Dive Brief:
- A team of researchers from Stanford University are now working with Envision Learning Partners, a California consulting group that works with nearly 500 charter and district-run schools, to examine deeper learning more closely and find out what works best in a school setting, EdSource reports.
- Researchers say that deeper learning, which requires students to research, apply knowledge, and defend conclusions in written and oral form, better prepares them for college and the workforce than standard methods of instruction.
- More than 1,000 schools now use a deeper learning model and research indicates that it's helping students to be more prepared to attend a four-year college.
Dive Insight:
Deeper learning has gained greater traction in recent years through the work of a number of institutions, including the Hewlett Foundation, which “seeks to help students compete globally and become engaged citizens at home.”
The foundation describes deeper learning as a set of six interrelated competencies: mastering rigorous academic content, learning how to think critically and solve problems, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, directing one’s own learning, and developing an academic mindset.
Deeper learning has also received increased attention in recent years because some educators say the idea is “woven into the Common Core State Standards.” A growing number of experts and educators believe that this approach is necessary for students to succeed in college and careers in the 21st century. And a growing body of research tends to support that idea.
Though the idea seems new, it can be argued that deeper learning, which is closely tied to project-based learning, is a re-envisioning of older educational models. For instance, classical education, one of the oldest models of education, is based on the concept of the trivium: grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages of education that require older students to defend ideas through written and oral communication. Other educators see it as a flipping of Bloom’s Taxonomy. However, the model began, it seems here to stay and the new research that is now being conducted in the area may benefit schools in years to come.