source: www.digitalinformationworld.com

When we think of change, there are some who ask the question, “Why do we have to change?” I’m sure educators can count all the various initiatives over the last 50 years, and complain. Nothing can ever stay the same.

Recently, I was listening to a podcast where one of the guests talked about how his father would always complain about science. His father would say that he didn’t know what to believe anymore because there was always a new “finding.” So the son said to his father, “I think that they are making their findings based on the best information that they had at the time. When they find new information that either contradicts or adds to the previous “findings” things change.”

I thought that was a powerful story on many levels. In education, we really try to make decisions based on the information presented by research. We do not, nor will we ever, know everything. Knowledge is constantly changing, evolving, and in some cases, maturing. With that said, we will make mistakes, and contradictions. To hold onto the past does little to help us progress. We have to continue to make our decisions based on the best information available at the time.