21st (20th) Century Learning

A new movement has started among educators and education philosophers.  They call it a "21st Century" revolution, advocating for reforms that help educate our youth to be prepared to succeed in the new century.  But the skills they are pushing are just the same that progressive educators have been pushing for over a hundred years.  John Dewey from 1898 to the 1920s was advocating for teachers to facilitate classrooms of guided student-constructed learning, incorporating collaboration, communication, and authentic assessments.  21st Century learning wants to address all the same skills, with the addition of technology.  People are recognizing the similarities, but, frankly, progressives are happy to push their agenda under a different name.

But some still do not recognize the importance of constructivist learning, inquiry-based curricula, and the teacher as a facilitator of learning.  In the quarterly teacher union (AFT) magazine, Diana Senechal expresses her dissent with advancing into the 21st Century.  She does not believe in projects, or group work, or even "social studies."  She believes that "a complementary purpose of education is to prepare us for solitude, which is part of every life."  Maybe she hasn't noticed that no longer is there solitude in our world - 21st Century technologies have changed that and we need to prepare our students for that.  She believes that listening is key in education and that students need to be able to tolerate stillness.  While I agree with both points, I'm not sure that curriculum and teaching styles should be molded to advance solitude, listening, and stillness.

Senechal does, however, raise some very valid points.  She is quite concerned that the project-based curricula that typically accompanies 21st Century learning is devoid of content and perhaps is introduced without any content knowledge.  If progressive education is done correctly, content can be learned through the experiences that students have.  Unfortunately, though, aspects of progressive pedagogy are taken by schools not rooted in (or misunderstanding) this educational philosophy and completely ruin many students' education.  Conducting inquiry-based learning without assuring that students are coming out with content knowledge and understanding is doing them a disservice.  But many schools, as Senechal points out, promote the illusion of "engagement" - students hard at work.  In many schools, the students are "engaged," they are physically and actively doing something related to the subject, but they are not learning.

In order for 21st Century learning (and progressive education) to succeed, schools cannot pick and choose the hallmarks of the pedagogy (project-based, student interest driven, collaborative, technology integration) without ensuring content understanding.  It most certainly can be done, and in all settings, if done well.  But, to ignore the skills and the changing environment in which we live, work, and learn, we would be doing a disservice to our children, to their parents, to employers, and to the nation.