The following is reproduced as an interesting cultural statement of
education. In the executive summary of "The Double Helix of Education and
the Economy", by Sue Berryman and Thomas Bailey, the authors describe a
'dynamic relationship':
How the united states organizes it education - what we teach, to whom,
when, and especially how - approximately matches how the country has
organized economic activity for decades. The workplace, however, is
gradually changing, and our traditional way of organizing education no
longer meets the needs of our students. At the same time, a powerful
research base, cognitive science, has revealed that traditional schooling,
especially its pedagogy, is poorly organized for learning, WHATEVER the
economic environment students find themselves in. That same research base
has also shown that the skill requirements of restructured workplaces and
optimal ways of organizing learning fit one another. The Double Helix of
Education and the Economy illuminates the complementarity between the
changed workplace and what is now known about effective learning - two
separate strands.
They conclude:
Any powerfull educational reform should start from and build on:
1. what people need to know and know how to do in non-school settings
2. how then learn most naturlly and effectively
ISBN 1-882217-00-4
BTW, sorry for posting two emails intended for private consumption. If
email were a chainsaw, I'd be short two fingers.
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Technology in Education
Lesley College, 29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]