplyDeleteOur school is looking at changing one of our elementary schools into a science/math academy that is built around children's interest and inquiry based, hands-on learning. It sounds like a great initiative! We need to start getting to a place where we focus more on what our children are interested in and less on "standard-based" assessments. Thanks for your post!