Does ‘discovery learning’ prepare Alberta students for the 21st century or will it toss out a top tier education system?

Over the next two years, Alberta is preparing what may well be the most dramatic overhaul of Canadian school curricula in modern times.

Alberta students may rank among Canada’s top tier for performance, but by 2016, officials have nevertheless vowed that the “traditional” teaching methods of textbooks-and-chalkboards will be dead, replaced instead by a unstructured system design to craft “engaged thinkers,” “ethical citizens” and “entrepreneurial spirits.”

“We’re changing everything,” says a perky voice in a two-minute Government of Alberta video outlining the new program.

“We’re preparing [students] for a future we can’t imagine, and giving them the tools to succeed in work that doesn’t yet exist.”

While Alberta is the most prominent example, it is only one of many recent converts to the concept of “discovery learning,” a system in which students would be left to learn on their own, with minimal teacher guidance. But as planners enthusiastically advocated to take the fire-axe to more than a century of classroom norms, a cadre of opponents are warning that, without sufficient evidence, these schools may be making a terrible mistake.

Read more:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/28/does-discovery-learning-prepare-alberta-students-for-the-21st-century-or-will-it-toss-out-a-top-tier-education-system/

Gold medalist Jamie Anderson's mom: I didn't push my kids 'to read and write'

What does it take to raise an Olympian? In the case of Jamie Anderson, 23, the first woman to win gold in slopestyle snowboarding, her mom took an unconventional approach: there was no TV, no traditional schooling, and a focus on outdoor activities and following one’s spirit.

“I wanted them to be like children, playing outside, running and jumping and not sitting inside at a desk,” said Lauren Anderson, who raised the kids in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. “They got to be free, building their bodies, protecting their spirits and minds, and not being pushed or pressured.”

Lauren home-schooled her eight kids while running a lawn-mowing business on the side. But the emphasis wasn’t on academics.

“They went on the mountain and skied and snowboarded and they took the bus, and then they came home and did schoolwork — just to make it official,” she told TODAY.com during an interview at the P&G Family Home in the Olympic Park. “There wasn’t a big push for them to read and write and do arithmetic. I wanted them to learn how to get along and let life be the teacher. Character-building was more important than academics.”

While Lauren's approach was criticized by family members who worried that her six daughters and two sons weren’t intellectually stimulated (the grandparents would ask the kids to read out loud to confirm they were literate), she now counts among her kids an Olympic gold medalist and X-Games champions — even though she didn’t exactly want her kids to become athletes.

“I wanted them to be the singing Anderson sisters,” she laughed.

Read more:
http://www.today.com/sochi/gold-medalist-jamie-andersons-mom-i-didnt-pressure-my-kids-2D12092209