The role of content knowledge for my history and social studies classes will be vastly different in 2025, than it currently is in my classroom. Currently, content knowledge is a practice in memorization in an attempt to pass a standardized test. In education, it seems that there is a mounting pressure to evaluate teachers and students based on the performance on standardized tests. However, within the next 15 years, I am hoping for a shift away from this trend. The world as it is progressing now, gives individuals quick access to any and all information they could possibly desire. Students are two “clicks” away from the dates of World War II, one more away from the leader of Germany during that time. They should no longer be memorizing this information, but how to acquire, interpret, and display this knowledge. Content knowledge should not be the goal; the real aim should be using that knowledge to display critical thinking and innovative approaches.
The real shift in education by the year 2025, hopefully, is away from content and towards specific skills. These skills will be centered on technology and critical thinking. The transaction of information is rapidly moving away from the pen and paper and towards electronic portals such as computers, IPods, and tablets. To exist in this new world, students must know how to navigate within it. Knowing how to use search engines appropriately, distinguishing between credible sources, and understanding information displayed in a variety of ways are all vital skills necessary in 2025. And this is not just putting together a PowerPoint presentation. Students will be able to create their own blogs and wikis, as well as innovate and create new techniques for sharing information and ideas in a technological age.
However, acquiring and displaying this knowledge in a new, technological way is not enough. By 2025, getting information will be measured in fractions of seconds. Therefore, critical thinking and analysis will be a coveted skill set. When anybody can obtain facts, using those facts in an effective manner becomes the desirable quality. Intelligence is measured in a number of ways, one of which being a vast knowledge or “expertise” in certain areas. With the accessibility of information in this modern technological era, the knowledge will no longer be a marketable skill, but the way in which that knowledge is analyzed and applied will be.
