Good Morning, everyone!
My name is Masato Tahara I am a Flip Education researcher
Mr. Bergmann will speak on "what Flip Education is" in detail shortly
For my part, I would like to talk about the reason why flipping is called for today
I believe the purpose of education is
to develop children's ability to live in the society
I observe that the societal paradigm is "flipping" from old to new right now
With that shift, the educational paradigm must also be flipped
Since Industrial Revolution
the world has been considered as a huge machine
This paradigm, which has been with us for over 400 years,
is called Mechanistic Paradigm
According to this paradigm
everything develops from past to future according to certain principles
Applying those principles, we predict future,
make plans, and implement them
This mode of operating has been valued in Mechanistic Paradigm
I am a physics teacher
so this way of thinking is very familiar to me
However, since the internet was introduced 22 years ago,
the Mechanistic Paradigm started not function too well
Why is that?
There is a reason
As a physicist, my expertise was in complexity physics
From that perspective the reason is very clear
In general, systems acquire new properties as they become more complex
For example, our bodies are made of many cells
But, it is not simple collection of cells
As cells come together, new properties are acquired
and life emerges
For example, fish is no longer living when it is cut into parts
Similarly, dissecting complex system
and studying parts separately
the sum would not lead to the understanding of the whole
As the internet connects the world like the nerve system
the world is no longer like a huge machine
it is becoming more like a huge living organism
with that, parts and the whole are closely interconnected
It is no longer possible to understand the whole world
by looking at small parts
In the past, our process to predict future was as follows:
1) Build a model focus on what's relevant, ignoring the rest
2) Refine the model based on the data from the past
3) Predict the future by applying the model
When the world was not closely interconnected
this method worked well
But when we build a model by extracting small parts of complex nexwork
the ignored elements enlarges
the gap between the model and reality too much
The gap becomes too big to ignore when we try to predict in a longer term
With internet, the world is becoming more and more complex
Mechanistic Paradigm will become more and more obsolete
What should we do then?
I believe the nature's ability to organize itself
power of self-organization will be very important
No one plans a forest
but forest develops complex eco-system all by itself
it is due to the self-organization ability of the nature
As living organisms, we too have self-organizing ability
In the future, it will be important to utilize our self-organizing ability
in order to harmonize our societies
The difference between mechanistic order and
the organic order through self-organization is like this
The Mechanistic order functions when individual freedom is restricted
Everyone acts as subscribed
Then the order is maintained
When individuals act freely the order breaks down
In contrast, in organic order
individuals' life force brings order
In that, we need to liberate individual freedom
In the mechanistic order,
information is concentrated in the hands of the manager on the top of the hierarchy
the managers make plans and the subordinates implement the plans
The information flows one way from top to bottom
In the organic order
the information is scattered among the members
Each member holds various diverse information
By bringing diverse information and learning collectively
the group determines the direction to move forward
The information is created bottom-up
What it means is
the direction of information flow
in the mechanical order and in the organic order is reversed
In the mechanical order
the goal is set in future
and determine what to do now by calculating backwards
The time flows backward from the goal to present
In the organic paradigm
future is created by sharing what we are feeling in the present moment
The time flows from present to the future
The flow of time too is "flipped"
in mechanistic paradigm and organic paradigm
In the education to live in the mechanistic order
the ability to act according to the plan by the manager
without questioning
without making mistakes
and quickly
was greatly valued
As the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out
obedience, punctuality, and patience to perform repetitious tasks
was taught as hidden curriculum
In order to guarantee organizational continuity despite member changes
the standardization of thoughts was stressed
This kind of education was meaningful
while mechanistic society was functioning
However, in the present time when societal paradigm is shifting
from mechanistic to organic
we have to re-examin current education
Or else children's ability to live in the future society could be compromised
What is the educational model that fosters ability to live in an organic society?
I propose the hidden curriculum of the past be replaced as follows
be authentic self
learn from differences
keep reframing through self-reflections
What it means is
to exam the frame of reference that one holds
and keep renewing it
such process would be very important
In a safe and secure environment
express oneself
learn from each other
in order to create collective wisdom
This type of learning will probably foster the learning for the future
In Japan, active learning and flip education is attracting more attentions
In December 2012
I started a study group on flip education
with only about 10 friends
All my previous education was of mechanistic model
I had no idea how it is like to learn as a group
I had no idea how to create future from collective wisdom
So I wanted to experience collective learning myself first
As I proposed to create a forest like environment online
where diverse people would gather
in 5 years, the forest has grown to have 4500 participants
It was never anticipated when I started
Through my 5 years of experience I am convinced
that when I want to start something
it goes better when I share my ideas with others
than when I make plans by myself
As I dialogue my hopes and desires with others
more and more people come together
and things are realized in a way not even imagined at the beginning
I have experienced that repeatedly in last 5 years
It might seem senseless in a mechanistic society
But in an organic society
it will soon become a common sense
Our children will probably live in a society
that is a further development of my experience in last 5 years
The Flip Education means much more than
flipping the order and role of classroom learning and homework
The paradigm would shift from
the teacher-centered "teaching" paradigm to
learner-centered "learning" paradigm
From top-down learning from past success and of the predetermined knowledge
to the learning where learners dialogue
share knowledge
exchange emotions and share individual hopes and desires
build collective wisdom from the bottom up
for the creation of future
that kind of "flip"
Furthermore, the life will change from
setting a goal in the future and and calculating backwards
to the life that co-creats future
by sharing what is felt by me and others around me
Thus, flipping the flow of time
It is also a shift from maintaining the order by restricting individual freedom
to fostering self-organization by liberating freedom
It is also a shift from the mechanistic paradigm to the organic paradigm
We are at a great turning point of the human history
where 2 paradigms co-exist
We are living in contradictions of the paradigms
From the mechanistic perspective this contradiction appears as a crisis
the order is breaking down
But from the organic perspective
it is the source of creation
This present historical turning point
can be seen as the end of an old era
or as the beginning of a new era
5 years ago, as a teacher of physics at a college prep school
I published video footage of my classes online
I anticipated what was working before would no longer work before long
my job would be elimiated
I was experiencing great anxiety
But now, I am excited that I stand at the beginning of new era
I am involved in flip education
with a hope to create future with colleagues from around the world
Through which perspective do we see the world?
We have a choice
I invite you to "flip" with us
Thank you very much!