In one of my classes this week, we discussed the 4Mat learning styles. This is a concept by which people are divided into one of four quadrants of a circle. Each quadrant represents a certain way of learning. You rate some statements about how you like to learn, and based on the results, you plot the points on two axes. Once you have your four points, you join them into a quadrilateral. The amount of the quadrilateral that's in each quadrant tells you how much you prefer that particular learning style. Here is a photo of the four quadrants with an explanation of learning styles, courtesy of my "teaching Biology" instructor Ray Bowers:
As you can see, this particular diagram also shows what teaching style you'd prefer if you have a particular learning style. Have a look at the diagram and notice the different ways that Why, What, How, and If people prefer to learn. We were discussing that your learning style affects your teaching style, and that to be a well-rounded teacher, you should try to teach to all four quadrants, and not just the one you like the best.
Anyway, having said all that, I had this idea about streaming, particularly math in grades 9 and 10. Right now, we have Applied and Academic, which, to be honest, is very similar to what it was when I was at school when the designations were General and Advanced. The names sound better, but in essence, Applied students don't learn quite as much in the curriculum as Academic students do, and Applied students are not eligible to go into university level courses in grades 11 and 12.
The ministry is thinking of doing away with streaming altogether, but, if you've read my previous post on this, you'll know that I'm not a fan of the idea of destreaming grades 9 and 10 math. See, applied courses are taught with more of an emphasis on application, and Academic courses are more abstract in nature. In an Applied math course, generally a real life example of a problem is presented and the students are encouraged to discover the concept in order to solve the problem. Then the abstract concept is presented. In Academic, the abstract concept is presented first, then more and more complex problems are presented, which leads to the application of the concept to real-life examples. So, as you can see, Applied and Academic courses generally work in opposite directions. Putting these two types of learning into one class would be incredible difficult for teachers!
This is where my epiphany comes in. What if, instead of destreaming, we keep the streams, but both courses have exactly the same curriculum, take exactly the same exam, and earn exactly the same credit? What if it's the learning style that makes the most difference with an Applied vs. Academic student? What if Applied students are more interested in the If and Why and Academic students prefer the What and How?
What if...instead of looking at achievement to stream students in grades 9 and 10, we give them tests to find out their best learning style, then stream them accordingly? We could change Applied Math to Discovery Math; the students work to discover concepts by seeing how they work in real life. And we could change Academic Math to Directed Math, meaning that the abstract concept is presented to the students, they are directed to practice the concept, then given real life examples to apply what they've learned.
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This would entirely remove the stigma of streaming and give students the ability to be in a class which gives them the best opportunity to learn the curriculum. It also helps teachers to know how come at any given concept; how best to teach it to the students. And the best part? Since all students get the same credit, they would be able to go into any grade 11 math course out of grade 10.
Anyway, that's about it. I would love to hear any thoughts on this idea!
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