I fully understand that in our current system, schools teach many things that our students will not use once they have entered society. I am not saying that we should only teach things that students will use, but that we, as caring educators, consider contextual relevance when we plan our lessons, provocations and learning activities.
Before I discuss contextual relevance I would like to clarify the definition of this term in the context of education.
As we can see from these two definitions, contextual relevance is something that is related to certain circumstance and is connected to, and appropriate for those circumstances. In the area of education, this means that the learning environment, lessons, activities, tools, etc… are related to certain needs. In my mind, there are several needs educators must take into consideration when applying contextual relevance to their learning environments.
- The authenticity of student learning.
- Student emotional needs
- The current societal needs.
In a previous post, where I discuss why we need to innovate, I stated, “We must as teachers look at the needs of the society and what our students will need when they enter this society. It is only through this method that we ensure that what we are teaching our students is appropriate, relevant and authentic. When considering everything done in an institution of learning we must gauge what we do including traditions with the following question,
How is this serving the educational and emotional needs of the students in our current societal context?
I have seen in many classrooms, instances where an unauthentic and irrelevant environment is created because the teacher, meaning to do good, has restricted the students, use of tools. This can look different. It might be that students aren’t allowed to use Google or the Internet. It might be that they are asked to use a paper dictionary, even when every student has a computer. I am reminded of a fantastic quote by Sugata Mitra:
“When they (students) complete their schooling and start a job, they are told to solve problems in groups, through meetings, using every resource they can think of. They are rewarded for solving problems this way – for not using the methods they were taught in school.”
Sugata Mitra
The point of this post is not to criticize, but to make educators think. When you are setting up your learning environment please consider a few questions. In real life are we presented with tasks we cannot use every tool to help us solve? Shouldn’t we allow the use of the Internet or other electronic devices as a tool for learning? Shouldn’t we train our students to be able to make use of the Internet in meaningful ways? Shouldn’t students be trained to search for and find information, evaluate the information to check the validity and then make use of it in some manner to assist in their own synthesis? If we restrict tools are we creating the most authentic and relevant learning environment for our students? If we restrict tools are we considering contextual relevance?
Keep in mind, that sticking to what you did when you were in school is not what our current students need.
“Any inherited system, good for its time, when held to after its day, hampers social progress. It is not enough that the system, fundamentally unchanged in plan and purpose, be improved in details…And yet to do the nineteenth-century task better than it was then done is not necessarily to do the twentieth-century task.”
Franklin Bobbitt 1918
The world our students will enter after completing school is a vast unknown. We don’t know what the world will be like for our students. The jobs they will likely get don’t exist yet. They will be solving problems we don’t even know are problems. Please keep this in mind when you are planning your lessons and considering what tools your students will be able to use in your classroom. If you restrict are you truely teaching your students valuable life skills relevant to the world they will enter? Are you applying contextual relevance?
Thank you for reading
Dr. Shannon H. Doak
Sometimes, using a physical book is much easier & quicker than using a computer. I don’t think we’re there quite yet. Also, I’ve read that digital learning is more easily forgotten. I don’t know if this is true or how that conclusion was reached, but I do seem to remember the printed page easier than digital. Maybe that’s just cultural training. But for the most, I agree that digital’s the way to go, esp. when it comes to cost & practicality.
Hello Stravo,
I agree that there still needs to be access to printed material. My main point is that we, as educators, should never restrict the tools used in our classrooms, especially if such restriction creates an unauthentic learning environment based on the needs of the age. Not sure if I totally agree with the studies that show one way of learning is better than another. Would need to see the actual study, look at the methods used as well as the method used to measure said improvement.
Thanks for reading and commenting!