Knowing, learning, and teaching are intimately connected. This linkage would seem obvious. Yet, for something so obvious, it has been long overlooked. One would think that the way schools teach would be in accordance with the way children naturally learn. But this seems to be an idea whose time has not yet come.
Instead of beginning with how children learn, schools typically start with an externally imposed curriculum of what students should know. Students are taught according to the structure of that curriculum rather than according to the structure of natural learning. This approach is strange because the externally imposed curriculum ignores the natural interests of children and so eliminates the children's motivation. Instead of getting a child to really care about Lincoln, we tell him he has to know about Lincoln for a test.
What if we made knowing about Lincoln crucial to some goal the child already had? Can we do this? We can if we ask the student to be Lincoln for a few days in a simulated docudrama, for example, or if we ask him to decide on some current issue that concerns him by citing Lincoln. Leveraging natural learning means finding a way for the child to want to know what you want him to know.
Development of Current Educational Models
Where am I in the content of the book?
