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Marta Hilgier Modern school: yay or nay?

In the contemporarycontemporarycontemporary world, schools and the way people learn have changed dramatically. The Covid‑19 pandemic in particular imposedimposed [impose]imposed on educators and students the necessitynecessitynecessity to alteralteralter the approachapproach (noun)approach to gaininggaining [gain]gaining and passing on knowledge. For the last few years, we have been using modern technology like never before. From a regular classroom, students and teachers alike were put in a situation in which using e‑learning platforms, communication tools, and online applications has moved from the fringe to the normhas moved from the fringe to the norm [move from the fringe to the norm]has moved from the fringe to the norm, making traditional ways of educating young people obsoleteobsoleteobsolete.  When the pandemic is over, all of these methods will be here to stay no matter how hard we try not to let this happen.

Learning through experience and experimentation:

Contrary tocontrary toContrary to what was en vogueen vogueen vogue in the 20th century, a modern approach to learning assumesassumes [assume]assumes that pupils acquireacquireacquire knowledge best when they do things on their own or by experimentation rather than by rote learningrote learningrote learning and memorising the whole sections from their textbooks. Better late than never. Educators have lately been putting stress onputting stress on [put stress on]putting stress on critical thinking and problem solving tasks that let students applyapplyapply their knowledge. When the balance is shifted fromis shifted fromis shifted from theory to practice, we notice skillful, curious, and creative human beings. What counts then is not knowing but understanding concepts.

Cutting edgecutting edgeCutting edge technology in the classroom:

In the past, the concept of a lesson was lecture‑orientedlecture‑orientedlecture‑oriented. Today the learning process has moved beyondbeyondbeyond reading books and lectures. Teachers across the globe use a variety ofvariety ofvariety of technological devicesdevices [device]devices to facilitatefacilitatefacilitate knowledge acquisition. Traditional chalkchalkchalk and boardsboards [board]boards were replaced withreplaced with [replace with]replaced with whiteboards and markers or interactive boards. Students make use ofmake use ofmake use of learning platforms and applications to get to know new things and revisereviserevise the material. The Internet has great educational potential, so why limit yourself to sitting in class and listening to a professor reading from their notes?

GamificationgamificationGamification and edutainmentedutainmentedutainment

Together with lectures, doing exercise after exercise from textbooks and workbooks is becoming outdatedoutdatedoutdated. Learning applications allow for teachers to introduce some aspects of fun, games, and competition to the classroom. These techniques are strategic attemptsattempts [attempt] (noun)attempts to encourage users to play, get entertained by, and learn things at the same time. Some of them offer a chance to co‑work with a team and some of them are designed for individual players. Regardless ofregardless ofRegardless of the type, the learning process continues and is furtherfurtherfurther enhancedenhanced [enhance]enhanced by accomplishingaccomplishing [accomplish]accomplishing good results, scoring points, getting badges, and improving one’s avatars.

Archaic grading system on its way out:

Grades have often been perceivedperceived [perceive]perceived by students as the equivalentequivalentequivalent of their level of knowledge. The thing is, hardly any of them learn to know and remember things. The majority is interested in getting a good mark on a test. Grading systems and standardised testing are heavily criticised because they reflectreflectreflect how much a student can remember on the day of the exam, but don't focus on what a student can do with this knowledge, what conclusion they can drawconclusion they can draw [draw conclusions]conclusion they can draw, and how well they are able to assessassessassess processes and phenomena. Perhaps this is the reason why more and more teachers would like to get rid ofget rid ofget rid of widely used grades and standardised testing and substitute these withsubstitute these withsubstitute these with a fairly objective method of evaluationevaluationevaluation which doesn’t favour a particular type of students and discourage those who aim highaim highaim high.

Studying is quite a hard and boring process for many but as the times are changing, the ways to achieve academic perfection need to adaptadaptadapt as well. We need to place importance onplace importance onplace importance on practical knowledge and specialisation and avoidavoidavoid making student‑learning robots at all costs. And perhaps, a bit of individualisation wouldn’t hurt. We can’t assess everyone in the same way for everything, we need to start recognising students’ potential and know how to encourage them to develop their strong points. After all, you wouldn’t fail a fish for not being able to climb a tree and an ant for not being able to swim, right? So take it easy.

1 Źródło: Marta Hilgier, dostępny w internecie: Why is experimenting learning important?, Educating Adventures, https://www.easchooltours.com/blog/experiential-learning-learn-through-experience [dostęp 11.12.2021], What is gamification?, BiWorldwide, https://www.biworldwide.com/gamification/what-is-gamification/ [dostęp 11.12.2021], What Is Edutainment? Tips for Mixing Education and Entertainment in the Classroom, School of Eductaion, https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/what-is-edutainment/ [dostęp 11.12.2021], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.