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The Lighthouse Program
The Lighthouse Approach
What is the Lighthouse Approach?
The foundation of the Lighthouse Program is grounded in the skills necessary for success: Inquiry, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Collaboration, Competition. This skills set is the, "...ticket to economic upward mobility in the new economy,” says Ken Kay, the president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a Tucson, Ariz.-based coalition of business and education groups that advocates infusing such skills into education. In an increasingly global, technological economy, it is not enough to be academically strong. Young people must also be able to work comfortably with people from other cultures, solve problems creatively, write and speak well, think in a multidisciplinary way, and evaluate information critically. And they need to be punctual, dependable, and industrious. The Lighthouse Program provides opportunities for that type of experience. The Inquiry process is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully selected and designed problems in the initial stage that demand from the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills.
The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career. Later inquiry experiences respond to individual student curiosity.
Why Inquiry?
Student engagement is the essential focus of the Inquiry Process. A growing body of research points to the essential role that student engagement plays in the learning process. Engaged students experience greater satisfaction with the school experience. They are more likely to approach learning tasks eagerly and to persist when confronted with difficulty. Inquiry skills prepare them for their future.
Inquiry when appropriately integrated into the Lighthouse Program will engage the students and provide the necessary conditions to motivate student in pursuit of understanding.
Role Changes
In facilitating the inquiry process, the traditional teacher and student roles change. The students assume increasing responsibility for their learning, giving them more motivation and an increased sense of accomplishment, setting the pattern for them to become successful life-long learners. The faculty in turn becomes resources, tutors, and evaluators, guiding the students in their problem solving efforts.
Social studies, sciences, language, mathematics and the arts would all be brought to bear in the solution of this problem. The quest for understanding is framed by the lenses of the experts of different disciplines. Specific skills of the researcher will be refined in the process. Critical thinking, Creative thinking, collaboration and competition, along with data collection and organization, literature investigations are critical aspects of the learning.
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