“What children learn today will probably be irrelevant 20 years from now. We must guarantee them an education that addresses the 4 fundamental pillars for their development; cognition, metacognition, mental health and civic ethics. Without that we will continue to fail as a society” emphasizes neuropsychoeducator Luisa Andreoli.
-So, how do you think education should be adapted to prepare children for the uncertainty of the future?
If we think in a broad sense, we could say that education aims to educate students so that they can adapt to the reality that they will have to live according to the hypotheses of what will happen in the future. But the reality is that no matter how many predictions are made, no one knows exactly what will await us in the middle of the century.
Therefore, in this context the question arises: how to educate and what learning methods are necessary to incorporate so that young people are less vulnerable, aptitude-wise and mentally? At the same time, reflect on what consequences await us in this immediate future if we do not manage to level up and provide all members of our society with updated training that allows them to reinvent themselves or train in some type of particular trade or skill? What will happen once artificial intelligence and bioengineering take the reins in various areas, opening up new ways of working while leaving others obsolete? What will be the social, economic, health and safety costs if we do nothing about it? Therefore, it will be necessary not only to update the traditional curriculum, but also to create new schools for adults.
– In your opinion, what is essential for a child to succeed in his or her adult life?
Well, in part neuroscience helps us answer this; A person “succeeds” when he or she is able to identify a goal and fight for it beyond setbacks and difficulties. Therefore, certain ingredients are required such as self-esteem, self-confidence, self-knowledge, courage and resilience. It is known that the brain uses the same areas for negative emotions as it does for focusing on a specific goal. Therefore, a child who develops greater cognitive control will be better trained to focus, overcome setbacks, and will have better health, finances, personal relationships, and academic success.
– What would an educational model based on highlighting the individuality of each child be like?
Each human being has a unique combination of intelligence and without a doubt this should be the fundamental educational challenge. Advances in recent years in neuropsychology and neuroscience reveal that the mind is modular, that there are networks of differentiated neurons specialized in different tasks. And this new way of understanding intelligence implies a new way of working in the classroom and stimulating students.
Knowing how they learn, recognizing what makes them unique, cultivating creativity, knowing their aspirations, what their motivations are (reasons to take action), are the aspects that enable them to improve themselves over time. We can ignore these differences and assume that all our minds are the same. Or take the differences to explore them and develop their potential.
– What is the main challenge facing the school today, according to your perspective?
It is clear that the school should not live apart from the new times, from the great cultural and scientific transformations that are taking place. However, currently traditional tests and curricula tend to unify all students, overlooking multiple intelligences, when in reality the diversity of children’s aptitudes could be evaluated in another way and allow from an early age to enhance those areas in which that each child stands out. That is why the more teachers know how to distinguish their students’ abilities, the better they will be able to help them develop them. But for this they will first need to acquire distinction of their own. Multiple intelligences do not deny the importance of traditional curriculum topics in early childhood, primary and secondary education, but rather try to discover the skills in which each child stands out and which can then be creative ways to integrate into their work and adult life.
– What benefits and why would it be important to dedicate more time to stimulating these multiple intelligences?
To adequately care for children and adolescents who systematically become unmotivated and fail in school. Because the hegemony of intelligences has blocked the opportunity to address the diversity of needs and challenges of our society. Because not everyone has the same interests, aspirations and capabilities. We don’t all learn in the same way. And because when a person does not dedicate himself to tasks, professions or trades for what they are intended for, he loses vitality and joy in the environment.
-How would you define an intelligent education and how would that contribute to the progress of society?
We could say that intelligence is a potential to process information from the environment and use it to solve problems or create products and services that are of value to a society and its culture. Therefore, an intelligent education would be achieved with a type of school that serves as a rehearsal for what real life will later be like. In this sense, for example, the PBL method of Project Based Learning could be implemented. A teaching method aimed at exercising critical thinking, debate, detecting real problems, problem solving, decision making, discernment, implementation, taking action, maintaining effort and postponing actions. immediate rewards, creating long-term goals; constancy, among others. All skills that must go towards the body, that cannot be educated from the word.
– I think we will dare to go for something new?
That will depend on everyone. If I know that we are facing a great possibility and that whatever we do, we will be rewriting the rules of the game. We will choose between uniting society, empowering it, health and progress, or crudeness and stagnation. Is it safe? It’s that we have a long way to go and that the cards are now being dealt again.
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IG: @luisa_andreoli_
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by CEDOC