Step 1: Discovery
There is something fun about playing games. We get less excited when we think about having to learn basic skills, yet there much the same type of learning in both, including repetition, etc. Economics and politics both employ game theory as a means of inducting and enhancing peoples' understanding
A rudimentary overview of game theory includes:
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Gamers need to know the desired outcomes, and strategies of the game. This includes payoffs per strategy.
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Games follow a pretty standard format as long as we can assume everyone cares about one particular outcome – for instance winning.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the article was to expound upon the skills that educators need for successful teaching and learning in the 21st century. The scope of the article includes the history of U.S. education reform. The research design and methodology included educators and policy makers and their attempts to ensure that:
· Instructional programs in schools were complete and that the content had not been shortchanged for an ephemeral pursuit of skills.
· States, school districts and schools must revamp how they think about human capital in education in particular how teachers are trained.
· New assessments are needed that can accurately measure richer learning and more complex tasks. For the 21st century skills to be effective, these three elements must be implemented in concert. Otherwise, the reform will be superficial and counter productive.
The findings were:
· Critical thinking and problem solving have been components of human progress throughout history.
This very slick video contains a baseline of ideas for the Future(s) of Education Project begins. History would suggest that adaptive change requires both the formal authority and the informal voice of the activist to bring about significant change. For more on the ideas of building the holding environments needed to sustain change efforts see: Heifetz (2000). Leadership without easy answers.
Related Video
Today (16th June, 2009) in our early morning (GMT) discussion we discovered that much of what the rest of the Future(s) project teams have reported mirrors the process in New Zealand. The significant difference of course is that in NZ the state has already embraced these ideas and they are moving into classrooms. For some of the rest of us this “advanced” thinking seems far away.
As we have seen the discussion of education and the skills our children need for the world they will inherit centres on the dichotomy between external control (often exerted through schooling) to internal control or self initiation (exerted in projects like the Hole in the Wall). While not completely confirmed by our participants yet, it seems that we believe students need both: to be able to reconcile to outside authority when necessary and to equally be able to tap their own inner dynamic resources of creative action.
According to the NZ education website they focused on “the skill development necessary for participation in society” – a key question very similar to ours. While I won’t repeat what you can read for yourselves in the NZ document (now uploaded to the discussion forum under (Documents to Share – the four general headings are:
- Operating in Social Groups
- Acting Autonomously
- Using Tools Interactively
- Thinking
Our discussion this morning ranged across learning environments as we went through:
a) the school/deschool discussion (follow the Read More link if interested)
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Indiana Wesleyan / Kentucky
Discover ideas at the Indiana Wesleyan University Kentucky to be skilled and educated in your chosen field.
