Changing Curriculum Means Changing Your Mind

 

Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

Lord Kelvin, the 19th century British physicist and astronomer said, "When you cannot measure it; when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a very meager and unsatisfactory kind."


As we enter the 21st century, this mental set still serves educators as a rationale for justifying curriculum decisions. Much like a clog chasing its tail, the level of adopted curriculum outcomes sets the intent of instruction and the focus of assessment. This cycle seals systems into a mindset that outcomes are significant because they arc easily and immediately measured, barring consideration of working for more long-range, enduring, and essential learnings.


Based on this archaic 19th century industrial, reductionist mentality, we have translated our curriculum and assessments into observable, measurable outcomes and performances. We have become fascinated and enamored with:

  • the amount of time on task
  • the number of questions asked at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy (1956)
  • gain scores on achievement tests
  • class size: numbers of students and ratio of students to adults
  • length of time in school, days in attendance, and minutes of instruction
  • IQ scores as a basis for grouping
  • percentages of objectives attained
  • numbers of competencies needed for promotion or graduation
  • school effectiveness based on published test scores
  • numbers of As and Bs on report cards (often rewarded with dollars)

As we enter an era in which knowledge doubles in less than five years, and the projection is that by the year 2020 it will double every 73 days, it is no longer feasible to anticipate the future information requirements for an individual. Our increasingly complex world is forcing us to use our brains more. We must think differently and deeply about what learning is and its worth.
As we let go of the machine models of work, we begin to step back and see ourselves in new ways, to appreciate our wholeness, and to design organizations that honor and make use of the totality of who we are (Wheatley 1992, p. 12).

 

Shifting Mental Models

The most critical, but least understood, component of school reform is the restructuring of curriculum it is what drives everything else. We need, in the words of Michael Fullan (1993), to take a "quantum leap" in how we think about and develop curriculum. This article invites a shift in how we think about educational outcomes.
Some educators, legislators, and parents are perceptually bound by outmoded traditions, out-of-date laws, past practices, obsolete policies, and antiquated metaphors. Invested in their present ways of working, they believe that if they can just do what they are presently doing better—give more money to education, hire more teachers, extend the school year, "toughen" teacher certification standards, hold schools more accountable—everything will improve.
For most people, changing mental models implies the unknown—the psychologically unknown risks of a new venture, the physically unknown demands on time and energy, and the intellectually unknown requirement for new skills and knowledge. To adopt a new vision, a shift away from our traditional and obsolescent thinking about learning, teaching, achievement, and talent will be needed. The concepts in this article invite a shift in our present paradigm from quantity to quality. Changing our mental models will require patience, stamina, and courage.

 

Arthur L. Costa
 

 

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