Cavemen didn't have classrooms

Check out this story on cavemen not having classrooms and the 'logical' conclusions about modern education one might draw from such an observation.

While, from an academic standpoint, holes could be poked in this argument, it is generally one line of reasoning that leads to a pretty solid conclusion in favor of museums as good learning environments (see The nature of learning and its implications for research on learning from museums for published material on, essentially, the same topic).

What I find really valuable in such arguments is the foregrounding of action. Such a focus draws our attention away from knowledge 'production', and starts to refocus it on activity as the primary piece to learning. This is, by no means, a new observation, but it is one that we need to keep repeating, because it does not seem to have sunk into the public consciousness about learning (i.e. - No Child Left Behind is essentially a massive program designed to emphasize 'knowledge production,' at the expense of robust action in schools. It even goes so far as to completely ignore the 'how' part in favor of a sharper focus on the knowledge-as-outcome part). Perhaps a better way to think about it might be to frame "knowledge" (or better yet, knowing) as a healthy side-effect to participation in action.

caveman drawing from www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/.../caveman1.jpg/view