Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Empowering Students Through Choice, Voice and Action

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I am (very) supportive of the idea of empowering children. This is more controversial than it seems. Every once in a while we'll see school children protesting and the reaction seems always to be "they should be in heir classrooms learning" as though the classroom were a sort of prison, or as if they were being irresponsible by using their voice. But if my own experience is any guide, they probably learn more though these self-motivated actions than in any class they could be attending over the same period of time. My only criticism of this article: 'choice' is not a valid proxy for empowerment. When you present students choices, you've already determined the outcome and the context. Look at the examples in the article (complete a task, present information, eat vegitables) and you can easily see what I mean.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 10:17 a.m.

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