What inspired my call for change?

There is a strong need for us to reform education. There are many aspects that need to be eliminated, reformed or implemented. My main focus has been incorporating technology in education. I am not simply talking about using Power Points in the classroom, but really allowing kids to embrace technology, and use it to learn about the world around them. I have explored this idea is previous blog posts, which you can check out at:

Kirsten's blog posts

What inspired me to investigate this topic were some Ted Talks that I happened to stumble upon. Sir Kenneth Robinson and Sugata Mitra have some great ideas about education. Those videos got me thinking about my own personal experiences in school. I used to struggle in school and still do. It is something that has never come easy to me. I have learned to deal with my struggles and have become a decent student, but it was a very different story when I was young. I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times, so when I didn't understand my homework I would throw a tantrum as if the world were about to end. I felt so dumb and I didn't know how to deal with it.

Taking a look at education

I believe that taking full advantage of technology, although with careful precautions of course, in the classroom will benefit the students because technology in the classroom provides opportunities for creativity and curiosity to grow. A child’s mind is eager to learn and built to absorb the world around it. There is so much information out there to help mold children’s minds while they are young. Also technology could provide different teaching and learning techniques to help all students have a better learning experience.

·         15^th century during the beginning of the Renaissance the printing press was invented creating an information revolution. Books, pamphlets and other items were published and made available to many more people.

o   Today we are in a technological revolution with a surplus of information at our finger tips.

·         During the Enlightenment, around the 1750s, many great minds revolutionized education. Men such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke recognized and gave emphasis to the idea of “shaping young minds early.”

o   This revolutionized education but unfortunately 300 years later we are still applying the same standards that they set up. How can we learn from their school system but better adapt it to our ever changing technological society?

·         Sugata Mitra, a professor of educational technology performed an experiment which he called “hole-in-the-wall” back in 1999. One thing that led to this experiment was his discovery that in certain areas where good teachers won’t go, like an area where their personal safety might be an issue is where they are needed the most. It is from these areas where kids are not being educated that trouble tends to arise. So for his experiment Mitra put a computer in wall outside in New Dehli. He put about 3 feet off the ground and left it there. As time went on kids began to explore the computer and the internet. After a short amount of time they found games that they could download and play. Games that taught them how to build things and to use math. Technology is there to help us. Let’s use it to tap into the creativity of children and to enhance their learning experience with the help of technology.

Big Data and Social Scientists

Education and Technology

When I was young some of my teachers assumed that I had a learning disability until. Although that all changed in 5th grade with Mr. Ellefson. He made education fun and exciting. He worked with me and helped me see that I could learn. One of my favorite projects from his class was my state report. We spent much time preparing for the presentation of our projects by walking as a class to a nearby computer lab. We were given the freedom to use the internet to find information on our state and put it together in a power point presentation. I always looked forward to going to the computer lab and I felt as though I learned so much from that project. This was my first real use of the internet to help me in my school work. Technology has changed a lot since then and is even more helpful yet we aren't taking full advantage of all it has to offer. With proper structure, guidance and protection I believe that kids can and should be allowed to take full advantage of technology to help them learn. Here are some more of my thoughts on the matter:

Fa'a Samoa: The Samoan Way

The South Pacific Islands

    I appreciated Makena's comment about rejecting what has been declared "true" as the prevailing dogma. As Descarte was bold in his day, we should model his forethought in regard to education.  I also thought about Ashley's comment on the public policy and legislative issues necessary to implement changes in US public education. In considering these, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Namulau’ulu Gaugau Tavana. Dr. Tavana is a native of Samoa, and was instrumental in designing and implementing a new educational system for the nation of Samoa. Instead of adhering to the British (or European) system, at which many Samoan youth experienced defeat  (and like Tonga, originally instituted because of their ties with New Zealand), Samoa embraced a new system which allowed direct input into curriculum standards and formation from village and district representation. In this system, native Samoans, elected from village chiefs and commoners, had a representative voice, along with business and government leaders, in determining what type of education would allow for the sanctity of cultural customs and mores combined with foundational core classes and life skills, thus benefiting all students. It was policy change from the ground up.

    Whereas the old system, taught in many instances by native teachers, but administered through New Zealand testing by “palangi” (whites) unfamiliar with the culture and intimidating to the native students, resulting in poor performance on standardized tests, the new system allowed for a wide range of achievement in not only core academics, but also what we might consider a trade school curriculum such as business, carpentry, metal work, home economics, and native agricultural skills. 

    As a native Samoan who grew up under the restraints of the old system, Dr. Tavana is one of the few native youth who achieved enough success to continue his education abroad. His life goal has been to increase the opportunities for success for the youth of his country by preserving the best of Samoa while fitting them to take their place without fear anywhere their dreams lead them.

Changing the way we look at education

I have tried and am currently working on getting in touch Deanna Mayers. She is the curriculum coordinator for blendedschools.net which is a website that develops curriculum for grades K-12. What made me want to get in touch with her was a presentation that she posted on twitter about how to become a maker educator. This is the idea of allowing kids the opportunity to build something with their own hands. Throughout the process they will be able to express creativity while at the same time learning about math, science and engineering. Now this is an idea worth pondering.

http://www.slideshare.net/jgerst1111/educator-as-a-maker-educator

Since I have yet to hear from her I have been perusing the internet for ideas behind educational reform. I was immediately drawn back to Sir Kenneth Robinson. He is a member of an organization called RSA or Royal Society for the Arts. Their mission is this, “21^st century Enlightenment: enriching society through ideas and action.” Sir Robinson has taken a particular look at the educational system and pondered how we can improve it and what actions need to be taken. He mentions that our current system of education was “designed and conceived for a different age… during the intellectual culture of the Enlightenment and in the economic circumstances of the industrial revolution.” That was a few hundred years ago. It served its purpose when it was initially created but now it is simply outdated. With the advancement of technology we have all the information we could imagine at our fingertips.

Most companies now are looking for people who will be creative and innovative. Another important skill is adaptability since technology and the world around us seems to be changing so rapidly. Most schools are not focusing on developing these skills within their students because they are still hung up on the idea of what education used to be a few hundred years ago. This thinking will have detrimental effects on our economy in the future if we don’t act now. We need to start making changes from the bottom, up. We need to truly take a look at our schools and see them NOT as some sort of factory spitting out the next generation of workers but as a living and breathing organism, students are the future. Kids have a natural desire to learn but we snuff that out as soon as we begin to "educate" them. It may seem like a radical idea, but what if we let them govern their own education? Allowed them the opportunity to learn about what intrigues them? What if we let them use the technology that is so readily available for them? I believe that this would foster creativity, it would nourish their natural desire to learn and help them to understand the world around them. This goes back to being a maker educator. Giving students the opportunity to become producers instead of consumers, to learn how to collaborate with their peers, to be creative and innovative. These young thinkers have great potential, they are our future. Let's not fail them.