We have no doubt that rote learning is an important part of building skillsets and knowledge, but learning can’t stop there.

Rote learning, or repetitive practice, is not enough. There’s a specific type of practice that advances learning, often referred to as “deliberate practice.” This involves increasing focus on the improvement of specific skills and aspects of the subject. For example, a basketball player may attend practice and go through the motions but may not improve. The player should instead, with the help of coaches and teammates, break down the aspects of a specific skill like shooting – focusing on hand positioning, timing of the release of the ball, and jumping.

But learning goes beyond just practice. So to gather the highest level of conceptual understandings, the school experience must go beyond rote training. The highest level of understanding is for a student to know how to apply their skills to real-world scenarios and make a positive impact on their wider communities.

Since internet access has become ubiquitous, the role of rote learning has changed significantly in education. Our ability to look up anything, at any time, makes general knowledge recall less important in almost all situations outside traditional exam taking. Instead, our ability to critically evaluate information, particularly information presented online, and apply that knowledge to real-world situations has grown in importance. We see this growing importance even in the MYP Personal Project and IB DP Extended Essay and exams, where students are asked to evaluate the reliability of sources as part of their work.

Even in the DP, where exams are a major part of determining a student’s overall success, a single method of delivery (for example, 70-minute classes with 22 kids, three times a week) might be the best approach for some, but not for all. Especially as IB Exams all take place within a three-week period, students who have no time-management skills and can’t work through problems independently will struggle to prepare themselves for the exams. Add to that the requirement to complete an extended essay and meet CAS requirements without compromising academic developments, we know that students who have developed these soft skills as part of FLoW21 will have a better chance of success on their IB Exams, as well as life after school.

Students support this, as well. In surveys, they tell us that developing these soft-skills has made them more successful than their peers in their IB, university studies, professional endeavors, and life in general.