Learning to Work Creatively With Knowledge

Attachment

inresslearning.pdf

11f9jm3zf-1vt/b0bsl79jx59rwtw7lr978psshbdk7tsxlb1w4wlpmfhprmt/inresslearning.pdf

Description

We take it that the actual belief among most learning scientists is that only in the basic academic skill areas of reading, writing, and elementary mathematics do we know how to teach cognitive skills with fair confidence that they will transfer to a wide range of situations. Yet we must respect the demands of society for the schools to turn out people who, in addition to being proficient in these basic skills, will be prepared to learn new things, collaborate in the solution of novel problems, and produce innovations in areas that presently may not even exist. In the absence of tested methods, how do we do this? The time-honored and still the only promising way is immersion. If you do not have an effective way of teaching a foreign language, then place the students in an environment where that is the dominant language and trust that their natural adaptive abilities will lead them to master the language. By the same reasoning, if we want students to acquire the skills needed to function in knowledge-based, innovation-driven organizations, we should place them in an environment where those skills are required in order for them to be part of what is going on. That, as we understand it, is the main reason the focus of this conference book is on powerful learning environments rather than on powerful instructional methods. For a range of very important objectives we have no effective instructional means and therefore must rely on environmental immersion.

Author

Carl Bereiter & Marlene Scardamalia. OISE/University of Toronto