Think about the context of the team you are working in and the system of education you are a part of. What are the things that once made sense but no longer do?
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Think about the context of the team you are working in and the system of education you are a part of. What are the things that once made sense but no longer do?
Rewards schemes and merit certificates. These make students think that they should be rewarded for everything they do.
Totally Brendan. My kids think they now deserve a participation award for just doing to the Cross Country at school. It’s crazy, and I think really dangerous. It also stops them from wanting to achieve more, or better, or being able to feel genuinely invested in what they do.
yes definitely, we should definitely look at altering this. Awards really should be given sparingly and to those who have really accomplished something. It’s intention is to keep children motivated but I don’t that reflected in my students.
I agree with Brendan, Jessica and Amber. Merits for real achievement of social or sporting or academic nature. Students should be asked to describe how they achieved – empathy (social), practise (sporting), effort (academic)- explain the grit and courage needed to succeed.
I agree completely; stickers as reward do not go along with me either.
Our VET sector in the hospitality (Patisserie) requires the students to be competent in the specific tasks allocated in the training package leaving no space for creativity as it is very comprehensive and prises in assessing all the elements required to be competent.
although the training package is updated every few years it has the same sets of rules that was established decades ago and our industry is changing by the day. new products, new techniques, new equipment are everyday thing and we are changing by the day but not our assessment . we can only tell the learners about all the new things and the different methods but we can not allow them to be creative it has to be done as required.
That must be incredibly frustrating Michael. I know someone who did patisserie in 2006 and I remember how outdated the desserts were, like croquembouche towers and cream buns! You can hardly even buy those products at a bakery anymore. I bet ‘cronuts’ haven’t managed to make it onto the assessment PCs yet 😉
Similar case in IT sector, i spoke with one of the teachers, he was so frustrated with the training package in the industry that is changing so rapidly.
In the VET hospitality sector, The way we are supposed to deliver training packages. even though they are revised they are built on the same foundation or format and sometimes just very hard to be compliant. Although the industry (in my case culinary arts) is rapidly shifting things are are so fixed on compliance that there is very little room for creation and innovation. Yet in recent times it is all about being hell bent on currency,
I totally agree with you Mario, we demonstrate making a product according to the training package and we do add and demonstrate different ideas that relate to this product only to show the learners that it is the trend and a modern way of doing the same items but when it comes to the assessment the learners can only do the product according to the assessment criteria.
We ask students to be creative problem solvers and then give them a standardised test to demonstrate their understanding. If we differentiate our teaching then we need to show achievement in a range of ways, instead of the grades we still give on a report and the ranking of students.
I agree standardized tests kill creativity and force pressure on students and teachers
I recently helped a student work through a Moodle unit on Sustainability. One question asked, “Is solar energy finite or infinite?” Having just watched a National Geographic TV show about the eventual demise of our sun I said it was finite. I got it wrong but there was no recourse to argue my case or give my reasons for my answer. Just a big red cross on screen. This experience has stifled my faith in allowing for flexibility in education.
Kim, I agree. ranking students is a miserable way to report on student progress. A bell shaped graph always placing the most in the middle and a few at either end. A great way to misdirect and squash the joy of learning. Whatever happened to the idea of vertical classes where students could progress at their own pace instead being trapped in an age cohort? I guess – individualised programming was easier for schools to “organise” – just put the work on the teacher to create the programs, so executives don’t have to put time, money and resources into scheduling vertical classes.
In the VET sector, Assessment feedback forms have an area for student feedback however it is obsolete as the student provides online feedback.
Students a decade ago signed that they had received feedback and we collected this as evidence. Now we provide feedback online in the learning platform, but there is still a requirement for student acknowledgement that this has been received.
Yes, so much needs to be updated
Perhaps testing students is outdated. Yes students learn how to absorb information however once the test is taken, is that information really absorbed? How long does that information remain? Is it relevant to the student for their everyday living?
I agree a student may “pass” an assessment but I would not hire them for the job because I know they can’t do it. However I can’t “fail” them because I have no evidence.
In the VET sector there is often duplication of effort, it’s as if they don’t trust one system and they need to keep several copies of information, rather than just pointing to one source of truth.
Yes agree, it would be nice to know which repository is the source of truth.
I agree Guilia – i do think sometimes we are in a trap of finding more ways to do unnecessary things with more efficiency – very tedious!
The largest sacred cow in education I feel is the writing of reports. Can we provide a digital portfolio of the students’ work? Is this the most efficient way to give feedback on your student when there is a significant delay from writing to delivery? I don’t feel parents understand them and are a stressful period of time for the teacher which reflects onto their class through stress and late nights. Are they of any significance and could parents opt-out and request another way of receiving information. I have enjoyed using SeeSaw to film formal speeches so parents see the performance of their child. Should this now be the priority and harness technology?
Spelling tests are something that is still programmed but somewhat ineffective. Often students are memorising the words and not learning to spell. When they write in their writing books, the spelling that they have learnt is incorrect.
Or the spelling words have no relevance to what is happening in the classroom
I feel like weekly spelling tests are one example of something that still exists in many schools today just because they have been around for so long. I feel like sometimes teachers and parents do continue on with things like for the sake of it instead of questioning the value. Many parents would have had weekly spelling test and therefore have this expectation.
A great example and agree with your comments
This is a clear example of the pressure of parents to continue the tests that they experienced. I feel I need to break the habitual test-taking that is associated with spelling. I will challenge myself to break this tradition and research what is the best practice and apply this to my teaching.
Probably good to move away from spelling tests but how does the teacher and parent understand and acknowledge the childs education without some kind of measure?
Quite a few sacred cows in the education system. Standardized testing is one that affects all students and their teachers. The relief this year when NAPLAN was cancelled made many students, teachers and school relax. The pressure to train and prepare students for this assessment was taken away. Since when are assessments supposed to have this mental health impact?
What a joyous moment. It dominates too much of the time and energy in education. Has the lack of a standardised test resulted in poorer performance from the students? I would say no. It is the exception who is disappointed not to take the test and I hope there is a study into this group of children who didn’t sit the NAPLAN test and what educational impact it had.
I agree the NAPLAN can cause lots of anxiety and the results don’t help the students learn or move forward
The very large passage of time (about six months when my children did NAPLAN) between sitting the NAPLAN test and receiving the results and feedback made it meaningless as the class teacher only had a precious few weeks of the school year left with the cohort to address the gaps identified.
Standardised testing is very stressful situation for the students, i know that and i do agree with you but it is what it is for now, hopefully things will change to give the learners a better chance of being creative especially in the culinary sector of the hospitality.
I agree, governments want us to create flexible, creative 21st century learners and how do we measure this through tests. Doesn’t make sense.
One area is the duplication of forms, information tracking and assessment in the VET area that needs to be reviewed as it has grown exponentially in order to ensure we are meeting compliance. The barrier to this is the number of levels of “QA” and approvals that need to be done prior to any changes being implemented.
agree, the long drawn process is killing innovation and interest in changing things. The multiple layers that one has to go go through to change something thwarts the keenness to change
Reports are an interesting hurdle to tackle in schools, as so much time is spent on them, yet they are relatively unhelpful as a document. I feel as though the information presented is no longer relevant to the parents by the time they get the report – not only as it is 6 weeks out of date by the time it reaches them, but also they are difficult to decipher. A parent-teacher interview or phone call (which usually happens in addition to reports to outline any potential areas of improvement) would be a more useful and sensible way to convey the information.
I agree. Parents value current and relevant information so much more.
I also agree Fiona. There is a lot of time that goes into writing reports and there is the question of is the written report format the best way to report on communicate student achievement to parents and carer?
I think there are many sacred cows in our schools. We don’t want to upset others and are worried by what other teachers will say/think if we suggest a change in a school. Text books used to be the go to but there are many other ways to teach and they need to be considered as a teaching tool, the paid subscriptions that are plenty today on the intern – great ideas but I think just another text book in another form. Even moving away from the old way of programming and carrying around a big folder of printed paper. I still like to have things on paper in front of me but very happy to program on a computer and share on computer. Do we need to have a worksheet for every lesson taught? Maths is hands on – lets change.
So true, Sharon. We were only yesterday discussing the merits of using G-Suite applications for programming to allow for shared resources, collaborative planning and ease! Children, definitely in the early years, thrive on hands on learning.
The textbook debate is a big one. Still looking for a ‘solution’ for their use (if at all) in the classroom.
I agree Sharon. I have seen the change from a greater focus from hands-on activities in K-2 to a more textbook/worksheet expectation in primary. I feel some teachers may feel there is a need to continue with textbook pages and worksheets to prepare students for high school, though this way of learning significant and real world learning.
Yep, you’ve named a few of them! Text books, magazine subscriptions, reports!
agree there are plenty of online options, pretty sure laptops and ipad will replace those big folders and text books pretty soon
With all the advancement of educational technology and systems, although we live in a first world country, we still cling to old-school traditions such as having paper-based knowledge-focused assessments, the insistence of physical presence at stipulated timings for lectures, the existence of textbooks and/or out-dated resources that teachers have to follow to the ‘T’, assessments that are timed and based on the curriculum that has never been changed.
I agree that in this day and age flexibility in the acquisition of fundamental knowledge, the practice of encouraging hands-on experience trialling processes and applying knowledge based on a curriculum that is more relevant to real-life and contemporary issues should be the way to go.
Change is definitely necessary in the way we educate the younger generation and it should happen soon.
We are constantly asking teachers to create documents and do the same tasks as each other, instead of each doing a separate task and sharing our information.
So true! There are so many things that on a day to day level would be so much simpler if teachers shared resources or programmed collaboratively!
Duplication is rife
i think it has become a sacred cow!!!
The VET system used paper based log books (list of all units for certification) to summarise the units completed. Students/teachers would refer to these to ensure they are no track or finished the unit as a result was recorded against the unit. Now this in available through the e-services for students or reports from EBS VET system.
We don’t need pupil record cards anymore. Completing them and sending them onto high schools is a waster of time. Online student management systems have all information stored if required. There are a number of administration requirements and practices that are duplicated and a sacred cows to the department. These could be changed to reduce administration time.
It is pleasing to hear that the NSW DoE is reviewing their school curriculum with a view to reducing its over crowded content. There is a lot of unnecessary content in all six K-6 Key Learning Areas ( I don’t know why we can’t just call them subjects ?) and repetition that needs to be removed to allow more creativity for students and richer learning experiences.
I work in adult education, some of the content in courses once made sense but longer are relevant
Some of the assessments in the VET system have not proofread the content. There seems to be some copy and paste from old assessments tasks.
This is very true in my Industry that is forever changing and evolving
totally agree, we do follow content in some of the training packages that are so outdated
Old and ‘washed’ out resources and activities that have been used time and time again. The mentality of using the same ideas year after year without putting any thought, intent or purpose behind it! I also think rotational activities has become a sacred cow. There are more effective ways to teach literacy and numeracy that allow students to demonstrate their thinking and learning
Alyssa, I also work in the world of teaching literacy & numeracy and agree that despite the innovative methods of teaching that are available, we still use dated resources and dog-eared text books with the excuse that grammar does not change and spelling will always remain the same. We don’t encourage learners to think and develop independent learning skills.
We need to exploit the multifarious resources available out in the world, harness the technology available and use them to improve our literacy and numeracy teaching methodology to help students gain a richer and more rewarding learning experience.
I think the level of input parents now have does not make sense. I sometimes feel that we are catering too much to parents and allowing them to make decisions they should not be making. I also agree that their is a level of resistance to change – not by all teachers – but certainly by some who believe it is best to stick to traditional (and sometimes outdated) teaching methods.
Resistance to change is difficult- I agree that there are still many teachers who believe its best to to do what they always have done! Being a lifelong learner is so important- especially in these evolving times
In my place of employment, there are many changes occurring regularly so the sacred cows are diminishing. We still do use printed handout’s which is obviously becoming a thing of the past, BUT students do like these
I don’t think there is anything wrong with printed handouts, however, in my classroom I find that many of the traditional ‘paper and pen’ tasks can be done in alternative ways. Maybe still a bit old fashioned, but a simple white board, chalk writing on the playground to practise spelling…
Joanne and Laura, the connected learning delivery during this pandemic has actually opened out a plethora of diverse methods and technologies that can easily replace the ‘pen and paper’ or even the ‘chalk and board’ methods of teaching. I’m sure that the multifarious online platforms, synchronous and asynchronous, which are well-received by our digital native students should pave the way for an academic revolution, if we teachers can upskill and the educational management of our institutions continue to offer the support that is currently available to deal with this prevailing crisis.
The unquestionable use of following the textbook and then the grade of the student is only determined by a standardised out of date test that is probably administered differently in each classroom. Teachers don’t want to look bad in front of their peers.
I agree on the points you have made. A textbook should only be a support tool. Some teachers do fall back on using it as a planning tool instead of looking at the requirements of the syllabus and the needs of their students. Standardised tests are useful and have a purpose but again are only part of assessment of a student’s progress. Its like the NAPLAN assessment data – is useful but it is only one test on one day of the year.
It is hard for teachers to do the best for their students with the demands of the system as well as the pressure from parent expectations. I don’t think these issues plus the competing agendas will change soon. Perhaps we need to learn to manage them better and simplify all the demands. This is of course easier said than done 🙂
totally agree about the text books and teachers not wanting to look bad or do things differently in front of their co workers. If a text book or worksheet has been used before than it must be used again!!! Some teachers find it so hard to change and want to keep things as they were.
There are a lot of sacred cows in our education system. The most obvious one is standardized assessments. It looks like standardized assessments are the only reliable and valid measure for reporting. It is the needs of the organisation but may not be the needs of the students. There may be changes in the process but not the sacred cows and that is why teachers find more work now than before.
The paperwork has increased , as our delivery of teaching decreases
Too many administration systems that result in duplicating what we need to do eg: documenting students results in a paper format, in the online portal and in the administration system.
That is true. There are many things duplicating in our administration system for the purpose of easy checking.
So true! I often feel like I am double handling so many things as a teacher. It feels like a waste of time and almost like ‘busy work’ sometimes…
I agree. In terms of school administrative practices we are archiving so much printed documentation for accountability and legal purposes. Schools don’t seem to be becoming paper less. School planning needs to be more streamlined so precious time isn’t wasted unnecessarily to satisfy the organisation. Teachers really need to think about planning and assessment practices. Assessment needs to be targeted and formative rather than ticking a box because of the school’s ‘sacred cow’ ideas on assessment practices.
Having too many systems to record/document information. We need one central system instead of several.
Totally agree
Yes, agree.
I think with online learning becoming more and more prevalent, distributing printed handouts in the class need to be stopped. Help to save the environment. There are number of online tools we as Teachers need to adopt like using OneNote where student as and Teachers can all work together
Yes, I agree…whilst COVID was not a great time…it has highlighted where we can do things more efficiently.
Synchronous learning —(at times). Some documentation.. repetitive and information already captured elsewhere.
Some assessment – being completed to meet compliance needs but again, repetitive at times and with little allowance for differentiation
Yes I have seen same assessments being used for number of years some of those contexts might have lost touch to the current period.
As someone older who is actually fairly new to teaching, to be honest nothing made sense. Everything seemed outdated, ridiculous and/or a waste of time / money / resources. I only worked in primary school for a short time, and have been in vocational now for 3.5 years. I am astonished by the talk of innovation and change and the subsequent push back when implementation is attempted. I feel like this comes from all levels too – teachers, management, leadership….
There seems so like many layers of approvals that you need to get to change things that it’s just easier to do things ineffectively sometimes.
We had change forced on us with COVID. We not only had to move fast to get complete online teaching up and running as quickly as possible but it forced us to look at the current resources, many of which were outdated. Many teachers went into panic thinking they wouldn’t cope, but in rallying together it was surprising what was achieved so quickly and it was like a ‘breath of fresh air’, sweeping out some sacred cows!
I also noticed a number of teachers struggled to accept the change. But we were able to adapt this change very quickly and successfully
Many teachers are reluctant to change until they have tried it and master it. COVID-19 has changed the mindset of many teachers in online delivery of teaching.
Online delivery of learning – hard to start with when never really did it but once started I realised it was ok. But I do still like being in the classroom with the children and face to face teaching. We need to adapt to changes in teaching and work with the changes to make it great for all our leaning and teaching.
In a certain way this Pandemic really helped us shake off some of those sacred cows and forced to re look at delivery and assessment. Yes some were resistant to change, but the pressure to shift gears was vital for the new delivery model
There are ‘sacred cows’ in all aspects of life. I think the idea that one needs to have the reason explained as to why something is done a certain way, would go a long way to reducing practices which are no longer relevant. Excellent point made by the presenter.
I work in the VET sector and a lot of our students are adults with school aged children. This year our delivery hours changed to starting at 9.30 and finishing at 3 so that students were able to manage drop off and pick up of their children from school and then still make it to their own class on time. It has been so well received and has increased our student retention rates.
Not only retention rates but more new enrollments of mature aged students in this situation. They bring more life experiences to share with the younger students, so invaluable addition to classes.
Hi Elizabeth, I also deliver on a program designed for adult learners and we offer a 10am – 2.30pm learning day using a blended model and flipped learning. It works so well !
I agree….. being mindful of who are students are and their needs and adapting our delivery schedule to meet those needs and in turn possibly boost enrolments
I too work with adult learners, 10am to 2.30 are ideal hours. It works so well for everyone involved, even peak hour trafffic!
This also happened in our section of the VET campus. The change of hours and the change to connected delivery enabled some students more freedom to achieve because the hours were reduced and type of delivery changed – a rethink of the classroom.
Transition to complete online enrolment. Teachers are now the last point of contact in the enrolling process. This used to be the initial and critical contact time – to liaise with new students, parents, former students (tradespeople) and employers.
I struggle with this too. We have a business development officer who is responsible for initiating larger enrolment groups. They have no experience in the course content and structure and struggle to sell the products as well as the teachers, who are passionate about what they deliver, can.
I agree. Some schools seem to be run too much like companies and experience and passion of teachers not utilised or even appreciated.
Schools trying to do too much and not perfecting the pedagogy before moving to the next thing. Another thing is school need to use 21st century pedagoies to motivate students and enhance their engagement. Learning needs to become more student centered rather than teacher centered.
Grouping students by age and having them sit at desks to work individually is still common practice in schools, but is not necessarily the best way to learn.
I agree. Sometimes having students differentiated into abilities is better and teaching can more targeted. Also having fluid groupings to really help teachers to cater to individual students need.
I agree Alicia. I am a fan of peer mentoring and promote this learning environment within my classes.
I like the idea of direct instruction when building foundation skills .
The student works at their level until they have achieved mastery of the skill. From personal experience, being promoted before the achieving a skill leads to student disengagement simply because they cannot participate.
Surprisingly, the reading I have done suggests that direct instruction is a much more student centric approach to meeting individual needs. This is because the teacher knows what the student can and cannot do and tailors the content to their level.
There is so much benefit in group work – being able to explain something to another person is a great way of consolidating your own understanding
Yes, we need to look at the needs of the student, not the day they were born.
Scared Cows – are few in the changing RTO world, i find the constant change to be a bigger issue, i wish we could hold onto some a.
spects of the past
Actually in the area I’m in I believe a much more thorough and relevant education was provided in times gone by when there was more time to teach and no competing privatized RTO’s selling-short. Nowadays there are too many boxes to tick, too much paperwork and too much politics and less comprehensive teaching and delivery. I can’t actually think of any outdated traditions.
So much compliance!
I would definitely agree with this. Way too many boxes to tick and not enough time for delivery.
True, maybe we need to focus on what we do best – educate.
I agree that parents can create pressure, but if we build a sense of community they can also be a powerhouse of resources and valuable contribution. Sometimes I see teachers almost running from parents, and it creates a divide.
I agree, there is often a sense that schools exist outside of society in a special category of their own, when really they should be at the heart of the community
Moving towards online learning and even if we have face to face lessons – trying not to use paper but having our notes, worksheets, learning resources on line – this is a hard mind set to change. Especially with LLN and NESB learners.
Yes definitely we should be printing less resources.
Reducing paper in classrooms also creates more opportunities for students to benefit from hands-on active participation, rather than copying text and doing worksheets
I agree Sarah. I base a lot of my F – F lessons on brainstorming, discussion and questioning. I take notes on the whiteboard and the apprentices take photos of the notes on their phones.
I agree. EAL/D learners would find it extremely difficult to learn independently online as they need more scaffolding by the teacher and timely feedback.
I believe that all learning tools are valid if they work. Writing is a good way to assist memory development (see Barbara Oakley in ‘Learning how to learn’). Further, typing notes does not have the same effect according to Oakley.
It’s a bit like food: there are no bad or good foods, there is just food. It is how it is imbibed that has the most the greatest effect.
Ah Lorraine, I hear you ! Our LLN and ‘mature’learners like paper and will acknowledge that it feels ‘safe’ for them !
Yes less printing would be a good practice. I’ve had parents complain that the student did not bring any notes home
I think we probably have many sacred cows in the VET system but when you have been exposed to them for an extended period of time, you just accept them and then it becomes hard to think of them as sacred cows. It’s just the ‘right’ way to do things.
I struggled to think of any in this sector too, actually preferring times gone by when I feel our qualifications held more value than they do today…
I think these have more to do with the business model than the teaching model.
And as a new teacher entering the VET system, consider how it comes across to us – both the systems and processes and the people/colleagues we have to work with. It creates an enormous division.
I feel that my organisation is pretty effective to change and is constantly updating our systems and methods etc. I can’t think of any but I have experienced many recent positive changes.
Yes I find sometimes change is for change sake just to prove we are up to date and ‘with it’ and can use technology – it’s not always for the best.
POWERPOINTS when there is so many other ways to learn, engage students!!!! bells
I like using PPT’s but I agree, you have to mix it up.
Yes – PowerPoints take me straight back to Windows 95. We’ve got a lot of amazing resources at our fingertips, engage with them, even get the students to teach you how to use them.
Powerpoints…surely we can do better!
Powerpoint is a sacred cow however there are some great new additions to Powerpoint which can be used to engage students so a good time to revisit what tools are available and turn the Powerpoint into a new engaging resource.
Powerpoints are definitely the first thing I’m asked for when presenting, even when I have prepared an interactive session – definitely a sacred cow.
The scared cows are constantly being challenged. One that springs to mind is course length & delivery methods.
Yes, face to face teaching is still seen as best practice, but now online delivery is taking over, and this is challenging our entrenched concepts of how best to deliver course content.
the challenge is how to engage students and to encourage them to be intrinsic learners
There were so many sacred cows when I started teaching about 20 years ago. I have experienced them vanishing during this period. Things are really changing because of new technologies. The sacred cows have been challenged and there have been drastic changes in how the learners go through their courses.
Sacred cows in schools include reward systems for students that simply reward what is expected. Some students only lift a finger if they can see someone watching them. Anticipating a reward for minimal effort is sad. If schools didn’t have reward systems would children still be learning?
Yes Robyn, that is a common trap.
Agree that we reward for basic expectations
I am thinking of one particular media-related subject where the curriculum hasn’t kept pace with the technology. Some of the skills we are teaching are basically relevant but the course needs to be updated to deal with the sort of media most people now consume.
It is hard to keep up with technology but this is now part of our jobs.
I am a maths teacher who work with a few a lot older maths teacher. They certainly keep a lot more outdated traditions than the younger teachers and some of them even refuse to adapt to new technologies. But because of COVID-19, they need to implement connected learning and now they can’t stop talking about how wonderful online teaching is. Conclusively, teachers are so reluctant to change unless they have to.
School wise I don’t think we have too many scared cows but possibly that is a symptom of being in auto pilot mode on things that don’t make sense. I have been encouraged by the way our school has embraced technology to undertake many processes and support students and parents.
System wise too many to list, targets, standardised testing, grading and assessment requirements, syllabus content, day structure, teaching award….
Hi Brad, there were so many sacred cows in the our system. I have experienced them vanishing during the period of 20 years of my teaching.. Things are really changing because of new technologies. The sacred cows have been challenged and there have been drastic changes in how the learners go through their courses.
standardised testing comes to mind- Naplan where i have watched some students struggle with the practice questions and yet we still make them sit there for the 40 minute test. The results are not available until 3 months later really making them useless as a teaching tool. Also that schools are open from 9 to 3 despite studies showing that students would benefit from school starting later in the day. Reports also come to mind- this system has been used for years and as a parent, I know my child and when i read the reports it really just tells me which teachers really know my child and which don’t.
Using a ‘chalk and talk’ rather than experiential learning. I think it would encourage independent, creative thinking by posing questions, challenging students to explain ‘why’ and ‘how’ and explore the underlying beliefs they hold that brings them to their conclusions about how the world works.
Teaching maths through learning rules (e.g. times table) rather than teaching through application and using practical experiences to help students derive the rules for themselves – teach students they have a brain and it is capable of amazing things!
I’m even wondering if there really needs to be a distinction between pedagogy and andragogy and why andragogic, transformative and appreciative approaches can’t be used more with kids in schools? Children come with life experience and their growing brains could develop such incredible neural pathways through carefully facilitated exploration of what they have already come to know through their life experience, how this could be built on to develop new understanding/knowledge/skills, and how to apply these in new and different contexts.