What will it take to make a radical shift in the state of public schools in America today?

PRESCHOOL for the ARTS

Natural COLLABORATORS

A SENSORY-RICH Environment

EXPRESSIVE

MOVEMENT is a powerful form of engagement!

INQUIRY:

To re-define EDUCATION for AMERICA in the 21st century.

US DEPT. OF EDUCATION

2001: ACT OF CONGRESS: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) calling for standardized testing nationwide.

2006: ANSWERING THE CHALLENGE OF A CHANGING WORLD: strengthening education in the 21st century

Bush’s answer: The American Competitive Initiative

Obama’s answer: EDUCATE TO INNOVATE Campaign

to increase STEM literacy (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

RACE TO THE TOP Program to improve student outcomes.

Aug 2011: Providing RELIEF (from NCLB) in return for reform.

What are the goals of EDUCATION in America?

Creating an American work-force capable of competing successfully in the global economy?

Or is education about the individual?

EDUCATION  the process of receiving or giving systematic

instruction.

INSTRUCTION  a direction calling for compliance synonyms: decree, dictate, command, order

EDUCE 

to draw out, evoke or elicit {information, solutions}

to evolve or develop {esp. from a latent or potential

state}

to interpret, see, make sense of

Competition Compliance

Cooperation Collaboration

What I propose:

The goal of American EDUCATION be aimed towards creating empowered citizens/individuals, prepared and motivated to create a sustainable world, developing skills to collaborate and design a future of promise and of global well-being.

What are the systems of interconnection that each child is born into?

What is the ideal relationship of support and connection between the child/individual and the nation/planet/interconnected world?

Through the process of exploring these relationships and eco-social systems, we can begin to re-define EDUCATION.

What would an EDUCATION focused on the child, look like — living and learning in scale with their needs, sustainable within the larger context?

What is at the CORE of learning? What are the CORE subjects for learning in a time

of amplified change? Are science, math, engineering & technology

{STEM} at the core? If INNOVATION is at the core of our achievement

goals, how can we cultivate the qualities of innovative thinking?

What role can THE ARTS play in developing the skills of mental acuity that facilitates INNOVATION, COLLABORATION and an ETHIC OF CARING about the well-being of oneself and others?

INQUIRY: towards a re-definition of EDUCATION

Where do language, communication, cultural understanding and ethics fit in?

What is relevant to learn? And how is it best learned?

What will be the new role for teachers in a re-defined school system?

FURTHER INQUIRY: towards a re-definition of EDUCATION

What will the learning environment look like in a school system aimed at cooperation and collaboration, rather than competition and compliance?

How might the hard structures of our current educational systems be re-designed? The bells, desks, hallways, whiteboards and teacher-driven instruction?

MORE QUESTIONS OF INQUIRY: What do YOU wonder about?

What would interactions look like in a globally-aware, child-centered learning environment?

Can we move towards an emergent curriculum, generated by student curiosity and supported by teacher resourcefulness?

What I propose:

Engaging the primary STAKEHOLDERS

Using strategies of COLLABORATIVE DESIGN

Create a THINK-TANK CURRICULUM for K-12 students — to give every child a voice and empower each child to engage directly in the re-design of their learning environment and process.

Students will develop strategies, skills and qualities of innovative thinking, preparing them to collaborate and tackle global issues, connecting them directly to the larger interconnected systems impacting them.

Passing on the message of sustainability. Future-casting a positive outlook on our

changing world.