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Functional Knowledge - points of reference

Don's Blog

Don Ledingham

Monday 02 October 2006

I had a great meeting this afternoon with Alison Wishart about A Curriculum for Excellence. In the course of a wide ranging discussion we explored Extreme Learning (we both agree that the term is not conducive to promoting teacher or parental confidence and should probably be replaced - probably on the 25th October).

I mentioned to Alison that I'd been speaking to colleague on Friday (Gavin Clark) about the need to balance the approach we are promoting within Extreme Learning with a need recognise the importance of knowledge.

We need to recognise that there will always be a need for knowledge which provides "points of reference" for our conversations, learning and understanding of the world. It's not acceptable to say that "in the future we will be able to find everything out on the web". Alison captured it perfectly when she sugested that just as there is a need for "Functional Literacy" and Functional numeracy" there is a need for "Functional knowledge".

I'm currently reading a book lent to me by Ronnie Summers (HT Musselburgh Grammar) which traces the voyages of the Chinaese fleet in 1421 and the proposition that they were the first to circumnavigate the globe. The author - who was a naval sea captain and expert navigator - spends a great deal of time reinforcing the importance of the stars for navigation. In the Northern hemisphere they were able to navigate very well due the position of the Pole Star, However, in the Southern hemisphere they did not have similar fixed point so made many errors in their map making. My point is - how can people understand their own world unless they have fixed points upon which they can build upon?

There is a movement in the USA to promote core knowledge - which probably captures the idea of functional knowledge very well (although I think it presents its case as one sided argument for what the school curriculum should be).

This is something I played about with at Dunbar Grammar School but never got it off the ground. The idea was to ask each department to identify "core knowledge" from their subject area which they would see as being necessary for every child to know - regardless of whether or not the child was going to take their subject. This knowledge could be tested in many ways such as quizzes, on-line tests, multiple choice, etc. The point would be to ensure that chidren reached a level of knowledge necessary to understand their world - it would not be about assessment for grading or selection purposes. Does this have any potential in helping us to declutter the curriculum?

I don't see this notion of core knowledge as being opposed to the Extreme Learning approach, but rather that we seeing both at being ends of continuum of learning which children need to experience.

Comments

Knowledge

Don

Tuesday 03 October 2006

Thanks Dave. By promoting the idea of functional knowledge I was trying to counterbalance the focus of Extreme Learning - which is about developing thinking skills. I would probably respond with a question of my own - how well does our existing S1/2 curriculum develop "functional thinking"? You might enjoy coming along to the Extreme Learning meeting secheduled for the 25th Oct at the Marine Hotel.

Functional Thinking (in full)

DaveR

Tuesday 03 October 2006

With de Bono's words still reverberating in my ears, I'm sure that he would probably say that "functional knowledge" in it's self is not sufficient. Without (Functional) Thinking Skills, knowledge is worthless, useful for pub quizzes etc. Possession of knowledge alone does not empower anyone, without the acquistion of the skills to sift, sort and extract those pieces of knowledge that may be relevant to the matter under consideration.

In the rapidly changing world where information is amassing at an alarming rate and knowledge has a sell-by date, do I need to know how many Pecks are in a Bushel, how many Pence in a Pound, given I'm not an avid quiz contestant. How would I be better able to deal with my life and relationships, contribute to the well being of society, with the possesion of such knowledge.

How would you define Functional Knowledge? To perform what function? Would acquiring a body of knowledge, relevent to one particular function, restrict the possessor to one limited function? Automatons? Who determines which body of knowledge a particular individual should acquire? Huxley's "Alphas" or "Betas"?

Knowledge acquisition constrains! Thinking liberates!

de Bono attributes the limitation of the development the ancient Chinese civilization, viz a viz their potental current standing after 4000 years, to the reliance on knowledge and its acqusition. Had they acquired the neccessary thinking skills, China would have assumed an indomitable position in the modern world. (He said it more succinctly than that!)

Glad I got that off my chest! Eventually. Feel free to delete my first, truncated effort - pressed a wrong key or something - need more knowledge of blogging!

Core Musical Literacy

Alan