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what is happening here, CES version:
Why is this visual so significant? We know that what gets measured in school is what gets taught, and the problem with today’s standardized testing regimen is that it measures students’ ability to recall discrete facts rather than to engage in complex thinking and problem solving. So, rather than widening the gap between the skills students are acquiring in school and those they need for the future, performance assessments like those depicted in this video clip allow students to demonstrate 21st Century skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication, creativity and innovation, collaboration, information and media literacy, and contextual learning. When student achievement measures are based on the ability to research and synthesize information, think critically, and present publicly, then we can have confidence that those skills will be taught.
what is happening here, ktm-2 version:
Students looked stuff up on Google.
9 comments:
From my experience - KTM 2 version is more likely to be true.
"Words can't express" how appalled I am by this video.
This is the Essential Schools Coaltion; they're influential; our local $26,000 private school cites them as their model (and, sure enough, at the open house they showed us a PowerPoint presentation their 5th graders had made).
The pretention here is beyond the pale.
All these kids showing off for a captive audience of PARENTS ---- yeah, that'll get you through college calculus.
Is that who the adults are in the audience? I was wondering. I'm wondering why they chose to go this route rather than make videos showcasing their students participation in science competitions. Or debate. Our school had a debate team in which some students could "synthesize information, think critically, and present publicly" Is debate out these days?
I THOUGHT they said the students were researching science. Maybe it's social studies and that would explain the paper big foot.
Senior projects and presentations can be good or they can be bad. I was struck by adult comments about confidence and responsibility, but not quality of results. One adult (leader?) commented that he was most concerned about how the kids felt when they left the classroom, not about how he or any of the adults felt.
I went through a senior project in college, but they expected quality results. The presentation was in front of professors, students, and people from industry. It was known that you had to do the work and be prepared, otherwise you would be torn apart in the question and answer portion of the presentation. In this video, they showed one questioner asking the student how many acres it would take to fuel a car (for biofuels). He didn't know the answer. He just talked about new technology to cover up the fact that he didn't know the most basic thing about the economics of the technology.
Low expectations.
"When student achievement measures are based on the ability to research and synthesize information, think critically, and present publicly, then we can have confidence that those skills will be taught."
Top-down learning? "Confidence that those skills will be taught"? They are not thinking critically.
I want to see the rubric they used to grade the presentations. If they are so concerned about how the kids felt, then maybe the students give themselves a grade.
Apparently, chewing gum while you are making a presentation won't be on the rubric.
One adult (leader?) commented that he was most concerned about how the kids felt when they left the classroom, not about how he or any of the adults felt.
Lynn's line: crayola curriculum masked by rhetoric
The adults are pretentious AND touchy-feely.
That's my district now.
Pretentious and focused on emotion.
The whole thing is a scandal.
I'll be convinced when the advocates for "21st Century Skills" are people who have actually used them professionally to great effect. Unions, educrats, teachers, etc. - they've made no mark in the world re: technology or any of the skills they seem to think matter so much.
It should be an eye-opener that a guy like 2 Million Minutes' Bob Compton is an international business owner who's talking about math and physics as the 21st century skills - not PowerPoint Presentations or other pseudo-impressive garbage bereft of any valuable content.
I guess we'll get to see EdSector's report tomorrow.
How is it that people aren't able to grasp the distinction between KNOWS HOW TO USE POWERPOINT and KNOWS MATH AND SCIENCE?
OK, I only watched about the first minute, because the kids' statements were too painful. I know they're only about 17, but the lack of thinking going on there--it was like they were just regurgitating something they saw on the web, along with some pretty pictures.
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