ISJ April 2013: A theatre for action: adopting the Khan Academy in support of a classroom model in the MYP

Eoin Lenihan

Abstract:

The problem
Having taught for several years in the international school system at both established and younger schools, and having attended conferences for international school teachers, I have identified a number of challenges to the teacher in employing an inquiry-based approach in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) classroom. This article will focus on two key problems and suggest a place for the Khan model in promoting inquiry in the MYP.

Generations of constructivist student teachers and seasoned practitioners weaned on Dewey and Piaget will mock with fervor the ‘chalk and talk’ approach of archaic times. Even W B Yeats sounded the death knell for such teachers, stating that ‘Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.’

Sadly, a great many of us in the international system still concern ourselves, and at great personal strain, with filling the pail. I first became suspicious of the prevalence of this practice in an international school where an open door policy was announced at the beginning of the school year only to be cast aside by the end of the first week.