A New Culture of Learning

The new culture of learning is taking root and transforming the way we think about information, imagination and play. We can see that learning is taking place in day-to-play life through the fusion of vast informational resources with very personal, specific needs and actions. The new culture of learning gives us the freedom to make the general personal and then share out personal experience in a way that, in turn, adds to the general flow of knowledge. Learning becomes a life-long interest that is renewed and redefined on a continual basis. Everything and everyone - around us can be seen as resources for learning.

(Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 31)

Photo retrieved from http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5015/5501637623_dd41e0b754.jpg

As I sit here typing out my first blog, it dawn on me how education has drastically changed compared to when I was in grade school (if you are wondering when that was, it was the early 90's).  Just to give you a glimpse as to how I was learning, it was pretty much teacher says, students do. In grade 3, I remember memorizing the multiplication times tables and that was a daunting task.  Also, none of my classmates or myself ever questioned how we knew the answer, we just had to know them by heart.  At the time, our year was also the beginning of the grade 3 EQAO math tests.  

Photo retrieved from: http://blog.k12.com/sites/default/files/math-confusion-wide_0.png

Now forwarding to 2013, students are urged to think outside the box, question those answers, share and reflect on their analytical thinking and collaboratively work with others.  Currently, there is a push for reform in mathematics at Rainy River District School Board (RRDSB) and I had the opportunity to witness this strategy in action.  A question would be presented and the teacher would guide the students through an introductory discussion.  The students would then pair up and shared their thinking through discussion and notes.  Once each group had their ideas and came to a collective decision, the students shared their thinking through pictures, writing and sometimes graphs on chart paper.  What stood out from that math lesson was that the students had the opportunity to learn various strategies of presenting their answers, engaged in cooperative learning with their peers, and were critically thinking.    According to Van de Walle and Folk (2008), there are 5 shifts in the environment of the mathematics classroom that are necessary to allow students to develop mathematical power (p. 6).  Teachers need to shift:

• Toward classrooms as mathematics communities and away from classrooms as simply a collection of individuals 
• Towards logic and mathematical evidence as verification and away from the teacher as the sole authority for correct answers 
• Towards mathematical reasoning and away from mere memorizing procedures 
• Towards conjecturing, inventing, and problem solving and away from an emphasis on the mechanistic finding of answers 
• Toward connecting mathematics, its ideas, and its applications and away from teaching mathematics as a body of isolated concepts and procedures

(Van de Walle & Folk, 2008, p. 6)

The idea of creating learning communities, producing, problem solving and developing skills and tools to work with content can also be reflected in other subjects as well.  Rather than educators presenting content and students sit and listen, teachers are now guiding learners to sift through information, analyze what is considered relevant to their area of study and share the student's learning through a variety of multimedia tools.  I can't help but question whether all educators agree to this reform, particularly those that have been in the education field for 20+ years.  I also wonder whether we are falling behind in setting changes in learning compared to our face-paced world.  By the time we get students to collaborate through multi-media, is this considered the thing of the past tomorrow?  According to Warschauer (2011), these are the following skills students need to acquire for the 21st century:

Learning and Innovation Skills

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration

Information, Media and Technology Skills

• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT (information, communications, and technology) Literacy

Life and Career Skills

• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Self-Direction
• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
• Productivity and Accountability
• Leadership and Responsibility

(p. 13)

With these skills in mind, is our current Ontario Curriculum setting standards that cater to what is considered a 21st century learner?  I would advocate for current and new teachers to consider the reform and to take charge in how we are currently learning.  The curriculum and forms of assessment need to be reconsidered and revisited to cater to student success.  In our constant evolving world, students need to become innovators of the future  to thrive in the 21st century.  In order for this to happen, educators themselves should follow the same path.  Thoughts? 

- Tien

References

Thomas, D. & Brown, J.S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. USA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Van de Walle, J.A. & Folk, S. (2008). Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching developmentally, 2nd Canadian Ed. Toronto, ON: Pearson Education Inc.

Warschauer, M. (2011). Learning in the cloud: How (and why) to Transform schools with digital media. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.