The curriculum edge in Milton Chen's Education Nation seems to include the first part where he talks about both-and thinking. He does this by talking about project-based learning (PBL), where students do projects that end up being more than just one single area of learning.
For example, with regards to his talking about the car college thing. In that example, it was an afterschool activity. It taught the students auto mechanics, but much more. Because they also have to work with numbers in the measuring of everything. They have to work on physics on how a car ends up moving and how it stops. They have to work on metal working. So, what could be considered either all of these subjects separate or making a car becomes all of these seperate subjects are worked on while working on the car.
That, I believe, which I accept I don't know everything about PBL, is the point of PBL. It is to combine a bunch of different subjects that could be taught seperately taught together creating a both-and situation in learning.
Another example that I, myself, could use, is putting on a play. This works on many different things for a student. Because, depending on whether a student is in the stage crew or an actor, they work on different things. A member of the stage crew socializes and gets to know the other students and works with wood. An actor works on different styles of learning and remembering things. For example, students must read the script which will help with remembering their lines. They also will remember in time where they are supposed to move to when they say that line. They will remember auditory-wise how they say a line as well as the line that is said before them. All of these combine to help students remember. Another both-and situation of learning.
I think this is a very interesting idea. Every occupation does have to use different aspects of the traditional reading, writing and aritmetic that is the classic subjects. However I think without the capability of abstract thinking that can be difficult for younger people it can be difficult to see how these being taught in the traditional way will help them later in life. However given the teaching in the proper context math within the context of auto mechanics, or history in the context of construction techniques. I think kids need to see how things fit into their interests for it to be fun and exciting to learn, not sifted and distilled into their essence so that standardized testing, and other common denominator settling is done, then no one learns anything real.
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