Thursday, February 7, 2008

As the World Learns...


Go to the Edutopia article link: http://www.edutopia.org/global-education-2008


Read the article's introduction and then select a link to one of the countries included in the survey. Describe the educational system in that country and compare it to our own.

14 comments:

matthew said...

This particular part of this web gave good basic information on some places in the world and how their educational systems compare.However the rest of this website was awesome, some really excellent stuff!!!!

cweisman said...

It is good to see how other people are educated around the world. You get to see the different styles and methods of how other teachers teach. It definitely gave a brief intro to other educational systems so one can compare the systems.

Michelle said...

I originally interested in reading the article about Japan but realized that it was not covering topics that I was hoping to read about. So I decided to read the article about Chile and I was immediately engaged in the reading. Teaching at a school that has a constructivist philosophy have students do independent study in the beginning of the school day is a great motivator for students. Along with motivation, students take ownership of what they learn about and how they learn it. This give children pride in their education. If only the middle school school day could leave time for this type of exploration.

Michelle said...

I agree with cweisman about how it is important to see how others are educated around the world. This allows you to see and manipulate other beliefs from around the world that might benefit your classroom environment.

Keri said...

I chose the article on Canada. They seem very into the media technology. They incorporate most of their material using the internet, viewing advertising, global issues, and many more. Compared to our school system, it is similar in that our districts try to incorporate technology to the best they can. It seems that even other countries are trying to be on our same page. The use and availability of the information that they acquire is very helpful.

Keri said...

I agree with Michelle in that the independent study at the beginning of the school year is excellent in motivating the students. They like to be proud of what they learn and how they learned it. Children enjoy their education maybe just a bit more. Any way a student can be orgnaized is great!

Keri said...

I agree with Chris in that it is interesting to see how people in other countries are educated. The different styles and methods are good for teachers all around to see so that they may be able to get some different ideas and perspectives.

Mr. Raimondi said...

I read about the education system in Uganda and what I found was a little sad. According to the text, teachers are lucky to have one textbook for every ten children in rural villages. Almost alll education is in English, a forign language which is rarely spoken outside the classroom, and only since the 1980's have secondary schools begun popping up in rural villages. This is such an eye-opener of how lucky we really are to be given such opportunities in this country and how much we take for granted.

Mr. Raimondi said...

I agree with chris that we should really look at the approaches that other people are taking towards education in order to see what works best. It seems so egocentric that we dont take this approach.

matthew said...

Michelle, you are always totally cool to read, you are right on the pluse of what good educators should be looking at. I quess your classroom population is more Latin American than Japanese, or did I misunderstand you last Blog.?

Anonymous said...

Keri you are right to agree with michelle that the Chilean classroom strategy to inititiate the first activties of the day; that each child take out their choice( whithin reason) of what they are working and make entries in their journals about it is a fabulous motivational teaching technique.I, matthew, see constructionist activities as being the way to go many times.

Lynne said...

I chose to read about Russia. I found the article to be very interesting. The article first explains how things were taught under communism. "What is good for the country is good for you" was located on many black boards. Those days seem to be over and Russia is working hard to advocate a student -centered curriculum using project-based learning. Some of the exmaples listed were amazing how the children were working together as a team. I think an approach like this would be great to use in our classrooms here. It is always nice to see how much children can learn when they work together towards a common goal.

Lynne said...

Sounds like we are all on board with this independant study idea. I feel this could be very beneficial because the students are motivating themselves.

Lynne said...

I agree with Keri and Chris, seeing how and what other students around the world are learning is great. It is equally as interesting to see how and what the teachers are teaching. I think we can all learn something from this.