This post will kick around ideas based on one of two questions that I posed yesterday (Simulations In The Classroom- Two Questions). Before we dissect the first question, everyone should check out the links that Bill Chapman left me yesterday and today.
He was kind enough to share the following simulations from his website: Classroomtools.com.
- Civic Engagement
- Engaging Historical Characters
- Simulating A TV News Production Using Historical Situations
So here is my first question form yesterday (that Bill and I already started talking about in the comments section here):
If students are trying to simulate functions that they will be asked to complete one day, then why are we still asking them to accomplish this using information that is dated and, in some cases, obsolete?
This question has to sound quite ironic coming from a history teacher because the content, by nature, is dated chronologically, but it is not when we consider the need of the past to understand the present and future. History is a topic that promotes reflection and empathy for those who have strived to gain access to rights and privileges that were not always available to them. Bill’s simulations work to have students act in the form of first person, which is a huge benefit because it allows for them to take on a role in history while also finding out the differences between how they act versus that of what actually happened. Understand that I believe in these types of simulations especially when we stop and ask students to reflect upon what they have learned and evaluate decisions they have made.
The crux of the question is: how can we have students use an ability to predict and assess how these types of environments would be altered in the future using logical hypotheses. Maybe it is because I have a passion for science as well as history, but I tend to want to incorporate the scientific method into every aspect of schooling. Why? Because this method allows for students to take a guess, make observations, and understand what did (or did not) go according to plan. The data is never antiquated because the transformation or idea is occurring directly in front of them. The reality is that these events have a lot of the same characteristics of a simulation and can be framed in ways that allow for great opportunities in experiential learning.
Do all simulations have (or need to) encompass these types of predictive formats where students are making attempts at forecasting the future? I would like to think they should. If we are are always preparing our students for the future and they need to be well-versed in pattern-seeking so that they can capitalize on them in a rapidly-changing world, then we can’t just expect them to learn how to do this after college. It needs to be taught throughout their schooling. We need to cut down on some of the past, so that kids can make logical hypotheses about the future.
Thoughts?
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Thanks for more fully explaining your thinking about question #1, Aaron. And thanks too for posting the links to pages in my site.
I certainly empathize with the problem you raise about how best to divide time in history classes. Helping students learn how to apply lessons and information from the past as they face their futures is vitally important, but it is not easy to decide to spend limited class time in an effort to do this; especially given testing and other pressures present in schools today. I admire your courage in thinking about this, and in seeking ways to act on it in your classroom.
For what its worth, I think you’ll find (if you have not already) that while students may not always understand their value at the time they participate in these types of activities, they come to do so as their lives unfold. I’ve been privileged to communicate with former students years after they were in my classes; and, to a person, they have told me that while they enjoyed what we did in class, they didn’t really understand its value until they found themselves calling on lessons from it in college classes they took, or even later as they found themselves remembering and building on things we’d done in their careers and lives. They tell me that at the time they felt they’d benefit more from memorizing facts as their friends were doing in their social studies classes, but are so glad now that I was asking something else of them.
Keep up your probing, and your reports on it here.
Bill,
I do find the same thing with a lot of students though I haven’t gotten it from them when they get to college. It often hits them when they go on to USII the year after I have them.
I teach US I Honors and, following having me, they make the decision to have me again for AP US History or go on to US II Honors (which I do not teach). Interestingly, a lot of them that go on to US II start to realize how important the forecasting that I ask them to do in US I becomes. It is almost like they can start to “predict” what is happening and how it is going to play out.
The comments you describe above (and the ones I briefly explained) are the true value of the social sciences as well as the other subjects. Predicting potential outcomes that aren’t in the book are critical to cognitive development even if the predictions turn out to be downright wrong. I would surmise that part of the reason your students are coming back with those reactions in college is because there tends to be more investigative and synthesis work done on that level. This is something that K-12 education is truly lacking.
I can’t understand why. Are teachers so hardpressed to provide concrete evaluative measures that they stray from potentially subjective assessments? Are teachers in K-12 not grounded well enough in their content to allow for such deviation from the concrete standards that exist? Or are students just not ready? Of those three possibilities, I think the last one (cognitively ready) is the only one that is outright wrong. Yet it is also the most common excuse by teachers of why students can’t do higher-level learning activities.
This is a great topic. Thanks for kicking a lot of this around with me.