[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge and Education

[aestetix aestetix]

Hey,

I'm pretty sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that Noisebridge has sort
of assumed identity as a one-room
schoolhouse<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-room_school>,
or, in more abstract terms, a modern variation of either the Pythagorean or
Socratic schools. When we get a group of both self-progressing and
competitive individuals together, we run into culture clashes as to what
everyone thinks works, or how things "ought" to be.

To me, it seems the next natural step is to try and break down different
types of education models, so we see why people like one over the other; for
example, comparing a class to a workshop. Also, understanding education
history really reveals a lot about our current models. Three references I
have found utterly excellent for this study: *The Underground History of
American Education* by John Taylor Gatto, *Technopoly* by Neil Postman, and
*Democracy and Education* by John Dewey. Incidentally, these all lift ideas
from *Emile* by Rousseau, one of the first recognized and definitive
analyses pertaining to education.

   1. Greek style. This involves a lot of peer review and mentorship. One
   could also call it a round-table discussion. Very loose-formed, it is an
   interative discussion among a group of friends or colleagues seeking to
   better understand or refine a concept. Often there will be a mentor or
   "tutor" who acts as moderator to prevent discussion from getting too heated,
   and keeps things from digressing too much.
   2. Greek style with a leader. Rather than having a moderator on the side,
   we have someone who acts as leader, who can settle disputes, and is
   recognized as having some sort of excellents in the subject at hand. In some
   communities, they are also a figurehead who takes the blame when things go
   wrong.
   3. Loose Teacher/students model. This is when, rather than having a
   discussion about something, there is a clear path that a teacher follows.
   The goal is for the teacher to communicate ideas to the students, and all
   the students recognize their superiority.
   4. Strict Teacher/students model. Unlike the loose model, the teacher
   assumes a form of authority. Rather than simply teaching the subject matter,
   they are also instilling discipline. Students must raise their hand to speak
   or ask questions, questions are directed at the teacher, rather than at
   everyone, and all students are expected to be silent while the teacher goes
   on with the lesson.
   5. Self-taught. This requires a great deal of autonomy, and does not work
   for everyone. You work alone or with someone else, and provide your own
   guidance.

I'm pretty sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now.
Each serves a different purpose, and fits a different environment. There are
a lot of factors I'm leaving out, such as:

   - Group or class size. Do different models work better depending on the
   size of the crowd?
   - The subject matter at hand. The best lessons integrate everything. If
   you read the references I cited, there's a lot of evidence that the concept
   of "subjects" wasn't created until about a century ago. However, it's
   important to recognize that certain things should be taught differently. You
   can memorize all the hardware you want from a book, but until you get into a
   lab and play with it, it won't totally make sense.
   - Taboo subjects. Some ideas are simply not taught for cultural reasons.
   And yet, creative teachers find a way to sneak them in.
   - Age. Young people learn differently than older people. Also, having
   different experiences helps you see new perspectives. This is one of the
   reasons there are multiple variants of the IQ test.
   - The concept of student vs teacher. Can someone be both at once?
   - What is the purpose of education? Is it to teach someone else a lesson,
   or to share ideas?

A lot of this is mental rambling. Pretty much every notable writer or
philospher I have encountered has had a different idea of how to teach, and
how things should be. I'm curious as to what noisebridgers think. Perhaps if
we better understand each other, we can work on having less social tension
until the move happens.

aestetix
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20090709/38c57325/attachment-0002.html>