Are You Only Scratching the Surface?

X-Ray the Curriculum

Move from novice to expert within your license.

Do you possess an in-depth knowledge of the topics you present? Where is this student learning supposed to lead? How does this information connect to today’s world? How does it relate to the world you would like the students to create? What foundation do the students need to fully grasp this subject matter?

The Science I Explored

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University recently published an article in PNAS (Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences) that reveals what happens in the brain as learners progress from novice to expert. They discovered that new neural activity patterns emerge with long-term learning and established a causal link between these patterns and new behavioral abilities.

“We think that extended practice builds new synaptic connectivity that leads directly to the development of new patterns of activity that enable new abilities,” said Chase. “We think this work applies to anybody who wants to learn – whether it be a paralyzed individual learning to use a brain-computer interface or a stroke survivor who wants to regain normal motor function.”[1] 

A Situation

An educator notices that on various occasions, students are asking questions that go beyond the curriculum. Questions like:

• “Why does this happen?”

• “How is this used now?”

• “Who else has done this?”

• “Why?”

• “How?”

Seeking Expertise in Education

Digging deeper into a curriculum is about seeking expertise.  Seeking expertise is about gaining mastery through extended practice in a particular area. For educators that teach one subject, here is your chance to justify going “down the rabbit hole” in your subject matter. Find out the prior knowledge needed before the students can grasp the subject matter you are presenting.

Explore the connections to today’s world and the implications on the future. Assume you have so much more to learn about your topic and go looking for information. A good question to ask as you dive deeper is “why?” Why the Pythagorean theorem? Why the declaration of war in 1812? Why are some metals considered precious? Why is earth’s geography as it is? Another question to take on your dive would be “who?” Who decided on the world’s hemispheres and quadrants? Documentaries, scientific studies, discoveries, and interviews should be a staple of the educator becoming an expert on his/her subject matter.

On the other hand, if you teach elementary school and must cover many subjects, your expertise will have to show up differently. Your path will include “how” children learn. Because you teach many subjects on an introductory level, you will be mostly engaged in teaching the basics and building a solid foundation. Your role mainly covers showing children how to learn as you introduce new topics. So, you must learn more about how children learn. Not only will you want them to understand and retain information, but you will also want them to have a skill of “how” to learn new things.

Your “rabbit hole” quest will cover teaching methods and strategies that are proven to cut through, land, and sink into your student’s brain cells. When you learn how children learn best, you share it with your students. How would I learn about arrays? I can use my hands to move cubes into an array formation. I will allow my students to do the same. How can I begin to remember how Native Americans used all the parts of an animal for their daily lives? I can reenact a hunt and create artifacts based on what we know about Native American tools. I will have my students do the same. In every instance you can tell students how using their hands, moving, or creating, helps the human brain learn.

Basically, you are learning how children learn best for two reasons: to build a solid foundation for the students as you introduce various subject matter and to show them how they can use the same strategies for learning in the future.

And here’s a good question for primary and secondary educators: If you are not headed down an expert’s path, why should the students listen to you? Not because you said so, of course. They'll listen because your in-depth knowledge will help students connect their learning in many different ways - to their lives, to other things they have learned, to novel ideas and more. Now, pull on your expert pants and start facilitating a rich learning environment. Say it with me: “I’m an expert because I keep learning more.”

Quotes

Know that you don’t know. That is superior.

—Lao Tzu

Who questions much shall learn much and retain much.

—Francis Bacon

Darwood Handbook 26 Best Practices in Education

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[1] University of Pittsburgh, “How the brain changes when mastering a new skill: Research reveals new neural activity patterns that emerge with long-term learning,” ScienceDaily, June 10, 2019, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190610151934.htm.