In week 4, our focus was on PSII and schools that are fully student driven with their education being based on their own passions. They spoke on how students get to create their own open inquiry project on something that interests them. This was really interesting to me because I can see a lot of benefits with it but I can also see some major disadvantages for students in the long run.
This topic is directly related to the inquiry project we are doing in our technology innovation class right now. When using engaging topics and student interests in education the motivation in learning tends to increase. I know in my own experience that every time my own interests were involved in school, I would always put more effort into the project.
However, there are drawbacks in a school that is purely student driven. A big concern I have is that these students will not be set up properly for the rest of their lives. My concern lies with students not learning all of the core subjects if they are purely focused on the inquiry projects. I also am concerned about these students trying to get a post-secondary degree and not having the education behind them to succeed in it.
As much as I think schools need to be student driven and have their interests/passions shown, I still think there needs to be teachers their to guide students and help them be able to succeed in life. I believe a balanced approach that combines the two, guidance from a teacher and student passion is essential in classrooms. I am interested to see a comparison of a student that goes to PSII compared to a traditional classroom.
Here is the video below that I found really interesting about the PSII school.
