Some K-12 schools, recognizing the need for change in an outdated model of instruction, are utilizing technology and classroom spaces to reimagine the transmission of education.
Taking their cues from startups focused on collaborative and comfortable workspaces, schools are beginning to prioritize student creativity and discovery over teacher-led delivery of content.
Haine Elementary School, located just outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., pioneered a Creativity, Innovation and Research Center for students. This center includes its own curriculum and equipment – including robots, a 3D printer, and a green screen – to inspire and motivate students in a collaborative space.
“An open-environment classroom creates a laboratory-like experience where students can let their imagination lead them to self-discovery,” communications director Linda Andreassi told Red Alert Politics via email. “Here in the Seneca Valley School District we are pleased to be one of the few in the state to embark on a project overflowing with innovation.”
In the classroom, visitors may observe students working on subjects such as coding, robotics, engineering, communications, and graphics design in small groups. Some may be pitching invention ideas while others work on math problems in the room’s indoor tree house.
The program has garnered the school district national recognition as a bronze winner in the 2018 Edison Awards, an innovation awards program typically reserved for such national brands as Bose, the Dow Chemical Company, and GoPro.
Similarly, the Carpe Diem charter school network, based in Arizona, Texas, and Indiana, uses blended learning – a combination of teacher tutoring and online modules – to allow students to work at their own pace on content tailored to their ability level.
Thomas Arnett, senior education research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute, an organization dedicated to harnessing the power of “disruptive innovation,” told Red Alert Politics in a phone call that Carpe Diem is an example of blended learning being used well in brick and mortar school buildings.
Many other schools are implementing blended learning models as well, a fact that Arnett notes is “helping to paint the picture of how we achieve the future of what education could look like.”
Researchers argue that the 21st century economy requires skills such as creativity, innovation, problem solving, digital literacy, initiation, leadership, and collaboration. Increasingly, experts and educational innovators posit that preparing students for real-world workplace situations requires teachers to act more as guides in the creative learning process rather than as transmitters of information that students must store and reproduce.
