Greetings, Blog Readers!

Today’s post will be framed by two quotes by John Dewey. The first reads as follows: “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” When we consider the actual definition of curriculum, many educators would claim that it is a list, map, or index of items students need to know by the end of a given course. We may also  know it as a planned sequence of learning. In the past, curriculum has been a composed litany of skills and knowledge which someone felt students should have.

John Dewey’s influence on curriculum came about during a progressive era in which he encouraged educators to use a different approach than what they were used to. Dewey was a philosopher who believed that students should be active participants in their education.

This blog has been used as a chronicle of my travels and experiences in Uganda, and I feel that a discussion about curriculum is an especially useful way to continue. John Dewey's philosophies have not yet made it to Uganda. Students are all taught in an extremely didactic environment in which rote memorization is proof of intelligence and comprehension. This form of education is displayed to an extreme in their art classes. Students have identical illustrations. There is almost no evidence of personal or individual expression. However, my experiences in Ugandan education were completely different in our schools' agriculture courses. Students were able to not only learn the chemistry of fertilizer, but they apply it to our parish farm and gardens.

Because Uganda is mostly agrarian, having an effective agricultural program is especially important. Our students were conducting a sort of project-based learning that I hadn't realized until reading about it this year. Students embraced their agriculture courses because they were able to effectively apply their classroom knowledge to practical problems.

The second John Dewey quote I'd like to talk about here is, "We only think when we are confronted with problems." I believe that this quote is especially important and evident when considering my Ugandan students in their agriculture courses. Students learned vast amounts of complex information in these courses, and they were even able to retain it for longer. Students who came back from holiday breaks were able to build upon their past lessons without much review. In other courses, however, students needed much more extra time and review before they were able to jump back into the remainder of the year's lessons.

It seems obvious that students are processing their math lessons so differently than their agriculture lessons. They are being confronted with problems, as Dewey mentions, and they are thinking through them at a much higher cognitive level. In their art, math, and other content areas, students are repeating and memorizing facts, processes, and algorithms, but they are not applying their knowledge to problems they may face. Students graduate from these schools all able to draw a desk and a tree in an identical fashion, but they know not of how to express themselves through illustrations, paintings, or other forms of artistic expression. Students can plug a number into a Physics equation, but they would not be able to recall it in order to construct an adequate pulley system for a well.

If more students in Uganda and around the world were able to receive their instruction through problem-based learning, I believe they would flourish. Students would see the fruits of their deep-thinking, and they would be encouraged by their successes in their classes. I have seen that this is possible in a Ugandan classroom through the use of agriculture. If the same class structure and philosophy could be infused into other content areas, then their education system would improve greatly.