“So, suppose knowledge is not the goal of education. Rather, suppose today’s content knowledge is an offshoot of successful ongoing learning in a changing world – in which ‘learning’ means ‘learning to perform in the world.’ ” Grant Wiggins
UPDATE: Cool. This post was nominated and made the shortlist for Most Influential Post of 2012 by edublog. I’m really honored!
What if the earth moves and the sun is at rest? What if gravity is just a special case of space-time? Following both counter-intuitive premises revolutionized science and ushered in the modern world. Could a similar counter-intuitive thought experiment advance education from where I believe we are currently stuck? I believe so.
The educational thought experiment I wish to undertake concerns curriculum. Not the specific content of curriculum, but the idea of curriculum, what any curriculum is, regardless of subject. Like Copernicus, I propose that for the sake of better results we need to turn conventional wisdom on it is head: let’s see what results if we think of action, not knowledge, as the essence of an education; let’s see what results from thinking of future ability, not knowledge…
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Renovating My Classroom 
This comment,
suppose today’s content knowledge is an offshoot of successful ongoing learning in a changing world – in which ‘learning’ means ‘learning to perform in the world.’
expresses a deep truth about learning as something that is *mediated* IN the world, not somethinh that happens inside our minds. If we are learning to perform then we need to be *shown* HOW to perform which becomes a central question.
The answer becomes *we learn* through *leading activities* and learning therefore LEADS development.
THIS *way* of understanding *learning* expresses a certain tradition as explored by Dewey, Mead, Vygotsky, and Stuart Shankir.
Continental philosophy points to *playing* or *dancing* or *singing* the world. These metaphors capture the truth of *expressing* or *performing* the world.
THIS *way* of knowing is transformative and expands our notions of *learning* and bridges learning & development as central tasks of education as *expression.
Larry