Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Unchanging Classroom

This week I sat through a presentation for my masters program about the history of education, and there was a very astonishing fact brought about. In the history of education the classroom is ultimately unchanged. Lets take a look at what I mean...

 school in the 1800's- desks in rows with a teacher's desk at the front

 school in 1937- desks in rows

 school in 1988- this is when I was born. Desks are still in rows, whiteboard and teacher at the front of the room

 school in 2006- when I graduated High School. desks are still in rows, whiteboard, and ceiling mounted projector

 school in 2015- desks in groups in rows, whiteboard and teacher at the front

It was shocking to see exactly how little the school classrooms have changed in over 200 years! Why hasn't there been a greater change? Grocery stores, dentist offices, and even jails have gone through changes over the years. The professor,of the presentation, made a point- if you walked into an dentist office operating like it did in the 1800's (see picture below) would you stay for the procedure? Absolutly not! So, why do we expect better results, deeper thinking, and higher learning from schools designed in the 1800's?

 dentist office in early 1800's (yikes!)

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