Learning in School

"Schools may be the starkest example in modern society," says MIT educator and bestselling management writer Peter Senge, "of an entire institution modeled after the assembly line."

This has dramatically increased educational capability in our time, but it has also created many of the most intractable problems with which students, teachers, and parents struggle to this day. The assembly line "cookie cutter" school in America is an ineffective relic as evidenced by nearly every measure of achievement.

Our schools do not reflect what is known about "how students learn best." What do we know now? We know that all learners construct knowledge from an inner scaffolding of their individual and social experiences, emotions, will, aptitudes, beliefs, values, self-awareness, purpose, and more. In other words, if you are learning in a classroom, what you understand is determined by how you understand things, who you are, and what you already know... as much as by what is covered, and how and by whom it is delivered.

Ultimately, to provide meaningful learning to a student population comprised of unique individuals, schools must adopt strategies that support "how students learn best." Developmental considerations, learning styles, multiple intelligences, technology access, and culture greatly impact the quality and quantity of student learning.

Developmental considerations directly impact curriculum and instruction. Educators must plan a developmentally appropriate curriculum that enhances their students' logical and conceptual growth. With regard to instruction, teachers must emphasize the critical role that experiences - or interactions with the surrounding environment - play in student learning. For example, instructors have to take into account the role that fundamental concepts, such as the permanence of objects, play in establishing cognitive structures. Clearly, "sage on a stage" rote memorization does not support students developmentally, nor does it consider "how students learn best."

Learning Style is "the unique way each person learns most effectively." It is important because

it is how individuals "take IN" and process new learnings (i.e. knowledge, skills, and feelings)

how students "download information to their brain"

students need to know our individual learning style strengths to know "how" they can learn best and to develop effective learning habits

schools typically favor and reward Read/Write learning styles, and efforts must be made to integrate Visual, Aural (Auditory), and Kinesthetic learning styles into curriculum, instruction, and testing.

According to Dr. Howard Gardner, multiple intelligence is "the ability to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence within one or more cultural settings." OR in layman's words... the unique way each of us expresses our smartness. It is important because

it is how we express our unique "smartness" to the OUTside world

how students "upload information from their brain"

everyone has "all" of the intelligences inside themselves, however, not all of our intelligences are developed to the same level

Technology in and of itself is no panacea for what ails our schools, however, in the Information Age, it is incumbent upon schools to provide ALL students (regardless of socioeconomic background) with meaningful access to technology tools and teachers trained to effectively integrate technology and the internet into daily classroom instruction across the curriculum.

A 1997 report by the Benton Foundation, cites chilling predictions by researchers who have investigated educational computing:

"Economically disadvantaged students, who often use the computer for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what the computer tells them, while more affluent students, who use it for programming and tool applications, learn to tell the computer what to do.... Such students [economically disadvantaged] become passive consumers of electronic information...Once out of school, they are relegated to low-wage jobs where they may operate electronic cash registers or bar-code readers. They may catch on as data-entry clerks, typing page after page in deadly monotony. They are controlled by technology as adults - just as drill-and-practice routines controlled them as students."

Executive Performance has integrated best practices for student learning with effective technology and professional development solutions to design its own unique culturally dynamic learning approach to assist educational institutions in improving their organizational structure, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment strategies so that schools can better support "how students learn best".