Synthesis Paper #1

Synthesis Paper #1

Content Knowledge in 2025

In the year 2025 content knowledge will have expanded and changed from what we know now. Students will still be expected to understand certain facts about history and social studies, but the way they go about learning and comprehending these pieces of information will be vastly different. Classes will largely be taught on and online or through a private server. They will be largely interactive. Students will explore topics in history by experiencing (almost) firsthand accounts through programs available to them on the internet. It will be as if they are the character in history, learning as they go.  Through the technology they will have access to 3D images of artifacts, and understand their structure, feeling and age. There will no longer be tests which the students are expected to recite dates and names of people, but instead explain the period in history through the experiences that they have learned about through their research. It will be important for them to understand that sometimes historical facts are based on one person’s perspective. Sharing their research experiences with other students through chats will be an assessment that teachers can use. We will be teaching our kids history as a story, not as a list of facts they will soon forget.

Students will need to understand the technology that they are working with. To do this, the teacher must understand this technology as well. Students in the year 2025 will most likely be comfortable with the technology that they are presented, but if a teacher cannot access this technology, the system may not work right.  Students will also need to learn how to gain research from their experiences online. Through experience they will be able to understand what pieces of information is accurate, and what is inaccurate. This is essential. If students cannot differentiate between the correct information and the incorrect information, they will not be capable of learning the essential understandings that we as educators would like them to understand from a specific topic. They will also need to understand how to communicate what they have learned in a professional way. Even though texting and chatting online will still be very popular, using short hand and text language, such as “lol”, in a testing situation will still be unacceptable. It will still be our duty as teachers to prepare students for the future, and this includes good writing skills.

As a teacher in 2025, I will strive to always be looking for new and better technology. I will find ways to incorporate it more in my classroom. Above all, I will make sure that every student can learn in a way he or she feels comfortable with. Keeping students focus on what is important in our history will be a huge factor. The role of teacher will be less on actual teaching and more on monitoring the students as they teach themselves and gain skills and information to use in their future.