Entry One: Banking versus Problem-Posing Education

When it comes to education and preparing students' for the upcoming challenges of future academics and the world around them, we need to be confident in our abilities as educators and trust that the students are capable of understanding even the most complex of ideologies.

The education system has seen a huge drift from new and expert teachers alike who opt to teach their students with a purposeful inquiry approach, also called "problem-posing", which focuses on cultivating creative thinkers amongst the students and encourages them to think critically to resolve a problem while allowing students to use various resources and enabling them to take ownership of their learning experience is more beneficial than teaching students to pass a state exam.

Teaching the children to take charge of their learning and ask questions that will expand their knowledge allows for more meaningful discussions. It is through these discussions that the students build their schemas and begins to make meaning of the information that is being presented to them using real-world connections. In the past educators have been so focused on teaching to the test rather than teaching the necessary skills to be successful beyond the classroom and this type of teaching has exhausted both the students and teachers.

Luckily, with the problem-posing approach, educators have been able to engage their students in meaningful discussions and activities that have resulted in lasting outcomes that outweigh any state exam. I strongly believe that in order for a child to be successful their creative and intellectual mind needs to be nurtured, and the only way we can make this a reality is by providing every student with the opportunity to learn something meaningful rather than having them memorize information that is short term.