Detached Learning?

#3—Avoiding Detached Learning by Applying Knowledge to Life

Students who are unable to associate knowledge from one area of learning to another have detached learning.

One way to tell if a child has detached learning is through diagnostic exams. We discovered this years later when we developed our curriculum. There needs to be a way to check the academic knowledge of our children and students, and at the same time see if their knowledge is being internalized.

For example, when we first started our private schools and began testing the students, we found that many of them had memorized the fifty states and their capitals. This was good, of course. However, when they were asked to fill in a map of the United States, they did not know wheremost of the states were located. In addition, we found that most students did not understand why they were learning particular subjects. They seemed to think that the main reason to learn was to pass an exam and get a good grade. They had detached their knowledge from living life.

When the mind is able to grasp the whole picture of a subject, and attach particular information to other subjects, learning begins to make sense in every area of life. So we decided to incorporate into the Kimber curriculum learning exercises that correlated with many subjects. In history, for example, we gave some assignments to figure particular math equations. In language arts, we had the students perfect their reading and writing skills right along with history and science. In science, we involved creativity, geography, and Language arts skills.

An Associated Press article, written April 22, 1996, demonstrates the efficiency of this method of teaching. The foremost subject during one term at Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, was the study of the life of Leonardo da Vinci (who, incidentally, wrote these inspiring words: “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”).

The article reports:

“Teachers weave the work of the painter, inventor, scientist into lessons about science, English, math, history and art--a teaching style that’s gaining popularity nationwide.

“‘It’s a way of organizing curriculum without putting everything in boxes, or saying --OK, now it’s time to take out our science book,’ says Fran Simms, language arts teacher [Barcroft Elementary School]. ‘It connects the day, connects learning.’

“ ... Integrating subjects isn’t new, but the number of schools trying it has grown steadily since the mid-1980s, and more rapidly in the past five years.

“There are hundreds and hundreds of schools exploring it,’ says Sally Chapman with the Association For Supervision and Curriculum Development, which conducts workshops on the concept.

“At Brown-Barge Middle School in Pensacola, Fla., students learn lessons under themes. In the ‘Global Awareness’ section, for example, students research and write about different countries, study ratio and proportion by comparing the size of continents and learn science by studying climate, rainfall and ocean currents.

“‘The kids love it because it makes sense to them,’ says assistant principal Sandy Ames. ‘There’s nothing more frustrating than learning things in isolation.’

“... Teachers enthusiastic about integrated curriculum say their students don’t just march from class to class in blocks of time. They learn classic course work and skills, like writing, while exploring a larger issue.

“ .... At Barcroft, students are urged to be inquisitive, like da Vinci. They are taught to think like historians or investigators. Like da Vinci, the students draw from live models and keep notebooks.”

(The Daily Spectrum, Monday, April 22, 1996, Page B2)