From Quest to Learn in New York to the Liger Learning Center in Cambodia, Matthew Jenkin explores schools that use innovative teaching methods and curriculums.
On 21 October 2015, we will finally arrive at the point in time that Marty McFly travels to in the 1989 sci-fi sequel, Back to the Future II. But if a teenager today were to drive Doc Brown’s DeLorean back to Hill Valley High, the film hero’s fictional school, would he or she notice any difference?
Just as we are still waiting for someone to market hoverboards and self-tying shoelaces, we have yet to see a radical shift in teaching models, despite the ebb and flow of education reforms. There are schools, however, that are breaking the mould and daring to free teachers from the shackles of curriculum dictates. They are giving students and educators the power to become masters of their own learning.
The Quest to Learn school in New York was founded in 2009 with a mission to make schools fit for the 21st century, an era when advances in technology have created an increasingly global society. Teachers at the school, which is a collaboration between non-profit organisation the Institute of Play and New York’s department of education, believe using games to teach the curriculum increases pupil engagement and better prepares young people to navigate the complexities of the modern world.
But we’re not talking Twister or Super Mario. In Quest to Learn lessons, play involves imaginative inquiry by students, ranging from group storytelling activities that explain literary structures in English to an exercise imagining a microscopic doctor journeying through his patient’s body to teach biology.
Co-director of the school, Arana Shapiro, says the best games are those that can be used in multiple classrooms at all grade levels. The curriculum is taught using the principles of a game, with the teacher starting a new school year by presenting an initial challenge. They then design lessons and activities that give students the knowledge and tools to meet the challenge.
Shapiro explains that the games played during the year have to be adapted to suit the age of the students. The older they get, the less willing they are to buy into some of the more fantastical and creative activities. Instead, the students are challenged to design solutions to real-world problems, such as bullying.
A school, though, is only as good as its teachers and the vital role they play in education is often forgotten, says Shapiro. She adds: “There is an emphasis on producing curriculums which teachers can just follow. For us it has always been about helping teachers become designers of the curriculum and empowering them to create materials that will engage kids in learning and help them become 21st century citizens.”
Providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the modern world, such as being able to solve problems and work in teams, is also the concern of Rob Riordan. He is president of High Tech High, a school-development organisation based in San Diego, California, that includes a network of charter schools, a teacher certification programme, and a graduate school of education. Key to achieving this is project-based learning, where teachers work with students to design a curriculum that involves solving real world problems relevant to children’s lives. The solutions pupils come up with can make a difference in the community, and have academic implications.
Stand-out projects include students making a documentary on gun violence following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012. After raising money through crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, students travelled across the country interviewing everyone from children affected by gun crime in Atlanta to social service workers in Chicago. Kindergarten students have been equally creative, launching a project to investigate a caterpillar infestation in the trees around the school and then opening a “caterpillar cafe” to educate their peers about the creepy crawlies.
Riordan says one of the school’s biggest ambitions is to move away from grouping children by ability, which he claims can lead to segregation by race and social class. He believes project-based learning offers students the opportunity to shine whatever their academic ability.
The Liger Learning Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is using project-based learning not just as a means to help its students succeed in education and their careers, but to create future leaders who will initiate change in the developing country.
The English-language boarding school, which offers free scholarships for gifted children from disadvantaged backgrounds, encourages students to explore core subjects such as maths and science through projects that are designed to deepen knowledge and understanding of their own country – whether that’s collaborating on a book about Cambodian animals or learning how to become an entrepreneur.
“The aim is that these children will become more Cambodian than if they had stayed in their villages,” explains Dominic Sharpe, Liger’s country director. “They will have more knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing their country, as well as more ability to change the situation and take advantage of those opportunities.”
The school’s learning coordinator, Jeffrey Holte, says the model of teaching is based on the idea of learning about the world through being in the world. He adds: “Entrepreneurship is a big part of the curriculum because a lot of change in Cambodia will be about the economy. Entrepreneurs are really the future of this country and it’s important that our students learn these skills.”
At Liger, the world is the student’s classroom. Unfortunately in many countries, particularly chillier parts of Europe and North America, the weather doesn’t always permit the luxury of outdoor learning. But that doesn’t mean lessons have to be confined within a classroom.
Ørestad Gymnasium in Copenhagen, Denmark, is famously known as the school without classrooms. The 1,000 plus students, aged 16 to 19, study in the open plan building’s numerous “learning zones”. According to headteacher, Allan Kjær Andersen, the architects designed the school to fit with the ethos of mixing 50% teacher-led learning with 50% independent student-centred learning.
To facilitate this model of education, the school has done away with all analogue teaching materials and claims to be 100% digital. Lessons are taught entirely using computers and iPads with Google apps, and teachers walk around the “learning zones” helping students .
“There are many reasons for the use of ICT,” explains Andersen. “When you have an open school like this, you have to develop new models of leading a lesson, because you can’t talk to the whole class at once. You can’t yell at the students, so you have to guide them in other ways. We structure our lessons in our virtual world, so students log on and everything is described there.”
The emphasis on digital learning is also one of the key pedagogical ideas of the school, adds Andersen. Teachers want to nurture tech innovation among students and transform them into “producers of content, not just consumers”.
This particular Danish model of learning is not without fault. Andersen admits that it can favour the stronger, more independent students over those who require hands-on teaching. They are therefore looking at ways to better meet the needs of all pupils.
Digital technology has been one of the most powerful agents of change in how societies around the world work and live in the 21st century – from the way we do business and consume information to shopping, entertainment and socialising. The way we learn must therefore adapt to ensure students are equipped with the skills needed to thrive as adults now and in the future. Thankfully, many schools are rising to that challenge. But what impact will their examples of pedagogical innovation have on national and even global levels? Only time will tell.
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/feb/11/schools-students-traditional-teaching
