Trend 1: Coding. The first thing that struck me in this report was the idea of coding as a major platform for teaching computer science to students. It is listed as a short term key trend, but also that the level at which it is taught will lower. Rather than beginning with this technology in middle or high school, elementary students will be learning basic coding so that rather than being a trend in 3, 5 or 10 years, it will just be a part of the knowledge base that students have when they get to middle school. As of now, I teach coding as more of a fun break from our normal curriculum (using the Hour of Code week mentioned in the article), but this needs to change. Coding has to become a major part of curriculum in every school meaning that the technology has to be there for every child in our country.
Coding is something that will "move students from simply interacting with devices to controlling how those devices interact with them"(2016). This is a major part of learning by doing and knowing how a computer works and how to code may inspire students to want to learn about how much of the world around them works and then control those. This could lead to learning about how disaster relief is handled and figuring out a way to make it better. It could lead to learning how diseases run through a human body and figuring out a way to heal. Being inspired to learn will lead to great things.
Trend 2: Redesigning teaching. Another key trend is just how lessons are taught in general. No longer teacher centered, classrooms are embracing the students as collaborators and active learners which means not only a change in curriculum, but a change in physical layout. If a teacher graduated from college more than 5 years ago, they were most likely taught in a way that implied that they would be the center of the classroom, so moving into these new ways of teaching require letting go of "tradition". Not surprisingly, this report, like many others, mentions the success of schools in Finland, Norway and Denmark where students have more time outside, more time to explore what it is they are interested in, and no mandated curriculum. If we teach students what they are interested in learning about, they will take more knowledge away from our lessons.
We, as teachers, need to know that what is important is learning how to learn and how to inquire and how to solve problems. There are always facts available, there are tutorials and books and web pages available all the time. But if students don't know how to find this information or figure out how to determine what is fact and what is opinion, they will be lost. Knowing about our nation's history and science and math and how to speak and write properly are not things that should not be taught, but they should be learned while solving real world problems and through collaboration with peers because that is what is going to prepare students for the real world. As a middle school teacher, I should not be the first person to teach my students this way, but rather, they should come to me prepared to have the freedom to learn in a way that makes sense to each of them.
Trend 3: Makerspaces. These spaces are another way, like coding, for students to see how things work and what their minds are capable of, given the right tools. My library has recently turned one of its computer labs into a makerspace and the goal of the space is to allow students to come into the space to tinker and play as well as come in with classes to learn curriculum in a new way. I have been out on maternity leave during the beginning of this phenomenon at our school, so I cannot speak to its success, but the hope is that students will have a place to go and have fun while learning, perhaps without even realizing how much they are learning.
My plan for our makerspace is to learn more about our curriculum for each subject and level and find a way to make the space appealing to teachers, especially those who are set in their ways. Giving students more freedom to learn the way that will be most effective for each of them may seem to some like play time, but in reality, it is preparing them for the work force, making it so that rather than asking for help all the time, they are figuring out how to solve problems. This trend of learned helplessness needs to disappear and perhaps makerspaces are one step in the right direction. I can see this trend only lasting a few years, but rather than going away for good, I think it will evolve throught he years.
Resources
Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A., Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M., and Yuhnke, B. (2016). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
I also really like the quote about coding moving "students from simply interacting with devices to controlling how those devices interact with them." Coding instills problem-solving skills and links to another trend from the report, "Students as Creators," creating apps that have the potential to tackle authentic real-world issues (like the children who designed an app so that kids would have someone to sit with at lunch).
ReplyDeleteLoved your paragraph that began with "We, as teachers, need to know that what is important is learning how to learn and how to inquire and how to solve problems. There are always facts available..." I completely agree! Yes, students need foundational skills, but these alone will not help them attain 21st century skills that they need - like information literacy, critical thinking...
That's great that your school has created its own makerspace! I'd love to hear more about it - What kinds of materials are available, Is there a 3D printer? And, how the use of the space evolves.
Lisa