Far too much of the school model is built upon the principle of coverage. The teacher’s primary duty is to get through the curriculum in order to prepare their learners for exams that similarly prioritise the testing of memory. When you prioritise curriculum coverage, you do two things that undermine lifelong learning: You imply thatContinue reading “Depth Over Distance”
Tag Archives: learning
Is Critical Thinking Domain Specific?
There is an increasing and welcome push for teaching Critical Thinking in schools, but there is also a staunch resistance. The opposition is built, as far as I have observed, on two main pillars: There’s already enough on teachers’ plates without adding one more thing; Critical Thinking relies on domain specific knowledge. I’ll address bothContinue reading “Is Critical Thinking Domain Specific?”
Are you a Conquerer or an Explorer?
As the old adage goes: “Opinions; everyone’s got one!” (That’s the clean version, of course!) But it’s not just *what* opinions you hold that matters; it also matters how you got them. One important distinction that I’ve always been very conscious of is between Formed opinions and Received opinions. Formed opinions being conclusions that youContinue reading “Are you a Conquerer or an Explorer?”
What are Schema, and why do they need to be Activated?
Having heavily interconnected schema is a very powerful way of both remembering new things and applying knowledge in novel ways. In this post, I’ll explain both of these points in more detail.
Rebel Teacher Network 