THE COMPLETE CURRICULUM Ensuring a Place for the Arts and ...

NASBETHE COMPLETE CURRICULUMDifferent Ways of KnowingDifferent Ways of Knowing (DOK), developed by theGalef Institute, is a school-wide initiative that integratesresearch from a number of sources on how children learn best.There are 10 “Different Ways of Knowing.” Below aredescriptions, as given by the Institute:1. Intelligence as expertise rather than fixed aptitude.In many schools across the country, intelligence has remained anarrowly defined set of literacy and mathematical skills. In thepast several decades, psychologists have explored the conceptof intelligence as the development of expertise. Thus, effortand persistence become relevant if intelligence is no longerviewed as a fixed aptitude.2. The arts as intelligences. If intelligence is the developmentof expertise, then the development of artistic competenceand expertise become valued as intelligences. Pedagogicalstructure is based on the growing body of research in thedevelopment of intelligences, the importance of the arts tohuman development, and mental representations.3. Expanding the literacy spectrum. A literate adult ableto develop a full life in the twenty-first century needs to learnmore than functional reading, writing, and math skills.Further, if we value the arts as evidence of intelligence, thenstudents ought to have access to a robust curriculum in artsliteracy.4. Tapping prior knowledge. All learners approach novelsituations or new learning tasks with their rich knowledge base(intellectual, social, emotional, and practical knowledgedomains). Expert learners make connections to what theyalready know. When prior knowledge is tapped, the learner canbuild a meaningful and motivating bridge from the known tothe unknown. Learners thrive in a safe, supportive environmentthat begins and builds on their strengths.5. Practicing habits of mind. Learners are curious.Learners are persistent. Learners strive for accuracy. Learnersnever stop learning. One line of inquiry leads to another; this isone of the major underpinnings of the model. Learning eventsend not only with the question, “What did you learn?” but also“What will you learn next?”6. Project-based, real-life learning. Learners use theworld as their laboratory. Real life does not present itself inisolated disciplines. Rather, life provides us with curiousmoments, unusual opportunities, interesting projects, andtough problems to solve. Real life requires knowledge andskills in and across disciplines. In real life, we learn new skillsfrom experts and we seek out those who know what we wantto learn. School-based learning can reflect this world-aslaboratoryparadigm.7. Collaboration and the social nature of learning.Learners learn best in collaboration with others, when they arenot isolated, but are part of a community of learners thatinvites dialogue, exchange, and project negotiations.8. Standards-based planning, instruction and assessment.Planning matters. Educators benefit from planningroutines and protocols in which they learn to bundle standardsin and across disciplines, plan multiple forms of assessment, andthen link their learning goals to big ideas, essential questions,and engaging learning events.9. Shared leadership in multiple ways around meaningfulissues. The Different Ways of Knowing distinction ofleadership is the capacity to create a future that otherwise wouldnot exist and enrolling others in that future. Everyone has accessto this distinction of leadership, and schools create multipleleadership groups, including parents, students and teachers.10. Breakthroughs in adult attitudes and practices asnecessary for standards-based practices to close theachievement gap. Educators and families of high schoolstudents need learning experiences and “uncommon” experienceswith students to challenge their implicit and deeply heldbeliefs in the bell-shaped curve and help them to embrace thebelief that all students can learn at high levels and developexpertise in single subjects. We at the Galef Institute alsobelieve in the integration and application of Howard Gardner’stheory of multiple intelligences, which “unlock” and elevateadult expectations for students. The research on cognitivedevelopment representation supports the basic assumption ofthe standards movement: we should have high expectations forall students. However, as long as educators and families have anarrow view of what can and should take place in the highschool classroom and lack a vision—a mental picture—of whatstudents can accomplish, there will be a gap between the policyof standards and the practice of standards.More information about Different Ways of Knowing and theGalef Institute is available online at www.differentways.org.22