The role of content knowledge will change in the year 2025. Of course, it will have its place. Students will still need to know history and civics, especially in the middle grades. These are classes that provide and will continue to provide cultural literacy. However, content knowledge will be more of a channel through which students will learn the important skills to help them function in a fast-paced, global world. As the basic information of content is more readily available to students, the focus will become less on memorizing the facts and more on using the facts in application. I am hopeful that education as a discipline will becomes less focused on large scale, high stakes testing, allowing content to become this medium. Students will be able and required to get that information more independently and use the content knowledge to construct their own broader understanding of the content. The teacher will be a facilitator in this as students will have greater access through the internet and other forms of communication. Additionally, the lines between content areas will blur. Teachers will need to work together to help students to make connections across curricula. History and civics will blend with English, and math and science will be more integrated. Generally speaking, students will become more independent learners to construct their own content knowledge through technology.
In 2025, students will have a solid knowledge and understanding of technology. The issue for them will not be how to use the technology to get information, but how to sift through the barrage of information they will be getting. Important skills will be analyzing sources and data and extrapolating the data that is important to them. With this increased availability of information, students need to learn other important skills in a more connected world. Students will need to learn to communicate clearly and effectively. They will need to learn tolerance and respect, as they learn to cope with people with many different values, perspectives and backgrounds. They will need to learn to prioritize as time becomes more valuable in the future. These skills will also help prepare them for what is unknown, a bigger issue today and tomorrow than it was 100 years ago.
