feature First Person: Innovation in 21st Century Schools Castilleja Alumna Parent Ann Doerr P’09 was the guest speaker at our fall Advancement Forum, and spoke to the Castilleja community about education in the 21st century. Ann emphasized the need for schools to go beyond educating students for acceptance into top colleges. She urged Castilleja to prepare students to confront the challenges of a rapidly evolving and increasingly interconnected global economy. Following is an excerpt from her remarks, focused on steps Castilleja can take to enhance the program, deepening intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.
Teach the power of narrative to inspire curiosity and motivation. Whether through teachers or speakers, either on campus or via webcasts and teleconferencing, provide tools for the girls to tap into today’s thought leaders. Let the girls hear their stories and think critically about how these influential individuals have approached their areas of expertise.
Give the girls an opportunity to have fun and feel empowered to learn and explore. Take learning beyond the four walls of the classroom, and give the students a chance to experience hands-on, realworld applications of the knowledge and information they are learning.
Engage the girls in the local and global community. Immerse them in society so that they have the requisite knowledge to shape policy. Perhaps more importantly, by becoming active participants in the system they seek to change, they can become the most effective advocates for reform.
Develop the girls’ ability to understand and manipulate data. Empower them to analyze large volumes of information and to understand the significance of the data they are examining. From the iPad, to Facebook’s social graph, to tools such as Google Maps, News, and Scholar, the girls need to know how to mine the datasets created by contemporary society so that they can think critically and form new ideas.
Ann Doerr is an educational and environmental activist and a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund. She received a B.A. and M.A. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University.
Provide the students with collaborative spaces in which to work. Studies show that girls want to work together. By providing group-study spaces to facilitate class projects and extracurricular activities, the girls can learn from each other’s creativity and gain inspiration from their peers.
Ann and John Doerr drop in on the Casti Gatorbotics Team and their mentors at the FIRST National Tournament in St. Louis. Photo courtesy of Cardinal Photo.
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