TED演讲 | 怎样从错误中学习

I have been teaching for a long time, and in doing so have acquired a body of knowledge about kids

我从事教师工作很长一段时间了，而在我教书的过程当中我学了很多关于孩子与学习的知识，

and learning that I really wish more people would understand about the potential of students.

我非常希望更多人可以了解学生的潜能。

In 1931, my grandmother -- bottom left for you guys over here -- graduated from the eighth grade.

1931年，我的祖母--从你们那边看过来左下角那位--从八年级毕业。

She went to school to get the information because that's where the information lived.

她上学是去获取知识，因为在过去，那是知识存在的地方。

It was in the books; it was inside the teacher's head;

知识在书本里，在老师的脑袋里，

and she needed to go there to get the information, because that's how you learned.

而她需要专程到学校去获得这些知识，因为那是当时学习的途径。

Fast-forward a generation: this is the one-room schoolhouse, Oak Grove, where my father went to a one-room schoolhouse.

快进过一代：这是个只有一间教室的学校，Oak Grove，我父亲就是在这间只有一个教室的学校就读。

And he again had to travel to the school to get the information from the teacher,

而同样的，他不得不去上学，从老师那儿取得知识，

stored it in the only portable memory he has, which is inside his own head, and take it with him,

然后将这些知识储存在他唯一的移动内存，那就是他自己的脑袋里，然后将这些随身携带，

because that is how information was being transported from teacher to student and then used in the world.

因为这是过去知识被传递的方式，从老师传给学生，接着在世界上使用。

When I was a kid, we had a set of encyclopedias at my house.

当我还小的时候，我们家里有一套百科全书。

It was purchased the year I was born, and it was extraordinary,

从我一出生就买了这套书，而那是非常了不起的事情，

because I did not have to wait to go to the library to get to the information.

因为我不需要等着去图书馆取得这些知识。

The information was inside my house and it was awesome.

这些信息就在我的屋子里，而那真是太棒了。

This was different than either generation had experienced before,

这和过去相比是非常不同的，

and it changed the way I interacted with information even at just a small level.

这改变了我和信息互动的方式，即便改变的幅度很小。

But the information was closer to me. I could get access to it.

但这些知识却离我更近了。我可以随时获取它们。

In the time that passes between when I was a kid in high school and when I started teaching,

在过去的这几年间，从我还在念高中到我开始教书的时候，

we really see the advent of the Internet.

我们真的亲眼目睹网络的发展。

Right about the time that the Internet gets going as an educational tool,

就在网络开始作为教学用的工具发展的时候，

I take off from Wisconsin and move to Kansas, small town Kansas,

我离开威斯康辛州搬到勘萨斯州，一个叫勘萨斯的小镇，

where I had an opportunity to teach in a lovely, small-town, rural Kansas school district,

在那里我有机会在一个小而美丽的勘萨斯的乡村学区教书，

where I was teaching my favorite subject, American government.

教我最喜欢的学科，“美国政府”。

My first year -- super gung-ho -- going to teach American government, loved the political system.

那是我教书的第一年，充满热情，准备教“美国政府”，我当时热爱教政治体系。

Kids in the 12th grade: not exactly all that enthusiastic about the American government system.

这些十二年级的孩子对于美国政府体系并不完全充满热情。

Year two: learned a few things -- had to change my tactic.

开始教书的第二年，我学到了一些事情，让我改变了教学方针。

And I put in front of them an authentic experience that allowed them to learn for themselves.

我提供他们一个真实体验的机会让他们可以自主学习。

I didn't tell them what to do or how to do it.

我没有告诉他们得做什么，或是要怎么做。

I posed a problem in front of them, which was to put on an election forum for their own community.

我只是在他们面前提出一个问题，要他们在自己的社区设立一个选举论坛。

They produced flyers. They called offices. They checked schedules. They were meeting with secretaries.

他们散布传单，联络各个选举办公室，他们和秘书排定行程。

They produced an election forum booklet for the entire town to learn more about their candidates.

他们设计了一本选举论坛手册，提供给全镇的镇民让他们更了解这些候选人。

They invited everyone into the school for an evening of conversation about government and politics

他们邀请所有的人到学校参与晚上的座谈，谈论政府和政治

and whether or not the streets were done well, and really had this robust experiential learning.

还有镇里的每条街是不是都修建完善，学生们真的得到强大的体验式学习。

The older teachers -- more experienced -- looked at me and went,

学校里比较资深年长的老师看着我说，

"Oh, there she is. That's so cute. She's trying to get that done."

“喔，看她，多天真呀，竟想试着这么做。”

"She doesn't know what she's in for."

“她不知道她把自己陷入怎么样的局面。”

But I knew that the kids would show up, and I believed it, and I told them every week what I expected out of them.

但我知道孩子们会出席，而我真的这样相信。每个礼拜我都对他们说我是如何期待他们的表现。

And that night, all 90 kids -- dressed appropriately, doing their job, owning it.

而那天晚上，全部九十个孩子，每个人的穿戴整齐，各司其职，完全掌握论坛。

I had to just sit and watch. It was theirs. It was experiential. It was authentic.

我只需要坐在一旁看着。那是属于他们的夜晚。那是经验。那是实在的经验。

It meant something to them. And they will step up.

那对他们来说具有意义。而他们将会更加努力。

From Kansas, I moved on to lovely Arizona,

离开堪萨斯后，我搬到美丽的亚利桑纳州，

where I taught in Flagstaff for a number of years, this time with middle school students.

我在Flagstaff小镇教了几年书，这次是教初中的学生。

Luckily, I didn't have to teach them American government.

幸运的是，我这次不用教美国政治。

Could teach them the more exciting topic of geography.

这次我教的是更令人兴奋的地理。

Again, "thrilled" to learn. But what was interesting about this position I found myself in in Arizona,

再一次，非常期待的要学习。但有趣的是，我发现在这个亚历桑纳州的教职，

was I had this really extraordinarily eclectic group of kids to work with in a truly public school,

我所面对的是一群非常多样化的、彼此之间差异悬殊的孩子们，在一所真正的公立学校，

and we got to have these moments where we would get these opportunities.

在那里，有些时候我们会得到了一些机会。

And one opportunity was we got to go and meet Paul Rusesabagina,

其中一个机会是我们得以和Paul Russabagina见面，

which is the gentleman that the movie "Hotel Rwanda" is based after.

这位先生正是电影"卢安达饭店"根据描述的那位主人翁。

And he was going to speak at the high school next door to us.

他当时正要到隔壁的高中演讲。

We could walk there. We didn't even have to pay for the buses.

我们可以步行到那所学校。我们甚至不用坐公共汽车。

There was no expense cost. Perfect field trip.

完全不需要额外的支出，非常完美的校外教学。

The problem then becomes how do you take seventh- and eighth-graders to a talk about genocide

然后接着的问题是，你要怎么和七八年级的学生谈论种族屠杀，

and deal with the subject in a way that is responsible and respectful, and they know what to do with it.

用怎么样的方式来处理这个问题才是一种负责任和尊重的方式，让学生们知道该怎么面对这个问题。

And so we chose to look at Paul Rusesabagina as an example of a gentleman who singularly used his life to do something positive.

所以我们决定去观察Paul Rusesabagina是怎么做的，把他当作一个例子，一个平凡人如何利用自己的生命做些积极的事情的例子。

I then challenged the kids to identify someone in their own life, or in their own story,

接着，我挑战这些孩子，要他们去找出在他们的生命里，在他们自己的故事中，

or in their own world, that they could identify that had done a similar thing.

或是在他们自己的世界里，找出那些他们认为也做过类似事情的人。

I asked them to produce a little movie about it. It's the first time we'd done this.

我要他们为这些人和事迹制作一部短片。这是我们第一次尝试制作短片。

Nobody really knew how to make these little movies on the computer, but they were into it.

没有人真的知道如何利用电脑制作短片，但他们非常投入。

And I asked them to put their own voice over it.

我要他们在片子里用自己的声音。

It was the most awesome moment of revelation that when you ask kids to use their own voice

那实在是最棒的启发方式，当你要孩子们用他们自己的声音，

and ask them to speak for themselves, what they're willing to share.

当你要他们为自己说话，说那些他们愿意分享的故事。

The last question of the assignment is: how do you plan to use your life to positively impact other people?

这项作业的最后一个问题是：你打算怎么利用你自己的生命去正面的影响其他人？

The things that kids will say when you ask them and take the time to listen is extraordinary.

孩子们说出来的那些话，在你询问他们后并花时间倾听那些话后，是非常了不起的。

Fast-forward to Pennsylvania, where I find myself today.

快进到宾州，我现在住的地方。

I teach at the Science Leadership Academy,

我在科学领导学院教书，

which is a partnership school between the Franklin Institute and the school district of Philadelphia.

它是富兰克林学院和费城学区协同的合办的。

We are a nine through 12 public school, but we do school quite differently.

我们是一间9年级到12年级的公立高中，但我们的教学方式很不一样。

I moved there primarily to be part of a learning environment that validated the way that I knew that kids learned,

我起初搬到那里是为了亲身参与一个教学环境，一个可以证实我所理解孩子可以有效学习方式的方式，

and that really wanted to investigate what was possible when you are willing to let go of some of the paradigms of the past,

一个愿意探索所有可能性的教学环境，当你愿意放弃一些过去的标准模式，

of information scarcity when my grandmother was in school and when my father was in school and even when I was in school,

放弃我祖母和我父亲上学的那个年代，甚至是我自己念书的那个年代，因为信息的稀缺，

and to a moment when we have information surplus.

到一个我们正处于信息过剩的时代。

So what do you do when the information is all around you?

所以你该怎么处理那些环绕在四周的知识？

Why do you have kids come to school if they no longer have to come there to get the information?

你为什么要孩子们来学校，如果他们再也不需要特意到学校获得这些知识？

In Philadelphia we have a one-to-one laptop program,

在宾州，我们有一个人人有笔记本的项目，

so the kids are bringing in laptops with them everyday, taking them home, getting access to information.

所以这些孩子每天带着他们笔记本电脑，带着电脑回家，随时学习知识。

And here's the thing that you need to get comfortable with when you've given the tool to acquire information to students,

有一件事你需要学着适应的是，当你给了学生工具，让他们可以自主取得知识，

is that you have to be comfortable with this idea of allowing kids to fail as part of the learning process.

你得适应一个想法，那就是允许孩子失败，把失败视为学习的一部分。

We deal right now in the educational landscape with an infatuation with the culture of one right answer

我们现在面对教育大环境，带着一种迷恋单一解答的文化，

that can be properly bubbled on the average multiple choice test,

一种靠选择题折优的文化，

and I am here to share with you: it is not learning.

而我在这里要告诉你们，这不是学习。

That is the absolute wrong thing to ask, to tell kids to never be wrong.

去要求孩子们永远不可以犯错，这绝对是个错误。

To ask them to always have the right answer doesn't allow them to learn.

要求他们永远都要有正确的解答而不允许他们去学习。

So we did this project, and this is one of the artifacts of the project.

所以我们实施了这个项目，这就是这个项目中一件作品。

I almost never show them off because of the issue of the idea of failure.

因为我们对于错误与失败的观念，我几乎从来没有展示过这些。

My students produced these info-graphics

我的学生们制作了这些信息图表，

as a result of a unit that we decided to do at the end of the year responding to the oil spill.

结果是我们决定以这个汇报作为我们学年的总结报告，内容是回应漏油事件。

I asked them to take the examples that we were seeing of the info-graphics that existed in a lot of mass media,

我要求他们拿他们看过的资讯图表当做范例，就是在媒体里展示的那些信息图表，

and take a look at what were the interesting components of it,

仔细看看那里头什么是有趣的，

and produce one for themselves of a different man-made disaster from American history.

然后自己设计一个以美国历史中其他的人为灾难为主题。

And they had certain criteria to do it.

我为这项作业设了一些其他的条件。

They were a little uncomfortable with it, because we'd never done this before, and they didn't know exactly how to do it.

他们觉得这个作业有些困难，因为我们从来没有出过这样的作业，而他们不完全知道要怎么进行。

They can talk -- they're very smooth, and they can write very, very well,

他们可以谈论这议题，相当顺畅，他们也能写得非常非常得好，

but asking them to communicate ideas in a different way was a little uncomfortable for them.

但当被要求要用一种其他的方式来表达想法的时候，他们有点无所适从。

But I gave them the room to just do the thing. Go create. Go figure it out. Let's see what we can do.

但我给了他们空间去做这个作业。去创造，去自己发现该怎么做。让我们拭目以待我们可以完成些什么。

And the student that persistently turns out the best visual product did not disappoint.

最后那些总是呈现最佳视觉效果作品的学生，这次也没有让人失望。

This was done in like two or three days. And this is the work of the student that consistently did it.

这个作品大概花了两三天的时间，而这是来自一个经常很棒得完成作业的学生。

And when I sat the students down, I said, "Who's got the best one?"

然后当我要所有学生坐下来，我问他们，“谁交出了最好的作品？”

And they immediately went, "There it is." Didn't read anything. "There it is."

他们立刻指着这个作品回答，“这件”。他们并没有细读其中的内容就回答了“这件”。

And I said, "Well what makes it great?"

然后我说，“那么，是什么因素让这个作品这么好？”

And they're like, "Oh, the design's good, and he's using good color. And there's some ... "

他们回答说，“喔，设计得很好，他用了很好的颜色组合，还有一些...”

And they went through all that we processed out loud.

他们分别说了想法，我们一起进行了讨论

And I said, "Go read it." And they're like, "Oh, that one wasn't so awesome."

我说，“现在去读读内容”。接着他们说，“喔，现在看起来好像其实没有那么好。”

And then we went to another one -- it didn't have great visuals, but it had great information

后来我们谈到另外一个作业--那个作品没有很好的视觉设计，但是有非常好的资讯内容，

and spent an hour talking about the learning process,

我们接着花了大概一个小时来讨论这个学习过程，

because it wasn't about whether or not it was perfect, or whether or not it was what I could create.

因为那并不是关于哪个作品比较完美，或是我能或不能创造出这样的东西。

It asked them to create for themselves, and it allowed them to fail, process, learn from.

这作业是要他们为自己创作。这作业也让他们有失败的可能，消化思考之后，从失败中学习。

And when we do another round of this in my class this year, they will do better this time,

今年，当我们又再一次尝试类似的作业，他们都将会比去年做的更好，

because learning has to include an amount of failure, because failure is instructional in the process.

因为学习必须包含一定程度的失败，因为在学习的过程中，失败具有教学意义。

There are a million pictures that I could click through here,

我有上百万张照片可以展示，

and had to choose carefully -- this is one of my favorites -- of students learning,

可我得小心的选择--好，这是我最喜欢的一张--学生正在学习的照片，

of what learning can look like in a landscape where we let go of the idea that kids have to come to school to get the information,

学习可以是什么样子，在一个我们放弃传统观念的环境中，学生非得来学校以获得知识这样的想法，

but instead, ask them what they can do with it.

取而代之，问他们，他们可以利用这些知识来做些什么。

Ask them really interesting questions. They will not disappoint.

问他们真正有趣的问题。他们不会让人失望。

Ask them to go to places, to see things for themselves, to actually experience the learning, to play, to inquire.

要求他们去不同的地方，去亲眼见识不同的事情，去真正的体验学习，去玩，去查询。

This is one of my favorite photos, because this was taken on Tuesday, when I asked the students to go to the polls.

这是我最喜欢的照片之一，因为这是一张星期二照的照片，当是我要求学生们去投票。

This is Robbie, and this was his first day of voting, and he wanted to share that with everybody and do that.

这是Robbie，这是他第一次投票，而他想要和大家分享这个投票的经历。

But this is learning too, because we asked them to go out into real spaces.

但这也是学习，因为我们要他们到外头真实的世界去。

The main point is that, if we continue to look at education as if it's about coming to school to get the information

重点是，如果我们继续把教育当作是要来学校取得知识，

and not about experiential learning, empowering student voice and embracing failure, we're missing the mark.

而不是体验学习的过程，倾听学生的声音，接纳错误和失败，我们将会误解上学的意义。

And everything that everybody is talking about today isn't possible

而今天每个人在谈论的每件事情都将不可能达成，

if we keep having an educational system that does not value these qualities,

如果我们继续这样的教育系统而不重视这些价值，

because we won't get there with a standardized test, and we won't get there with a culture of one right answer.

因为我们是不可能依靠标准化测试，一种只有一个标准答案的文化是没有办法引领我们达到目标的。

We know how to do this better, and it's time to do better.

我们知道怎么样可以做得更好，而现在就是需要做得更好的时候了。