Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, and Unleash Genius

by Katie Martin

I was certainly guilty at times of creating experiences that were more about the rules of school than learning.

I know I could have focused more on how to ask better questions rather than simply finding the answers.

not as much as I should have on my students’ ques...

I learned to play the game but felt the potential to do so

much more in school.

I became a teacher because I wanted students to know that they matte...

to explore their interests an...

Throughout my work as a classroom and graduate course teacher, instructional coach, or in professional learning, my drive continues to be changing how we learn in school to create experiences that I wanted and now, more than ever as a parent, I want for my children and all of our children.

Still true for me ... however muddled it is or has been.

If we actually believe it doesn’t matter whether learners care about what we ask them to learn, we’ve lost our way. At the university, I teach many bright young adults who intend to learn anything that’s put in front of them—as

To create real learners, teachers have to reach the hearts, souls, and minds

of students. Teaching a list of standards won’t get us there.1

If we are going to inspire children of any age to be learners, we must all look at how we can, as she says, “reach the hearts, souls, and minds of students, not just teach and assess the standards.”

At the same time, we will see even more students (and teachers) disengage from school.

When curiosity and exploration are stifled, a child is likely to lose the motivation to study, and his or her work may become less imaginative.

But the world demands citizens who are more creative, imaginative, and innovative than ever before, which means we need to ignite curios...

What if she stops seeing the value of her creativity and questions and settles for a path that fails to inspire her to lead a fulfilling and successful life as she defines it?

I wonder if she will continue to love learning and exploration as much as she does now if her experience in school is focused on compliance rather than developing skills and knowledge that she can use to be more creative and innovative. I’m pretty sure the answer is no.

When we tell learners to complete an assignment, we get compliance. When we empower learners to investigate how to make an impact on the world, we inspire problem solvers and innovators.

Even though we say we want kids to excel in today’s world, too often the teaching tactics we rely on are stuck in the nostalgia of how we learned.

Are we favoring static curriculum because it is truly the best way or because it is comfortable and familiar to us (the adults)? What if there were a better way forward?

Are Traditions Getting in the Way of Innovation in Education?

Tradition is so deeply ingrained in schools; in fact many educators, having been successful in the traditional model, can’t imagine doing it differently.

Reluctance to change might feel safe and familiar, but this attitude carries significant risk.

This gap between theory and practice is called the “knowing-doing gap.”

tradition got in the way of innovation.

What we saw at Kodak was not a lack of information but the failure to turn insight into effective action.

if we continue to hold on to deep rooted traditions in education rather than turn theory into action to meet the needs of the future, we may well be destined to fail.

Past successes do not always ensure future growth when the context in which we live changes—and it always changes.

If we want to change how students learn, we must change how teachers learn.

We can continue to create new initiatives and programs, but if teachers are not part of the process, we will miss out on our greatest lever in educational change.

Teachers’ practices are shaped by their experiences both past and present, and these are mi...

If we don’t prioritize authentic and relevant learning experiences for educators, how can we ensure our students ...

use it to change how students learn.

I’ve heard this statement too many times to believe that the gap in learning is the fault of individual teachers.

What it signifies to me is that we have a system to which curriculum, standards, and programs are constantly added, rarely taking anything away, which results in a lot of surface learning.

Although teachers might cover a lot of content, the deeper learning required to retain and apply the new know...

classrooms...

The outcome is more work for everyone and less time for educators to focus on what should be true priorities.

It’s devastating when students lack the necessary skills needed to build on year after year. But instead of investigating and addressing the root cause,

tendency is to reteach the same way that didn’t wor...

If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.

The amount of time educators are asked to do something different is woefully disproportionate to the time spent actually doing something different.

Someone told me, “If a teacher teaches a student the same way a hundred times and the student doesn’t get it, the student is not the slow learner.”

we want innovative institutions that will develop the skills students need to be successful now and in the ever-changing future, we need to rethink our traditional systems and structures.

n...

em...

adding on to what already exists.

Someone with an external locus of control instead blames outside forces for everything.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. —Leo Tolstoy

Creating an environment where learners are empowered to take risks in pursuit of learning and growth rather than perfection is absolutely foundational to shifting educational practices.