Educational Aspects
Students today cannot count on finding one smooth career path, because the jobs that exist today will change radically tomorrow. In fact, change will be the one constant in their careers. What tomorrows students will need is not just mastery of subject matter, but mastery of learning. Education will not be simply a prelude to a career, but a lifelong endeavor. This means that our students will not only be learners, passively absorbing subject matter - but more like researchers, actively exploring their environment. The challenge for education will be to find ways of bringing to the process of instruction the passion for discovery that drives research. Students today should master the skills and tools of research as part of their basic education. To give the students this mastery we must create a learning environment in which research and instruction are integrated. An important aspect of such a teaching philosophy will be to stimulate the natural curiosity of students to the point whereby the pursuit of knowledge becomes a lot of fun.
Today, history teaching tends to emphasize themes, such as 'Patterns of Civilization', or 'Society and War'. This constitutes a definite improvement over traditional approaches, but the students often get lost in time - a basic scale of reference is missing. In this respect the History Project provides a valuable supplement to the official curriculum. But above all, a synchronoptic organization gives the reader an incentive to explore deeper, linking one idea with another as the student pursues his or her own personal learning path. |
Back |