One of the weirder ideas to hang around for much of the past century is  that children can start off with advanced, adult activities, without bothering to learn the facts of history, science, or anything else.

Sure they can.

 Malkin Dare, one of the few famous educators you can trust, has a long piece on her site titled "Ten Keys to Successful Teaching." I asked her for permission to create a radically shortened version, now on the web as "Ten Strategies for Successful Teaching."

http://www.examiner.com/article/ten-stratagies-for-successful-teaching

It quickly presents two starkly contrasting visions. One is you teach all the basic facts, all the fundamental skills, and you make sure kids really know these essentials before you go on to teaching them critical thinking, higher-order skills, and all the rest.

The other vision, the one preached in all of America's public schools, is that you don't need to waste time giving kids the basics. You just jump right up to discussing the problems of the world. 

 Everything you do in the classroom follows from which vision you trust.

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PS: To see how all this is playing out in math instruction, see this companion piece about how the province of Manitoba is tossing out all the constructivist stuff and embracing what Malkin Dare would undoubtedly recommend. Yes, the Math Wars are raging in Canada, and this is a  reason for hope.

http://www.examiner.com/article/canada-shows-u-s-how-education-shou...