Cats’ teeth – teaching facts vs thinking skills

Do cats have molars? What are the implications of an anecdote like this on teaching and learning?

• Facts and raw data can be had easily.
• The memorisation/regurgitation of such is perhaps of decreasing importance. Perhaps it is only sufficient to remember tags/markers/keywords, so as to enable the retrieval of info in greater depth when required.
• These skills will become more important: research, critical analysis, thinking, synthesis…

The data is there and easy to get. What is not easy is learning how to discern fact from fiction, establishing relevance, seeing patterns, building models (to enable understanding), and extracting meaning.

Thanks to Bettina Cutler for the link.

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