Navigating Tension: Learning vs Content
From an early point in my education, I have had strong notions about the importance of being a part of the learning process, as opposed to just a receiver of information. I feel that while those who only consume facts might excel at memorization or standardized, multiple-choice tests, true learning is something far more profound. It involves constructing and deepening one’s understanding of the world, which often requires grappling with ideas internally. This cannot be a one sided activity. My perspective came from my own learning experiences from a few particularly remarkable teachers and professors, and my experiences in outdoor education on both National Outdoor Leadership School and Outward Bound programs. When I was a new, idealistic teacher I envisioned my classroom as a place where I wouldn’t be the "expert" in the room, but rather a guide or facilitator. However, as my career has progressed, I’ve continuously realized just how challenging it is to fully embrace these ideas, especially in a high school biology classroom (my normal domain). The content demands are heavy, and on top of that, there are parental expectations and school traditions about what education "should" look like. This push and pull between progressive teaching methods and the realities of the classroom has been a constant balancing act that I rarely think I get right.
When I first started teaching, I was all in on the idea of student-centered learning. Reading and engaging with ideas from the situative perspective, constructionism, and Pedagogy of the Oppressed (POTO), felt like hearing many of my own opinions about learning echoed back to me, in more eloquent language. Ever since I was in high school, I was very much a proponent of more student-focused learning compared to the traditional "lecture-memorize-and-regurgitate" model. I just did not have the language to express these opinions. When I started teaching, I wanted my students to collaborate, build, and question—not just memorize. I believed learning happened in classrooms where students engaged deeply with the material, making real-world connections and developing critical thinking skills, and modeled my teaching accordingly. However, from the beginning, I bumped up against content expectations. Teaching biology means exploring everything from cell biology to ecology, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. It’s easy to see why teachers fall back into the "Sage on the Stage" role when there’s pressure to make sure students have learned, or at least have been exposed to (which is not the same thing), all of the content by exam time. It is, unfortunately, the fastest way to do this job. However, this speed comes at a cost. When class becomes about rushing through material in time for a test, students miss out on the deeper, more meaningful aspects of learning. It reduces the process to mere information retention. This makes learning seem like a means to an end - passing a test - depriving students of the chance to wrestle with ideas, critically think and engage in a way that, to me, has far more value than memorizing the stages of meiosis.
One of my core beliefs about learning, from the situative perspective, is that learning happens through participation in a community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991). In theory, that sounds great for the biology classroom—students learning through discussions, experiments, and group problem-solving. The challenge with enacting this belief is it is incredibly time consuming. Early in my career, I was eager to create these opportunities for deep engagement, but I quickly realized how hard it is to maintain that kind of student-centered learning with all the curriculum demands. The reality is that there isn’t always enough time to let students explore everything collaboratively, and the pressure to "cover" material pushes me back into the role of the expert delivering information, despite that not aligning with my beliefs about learning.
Constructionism was another theory about learning I embraced early on. The idea that students learn through building and creating resonated with me, especially in a hands-on subject like biology (Harel and Papert, 1991). My students have built ecosystems, modeled DNA, and conducted experiments—activities that allow them to construct knowledge through doing. Again, these types of projects take time, and I frequently feel conflicted between wanting to give students more opportunities to explore and create and feeling the pressure to move through the material quickly to keep up with the pacing guide.
Freire’s (2009) Pedagogy of the Oppressed also really resonated with me when I started studying education. Ever since I was young, my family instilled in me that school is not just about learning for grades or for jobs, but about learning so you can be an informed global citizen. This perspective emphasizes the importance of critical engagement as an aspect of learning. In biology, this might mean analyzing who benefits and who suffers from scientific advancements or environmental policies. But it’s not always easy to fit these deep discussions into the traditional mold of what school is supposed to look like. Parents, administrators, and even students sometimes expect, and even thrive in, a more structured, content-driven approach to education. Pushing back against that can be tough. It’s not that they don’t value critical thinking, but there’s a certain comfort in the familiar—tests, lectures, and grades that neatly quantify learning. Yet, true learning, which is sometimes not the same thing as schooling, should always encourage questioning, curiosity and challenging the norm to develop informed and engaged citizens.
What I’ve come to realize is that the challenge isn’t that I lack belief in my own ideas about learning. It’s that fully implementing them is tough in a system that values a breadth of content mastery and measurable outcomes. As much as I want my students to construct their own knowledge and engage in deep inquiry, I also have to make sure they’re prepared for the assessments that matter to their academic, and life, success. This balancing act has been, and will continue to be a consistent theme in my career.
References
Freire, P. (2009). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, 2(2), 163-174
Harel, I. E., & Papert, S. E. (1991). Situating constructionism. In I. E. Harel & S. E. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp. 1-11). Ablex Publishing.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
