Part 1: paradigms, mental models, and mindsets in-use

Paradigms, mental models, and mindsets in-use

Here’s what we know about the dominant paradigm, mental models, and mindsets that currently influence teaching and learning in America’s school systems: For more than a century the American education system has been guided by the Industrial Age world view (the controlling paradigm) that delivers education services to children by teaching them in groups, by requiring them to learn a fixed about of content in a fixed amount of time, and by having their teachers serve as center stage directors of their learning (the mental models supporting the paradigm). This paradigm and its allied mental models are stubbornly resistant to change. Yet, there is an inescapable consequence of this world view: It leaves some children behind—it always has and it always will.

The world view alluded to above is often called the Industrial Age paradigm of education. More derisively, it is called the factory-model of teaching and learning. There is a growing movement in the United States to displace this world view—this paradigm—by replacing it with a world view of teaching and learning better suited to the demands of our 21 ^st Century society and better suited to the learning needs, interests, and abilities of individual children. The new paradigm is sometimes called the Knowledge Age paradigm of teaching and learning. More commonly it is referred to as the learner-centered paradigm . This paradigm is built on the heart-felt belief that each student is one child with one mind who deserves a learning experience that is tailored to his or her personal learning needs, interests, and abilities so that he or she can achieve required standards of learning and become a successful and productive citizen in our society. Creating this kind of paradigm-shift, however, is so challenging that it is quite a bit like trying to get an entire religious community to convert to a new religion.