Subject Areas
Topic | Traditional approach | Alternate approaches |
---|---|---|
Mathematics | Traditional mathematics:
|
|
Science | Fact-based science: Science class is an opportunity to transmit concrete knowledge and specific vocabulary from the teacher (or textbook) to the students. Students focus on memorizing what they are told. "Experiments" follow cookbook-style procedures to produce the expected results. | With Inquiry-based Science a student might be asked to devise an experiment to demonstrate that the earth orbits the sun. The emphasis changes from memorizing information that was learned through a scientific method to actually using the scientific method of discovery. |
Language learning | Phonics: The focus is on explicit training in sound to letter correspondence rules and the mechanics of decoding individual words. Students initially focus on phonics subskills and reading simplified decodable texts. When they have mastered a sufficient number of rules, they are allowed to read freely and extensively. (In many languages, such as French, Spanish and Greek, phonics is taught in the context of reading simple open syllables.) | With whole language the child is exposed to rich, relevant language that can heighten motivation to read. Learning to read is assumed to be as natural as learning to speak, so students are not formally taught sound to letter correspondences, but assumed to infer them on their own. (Note that this issue is limited to languages such as English and French with complex phonetics and spelling rules. Instruction in countries with languages such as Spanish and Greek, which have relatively simple phonetic spelling, still depends mainly on phonics.) |
Read more about this topic: Traditional Education
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or areas:
“You should never assume contempt for that which it is not very manifest that you have it in your power to possess, nor does a wit ever make a more contemptible figure than when, in attempting satire, he shows that he does not understand that which he would make the subject of his ridicule.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (17791848)
“Adults understandably assume that the level of verbal proficiency a five-year-old displays represents his level of proficiency in all areas of functioningif he talks like an adult, he must think and feel like one. However, five-year-olds,... belie the promise of adult-like behavior with their child-like, impulsive actions.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)