A Challenge to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills
Various Authors, Common Core, September 17, 2009.

The core, if you will, of the challenge is this: "P21's approach to teaching those skills marginalizes knowledge and therefore will deny students the liberal education they need. Cognitive science teaches us that skills and knowledge are interdependent and that possessing a base of knowledge is necessary to the acquisition not only of more knowledge, but also of skills. Skills can neither be taught nor applied effectively without prior knowledge of a wide array of subjects." Via Joanne Jacobs and the rest of the usual suspects from the same circle of friends.

The common core crowd don't read outside their own sphere of influence, so they won't see this post. But if they listen to you, try asking them, why is a common core necessary for the teaching of skills, and why is testing of that core necessary. Because, of course, the question isn't whether skills - such as critical thinking or (?) mathematical reasoning - can be taught in isolation, but rather (a) whether they must be taught in the context of some common base of knowledge (begging the question of just what that common basis of knowledge should be), and (b) whether students ought to be tested on the basis of that knowledge (rather than, say, their reasoning ability).

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Re: A Challenge to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Anymouse, September 18, 2009

Stephen: I usually see your point, but here, I wonder. See, I teach graduate level psychology, and we have learners come in who have never had a psych course before, or who don't have a broad base. Now, we want them to think critically, to criticize, analyze, and apply. So we say, draw on the theories of developmental psychology, in particular Erikson and Arens to learn more about individuals in their early twenties. A Based on this understanding, develop a plan to deal with risk taking behavior in junior colleges.
Don't they need to first have a "base of knowledge" in who these theorists are?
Further, as a course designer who relies on projects, scenarios, and other action assignments/assessments, I worry that we just can't ask for that many assignments in one term. Wouldn't some areas require a knowledge base that the learners can then think about in more depth? I'm thinking about MDs too, having to learn the names of bones and organs or biogeneticists having to learn the terminology. Am I missing something here? Please explain. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: A Challenge to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Stephen Downes, September 19, 2009

I respond to these concerns here:
http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/09/operating-system-for-mind.html
[Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: A Challenge to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Frank Lowney, September 20, 2009

We should not be thinking in linear terms that force us into a 'chicken vs egg' mentality. The acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes in the "natural state" is an iterative one. We are motivated somehow to figure something out and that drives the search for knowledge and skill. Answering questions inevitably gives rise to more questions and, so, this is a self-perpetuating activity.

Synchronized learning in classrooms full of students usually runs against the grain of natural learning. We try to assure prerequisite knowledge, skills and dispositions with hierarchical curricular design but the number of gaps in those prerequisites increase over time and geography rapidly reaching Tower of Babel proportions or the point of entropy for an unnatural educational system.

Priming this process and facilitating its progress over time should be the primary focus of educators and the institutions they create. Preparing for a vocation that aligns with societal goals should be secondary to that. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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