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The best of both worlds►
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The best of both worlds►
Why do we need to change?
We are now in the Information Age where schools need to foster learning communities that produce knowledge workers who can function successfully in a fast-paced, globally networked world. With the availability of technology, many students at a young age have been introduced to resources that give them access to vast quantities of information and allow them to decide what information they want to explore. Education must meet the needs of the work force while helping students to discern the value and validity of the informational content they discover as well as understand and apply the knowledge they gain. In his web document "Everything You Learned in School," Dr. Rodney Riegle, Professor of Education at Illinois State University, discusses the " three Is (information acquisition, information analysis, and information display)," the basic skills of the Information Age in contrast to the three "Rs" (reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic) representing the basic skills of the Industrial Age. In addition, he discusses the values desired in students in the Information Age which are very different from those of the Industrial Age. Included in his list are self-reliance, initiative, logic, learning, and imagination.
In the 21st century we need to design curriculum that creates life-long learners who have ownership in their education and who can work cooperatively with others towards authentic goals. The constructivist theory offers the most effective methods because the focus of activities is on "developing the collective knowledge base of the community and improving the problem-solving expertise of the learners" (Gilbert and Driscoll, 2002, p.60). In addition, Driscoll (2000) explains that the conditions for learning in constructivism include environments in which students are "actively involved in determining what their own learning needs are and how those needs can best be satisfied" (p. 388) and "can experience the full complexity and authenticity of real-world problems" (p. 385).