In a discussion over what should be included in school curricula, Dewey made the comment that the age-old discussion of the content of the curriculum was misguided. In his words, it is not “what” should be included in the curriculum, but rather the habits of the mind and methods of inquiry that each discipline develops. As we all can attest to, and what the cognitive research documents, most of what is in the curriculum—names, dates, locations, rules, categories, classifications— is often taught in isolated pieces of information. Students memorize them long enough to pass a test, and they are quickly forgotten minutes after leaving Friday’s test. Often forgotten minutes after leaving Friday’s test. When students engage in the methods of inquiry for a discipline, information becomes durable because it is repeatedly used.
For Dewey, every academic discipline represents a distinct way of investigating the world. In science, facts become tools for explaining phenomena. In history, dates become anchors for understanding causation and narrative. In mathematics, formulas become instruments for solving problems. In economics the exchange of good and services become a method for trade-off analysis. In political science, policy analysis becomes a tool for how power is organized and exercised.
As I have argued in past blogs, systems of accountability require measurable outcomes—-tests, benchmarks, and documentation that demonstrate compliance with institutional goals. These compliance systems privilege the recall of information: names, dates, rules, classification, and procedures. What they struggle to measure are the far more important outcome Dewey emphasized—habits of inquiry, disciplined skepticism, interpretative judgment, and the capacity to investigate complex problem.
The result in predictable. School increasingly organize the curriculum around what can be documented and tested, even when educators know that what matters most for long-term intellectual growth are the ways of thinking students repeatedly practice while learning the content of a discipline.
Alan C. Jones 