Education and fitness: more in common than you might think?
Education is about helping people change.
There are many methods and pedagogical approaches educational institutions can use to help students get from A to B.
However, in my view, all those pathways consolidate around two main avenues.
The basis of domain-based education is an academic domain or subject, for example mechanical engineering, microeconomics, or sociology. A unit of education, such as a university course, is organised around the subject and is usually named after it, e.g., Management Accounting. I think it is fair to say domain-based education dominates most educational systems and schools around the world.
The basis of enquiry-based learning, on the other hand, is typically a question, project, problem, or challenge. For example, an educational unit may consist of a challenge to prevent an urban area from flooding.
To fully appreciate the difference between these two pedagogical paradigms, I find it useful to compare them with two schools of thought in the fitness industry: bodybuilding and functional fitness.
The goal of bodybuilding is to sculpt your body into a beautiful shape. Bodybuilding training is designed to focus on isolated muscle groups, such as the biceps or triceps, because that gives an individual control over which muscles they wish to grow and by how much. Bodybuilding exercises make use of specialised equipment, such as barbells and machines, and are supposed to be performed in a very specific and somewhat artificial manner.
Functional fitness, on the other hand, places its emphasis on making muscles work together, rather than on maximising the strength or volume of individual muscle groups. Functional exercises are closer to those people might perform in their everyday lives, and may include squatting, sprinting, lifting, pushing or twisting, with or without an additional load.
Domain-based education is a bit like bodybuilding. It emphasises the mastery of individual domains (growing individual muscle groups), and focuses less on integrating knowledge from various disciplines. Its learning activities (exercises) are very specific and sometimes seemingly disconnected from the ‘real world’.
Enquiry-based education presents students with questions, problems, and challenges that require an interdisciplinary solution, which inherently makes learners integrate knowledge and skills from various disciplines (different muscles working in unison). The learning activities in school mimic the real world, which helps students to apply what they’ve learnt more easily outside the classroom.
Deciding whether your workout will be of the bodybuilding or functional kind is a matter of preference. Both will do you some good. Similarly, I think it is a matter of preference when an educational institution decides between providing domain-based or enquiry-based education. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but most students will learn either way.
Image credits:
Click on GIF to see source
Bodybuilder in cover photo: Photo by www.localfitness.com.au
Man with skipping rope in cover photo: Brandon Fitness Model https://www.jumpropedudes.com/blog/male-fitness-model
