Training Kids For a World That Doesn't Exist

Our education system was built to address a world that won't (or currently doesn't) exist for our students because it is changing so rapidly. When our students graduate, they will be faced with very different demands than many of us were faced with. The education system that most current teachers grew up in is not necessarily the system that will deliver the strongest skills to our students today. We need to teach our students skills that will allow them to be successful in this ever changing world. Students will be working in careers that don't exist yet and the technology that they will likely use in their everyday life we haven't seen or heard of yet. The onus placed on the education system is huge. The expectation is to have these students ready to change and adapt as quickly as the world around them and be creative, but still have strong communication, written and oral language skills, problem solving skills and the necessary math skills among others. Here is a quick, creative youtube video that reminds us of the 21st Century Skills.

The following article discusses how some of the schools in the US are changing their way of thinking and teaching to address this ever changing concern. It speaks of the many discovery and innovation classes that are becoming more popular. They are creatively responding to discovery learning at Harvard in many disciplines such as science, engineering, and business to provide a richer learning environment that will foster deeper learning. Several other US university campuses are also using an innovative discovery approach which is now filtering into high schools, middle schools and after school programs. It suggests how powerful innovative discovery can be and how meaningful and lasting the learning is.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts about innovation, discovery, the iterative process and the role it plays in education.  What activities are you trying in your classrooms to move down this exciting road of learning?