Rote or Active Learning or Both?

America faces many challenges…but the enemy I fear most is complacency. We are about to be hit by the full force of global competition. If we continue to ignore the obvious task at hand while others beat us at our own game, our children and grandchildren will pay the price. We must now establish a sense of urgency.—Charles Vest, President of the National Academy of Engineering, President Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The article in Science Magazine (9/17/2010) entitled Achieving Scientific Eminence Within Asia suggests eight reforms to Asia education, and the first two are;

Reform rote education by teaching active learning starting with the very young, and establish a culture that rewards creative thinking and innovation.

We, in the USA, should balance rote learning that focuses on memorization using various techniques including repetition, with active learning that encourages the student to discover something perhaps via the Internet or by a simple scientific or arithmetical experiment, or by discussion, observation and field trips.

Most subjects taught in school require a framework that perhaps is best learned by rote. But school should reward the creativity of a student that is expressed at a science fair, or historical research that is posted in local libraries or historical museums. The Lynn MA Historical Museum has just posted an exhibit of today’s photos beside photos taken in the same location in the early 1900s of certain building sites in the city of Lynn. A local high school student developed this exhibit.

The sole use of standardized tests demands rote learning, often at the expense of active learning. Many of us working with Promise the Children feel that high stakes standardized tests, used to determine graduation from high school, should be abandoned, and that more than one criterion should be used to evaluate a teacher.

While standardized tests highlight failing schools and the need for improved teaching methods, they do not indicate the capacity of a student to imagine and discover, or of a teacher to inspire a passion for learning. What do you think?

Rote learning – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rote learning is a learning technique which focuses on memorization. The major practice involved in rote learning is learning by repetition…. Active learning – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Active learning is an umbrella term that refers to several models of instruction that focus the responsibility of learning, on learners….

http://www.openeducation.net/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pcast/docsreports/

http://www.stemedcoalition.org/