Ponderings of a Scientist

Comment by Z.Monkey

November 3, 2006 @ 10:35 am

Probably off the mark but if teachers keep using the same methods to teach students they students will become less and less prepared for the real world. A lame example is with penmanship. If a teacher does not let a student hand in papers/test typed and deducts points for penmanship. The teacher is telling the student that the penmanship is what the student should be learning, which is dumb because most all documentation is typed. There are many more example of this that I could think of, but the point is the students should not be burdened with learning things that are no longer relevant… there is enough other things to learn!

Comment by scientist

November 3, 2006 @ 1:13 pm

However, the basics are still important. Kids need to know how to spell and how to multiply, even if computers can do it for them. More importantly, they need to know how to write effectively and efficiently!

Comment by KP

November 5, 2006 @ 10:13 am

Your post made me smile! I wish I had a tape recorder from when you were teaching middle school; you might be surprised to hear some of your views then, as compared to your views now.

It is true that you cannot force all children to fit into the lecture/exam system. Kids who have difficulty with that system, should not have to repeat the courses they fail in another lecture/exam class… it is likely to end with the same result: failing. Other teaching and examination modalities need to be introduced. The problem is not the children being unintelligent (as you eluded to in your post), sometimes it just comes down to lack of motivation and/or ability to comprehend/demonstrate knowledge in that manner.

I know it is extremely difficult for today’s teachers to find and use these different modalities, as all of us were primarily taught in the lecture/exam system, and that is primarily all we know. In many classes I took in public school, there was always one unit during the year that would move away from the traditional lecture/exam system, but once it was over… back to the old way of doing things. But that one unit is where all the “C/D/F students” shined and surpassed the “A students.”

Comment by Kimmie

November 7, 2006 @ 3:53 pm

The problem with teaching through the use of computers is that you’ll always have a student who knows more than you (unless you’re a CS / engineering professor at MIT). Like, I knew how to write computer programs by the time I was 10. At the same time, my school decided it was time we learned how to type. So I would sit there and type at like 70 words a minute and finish the “lesson” in like 10 minutes. My teachers were never quite sure what to do with me. So now I’m in college, and my professor insists on giving us online tests. Well I started asking about security, and he was like, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” So, if you’re going to teach through the use of technology and not traditional means, I would suggest having future educators take basic computer knowledge classes on microcomputer applications, networking, security, and maybe an intro to computer programming.