The School of the Future

Most educators and observers agree that the future school will go electronic with a capital E!
What shape the school of the future will take is amorphous, but most educators and observers agree
that the future school will go electronic with a capital E.
"Next century, schools as we know them will no longer exist," says a feature in The Age publication,
based in Melbourne, Australia. "In their place will be community-style centers operating seven days a
week, 24 hours a day." Computers will become an essential ingredient in the recipe for an effective
school of the future. Students, The Age asserts, will see and hear teachers on computers, with "remote
learning" the trend of tomorrow. Accessing "classrooms" on their home computers, students will learn
at times most convenient for them. Yet some attendance at an actual school will be required to help
students develop appropriate social skills.
At Seashore Primary School, an imaginary school of the future created by the Education Department
of Australia, technology is the glue that holds classes together. At the imaginary Seashore school:
All teachers and students have laptop computers.
Teachers check voicemail and return students' calls on a special telephone system.
Students use telephones to find information or speak to experts in subject areas they are
studying.
All lessons are multidisciplinary.
All students have individual learning plans created by teachers.
As Seashore's acting principal says, a laptop computer is the students' "library, homework, data
storage, and connection to the wider world. (Technology) has changed the emphasis to the learning
of kids rather than the teaching of kids."
A REAL-LIFE SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE
Right here in the United States are public schools that strive to bring the future into the present. One
of those schools, A.C.T. Academy in McKinney, Texas, was created as an actual "school of the future."
Originally funded by a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the school is now
supported by the McKinney Independent School District. At the school, knowledge is "actively
constructed by the learner on a base of prior knowledge, attitudes, and values." Sophisticated
technology is in place to support the pursuit of knowledge. The 250 Academy students all have access
to a computer. The 12- to 18-year-olds each have their own computer; 7- to 11-year-olds have one
portable computer for every two students; and 5- and 6-year-olds use computers at fixed stations. In
addition, the students use multimedia computers, printers, CD-ROMs, laserdiscs, VCRs, video editing
machines, camcorders, cable television, online services, and telephones -- simple but effective
research tools. A.C.T. Academy has formed community partnerships and business mentorships to
foster students' learning experiences. The school is also in partnerships with other schools, colleges,
universities, and research centers. The goal: to learn through all the different kinds of resources that
real life offers.
Teachers assess student learning through portfolios and creative performance tasks. Again, the object
is to use real-life approaches to assessment.
WORKING TOWARD FUTURE SCHOOLS
The Center for the School of the Future (CSF) is the brainchild of the College of Education at Utah
State University. The center's main goals involve the creation and maintenance of a U.S. educational
system that improves by selecting the most effective teaching practices. The mission of the center is
to:
identify the most effective teaching approaches, techniques, and ideologies,
encourage innovations and their adaptation to specific circumstances,
assist the creation of a community of parents and teachers who support each other in
improving schools.
The CSF is forming a Research and Best Practice Clearinghouse, a Parent Academy, and a Teacher
Academy. Those organizations will contribute to the creation of model schools. Such model schools,
according to the CSF, will stand for:

"equity and excellence,"
teaching of basic skills combined with creative problem-solving,
respect for individual values as well as diversity,
preparation for democracy as well as a world economy.

Reference:
Article by Sharon Cromwell Education World Copyright 1998 Education World - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr046.shtml#sthash.3XQQtevH.dpuf



1. Stage: create interest
In pair, students have to discuss how do you imagine schools in the future ?.

Look at the photographs
a. What can you see?
b. Imagine is year 2050. How life would be? What advantage and disadvantage technology
would offer? What can happen to education in that time? Discuss in pair

2. Activate reading- Look at the first phrase of the text and discuss in pair Electronic with capital
letter?

3. Looking for gist: during reading

Activate reading-
Read the text and answer the questions
1. Where is Seashore Primary School located?
2. What would be the roll of computers?
3. According with the text, what is technology?
4. Checking language
1. Read the text again and underline future sentences
2. Work in pair and discuss answers
5. Looking for details:
3. Is a telephone useful in the future?
4. What is denominated the Age?
5. What concept the principal at The Seashore primary school has about a lap top?
6. Imagine youre studying at Seashore primary school; write a short text describing how education
would be in the future.
Discuss with partner and do error correction if need it

Article by Sharon Cromwell Education World Copyright 1998 Education World - See more at:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr046.shtml#sthash.3XQQtevH.dpuf