Alberta’s New Curriculum Chooses Evidence Over Fads

Commentary One would hope that teaching kids a coherent body of knowledge, including important historical facts and events, is a goal widely shared by educators and parents. Yet for too long, education elites have wedded themselves to theories that downplay the importance of acquiring knowledge: discovery-learning, experiential learning, inquiry-based learning, constructivist learning, and most recently 21st century learning. Such nice sounding names. The problem is they don’t work. Their advocates believe kids can acquire critical thinking without first mastering a body of knowledge. They present us with a choice. Either students memorize a lot of “useless” facts, or they can engage in “deeper learning” and develop independent minds. If given such a choice, which would you pick?...