Who+is+the+Learner?

Who is the Learner?
The learners of the 21st Century are not passive. They do not just sit and absorb information and walk out of the classroom after simply a note taking session. Learners throughout the 20th Century were the receivers of information. The teacher lectured and the student absorbed are was supposed to absorb like a sponge. One problem is that students learn differently and some have special needs. The second issue is that the students of the 20th Century were living in a 'different world' than those of today and certainly different than those of the 2025. The learner of tomorrow is someone who is proactive. He needs to be engaged and needs to be given responsibilities. The highest form of learning is creating, therefore, students who can become leaders and be "in charge" of their own learning will benefit the most.

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Students are learning and reacting to their world differently today than they were twenty or even ten years ago. Something as simple as a narrative is handled differently. In the book, New Learning (Kalantzis, Cope, 2008), it is discussed how students are not just reading about stories, they want TO BE THE STORY. The gaming world has become an overwhelming influential force in our children's world. The games they play on the iPod, XBox, Nintendo, DS, etc. let them be a part of the action. When they play a video game, they are being interactive. The story is not just about someone else. They are often the main character affecting how the story unfolds in their own virtual world.

Now take this student who is used to thinking at a higher level in his free time. This student has been creating, evaluating and synthesizing while he is playing. The same student may fall asleep in a classroom that teaches only to the lowest level of memorization and understanding.

The teacher of 2025 must first and foremost understand this 'New Learner.' The teacher must come to a realization that students' learning is evolving. Learners are not the same as twenty years ago or even five years ago. The environment we live in is radically changing the way students process information. Therefore, if students are processing information differently, we must cater to this new learning. Students of the future wants to be 'hands on". They want to create and get involved. Students will learn best if they can use technology in school since this is something they are familiar with from gaming play during their free time.

Students are also never too old to be creative. Students want to do more than take notes. They want to draw pictures, create art projects, produce graphic organizers and produce videos and music. Students are anxious to learn, but need to be given the chance to learn according to the environmental influences that are affecting them.

Another issue regarding the learner of 2025 is that historically, the educational world has structured our levels based on age. As Ken Robinson highlights within his TED-talk (2010) schools continue to be one of the only training programs that group their learners in this fashion. Within the classroom of 2025, it is quite possible this type of grouping will be evolve into something else. In its place will land collaboration among the age groups. Education in the United States started out in "one room school houses." Students were grouped from first grade on up all together under one room and in one room.

For decades historians and pedagogians have criticized this system was 'one size fits all' and did not benefit the students. Students were then grouped by age as school enrollment increased. The focus was on teaching students at their grade level. As we have learned in recent years, not all students learn at the same rate. A six year old, could be reading at a sixth grade level and there could be seventh graders who are still struggling with third grade math skills.

he solution according to Sir Ken Robinson is then to group students according to experience, talent and ability, but not just necessarily age. This topic needs to be delved into and handled gingerly, because this reverts to the European tracking system. Losen (1999) discussed that tracking was introduced in the early 1900's and the sole reason was to separate racial and ethnic priorities from Anglo students. At the time pedagogians believed that "intelligence" was hereditary, and the assumption was the ethnic and racial minorities were genetically inferior and should, therefore, be segregated.

Students on the lower tracks were disadvantaged because they were not always given the opportunities, facilities and challenges they deserved. Studies have been done, however, to show that students on the upper tracks were also not always benefiting, and in some cases, harmed by ability groups. Upper track students were suffering from isolation, increased academic stress, burnout, and ego inflation. These issues can cause students to not be good team players. Perrone, Wright, Ksiazak, Crane, and Vannater (2010).

Therefore, students seem to fair better socially, when schooled by age. Students learn there are other learners who have different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. This does not mean there cannot be opportunities for big brother/little brother mentoring or times when fifth graders read with first graders. There is a place for these activities, but that is separate than academic grouping throughout the entire school day.

In 2025, team building and cooperative groups will become important factors not only in schools, but in jobs, as well. The students need to learn how to work together and work with diversity. Students need to be able to develop the ability to communicate with individuals of different intellectual levels. It appears that grouping students by academic ability takes away from the important life skill of adapting and being flexible with others.

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