Classrooms at Work
Teaching Generic Skills in Academic and Vocational Settings
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This study examined how generic skills and work-related attitudes can be taught in academic and vocational high school classrooms. An instructional model for these skills and attitudes was identified that included instructional goals, classroom design, teaching techniques, and school context. Generic skills and work-related attitudes can be taught in both academic and vocational classrooms. Instructional goals should include a mix of generic and domain-specific skills. Classroom design should incorporate structural and cultural aspects of workplaces, and learning should be situated in complex, “authentic” projects that resemble adult work. Situated learning should be supported through non-authoritarian teacher roles and teaching techniques. Student assessment should emphasize the learning of generic skills and attitudes. To implement this instructional model, teachers need autonomy as well as appropriate teacher training and staff development.
Table of Contents
Preface
Figures
Tables
Summary
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Learning to Work in Schools
Chapter Two
Field Study Methods
Chapter Three
What Makes Classrooms Work
Chapter Four
An English Class That Works: Writing as Thinking
Chapter Five
An Electronics Class That Works: Integrating Science and Technology at the Workbench
Chapter Six
An Industrial Arts Class That Works: Manufacturing in the Vocational Lab
Chapter Seven
Conclusions and Implications
Appendix A
Synopses of Case Study Sites
Appendix B
Samples of Index Terms for Tagging Field Notes
Appendix C
Domains for Understanding the Eight Classrooms
Bibliography
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