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Today was my first day at Colegio Roosevelt, the school in which I will be observing for the next two weeks. Colegio Roosevelt is an early childhood- grade 12 school of approx. 1700 students in La Molina, an affluent district of Lima. It is an American school, so only English is spoken in the classrooms (with the exception of Spanish classes.) The student body is primarily Peruvian, although there are students from 49 different places around the world who attend. The school, save the few who are on scholarship, is attended by some of the wealthiest students in the city. It is a school that has many resources, labs, and spaces conducive to inquiry and construction.
In Chapter Two of Education Philosopher John Dewey’s “The School and Society,” he talks about the importance of school as a place of investigation and work instead of simply a place of listening to the teacher. One of the teachers I met today told me that at Colegio Roosevelt, students never have a “traditional” exam or paper; they are expected to create, collaborate, and explore questions that pertain to the real world. For example, the 10th graders are currently in the process of creating their own magazine for families and teachers who are new to Lima. They have interviewed hotel, restaurant, and shop owners in all different districts of Lima in search for the best places to go and what to expect. Instead of having class, they run their own sort of editorial business, working to create an actual, useful product for the community. The learning that students participate in at Roosevelt, based on this project and many others like it, seems to align itself with the type of learning Dewey describes as “ideal.” This experiential learning, I believe, is better than simply listening because it has students be active participants in their own education while teaching them life skills.
For my remaining time at Roosevelt, I will be observing/helping in an English 9 class, an IB Lit Class, and a class called Theory of Knowledge (TOK). I will also be able to spend some time with students in the innovation lab, which is a place where students participate in the creation of projects and ideas pertaining to multiple disciplines. Each day will be a bit different for me, but today I was able to sit in on the IB class and the TOK class, each taught by different teachers. For today’s blog, I will focus on the TOK class and how it pertains to Dewey’s ideas.
TOK is a class in which students are asked to investigate and consider different questions about the way we think and why we think what we think. It is a sort of intro to ethics and philosophy, and each student at Roosevelt is required to take it. When I observed today, the students were investigating the question, “Can science answer problems of morality?” Using Ted Talks provided by the teacher and their own ideas, students split off into groups and discussed whether moral issues can be measured like scientific issues, and whether we can have morality experts like we have scientific experts. Another question raised by one of the students was, if we can declare people to be ethical experts, where is the line drawn between determining the morality of a tradition or practice and cultural discrimination. After they came to their own conclusions, the students passionately debated with one another until the end of the period. Those who participated most in the discussion, I learned later from my cooperating teacher, are doing poorly in other subjects. They are doing well in TOK because the class interests them and they love investigating the way society works and thinks.
When Dewey talks about the “fourfold interests” of a student, he refers to knowledge, artistry, construction, and communication. He argues that, if students are allowed to follow and investigate these natural interests, they will learn more than simply listening to a teacher lecture. Using what I saw today in TOK, I tend to agree with Dewey. Those students who struggled in their other classes but were so impassioned in TOK are perfect examples. In TOK, the students are allowed to gain knowledge about knowledge. They are allowed to construct their own answers to different philosophical questions posed, and are able to talk to each other for the entire hour. My teacher expressed that they enjoy this class, and do better in this class, because they are able to follow their natural interests. Adolescents always desire to communicate with one another, express themselves, and discover both themselves and the world. Dewey touches upon these natural instincts of humanity, and I think that TOK does a great job on building off of them to create a comprehensive and engaging curriculum. Tomorrow, I will see if other classes at the school engage students’ natural interests and inquiries in the same ways. Until then, adios!