Smart Schools
A curriculum based on vague notions of cultural literacy won't work for the same reasons that rote learning doesn't--because people accumulate knowledge through understanding, argues Harvard cognitive learning theoretician Perkins, who here plumbs the essences of learning, understanding and knowledge. Summoning recent pedagogical research, he addresses teachers, setting forth fresh goals and showing how to help students apply new knowledge beyond the classroom. Thinking leads to knowledge, as do effort and the right mental images, Perkins stresses. He offers the novel idea (to which many may object) that teachers need larger and fewer classes so they will have more time to build their own knowledge base. And teachers shouldn't have to cover every fact in a textbook, either, he adds. Instead, he contends that they should expend more effort helping students learn their "metacurriculum," which is how they learn. This is an enjoyable read, peppered with interesting examples.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.