"Is it possible that William Shakespeare really wrote all of the works that bear his name?" What gives rise to a leader such as Adolph Hitler and could it happen today? What makes the sky blue and why couldn't it be purple?"
True education, and hence our school's purpose, is not to answer these questions for our students. Rather a truly exceptional, long lasting, and meaningful education instills the habits of mind that allow students to find the answers to these questions on their own.
Because I am perpetually thinking about and talking about the future for our children, a misperception can emerge in that I am obsessed with technology or computer science or science fiction to the point where universal truths about learning have been abandoned. That couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, what I think about today in 2017 is the same as what I got me into the field of learning and education 25 years ago in 1997. Despite the brutally boring lecture-based method that I was exposed to in philosophy class in high school, I became intrigued with the ancient philosophers such as Plato who thought deeply about concepts such as the difference between knowledge and opinion. This couldn't be more relevant today in our age of information overload (infobesity), social media echo-chambers, and alternative facts. George Orwell was clearly and eerily prescient when he published 1984 close to seventy years ago. "There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
At Collingwood, I am urging our department heads, academic leaders, and faculty to think about these habits of mind in a 21st century context. What are habits of mind? Ways of Thinking. Ways of Knowing. Ways of Understanding. These three concepts are all distinct and understanding these differences is essential in creating true education. I urge you to talk to your children about epistemology or the theory of understanding. Remember, you don't need to be an expert, just start the conversation and see where it goes.
I want to share two links with you to explain further my thinking. First is a brief article about the difference between knowledge and understanding. In short, knowing is static. Understanding is active. And, it is better to understand something vs. just knowing it. However, both are important and true understanding is based on having foundational knowledge.
It's Better To Understand Something Than To Know It
The second link is a brief video about the concept of computational thinking. Before I explain the concept of what computational thinking is, let me share what it is not. Computational thinking is not computer science. It is not coding, A.I., Machine learning, or even one specific discipline that should be added to the curriculum.
Rather, computational thinking is a 21st century approach to the three habits of mind that is interdisciplinary, universally applicable, and not age specific. Computational thinking is one method, among many effective methods, of using the exponential technologies at our disposal in the 21st century, that helps all learners as they navigate their journey of true educations.
As always, I invite you to comment or share thoughts, ideas, or any other source of information that may change, enhance or expand my thinking!