ABSTRACT
This chapter defines the differences between a curriculum- versus child-centered approach by exploring why multiage teachers use learning strategies, based on process, instead of lesson plans, based on product. The graded, linear behaviorist approach to learning as a pedagogy of teaching versus the multiage, nonlinear constructivist approach as a pedagogy of learning is explored. The graded system designs a one-size-fits-all grade-level curriculum, maps and paces the curriculum through the grade level year, and conforms students to comply to the rules or standards. The lesson plan is the delivery system to meet the learning outcomes or standards. This chapter explains why this approach is mechanistic, inhuman, nonintellectual, and sometimes scripted. The aim of schooling becomes children scoring high on achievement tests. Multiage education supports children’s natural process of learning, scaffolding learning through strategies by empowering learners as they construct understanding. Process strategies are facilitated through “learning plans.” Learning plans are holistic, contextualized contexts, use broad teaching points, engage the learner in the process, and learning is assessed authentically. Multiage strategies are in harmony with the way children grow and develop. The aim of education becomes facilitating children’s personal development, creative activity, and knowledge construction.
