Thinking Bigger

The irony of living in the “information age” is that it isn’t about having the information. To be an educated person today, you need to be able to find the information you are looking for, connect it to what you already know and apply it effectively. This isn’t to say that information itself isn’t important, but that just having information isn’t enough.

Life today is less like game of Trivial Pursuit and more like the game of Clue. In Trivial Pursuit, you are asked to recall and regurgitate random bits of information that you have collected over the years. The Victorians would have loved this game, as being an educated person in those times meant having an encyclopedic knowledge of random things. However, the game of Clue asks our brains to engage in a much broader variety of tasks. You record your own data, then ask questions and pick up on clues that fill in the gaps in what you already know. To win Clue, you have to figure out the right questions to ask, connect it to what you already know and then apply it to make an accurate accusation. Who would you rather work with in today’s world: the person who excels at Trivial Pursuit or the person who excels at Clue?

I was thinking this over this week as my students presented their final projects in our How We Express Ourselves Unit. They were asked to pick an art form they like today and to research at least two things from the past that influenced it. They then presented their findings to our class in whichever way they thought would be most effective. Their topics ranged from children’s literature to Legos, from hairstyles to cartoons. The presentations ranged from hip-hop dance demonstrations to Keynote and Powerpoint presentations. What they all had in common, however, was the integration, application and sharing of knowledge. Yes, there were facts, but there were also connections, analysis and presentation skills.

One of my favorite examples is a girl, “Jamie,” who chose the topic of ruffles in fashion. I must admit that, when she first requested this topic, I was a bit skeptical myself at how much intellectual depth this topic would produce, but I respected her passion and her choice.

For her presentation, Jamie created a tri-fold board with photos and samples of ruffles used in fashion from the Elizabethan, Colonial and modern times. She explained how the ruffles during colonial times were transported to South America and Mexico and how they remain part of traditional clothing today. She brought in examples of “pleating” and “darts” and explained how they were similar and different from ruffles. She pointed to the photos as she explained how the materials ruffles were made of and the placement of ruffles on clothing had changed over time. She then used these trends to make a prediction about the future of ruffles in fashion.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, she is a fourth grader.

I can pretty much guarantee you that “ruffles in fashion” will never be on a standardized test; however, I can also guarantee you that this project and the associated learning will have a lasting educational impact on this child. She grew in her research, thinking, communication and presentation skills through discovering and sharing about something that was interesting to her. Along the way, she also picked up some historical facts that are connected to something she loves and will therefore be easier for her to access in the future.

One of the main issues that I have with high-stakes standardized testing isn’t that it asks too much of students and teachers, but that it asks too little. It is too much like Trivial Pursuit and not enough like Clue. It asks for too many of the skills of the Industrial Age and not enough of those needed in the Information and Technology Age.