Language is an integral part of education, but so often we become focused on the task and forget the underlying foundation. Buckminster Fuller in his book, “Critical Path” written in 1982 presents the “knowledge doubling theory doubling approximately every 18 months, now in 2015 some are stating that it is occurring ever 12 months. With such rapid change humans approach to acquiring information and applying it will change. What will our children need to be good learners?
I visit classes in schools with exciting projects and watch my own child finish her projects. Sometimes with my own child I can see what she doesn’t understand in her approach to the project, the simplicity of the vocabulary, or even in the pattern of what she does not include. Identifying error patterns is in important way to recognize underlying problems.
Projects and tasks are powerful vehicles through which teachers instruct, but let us not forget the real goals. Not just how many tasks your child has completed, but are they learning to think critically, express thoughts and ideas, as well as, read and interpret information. Perhaps that is represented by that ” A” on the project, but uncovering what the “A” or “B” or “C” represents can often be challenging. Is my child learning maybe the most important question a parent asks?