Greetings to you during this summer season. 

 

As we prepare for the 2009-2010 school year, staff and administration are at work on curriculum projects that will further develop the skill sets of the students returning this fall.  There are so many mandates for inclusion in our educational programs!

 

It is literally overwhelming!

 

The job of the professional educator is to select down from an infinite variety of curricular possibilities to include in-depth studies for youngsters that will serve them well and be retained in their long term memories.  More complex projects are preferable to non-integrated fragments of knowledge.  We study worldwide trends from many sources.  One such source are the writings of futurist thinkers.

 

Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into their annual Outlook Report.

 

Here are some of the editors' top 10 forecasts from Outlook 2008:

 

• Water will be, in the twenty-first century, what oil was in the twentieth century. Global fresh water shortages and drought conditions are spreading in both the developed and developing world. In response, the dry state of California is building 13 desalination plants that could provide 10%-20% of the state's water in the next two decades. Desalination will become more mainstream by 2020. --William E. Halal, "Technology's Promise: Highlights from the TechCast Project," Nov-Dec, p. 44.

How might this influence trends in education? Careers and training in the water related sciences? Geology and climate studies?

 

• The world population by 2050 may grow larger than previously expected, due in part to healthier, longer-living people. Slower than expected declines of fertility in developing countries and increasing longevity in richer countries are contributing to a higher rate of population growth. As a result, the UN has increased its forecast for global population from 9.1 billion people by 2050 to 9.2 billion. --World Trends & Forecasts, Sep-Oct 2007, p. 10

How might this influence trends in education? Careers and training in the medical and health related fields?  Gerontology?

 

• More decisions will be made by nonhuman entities. Electronically enabled teams in networks, robots with artificial intelligence, and other non-carbon life-forms will make financial, health, educational, and even political decisions for us.  Reason: Technologies are increasing the complexity of our lives and human workers' competency is not keeping pace well enough to avoid disasters due to human error. --Arnold Brown, "'Not with a Bang': Civilization's Accelerating Challenge," Sep-Oct 2007, p. 38

How might this influence trends in education? Careers and training in the technology areas?  Physical science?  Mathematics?

 

The staff and administration understand that many of the careers for employment of our young charges haven’t even been invented yet.  However, we do know that the love of learning, the motivation to work hard, and the willingness to seek creative solutions will serve our students well.  We must ensure that our students perform well on state standardized exams.  In addition, we must ensure that they work towards solving complex sets of community and wider problems and challenges.  They must be engaged in their learning in a meaningful and interactive way.  Such learning, connected to potential career and vocational opportunities will stay with them longer. 

 

The classroom is too small.  The textbook is too limited.  The pen and paper are too confining.  We have a responsibility to develop curriculum with deep levels of inquiry.  Your Coventry Public School staff is committed to this task.  We appreciate your support.

 

Donna