Everything that educators do for their students should, in some way, be able to help them succeed in the future. This includes the lesson plans they create, the tools they bring into their classrooms, and even the attitudes they show, themselves. It will take a lot for students to become fully prepared for a world we’re not too sure of, but one thing is clear and it’s that students need an up-to-the-second education. Modernizing K-12 schools, curricula, and learning experiences is a necessary step to take in ensuring that kids wind up prepared.
Innovative Education in the Modern Era
Today’s classrooms are nothing like the ones that existed 30 or 40 years ago. They hardly even resemble the ones from just 10 years ago. Education is evolving and so too are the needs of modern students. Perhaps the No. 1 word we repeat time and time again when it comes to 21st century education is ‘innovation.’ We need students conquering innovative projects while using innovative tools to build innovative skills and go on to complete a whole bunch of work in an innovative economy later on. This hyperfocus on innovation in education is not a bad thing, but it does need to be done in a certain way. What makes a modern education innovative, though?
Truly modernizing K-12 education involves a lengthy process that most likely cannot be instituted in just one year—never mind measured and researched. Every aspect of classroom instruction can be tweaked to be given more of a real-world feel from lesson plans and assignments to required reading and supplemental videos. Even though the education industry has been traditionally resistant to adopting new approaches (especially compared to other industries), it’s widely understood among educators and parents, for that matter, that children will be better off with more modern instruction and experiences in the classroom. This includes determining the best ways to teach each student, whether it should involve differentiation, and if they’re engaging in activities that will help them in the future.
We know that the world is changing very quickly with new jobs being created all the time and people needed to fill them. Students aren’t going to grow into capable workers, however, if there is no innovation in the ways they are taught. What good is a science experiment that has no bearing on their future in the workforce? Sure, it’s a hands-on way to learn about something, but is that something really all that relevant? Students will benefit much more from opportunities to try coding projects or engineering challenges than they would from dissecting a dead frog. Creating innovative education doesn’t just mean trying something other than a textbook; it’s about seeing what the real world demands and creating a plan to bring that to the classroom.
Meeting the Expectations of Modern Students
When they enter a classroom, whether it’s the first day of the school year, or the 151st, students have certain expectations. These, of course, vary a great deal when we’re talking about first graders versus 12th graders, but the expectations exist nonetheless. Overall, however, they typically revert back to being given the tools they need to learn what they need to know. Students expect to leave at the end of the school year prepared to take on the challenges of the next year—whether that’s simply a new grade, a new school, or even the real world. They also know that, to become as ready as possible, there are certain types of lessons they need to be taught—ones they won’t find in any chapter of a textbook. Lessons they learn from experience.
When students are provided with the tools they need, they are better able to focus on these lessons and all the other learning experiences they have. If they are worried about falling behind because they don’t have full access to a certain piece of technology, for example, then that presents a distraction rather than a learning opportunity. Children should never have to worry about not being as prepared as their classmates, especially if the reason is something that could be prevented. Teachers should also be encouraging their students to focus solely on academics while they’re at school and not worrying about things like being sure they have what they need and stressing out over whether or not they’ll receive good enough grades. Students enter the school year expecting to learn—not to be caught up in a number of unforeseen difficulties.
Besides not wanting to worry about things they shouldn’t have to, students also want the opportunity to learn with innovative tools as much as possible. It’s becoming easier and easier to access various STEM tools for classroom use (we can help!) leaving fewer excuses for administrators to not give them a shot. Students expect to be enabled and empowered while they’re in the classroom—not to fight for every bit of experiential learning they participate in. Just adding in a little bit of time for STEM or maker activities into the curriculum will go a long way in meeting the expectations of these students. Think about it. They probably can’t wait to get home and start using their tablets and mobile devices. If they’re allowed to used them during the school day to program a robot, for example, then they’re going to be pretty happy, right?
Transforming Education to Mirror the Modern Workforce
The modern workforce, at least right now, has evolved to promote much greater levels of creativity and collaboration. It allows for people to use their creative talents to solve problems in innovative ways. And, now, this same logic is being used in K-12 classrooms—partly because it works and partly to prepare students for what their careers may be like. The biggest thing being introduced to students early on is collaboration. We all know that, in the modern workforce, employees are expected to work together to achieve a common goal. Not everybody knows how to do this effectively, however. When schools differentiate learning and move away from the traditional model, they can create these kinds of environments and help students truly see what it will be like.
This transformation is kind of composed of a lot of smaller changes that come together to create more impactful learning. Take student devices, for example. In many schools, kids are using this technology all day long. So, what happens? The battery runs out. Classrooms are now routinely outfitted, however, with outlets or USB ports built into student desks, so they never have to slow down. This is an idea borrowed from the workforce as well. Another idea is that of the ‘flexible classroom’ in which the furniture is set up in a way that accommodates group discussions and collaboration. Most educators will tell you that their classroom design was no accident as they aim to create the ideal learning environment for their students. This may include clusters of desks, space for students to sit on the floor, mobile furniture, or a number of other tricks to promote active learning and creativity.
The collaborative approach in the tech industry began some years ago, but is now very much routine across most industries. Teachers can absolutely help their students out and prepare them for future work experiences by taking heed to this fact. While opening up the classroom using some of these suggestions might not be ideal for every student or every school, it generally does unlock new benefits for students. In any case, this new style of learning is only intended to help students by giving them a glimpse of what their futures are likely to hold. While nobody knows for certain what the jobs of tomorrow will be like, creating modern education experiences that highlight collaboration and creativity is certainly not a bad start.
Ed Reform in the Modern Era
No matter how much our education systems are reformed, there will always be the need for more. It’s pretty impossible—due to a number of uncontrollable factors—for students to be educated within a completely perfect system. Over the years, the center of the Ed Reform debate has, at different times, circled back around the same topics, which include early learning, standards, student engagement, career preparation, technology, and even personalized learning. As the tide shifts deeper into the 21st century, the last three items on that list carry the most significance when educational leaders are discussing reform. We also have the Montessori approach of child-centered teaching, which has gained a ton of momentum in preschool and the early grades over the years. Whatever methods are used, however, we feel that reaching students early on is the biggest key.
The Montessori method is still very much applied today as teachers use their environments to their advantage and create atmospheres that foster active learning, experimentation, and motivation in their students. This is, of course, different than the traditional, passive teaching models most of us grew up with. In any case, it’s the early years of a child’s life when they’re able to build the strongest foundation for future skills development and this is a crucial time for children to get these hands-on experiences with tactile tools being used to solve authentic problems. This helps improve their cognitive abilities and speed their social and emotional development as well. Plus, it’s easier in the modern era for a teacher to turn to a technology tool in an early education classroom and have confidence that it will genuinely help their students learn skills that will suit them well in the modern world.
Two of the other most important factors in reforming education for the modern world are student engagement and career replication. Students need both action and application in order to learn most effectively, which comes directly from more engaging educational experiences. They can get this from hands-on experiences, project-based learning, or simple tinkering, which can all be practiced from an early age. Another way to provide advantages for students is by making their classroom time more like future careers. This is generally more useful for older students, but career education is a very helpful change that works well when implemented. When students get real, on-the-job experience supplemented by classroom instruction, they obviously wind up more prepared to excel at those jobs later on. Who knows, though. Maybe there will be some new measure implemented across the country in the coming years that helps modernize learning in a whole new way.
Why STEM Belongs in the Modern Classroom
We couldn’t do a whole blog post on modernizing education without at least some mention of STEM. Depending on who you ask, there’s a very good chance you could be told that STEM is the future—both the future of education and of the workforce. It’s pretty hard to argue with the fact that STEM learning belongs in every modern classroom because, after all, a huge part of the modern economy is composed of jobs that require STEM skills, like coding, and that number will only continue to grow. When engaged in STEM activities and projects, students are naturally able to take ownership of their learning and place a greater emphasis on planning, problem solving, and reflection—some pretty relevant things in the real world. More so than ever before, there are some certain elements that help STEM experiences in the classroom translate into future success for students and here’s more about them.
When students are given the chance to participate in STEM learning, they’re given the chance to focus on real-world issues and problems. Okay, that’s a key element of modern classrooms and one that applies to the real world. STEM lessons also tend to be guided by the engineering process (a clear set of steps in the discovering, dissecting, and solving of a problem). Hey, practice like this also seems like it would have a lot of usefulness in the real world, too. You may also be aware that STEM-based lessons tend to immerse students deeper into hands-on learning and open-ended inquiry, helping them to develop purposeful curiosity skills. Whether they’re in a science classroom, a lab, makerspace, or even outside, STEM helps transform the classroom into something more like the real world and allows students to get collaborative while sharing ideas and designing their own investigations, which cannot be understated.
Those sound like some great ways to keep today’s education innovative and maximize STEM experiences for all students. But, wait, we have three more suggestions and other ways for how this can be done! The first is to involve students in regular teamwork. Not a lot of independent problem solving happens in today’s economy. People are constantly finding themselves in small teams and expected to put their talents together to get where they need to be. Second, STEM learning needs to include the math and science content that students are currently learning. This also helps to encourage student-teacher collaboration and helps kids see things in a new way. And, finally, challenges in the classroom should always have more than one right answer, offering students the chance to try a number of different approaches and maximize outcomes with as many creative solutions as possible.
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