Important new article on www.Improve-Education.org explains that schools can be more productive if they take an ergonomic approach. Here's how: Use every trick in the book to teach more. Test strategies against each other. Analyze what actually works. In short, embrace EE -- Ergonomic Education.
Norfolk, Va. (PRWEB) June 22, 2007 -- Education activist Bruce Deitrick Price presents a powerful case, on www.Improve-Education.org, that our schools could do a lot more with the resources they have. Trouble is, Price notes, schools are weighed down by tired ideas.
"It's time for a new paradigm," Price asserts. "It's time to become more ergonomic. Attack the problems of education the way an engineer would. Here's the fundamental question: how do we teach the most knowledge in the least time with the least effort?"
Price recounts how he became convinced we need new thinking: "I went to great schools but it seems to me that not one course was taught as well as it could have been. Why? I've been obsessed with this question for years. I've made reams of notes. Finally I've boiled them down to an article titled 'How To Teach History, Etc.' The article gives many practical suggestions. But it's mainly about an attitude -- a scientific, let's-see-what-really-works attitude. That attitude is the essence of ergonomic education."
Price's article discusses four basic tactics which schools can use to increase effectiveness:
1 School and teacher must be totally committed to each subject. (Clearly, teachers have to major in the subjects they will teach.)
2. Teachers shouldn't hesitate to use every teaching aid and visual aid, every technique or gimmick, that will make classes more exciting, fun, and memorable. (Fun is an important part of the ergonomic approach. If children think, "hey, this is easy," that's half the battle.)
3. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And then say it again some other way. The idea that you can go once over a subject, and expect people to recall much of it, is not realistic.
4; Every course is ideally a gigantic mnemonic device, a matrix of interconnected facts.
Basically, Price believes, "we only serve students if we make sure they learn a lot. Otherwise, why waste their time?" He suspects that the most gifted teachers have always followed the same principles: love your subject, respect your audience, and use all your knowledge, empathy, and what might be called theatrical ability to make sure the children understand and retain as much of the subject as possible. Practically speaking, however, most teachers need help in finding all the best strategies quickly. Ergonomic education uses a scientific approach to rediscover the art and excitement that should always be at the heart of teaching.
Children typically spend twelve years in school (that's about 10,000 hours) but many seem to learn very little. Price puzzles a lot over why our schools fail. One reason, he thinks, is that most classes are perceived as slow, dull and incoherent. The teacher might see a Big Picture but students rarely do. The children are captives; and many teachers don't seem to feel any great compulsion to be creative and entertaining. Another problem, Price believes, is that many educators are more concerned with social engineering than with what he calls "intellectual engineering." A cynic might conclude that schools aren't serious about their mission, or they don't actually know how to complete their misson.
According to all reports, our students can't compete with those from other countries. We aren't producing enough engineers. Price says: "Watch Jay Leno's Jaywalking and you'll see adults who don't even know which body of water lies to the west of California." Things are becoming scary, according to a government report titled "Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century." Bottom line: the American standard of living will fall if we don't improve our schools ASAP.
"The answer," Price argues, "is right in front of us: ergonomic education. As my article proposes, we need lots of testing (by scientists, not educators) to find out what works best, and then the courage and vision to adopt these methods."
The Greeks and Romans, Price notes, were fascinated by the ergonomics of learning. Coming out of the Dark Ages, Europeans were again interested in facts but not in the dynamics of teaching facts. Education seemed to be on autopilot for the next 800 years. Boring was considered normal in a classroom. Worse still, for the last 100 years a lot of our top-level educators became obsessed with ideology. The resulting proposals were often counter-productive. "The original sin in the matter," Price believes, "occurred when educators decided it was their job to mold children. That's just arrogance. I think everybody would be extremely grateful if our educators could simply manage to teach children."
Please see #26: How To Teach History, Etc. on www.Improve-Education.org.
Bruce Deitrick Price is available for interviews on this important topic. Contact Word-Wise Educational Services at 757-455-5020.
###
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/TG92ZS1Mb3ZlLUxvdmUtQ291cC1UaGlyLVplcm8=
|
