This is a running log of phrases, quotes, words, images, video, and diagrams that are helping me to understand the nature of knowledge, learning, and educational institutions. My goal is to help myself and others permanently shift the terms of the conversation about education from being institution- and teacher-centered [teacher as builder of curriculum, student as consumer, and institution as silent source of legitimacy] to being community- and student-centered [teacher as builder of active learners, student as practiced builder of community, institution as enabler of healthy learning communities]. Feel free to contribute other quotes to this tumblr by sending me an email.
27 Dec 07
Practitioners of occupations requiring complex strategies of estimation and decision making acquire a large portion of their practical knowledge from observing and interacting with other skilled practitioners. … Although the social dimension of learning is critical to practical application of knowledge, we construct formal learning in schools and universities in ways that discourage social interaction. We emphasize individual cognition over social interaction, abstract manipulation of symbols over concrete application in practical settings, and generalized learning over applications in specific social contexts. As a consequence, learning in school becomes progressively isolated from the kind of learning that affects people’s competencies in real life. The problem for teachers is not whether students will learn when they are not in school. People are inveterate learners. Rather, the problem is how to construct learning in school so as to maximize its influence over learning in the world.
— Richard F. Elmore, Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership, xiv.