When you were in school, did you ever take a quiz and wonder, "when am I ever going to use this stuff"? I think we have all had similar thoughts in our past. The availability of knowledge has become more and more accessible through the internet, including videos from experts, access to printed academic journals that, in the past, you could only find in the library, and social media that gives you resources at your fingertips. I would argue that educators need to change their approaches to teaching with the infinite amount of information and knowledge available to students.
Many people agree with the sentiment that approaches to teaching need to change. Mitchel Resnick, the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and head of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab (2017), believes that the rest of a student's education should be more like Kindergarten by infusing play, making, and creativity into classrooms. He states, "Knowledge alone is not enough: they must learn how to use their knowledge creatively" (p. 50).
Transfer of knowledge, the ability to apply knowledge and skills from one context to another, can be positively impacted when learning environments emphasize creating and problem-solving. "Helping learners choose, adapt, and invent tools for solving problems is one way to facilitate transfer while also encouraging flexibility" (p 78). This sounds to me more like a Kindergarten environment than one of the traditional teaching methods that use memorization and testing.
The author, Karen Artabasy, in Kindergarten
Reflecting on my schooling, I would have been more engaged, more challenged, and better prepared for working and problem-solving as an adult if my education had infused more creating and play into my classes. As an adult, I will be looking for ways to infuse more play into my work to keep me engaged and to boost creativity and problem solving.
References and Image Credits
Artabasy, K. (1983). Picture of Karen Artabasy in Kindergarten. [Photograph]. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gUtI1j6nMDQ6OoVKsH1tGmWkWnLg0pIP/view?usp=sharing
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R., Donovan, M.S., Pellegrino, J.W. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9853.
Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passions, Peers, and Play. MIT Press.
Resnick, M. (n.d.) Mitchel Resnick. MIT Media Lab. https://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/
Yale University. (2017). Transfer of Knowledge to New Contexts. Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/TransferKnowledge
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