If I “Feel” It — I Remember It

Learning is pretty tough, and learning a new skill can be a challenge. Many of us are put off learning during our school years when we had a teacher telling us mountains of information, praying it would stick in our minds for six months before we had to regurgitate it for our exams. If we think about it, school hasn’t really changed since the concept of education for the masses was introduced in the industrial revolution of the 19th century. Classrooms were originally designed to teach factory workers new skills and concepts and this model was subsequently taken on board to educate younger members of society and has become the structure we know today and see around the world. The basic structure of education hasn’t changed in centuries. So much of society has moved on from Victorian times, so why hasn’t our model of education? Why do we still use the 19th-century factory model as best practice? Why do we still insist on a top-down, “sage-on-the-stage” approach to learning? Most importantly, why do we do this, when the evidence for best practice in learning is all around us?