Are we teaching the future?

In our school, we are required to do two project based learning experiences a year for our students. Unfortunately, because of the criteria that we are told we have to use, they are very structured and not like the project based learning that I have seen. Mitra speaks of how the students in his School in the Clouds will be given a big question and then they will go out and learn the answer. I believe this is where true learning can occur. Our education system has been outdated for a while, the things we have been doing to get students ready for college and the workplace are no longer the things that they need. We are truly unable to predict at this point what careers will look like in the future but we know they will include technology. Having students memorize things that they will not need to know isn't helpful. Giving students the opportunity to collaborate and problem solve will only make them stronger learners and help them throughout their lives. 

This year, in the middle of the semester, each of our classrooms was equipped with a Clear Touch. It has been wonderful to watch the students in my class teach themselves and myself how to use it and troubleshoot problems as they occur. 

I found it fascinating that children in remote parts of the world were able to look at a computer and figure out what to do with it but I am not surprised. Children are naturally inquisitive and I do believe that some things we do in school take that away from them. If we continue to go in the way of the School in the Clouds and using things like project based learning I think we are moving away from the traditional way of schooling and into what our students of today might need in the future.