Last class we watched a film called “Most Likely to Succeed,” which is a documentary examining the history of education in the United States. This film revealed some of the shortcomings of the conventional education system in today’s increasingly technological world. Specifically, this film followed the problem and project based learning strategies used with students at High Tech High. Problem based learning requires higher order thinking skills that go beyond the level of understanding required by traditional classes that have clearly defined questions to be solved. The problems presented can often be too difficult to be solved individually and therefore require teamwork and collaboration between students. Additionally, project based learning allows students to increase their  autonomy by giving them control to create their own projects, although teachers still define parameters and completion dates. For instance, in the film all of the students in the school were working towards a project that would be displayed at the end of the year in front of other students, teachers, and parents. The project based approach to learning  challenged students to overcome problems (such as, working with others, defending points of view, dealing with frustration) in order to produce a project of substantial work.

Watching problem and project based learning was super interesting because I could see how students were being prepared for future careers. On film it looked like students gained confidence, increased their communication skills, learned how to critically think, and became more creative. This is awesome because schools today aren’t necessarily preparing children adequately for the workforce (in the way that education does not always lead to a job.) One of the reasons that this has occurred is due to an increase in technology that decreases traditional white-collar jobs. (I have seen this in action with friends and siblings and worry about it myself!) For a large majority of my own educational experiences I feel like I have only been taught how to memorize things effectively and take tests – without retaining a majority of the information presented to me.

Although I think that this new school is extremely forward thinking and fantastic, I can see how certain students might have problems with the way that things are done. For instance, there is lots of group projects and presentations which may make more introverted students feel burnt out. (It would be interesting to see if schools could be built and run according to learning styles or different temperaments? Why are we still stuck using one similar model of education when students are extremely diverse? Does more research need to be done? Are we too closed minded? Is it even possible?)

I hope that wasn’t too long for you..Thanks for reading!