Willingham: Why We Have to Teach Children *Content* Too

Dan Willingham, one of our favorite cognitive scientists, wrote a lucid critique last week of a recent New York Times op-ed that called for a more of what many people consider progressive education principles. The op-ed, by Susan Engel, director of the teaching program at Williams College, probably struck a chord with many early educators, and parts of it made a lot of sense. It argued that teachers should be encouraged to devote more time to reading stories aloud and having children do the same. It argued that student shouldn’t be taught to memorize lists of facts or “isolated mathematical formulas.”

What Engel’s piece didn’t do, however, was talk about the rich foundation of content that children should be exposed to. Research in cognitive science is showing us how much background knowledge matters — how much a child will be better able to understand mathematical ideas, make connections in history, or excel in reading if that child has already encountered some of those math ideas, or famous figures, or new vocabulary words before. (For example, as we’ve highlighted in several posts, teaching content is teaching reading.)

Engel’s lack of focus on content is one reason Willingham had a problem her argument. He also worries that relying solely on progressive principles could leave many children without the more challenging teacher-student interactions they need to reach new levels of understanding. In his words:

Done right, progressive methods are terrific. All the benefits — student engagement, understanding that is more closely tied to out-of-school contexts — do accrue. Done wrong, progressive methods turn in to fluff, into kids horsing around a greenhouse. Supervising “extended periods of student play” so that it will be an enriching experience for all; does that sound easy to you?

Here at Early Ed Watch we have the same worries when it comes to the preK-3rd grades. We cannot assume that young children will just learn by osmosis. And we have to be proactive and smart about how we use playtime in the classroom. (Recess, not class time, is when children should be horsing around.)

Ultimately, better teacher education and preparation is the key to ensuring that teachers can provide young children with stimulating, content-rich experiences. So is more robust and engaging curricula* that introduces children to the worlds of literature, art, history, geography, science, and mathematics starting in preschool.

*Speaking of content-rich curricula, the Core Knowledge Foundation recently told Education Week that it will soon be giving away online copies of its 218-page Core Knowledge Sequence, a curriculum used in Core Knowledge schools.