[IAEP] (Safe) How Can We Hope To Find the Right Answers If We Don't Know What The Right Questions Are?

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Folks,


The discussion we have been having about education and teacher training the last few days has really started me thinking about what exactly should education for the 21st century be? After tossing the question around my mind for a while and talking with my husband, also a retired teacher, I realize that it isn't likely we will have the right answer just based on our experiences.


I think it is important for us as, supporters of open source educational technology via OLPC and Sugar Labs, or anything else, to have some idea of what the correct answer is. We cannot expect to help students learn, or teachers teach, for the future they will live in if we don't have a general idea of the answers. In fact, at this point, I'm not sure we even know what the questions should be!


So, I did what we learned to do in grad school. I started by looking for what others have already said about the topic. I went to Amazon and looked for recent books that would bring to light the opinions of others who are respected authorities in the field. I realize this doesn't mean they have all the answers, but it is a good place to start.


Among the many listed, I found 2 books, both anthologies, that look like they may have some good ideas: "Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World," Edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, and "21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn," Edited by James Bellanca and Ron Brandt. I intend to get these books and read them with pencil and highlighter in hand.


I am hoping some of you others on the Support Gang list and IAEP list will accept my challenge and do the same. I'm also hoping some of you will add other resources to this tiny list of 2 items.


Then, sometime in the not to distant future, perhaps at the SF Community Summit in October, or SCaLE 11X in LA in January, we can meet for a series of thoughtful discourses that will help guide us in doing all we can to improve education for today's children and their teachers using our very special resources. 


Caryl (aka Grannie B) 		 	   		  
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