Education is the best legacy.
You must have heard this statement many times. Today, many people have misinterpreted the need to be educated. The African mentality of education and schooling is such that education is measured by the achievement one attains within the four walls of the classroom. This has led many people to think that education is a scam. Hence, majority of the people just want to get a certificate to fulfil all righteousness. This is the reason why learners, parents and the society at large have adopted the do-or-die mentality to pass exams either by crook or cook.
Having said the above, it is important to state that our policy on education in Nigeria is not aimed at producing progressive learners who will in turn par five what have been taught in the class. Our society is plagued by the desire to go to school because others are going and not because one wants to affect society positively.
In the corporate world where jobs are only available to who knows who, the learners only get their certificate that qualifies them for a job that is already waiting for them whether they know what to do or not.
Permit me to break the shell here that there are many medical, engineering, management science graduates who can not practice what they studied in school.
The Cramming Philosophy
You must have heard a learner saying he or she can not remember some of the things they have been taught a few years back. The thing is that most learners cram to write and pass exams. As soon as the exam is passed, the need to keep to memory what has been learned is considered irrelevant.
intense study, especially in order to pass exam Collins Dictionary
No matter how hard a student studies, he may not be able to meet up with a smart learner. You can fact-check this. Students who attend school where smart materials or gadgets are used do better than where a learner would have to study with crude or primitive materials.
Modern-day technology helps the learner think faster and thereby learn faster. This is why schools in the city are beginning to adopt 21st-century teaching methods to help the learner compete favourably with or their peers. Some of these modern teaching methods help the tutor to be creative and apply improvisation to impact the learner. It is not a one-way traffic like the traditional methods.
Relevance of 21st Century Teaching Methods
One thing that makes the learner ready to learn in our time is the fact that real objects are used as instructional materials or aids. It is believed that what the learner sees, he or she does not forget. This is why the method supports that learners blade to see what they learn. Unlike in the traditional system where the tutor teaches abstractly.
What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand. Confucius
The above quote was originally said in the Chinese language. It has helped to shape the mindset in the teaching profession that we can be better by making the student comfortable with what they are being taught.
Some of the 21st century teaching methods that have helped shape some learners into smart learners are as follows.
Gamification
This type of teaching is simulated. Technology plays an important role. Subjects are interpreted into games. The learner is always interested in handling gadgets or to be on the screen. Hence, Attention Engineers build these games to draw attention of the learners while they learn. In mathematics and other science related subjects, the learner is enticed to the system and learns easily instead of racking the brain with the crude learning that comes with traditional education systems.
Personalized Learning.
Here, the learner is made to face the process involve in a particular topic or trade which he or she need to understand. In sewing clothes during the home management classes, a learner who has to handle a sewing machine or a electric device to operate it is said to have undergone personalized learning. In this learner style, the learner is only guided and with time he or she becomes a pro in handling the machine or device.
Flipped Classrooms
In a flipped classroom, the students get to watch the content of the already prepared lesson on screen out of class time and have an opportunity to discuss what they perceived in the video or voice content in a group or in the classroom.
Project-based Learning. To solve a problem, the students are made to be involved in critical thinking through collaboration, communication and problem solving abilities in order to proffer solutions to the problem.
Modern Examination Techniques
Computer based examination is the real deal. Institutions are beginning to find a lasting solution to examination malpractice. This type of examination was initiated in the Nigerian University Matriculation Examination where students are to write their exams by themselves. Each student is to work a computer system alone.
Exam Timing Most CBT (Computer Based Tests) are times. Hence, accuracy and speed is part of what is being tested.
Practical Exam When exams are set as practical, the students tend to concentrate on latent potential. In subjects like Physics, Biology and Chemistry where hypothesis and observation may differ, a student may not necessarily have to cheat.
For educational system to meet up with the demand of this time and season, there should not be paper pencil examinations; rather, educational institutions should begin to look towards making student to group and individual projects. That's what the world needs now. This is what fast developing nations like China have adopted.