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One of the goals of this whole model—of having students do a lot of the learning themselves rather than passively listening—is that they need to be lifelong learners

Gone is the traditional 50-minute lecture. (Also gone is paper, for the most part.) The students have completed the assigned reading beforehand and, because they’ve absorbed the facts on their own, class time serves another purpose. Self-assessment tests at the start of class measure how well they understand the material. Then it’s time to do a test case, to reinforce their critical thinking and push their knowledge and skills to another level.

The room’s interactive technology allows her to link to students’ laptops; it also enables their work to be broadcast onto the big screens. Instead of a blackboard, she can use a document camera, which is like an overhead projector, allowing her to write or draw a diagram that will project on the screens. Absentees can view a podcast of the session.

We’re trying to create a situation in which they are thinking as a physician working with a patient, not as a professional test taker,

Immediately following the exercise, students move to a separate room where, still highly energized, they watch the video and reflect on their decision making as physicians in that particular situation.

studies in modern learning theory indicate that hour-long lectures are not the best way to teach students because the average attention span for listening to one is about 12 minutes.

The circular learning studio, Pollart notes, is designed for learning, not teaching.

There was some initial resistance. Some faculty felt a little offended

information, achievement, and expertise.

ifeworthy — likely to matter, in any meaningful way, in the lives learners are expected to live.

Knowledge is for going somewhere,” Perkins says, not just for accumulating.

Just as educators are pushing students to build a huge reservoir of knowledge, they are also focused on having students master material, sometimes at the expense of relevance.

The achievement gap asks if students are achieving X. Instead, it might be more useful to look at the relevance gap, which asks if X is going to matter to the lives students are likely to lead.

the encyclopedic approach to learning that happens in most schools that focuses primarily on achievement and expertise doesn’t make sense.

we need to rethink what’s worth learning and what’s worth letting go of — in a radical way

With high-stakes testing, he says, there’s a fixation on “summative” versus “formative” assessment — evaluating students’ mastery of material with exams and final projects (achievements) versus providing ongoing feedback that can improve learning.

“students are asked to learn a great deal for the class and for the test that likely has no role in the lives they will live — that is, a great deal that simply is not likely to come up again for them in a meaningful way.”

“As the train started up and Gandhi tossed down his second sandal, he showed wisdom about what to keep and what to let go of,” Perkins says. “Those are both central questions for education as we choose for today’s learners the sandals they need for tomorrow’s journey.”