David Warlick is a blogger, author,
and above all a teacher. In his “about
this blog” section, Warlick vividly paints the way for his thought process on
education and technology today:
“Many
of the barriers that prevent us from modernizing our education systems come
from the baggage of outdated notions about teaching, learning, curriculum, our
children, and their future. Asking
questions seems to be one way of probing and provoking new perceptions about
what we do, why we do it, and how we might adapt within an almost constantly
changing environment.”
I completely agree with Warlick,
and believe that teachers put up barriers with the old way. He points to the solution of many problems,
and that’s simply asking questions.
Asking questions is just as important to teachers as it is for our
students.
In
Warlick’s blog post titled “WhereDo We Go to Measure Success,” he points out the importance of STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineer, and Mathematics). Yet in a graph he created, based on data from Bachelor'sdegrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, he fails to mention the overall
increase in degrees received over the years, despite the huge shift in
percentage. “Mathematics and statistics”
had one huge drop, in 1970 it was 24k degrees and in 1975 it was 15k degrees to
now being 16k degrees… the question isn't what are we doing wrong now but what
were we doing right or wrong back then when the data showed the largest decrease. Overall, the data seems shocking. Warlick questions, “Is STEM education doing what it’s suppose to do?” in
relation to the graph; however, I am asking, will STEM education change these
statistics when the children of this generation grow up and graduate college?
To
continue with Warlick’s thought process in his blog post “I Never Needed to Know That,” he stumbled upon a blog post of 10 Things Students Won’t Need to Know WhenThey Graduate. One thing that this list makes clear, and
that Warlick points out, is that there is no way to know or predict what knowledge
will be most important to our students for the future. Some of Warlick’s comments really got me
thinking, “How they
learn has become much more important,” and “Perhaps the most important thing
we can help our children learn, is how to teach themselves.” I believe these are wise words, and one
solution would be to teach children how to synthesize their questions properly with
the use of the internet.
Largely,
Warlick’s blog is to promote critical thinking among teachers and himself. It is a personal blog and is based on his
personal opinions and views on today’s education. From what I have read in his posts, Warlick
is an innovative teacher that truly wants what is best for the kids and
ultimately our society.
Sources:
Bachelor's Degrees Conferred by
Degree-granting Institutions, by Field of Study: Selected Years, 1970-71
through 2009-10. Rep. no. 286.
Institute of Education Sciences: National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.
Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
Dillon, Bob. "10 Things Students Won’t
Need To Know When They Graduate." Weblog post. 10 Things Students Won’t Need To Know When They Graduate. Edudemic, 27 Aug.
2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
Warlick, David. "2¢ Worth." Weblog
post. 2¢ Worth. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
<http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/>.
1 comment:
Continue to ask those questions! The thinking/learning process involves a considerable amount of questioning, reflection, and conversation - much of which is difficult to incorporate in an educational world of standardized testing! ;) Thankfully, there are many bloggers out there (including you!) who share that process and promote thinking/learning in others.
Post a Comment