Cover the Material?Or Teach Students to Think?
Contributor(s): Marion Brady
Analytics: Show analyticsPublisher: 2008Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeSubject(s): Active learning -- Authentic learning -- Creative Thinking | Critical Thinking -- Experiential Learning -- Interdisciplinary Education In: Educational Leadership 65 (5) : 2008. pp.64-67| Item type | Current location | Home library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOOK | Periodicals Section | Periodicals Section Periodicals Section | L11.Ed83el.2007 (Browse shelf) | Available | PER1117C |
ABSTRACT : For many educators, the main purpose of educating isn't to improve students' thinking skills but to "cover the material" in math, science, language arts, social studies, and other school subjects. Covering the material contributes to social stability and enables the transmission of useful information, but general education can no longer afford to focus solely on these aims. The most important task is sending students into the future fully able to think clearly and creatively. Current education tools, such as textbooks, favor secondhand knowledge; tests favor recall. Neither focuses on developing the full range of thinking skills. Education leaders can take one crucial step in getting students to think by drawing a sharp line between firsthand and secondhand knowledge. Schools should look to the real world for their subject matter.
Endnote 1 National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). Fast Facts. Washington, DC: Author. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
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