More Discovery, Less Regurgitation.

My high school physics teacher and I are friends on Facebook. He recently posted this article and posed the following question:

We talked about this concept in our Math Methods class. What do we do when a student can type in high-level math problems and get a step-by-step solution instantly with a simple google search? I'll be honest - I used Wolfram Alpha many times to get through college physics and math assignments. If you don't know how to do something, why not just look it up online? It's our culture nowadays. Due to this accessibility, as teachers, we have to have a different approach to traditional methods. Here was my response to my teacher's post:

There is no longer a reason to assign 50 math problems for homework. We have to assume a lot of students will take advantage of their online resources and put in less effort in order to "get the points" for their grade. It's time to reshape the classroom experience and in order to do that I really think we should shift to discovery-based learning and exploration of existing concepts rather than regurgitation of information. I haven't been in the classroom able to try this out yet, but I strongly believe it is where education is heading. Students can teach other students, be crafty with presentation of material, and even be creative with their demonstration of understanding concepts. How cool would it be to move away from traditional tests and quizzes and rely more on student interest, passion, and contribution to learning rather than the teacher just depositing information? I hope to be apart of this transition. We could really reshape the education system.

#technologyineducation #education #math