I am not a banker

Recently, I've found myself being angry over the education I received as a child. Don’t get me wrong, I attended a great school system, had some great teachers, and did very well in school. However, I realize now I was good at the “game of school”.  Looking back, I find that so much knowledge I should have been given, I wasn't. I almost feel like I was robbed of my education.

 “The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means…”. Lately, I've had many conversations about the education I received, specifically math lessons. I never realized how much math knowledge I was missing until I took my math methods course last year. It was then I finally learned why four times four means sixteen or why when I multiply fractions the answer is smaller rather than greater like when you multiply whole numbers. And, it was then my feelings of wrong-doing and basically anger towards my education began to grow. Reading this chapter (Chapter 2: Freire), I found those emotions surfacing again.

So much of education, majority of all practices I've observed, fall into this banking style.  Teachers are observed providing students the facts or having them read the facts instead of discovering them on their own. Especially now in the age of accountability, teachers are teaching to the test. Requiring students to memorize the facts that will be seen on the test and not focusing on the information or skills they could benefit from or find relevance. The biggest problem with the banking method is the lack of critical thinking and the lack of application. Once students leave the banking educational setting, they do not have the skills in which to succeed. They have these facts of knowledge floating in their head, but they do not know what to do with it or how to apply the knowledge to new situations.

I think the biggest obstacle to moving to the problem-posing model of education, is resistance to change. We were taught through the banking method, it is what is comfortable, it is the “norm”, and it is what we know.  I realize the need for the change and that is what fuels my practice to be of the problem-posing model. 

 In our science methods course, we learned how to take science content and design a learning cycle, in which students engage in discovery learning. I designed and taught a learning cycle on mixtures and solutions to third graders. Instead of having them read the chapter, write the definitions provided, and “prove” their understanding through matching terms on an assessment, I had the class develop their own definition after working with mixtures and solutions. They were given an array of materials and specific directions to guide them through the discovery process. In short, they made their own solutions and mixtures and from those experiences, developed their own definitions for the terms. As a class, we continued building on this knowledge of mixtures and solutions through working with, making, and experimenting with our own real-life mixtures/solutions in class. While this instructional method was completely different than what the students had previously received, I found that all students were engaged during the lesson and more importantly retained the information. They all performed extremely well on an authentic assessment in which they independently identified and explained mixtures and solutions. As the teacher, I was able to gauge their level of understanding through this discovery process. If I had used the typical “banking approach” the only information I would have gained about my students’ understanding of mixtures and solutions would have been how well they can memorize and regurgitate definitions.

But, ask some educators who have been teaching for 15+ years and I bet they would have a different view than my own and a different approach to teaching, aka the banking method. It is imperative that we realize our jobs as educators, is not to “fill the empty vessel” but rather to be the active facilitator that helps students take ownership of their own learning, to guide their learning process, and to aid them in filling their own vessel of knowledge.

I believe the entire education system needs to re-align our priorities. Are we just teaching to the test? Or, are we going to take an approach to education in which we develop and improve our instructional models and practices so that we captivate the interest of our students and keep them engaged through the discovery/inquiry process instead?

I truly believe that if we do our jobs as educators and provide students the education they deserve, the problem-posed model, they will learn the knowledge that they would through the “banking model” BUT unlike the banking model, they would learn how to apply that knowledge in other situations.  If we do our job effectively, the students will be successful. If they are given the opportunities to engage in inquiry/problem-based/discovery learning and are given the opportunities to practice transferring and applying the knowledge gained, they will pass the “test” without being “taught the test” but more importantly, they will be given the education they deserve.

Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed (20th anniversary edition). New York: Continuum Publishign Company.