Just yesterday, as I was having my morning coffee, I thought of a title for a post:”Who taught Einstein?” That is, if the goal of education is for students to learn a specific curriculum, where do new ideas come from? How do we teach students to imagine a world different to the one we know.
I also thought back to my secondary schooling. I had an interest in electronics which lead me to an interest into what was then the new field of semiconductors. I read voraciously about the physics of semiconductors which, ultimately, lead me to an initial understanding of quantum mechanics. Throughout secondary school I knew more about this subject than any of my teachers.
How then do we provide opportunities to allow for this to happen? Is the current structure of schooling, curriculum and teaching set up to provide this space or do we need to reimagine things a little?
Your secondary schooling experience is interesting to hear about. What sparked you onto that journey? What was the catalyst that lead you to that interest or was there none??
I think it's possible to provide opportunities for this to happen in the current structure. (Although, at the same time, I think we need to completely rethink the current structure.)
However, the current focus on Explicit Teaching very much restricts these opportunities.
Regarding my own secondary school experience. I think I always had an enquiring mind. But I also developed an interest in electronics from the age of about 10.
It was natural then that a bit later, I subscribed to a (now defunct) magazine called Electronics Australia.
The 60s were an exciting time for electronics. Transistors and seminconductors more generally were rapidly replacing valves. By the end of that decade, valves were only used in very specialised situations.
So, in 1969, the editor of the magazine published a series of articles entitled "An Introduction to Semiconductors." To understand semiconductors you have to have at least an elementary understanding of solid state physics and quantum atomic structure.
I lapped up this part of the series, and this sparked my interest in knowing more.
Well said, Tom.
Just yesterday, as I was having my morning coffee, I thought of a title for a post:”Who taught Einstein?” That is, if the goal of education is for students to learn a specific curriculum, where do new ideas come from? How do we teach students to imagine a world different to the one we know.
I also thought back to my secondary schooling. I had an interest in electronics which lead me to an interest into what was then the new field of semiconductors. I read voraciously about the physics of semiconductors which, ultimately, lead me to an initial understanding of quantum mechanics. Throughout secondary school I knew more about this subject than any of my teachers.
Thank you Chris! A good question to raise.
How then do we provide opportunities to allow for this to happen? Is the current structure of schooling, curriculum and teaching set up to provide this space or do we need to reimagine things a little?
Your secondary schooling experience is interesting to hear about. What sparked you onto that journey? What was the catalyst that lead you to that interest or was there none??
I think it's possible to provide opportunities for this to happen in the current structure. (Although, at the same time, I think we need to completely rethink the current structure.)
However, the current focus on Explicit Teaching very much restricts these opportunities.
Regarding my own secondary school experience. I think I always had an enquiring mind. But I also developed an interest in electronics from the age of about 10.
It was natural then that a bit later, I subscribed to a (now defunct) magazine called Electronics Australia.
The 60s were an exciting time for electronics. Transistors and seminconductors more generally were rapidly replacing valves. By the end of that decade, valves were only used in very specialised situations.
So, in 1969, the editor of the magazine published a series of articles entitled "An Introduction to Semiconductors." To understand semiconductors you have to have at least an elementary understanding of solid state physics and quantum atomic structure.
I lapped up this part of the series, and this sparked my interest in knowing more.