Many people, including Sir Ken Robinson, have talked about the fact that our education system was created for the Industrial Age. Students are required to take similar classes and the hope, originally, was that they all graduate with similar abilities. The education system realized that this is not possible, so it has been adjusting to meet individual needs, a.k.a. "Differentiated Instruction." In other words an Industrial education system is trying to adapt to meet new demands in the Information Age, but I don't know if it will be able to adjust fast enough, especially because the Information Age changes very rapidly.
Information Age Tools
Let me tell you of an experience I had that is not uncommon. Last week, in a Geometry class, there was a day for students to work on their quarter projects and I there was one student who had finished his project. I told him to turn it in and he can do work for a different class. He was working on either Literature or History, I couldn't tell. But this student, who is a very good student, was constantly doing web searches to make sure that he understood the questions on his worksheet and that the answer he wrote down on his worksheet was correct. I have seen this repeated during a study hall period, and watching my students work in my classroom before school, after school, and during lunch. Today's high school students are aware of the Information Age tools that are available to them, and they use them. I think that the days is gone when teachers can close the door and assume that we are teaching in a vacuum. Students carry devices with them that open the door, not only to the entire school, but to a world and history full of information. Maybe it is time for teachers to have their students do more web searches and fewer worksheets.
What does an Information Age Classroom look like?
The next logical question is, what would an Information Age classroom look like? What kind of classroom would prepare our students for the future that they will be working in? My answer is ... I don't know. I imagine that it would have the four c's from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. I imagine that it is more project based learning and less content front-loaded instruction. I imagine that it is more open ended solution finding, than finding the "correct" answer. There are complex problems in the world that need to be solved, and students need to be taught how to handle those problems with the tools in their era, not a past one.
My Classroom
I would love to say that my classroom is like this, but it is not. I am still trying to figure out how to adjust my teaching to meet these needs. My last major shift has been to flip my class. I think my next shift will be to more project based learning because I believe that this is what students will need to develop 21st Century Skills. My hesitation has to do with the need to still prepare students for their next math class and future math classes. I will get there, not because I need to, but because my students need me to.
If you have suggestions or examples of what PBL looks like in a Geometry or Statistics class, please comment below.