21st Century Ergonomic Education, From Little e to Big E

TL;DR

This paper advocates for a new paradigm called Ergonomic Education, which aims to design educational systems that adapt to students' innate desire to learn, moving away from outdated models focused on static knowledge transfer.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Ergonomic Education, a novel paradigm that aligns educational systems with human nature and lifelong learning needs, contrasting with traditional 17th-century models.

Findings

Current systems are ineffective for modern societal needs.

Ergonomic Education emphasizes designing systems to fit students, not vice versa.

It promotes coaching students as lifelong learners with innate curiosity.

Abstract

Despite intense efforts, contemporary educational systems are not enabling individuals to function optimally in modern society. The main reason is that reformers are trying to improve systems that are not designed to take advantage of the centuries of history of the development of today's societies. Nor do they recognize the implications of the millions of years of history of life on earth in which humans are the latest edition of learning organisms. The contemporary educational paradigm of "education for all" is based on a 17th century model of "printing minds" for passing on static knowledge. This characterizes most of K-12 education. In contrast, 21st Century education demands a new paradigm, which we call Ergonomic Education. This is an education system that is designed to fit the students of any age instead of forcing the students to fit the education system. It takes into account in a fundamental way what students want to learn -- the concept "wanting to learn" refers to the innate ability and desire to learn that is characteristic of humans. The Ergonomic Education paradigm shifts to education based on coaching students as human beings who are hungry for productive learning throughout their lives from their very earliest days.