Common Sense in Education: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle?

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, there is a fundamental ingredient often overlooked: common sense. Defined as the ability to make sound, practical judgments based on everyday experiences, it plays a pivotal role in shaping an individual’s decision-making abilities and problem-solving skills. Despite its significance, the incorporation of common sense into formal education curricula is surprisingly absent from the discourse.

Defining Common Sense

Common sense is a term often tossed around in conversations, but what does it truly mean? At its core, it involves the application of practical knowledge and reasoning to navigate everyday situations. It encompasses the ability to analyze, evaluate, and draw logical conclusions from the information at hand, without the need for specialized training or expertise.

Common sense is not merely a collection of facts or theoretical knowledge; rather, it is a dynamic skill that enables individuals to navigate the complexities of life with practicality and efficiency. It involves a combination of critical thinking, intuition, and a keen awareness of the surrounding environment, empowering individuals to make informed decisions, solve problems, and adapt to diverse situations.

The Overlooked Element

Amidst the pursuit of academic excellence, the focus has often been on specialized knowledge and technical skills. However, the absence of discussions around common sense is a glaring oversight. As societies become increasingly complex, the need for individuals who can navigate ambiguity and uncertainty becomes more pronounced. Ignoring the cultivation of common sense in education can result in graduates who excel in theoretical knowledge but struggle when faced with real-world challenges.

Anecdotes from various fields highlight the value of common sense. Stories of successful entrepreneurs, effective leaders, and problem-solving individuals often emphasize the role of practical judgment in their achievements, underscoring its real-world applicability and impact on personal and professional success.

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The Illusion of Common Sense in Educational Theory

One common sentiment suggests that many current educational theories and practices are simply common sense dressed in new terminology. Retrieval practice, Rosenshine’s Principles, Teach Like a Champion, Cognitive Load Theory, and Whole-class Feedback often face this critique. The argument is that if educational theory were truly common sense, it would be intuitively obvious and shared by nearly all people, particularly experienced teachers.

However, classroom observations reveal a vast variety in teaching practices. While some feedback may seem based on common sense, such as Rosenshine’s principle of presenting new material in small steps with student practice after each step, it's striking how often this guidance is not followed. Teachers frequently present complex ideas all at once or expect students to replicate processes after only one demonstration. Similarly, despite the common-sense appeal of asking a large number of questions and checking all students’ responses, many teachers still rely on questioning techniques that only engage a select few.

The Role of Terminology and Codification

Critics also argue that educational theories often reinvent the wheel, giving new names to existing practices to make them sound innovative. While it's true that all terminology is invented, codifying teaching techniques and having a shared language can be powerful. For example, using the term "cold-calling" is more efficient than describing the process of selecting students to answer without taking hands-up.

Teach Like A Champion (TLAC) by Doug Lemov exemplifies this by specifying precisely what each technique looks like in granular detail, reducing ambiguity and fostering a common understanding. This shared language allows for more effective discussions and professional development.

Beyond Oversimplification: Nuance and Subtlety

Another common misconception is that current educational practices are simply "what we’ve always done." This sentiment is often an insulting oversimplification that overlooks the nuance and subtlety involved. While there may be common elements, the execution and understanding of these practices can differ significantly.

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For example, a simple technique like "think-pair-share" can be implemented ineffectively if not done with intention and understanding of its underlying principles. The watered-down versions of good ideas often lack the potency of the original concept.

The Importance of Continuous Learning and First Principles

The idea that experienced teachers don't need to learn about educational theory is a narrow view. Research suggests that teachers often plateau after a few years, highlighting the need for continuous professional development. Examining teaching strategies through the lens of first principles can illuminate the "active ingredients" that make a difference.

For instance, the concept of learning styles, once considered common sense, has been debunked. Taking teaching strategies back to first principles helps shine a light on the 'active ingredients' - the bits that are actually making the difference. As a teacher starting out in 2005, the idea of learning styles seemed like common sense - every learner has their own preferences for learning and so we should match instruction to them to facilitate learning. Of course it turned out to be utter rubbish.

Counterintuitive Practices and the Value of Theory

Effective teaching often involves practices that feel counterintuitive. Why should a teacher script explanations when they know their subject well? Why resist designing "fun" activities? Educational theory provides a framework for understanding why certain practices are more effective, even if they don't align with initial intuitions.

The careful application of pedagogical principles derived from educational theory and research, filtered through experience and tailored to the teaching context, is crucial. This approach requires continuous learning and a willingness to challenge one's own assumptions.

Integrating Common Sense into the Curriculum

To bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, it is imperative to integrate common sense into the curriculum. This can be achieved through the incorporation of experiential learning, case studies, and activities that require students to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios. Collaborative projects, critical thinking exercises, and problem-solving tasks can help nurture the development of common sense.

The integration of common sense should be a gradual and continuous process throughout the education journey. Starting from the early stages of primary education, where foundational skills are laid, to higher education institutions, common sense should be woven into the fabric of learning. As students progress through different levels, the complexity of scenarios can be adjusted to align with their cognitive development, ensuring a seamless transition towards independent and practical decision-making.

Measuring Common Sense

Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor Duncan Watts and Mark Whiting of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Wharton School have developed a unique framework to quantify the concept of common sense. “Common sense is something that we all believe we possess, but rarely, if ever, are we forced to articulate which of our beliefs we consider ‘commonsensical’ or who else we think shares them,” Watts says. “Essentially, we sought to measure not just whether people agree on a claim but also their awareness of said shared agreement,” Whiting, first author of the paper, says. The second aspect was collective common sense, a concept focusing on shared beliefs across different groups. “Here, ‘p’ represents a fraction of the population and ‘q’ a fraction of claims,” Whiting says. This is like examining a large group of people and figuring out what percentage of these people agree on a certain percentage of claims, Whiting says.

To test this framework, the researchers then collected a vast array of 4,407 claims - ranging from philosophical statements to practical truths - and had 2,046 people rate these claims in terms of how commonsensical they found them. Examples of categories of claims corresponded to the top level of Wikipedia’s ontology and included general references: geography and places, mathematics and logic, culture and arts, and philosophy and thinking. “Interestingly, demographic factors like age, education, or political leaning did not significantly influence a person’s level of common sense,” Whiting says. Their study also highlights the individual uniqueness of common-sense beliefs, showing that agreement on common sense diminishes significantly in larger groups. The researchers note that, given their interest in common sense as a societal concept, expanding their research to a global scale would be a logical next step. This would involve studying common sense across different cultures and societies to understand how it varies and what universal aspects might exist. “When we think something is common sense, we often feel very strongly about it, but, as we see in this study, we very often disagree with each other about what it says,” Watts says. “So, whether our goal is to better resolve disagreements about matters of common sense or to teach common sense to computers, we had better first have a clearer picture of what it is and isn’t.

Common Core and Common Sense

The emphasis on "Common Core-aligned" education raises questions about whether a simpler, more sensible approach might be more effective. Common sense suggests that adhering to dozens of tedious standards is not necessarily the best way to educate children. Instead, a common sense-aligned education would embrace a handful of fundamental truths about learning and human nature.

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