Teaching More Thinking Over Production

K-12 curriculum is largely focused on content-driven teaching and learning. By being “content-driven,” I mean, for example, focusing on a student’s ability to solve algebraic equations, recall historical information about the American Revolution, recite Newton’s Laws of Motion and the like.

The reason content-driven teaching and learning is ubiquitous in education is obvious: results and achievements are measurable. When the main focus of education is content, you can determinately measure the effectiveness of a teacher and easily evaluate the success of students. While this is understandable, and perhaps even necessary, there is one glaring issue. There are lessons we should be teaching students that cannot possibly fall under a “content-driven” model, at least not in their entirety.