On the OECD page you can see the problems that were presented to the students to obtain the report PISA 2012. There is one over traffic in which you have to know how to add, another about the operation of an air conditioner in which you have to learn the cause and effect relationship, another is about how to choose a transport ticket according to the features and preferences of the traveler and another one about what happens to a robot when it encounters an obstacle. The 15-year-old Spanish students are 23 points below the average of developed countries in solving these problems that although they are not very everyday I think they require an interesting mental effort to the students.
Gregorio Luri says in his blog that civilization is looking for methods that allow us to work less and learn more. And as learning is hard, expensive and the number of people who do it is scarce, that is making those who do it well are very valuable, that's why the Orientals are heading all the international results lists. As we commented a long time ago in Peques and more when we asked ourselves what should be promoted in the little ones self-control or self-esteem, the mothers of the oriental children when they return from school ask them about their progress, they are interested in what they have learned and try to help at home with homework for the next day. In contrast to this behavior is the European not to pressure children in their academic performance or, as we have said on occasion, to eliminate schoolwork. And we can conclude that If autonomy is enhanced, which is linked to self-efficacy, children will feel good self-esteem that will encourage them to continue progressing.
PISA It is a unique system that allows to analyze in a homogeneous way the level of knowledge of the students regardless of what they learn in school. For children (or young people) of 15 years is a good way to know at what point are they in relation to the rest of the students of the OECD countries. And it is that knowing how to solve real-life problems, how they face new situations and how they can learn to relativize the value of academic teaching seems to me to be fundamental for the global world in which we move and in which Our children's competitors are not neighbors but any child from anywhere in the world.
I found very partial the analysis of the Secretary of State for Education, Montserrat Gomendio, in the presentation of the Pisa report in which he was very critical of the Spanish model that, according to her, is based on knowledge memorization. And it is that memory, I don't know what obsession with also prohibiting the use of memory! I think it is a condition of the human being and that it is fundamental to progress and build ideas and thoughts. I share with Carmen Pascual González-Babe that memory does not have to be insulted and that we also have to work in children a good oral and written expression, that they understand well any type of text to solve problems and that they work the mental calculation for what It is essential to apply the memory.
In my opinion, and returning to what I commented at the beginning, I believe that the duties, effort and work of children are important to foster autonomy, self-control, time management, work organization and obtaining results.. If parents are aware of what they do and what children have to do, what kind of autonomy can we expect them to have? And also if we do not get tired of valuing and promoting innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in children, why then truncate it by getting in the middle and interfering in their learning process?
And I also think we have to let them mess more With technology, videogames, let them try things to make mistakes, learn and teach us! That requires parents to be more participatory, less protectionist and more collaborative with them. We also have the Internet as an ally! to give them autonomy and security in their learning.
And not, I don't share what Mireia proposes in Babies and More about the need to spend money. I don't think money is the key to the solution. In my opinion we can make a very simple diagnosis to verify that what PISA says is more serious than it seems. Let's go with the kids to do daily activities and see how they solve them, for example, how they go with their homework, how they progress in mathematics by letting them pay and encouraging them to be attentive to the laps, to perform calculations with the weights or capacities in the supermarket , calculate distances, form phrases in English, learn to play video games and learn to interpret graphics. Although surely this list can be expanded much more and sure that PISA can help us identify problems to replicate at home or at school.
