Last week, on Technology: In Plain English I left you off with a very bleak outlook for the future job prospects for our kids - I even "used" cliff-hanger music!! (Here is the link to last week's "Who are the people in your neighborhood")
To quickly recap... Based on the top 10% of students in India and China alone, those numbers almost equal the TOTAL number of students in the American educational system! So how are our children going to compete on a global market?
Now many folks think that if we increase our teaching of science and math curriculum to include coding and other STEM/STEAM based proficiencies that this will help us compete. Yes, it will help, but you have to remember that in both India and China there is a very strong emphasis on science/math. That includes coding and other logic based disciplines. Also, the governments have acknowledged that in order to compete globally, they have to improve their command of English and so have added advanced English speaking classes, complete with diction coaches! This means that adding math/science/STEM/STEAM subjects alone is not enough.
So, what's the answer?
As I was researching this blog, I came across a comment that a data researcher added in a footnote. It would appear that, when asked, the Chinese interviewees complained that their educational system was not as flexible as the American system. It was their impression that, unlike in America, their kids were not taught how to be creative! And this, I believe, "hit the nail on the head!"
21st Century Competencies promote Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), collaboration and creativity! The concepts of Project Based Learning (PBL - not to be confused with Learning by Project - different thing entirely!), Blended Learning, properly executed STEM/STEAM classes, and so on, are all about creative learning! And that is the edge that we have - well, as long as we include this kind of education it in our schools. Unfortunately, there are still many Jewish Day Schools that don't include any 21st Century Educational Modalities in their curriculum. The whole reason why I joined CIJE was to help fix this problem!
CIJE's mission is to bring cutting edge initiatives (that is why we are called the Center for INITIATIVES in Jewish Education) to Jewish Day Schools across the US. One of our programs, the HS Engineering course, teaches physics, coding, electronics, entrepreneurship and collaboration that culminates in the students creating a "cap-stone" project that they display at a regional conference.
No, the above picture is not of a science fair where students regurgitate something that they have learned. This is is photo of hundreds of East Coast Jewish Day School students who are pitching real world ideas that they created during the HS Engineering course! This is all about creativity, collaboration, HOTS, etc!
Next week in Los Angeles, we will be holding our West Coast regional conference. Interested in finding out more? Here is a link to the event flyer.
As always, I solicit your comments on the blog site.
Yossie
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