Cooperative Chaos

If students’ heads are being filled with mush these days, there’s a reason.

In fact, there are many.
One of them could be that students are being subjected to trendy educational theories that make no sense and have little value as teaching tools.

Take “cooperative learning,” for example.

In case you’re out of the loop, this is one of the latest educational ideas, also known as “collaborative,” “interactive” or “student-centered” learning. Charlotte Allen reported on www.mindingthecampus.com that it’s all part of the edu-mindspeak known as “constructivism” that “holds that teachers don’t teach things but rather, that students ‘construct’ their own knowledge out of what they already know.”

The goal is to dismiss the traditional role of teachers imparting knowledge to students as a quaint relic. The language of edu-mindspeak claims that “a teacher who lectures or otherwise imparts material from the front of the classroom creates an atmosphere in which the students are passive robots whose job is to ‘regurgitate’ . . . their lecture notes on the final exam. Far better for a teacher to be just a coach, gently nudging students along the path of learning on their own.”

This concept has inspired new agers like information systems management professor Bruce Saulnier (Quinnipiac U.) to conclude that content should simply be regarded as a vehicle “for students to develop their skills and strategies.” He explains that “there is simply too much knowledge in the world today for students to learn everything they need to know.”

Instead, Saulnier suggests that the teacher should focus on “modeling the learning process by absorbing the material alongside their students.”

Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.

Deborah Lambert