Learning and Life: How our Curriculum Design (from Simple to Complex) Insults the Intelligence of a Student

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

How our Curriculum Design (from Simple to Complex) Insults the Intelligence of a Student

[Delivered as L2L Talk on 2011-03-20]

A child is naturally curious and interested in exploring about things that he does not know. Complex and unknown things are the ones that interest him (and us). We are interested in mysteries, conspiracy theories, adventure, drama, and are amused by the unexpected, stupendous, super-natural or sci-fi. We insult a child's intelligence by thinking that he can not understand complex things. We think that the only way to teach him is to progress from simple to complex. First drill in him simple concepts. He will only understand complex concepts, once he has mastered the simple things.

This is an insult to the intelligence of a child because the child has proven through his mastery of his mother tongue that he learns from complex to simple. Parents start talking to him naturally, with full sentences much before when he could say a single word. They talk to him, sing to him using natural language. Any computer scientist will tell you that one of the most complex problems that computers have addressed is natural language processing. Within one to two years most children have started using the natural language. We also see the attempt of the kid to stand, walk, climb, balance and now even use mobile phones; which are extremely complex manoeuvres if you ask any robotics expert. In fact, a kid is extremely interested in all the complex things that he sees his elders doing, and wants to copy them irrespective of all the setbacks, injuries, falls and false starts. Study of how a child masters these skills reveal that the child is progressing from complex to simple and not the other way round. Because this is exciting and adventurous, the child is willing to suffer through all the setbacks without getting discouraged.

See also: Problems with Bloom's Taxonomy: Impact on Curriculum and Motivation of Students

However, when our teaching content progresses tediously and painstakingly from simple to complex, when week after week and month after month it keeps on lingering on what the kids have already seen and experienced, they lose their interest, and hence their curiosity, wonder and their natural ability to learn. Then we are forced to employ unnatural and forceful ploys to engage their attention. Schools then have to resort to bribes, threats or humiliation, the three most effective ways to control children:

Bribe through grades, happy-face, stars, awards, and presents, or
Threat through F-grades, failure, detention, loss of privileges, loss of access to recess/playground, or
Humiliation by throwing them out of the class, making them stand, made fun of, labeling, and scapegoating.

See also: Why My Child does not Sit and Concentrate

We now equate good schooling with excess of these three elements. We can not envision a school environment which does not have these three things and still be considered good. We think that a student is not studying unless his tears are running down his cheeks, he is fearful, silent, and crying. The result is that we are producing "functional illiterates".

See also: Testing/Grading vs Motivation: A Variation on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle for Academics

All of these techniques are useless and are not necessary had we designed our content from complex to simple. Let the student move to the deeper and deeper level of the details. He would do this by himself if we can show him that the mystery that he unravels is going to be exciting and will prepare him to unravel and explore more mysteries. The duty of a teacher then becomes more of a facilitator when she guides the child in this unraveling of the mystery and pointing out the fundamental principles that the kid needs to remember. This would generate interest among the students and would make their learning effortless. The result would be students who love maths, science, literatue and history naturally. Currently you are surprised to find a student at the high school level who says that any of these subjects are his hobby or passion.

This is the essence of project based learning.