14 Aug 2005 - 01:34

where have all the students gone?

In today's world, I've discovered, there are no more students.

Only learners.

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Right you are!

You are witnessing Orwellian Newspeak. All terms associated with an instructivist approach are vanishing and being replaced by constructivist fog. Teachers are facilitators and coaches, tests are assessments, achievement is performance and -- as you say -- students are learners.

Prof. Cunningham commented on the curious constructivist meaning of "learning":

Education schools and the national organizations that support them have a different focus. They believe that instructional methods should be evaluated in terms of their fidelity to a progressive philosophy of education. Their focus is on "learning" rather than academic achievement. While the terms "academic achievement" and "learning" may appear to refer to the same activities, the instructional methods designed to enhance "learning" are primarily child-centered and may not only fail to increase academic achievement, they may actually degrade it. Instead of teachers teaching students, they believe that it is the role of a good teacher to create the proper environment for learning and if this done properly, students will "learn" by constructing their own meaning. "Learning," unlike academic achievement, is evaluated in terms of what the teachers is doing. It does not require an examination of what is happening to the students in the classroom.

I have more at my site: http://instructivist.blogspot.com/2005/02/surreal-learning.html

-- CharlesH - 14 Aug 2005

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That reminds me--I wanted to post that great chapter from CLASS WARFARE!

-- CatherineJohnson - 15 Aug 2005