Fast & Slow Learning in the 21st CenturyGustavo E. Fischman & Eric M. Haas

edXchange Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College

What drives you crazy about education reform?

We are the students of today

Attending the schools of yesterday

Being taught by the teachers of the past

With methods from the Middle Ages

To solve the problems of the future!

Many reforms are rightly wrong

Because they are based on models

—prototypes and metaphors—

that feel right

but are fundamentally wrong

DELIVERING KNOWLEDGE IS THE

SAME AS LEARNING AND

TEACHING

WRONG

Sometimes what feels right initially, when you think about it a bit more slowly isn’t really a good idea

The Conduit Model

Teachers are info depositor

s

Words are vessels for objective meaning

Minds are empty

A predominant logical fallacy

• Authority A in the name of society decides that Knowledge K is important

• A selects teacher B with lots of K to deliver to student X who doesn’t have any K

• B gives K to X

• If X doesn’t “get K”, then it is X ’s problem

How often have we actively or inadvertently thought, talked,

and acted as if teaching as direct transmission is true?

How can we avoid the rightly wrong

temptation of using the Conduit Metaphor?

Rethink Rationality

David.Plunkert.image_.via_.NYT_.11-27-11

Think of a Grandmother

Think of a Math Class

What do you see?

Can you read this?Can yuo raed tihs? Are yuo srpruesid?

You can aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht you are rdanieg. In fcat, if yuo are fulnet in Egnislh you cnnaot not raed tihs. Yuor bairn rdaes this atoullimatacy and yuo conant sotp ylsouerf. Amzanig, huh?

Yo ca re d t is jus fin , too. Eve with t e miss g l tt rs.

More Accurate MetaphorBUT not Perfect . . .

Learning is Growth

Minds or Brains are Soil

Ideas/Understandings/Students are Plants

Growth Metaphor Logic

• People construct their understandings

• People need supports to construct accurate or expert understandings/abilities

•High expectations•Sufficient supports•Strong relationships

Madness TestApply to any educational proposal

Misunderstand how people learn ?

Apply (rightly wrong) ideas as silver bullets ?

Disregard (contrary) evidence (consistently and stubbornly) ?

Does it . . .

Promote Smart Ideas

Ones with little of no credible evidence

of likely success

Ones supported by credible evidence of likely success

Avoid Dumb Ideas

Top 11 “Rightly Wrong” Ed Ideas Popular, but little evidence

Top 10 “Smart” Ed Ideas Less Popular, but with more evidence

Thanks!

join us again on November 8 at Brunson-Lee

Elementary School