Just in Time Education

Back in the last century, when the United States was worried about competing with Japan, and I was in industry where inventory mattered, I read several trade publications about a whole philosophy called ‘Just in time inventory.’  It was meant to reduce overhead costs associated with keeping lots of inventory on hand, thereby increasing the profit margin.  The other thing it was supposed to do was to make businesses more flexible and more able to respond quickly to the needs of their customers. 

This latter aspect of it makes a lot of sense to me as an educator.

If our ‘customers’ are our students, then what is the point of trying to give them a product (knowledge) before they are ready for it? 

Granted, many of us are constrained by standardized tests, district expectations of our scope and sequence, or other conditions that may reduce our flexibility. However, within those boundaries, I think it is absolutely possible to deliver knowledge to students when they need it and when they are ready for it. 

This goes along with what my district is moving to as a learner centered platform as well as working in with what I am trying to accomplish with PBL.

When I was doing a unit on chemical reactions with my on-level classes, they had a list of skills they needed to master in the form of ‘I can’ statements.  They are allowed to do these statements in any order that they choose.  One of them was in regard to the Law of Conservation of Mass and balancing chemical equations, which is a difficult skill for lots of people, not just middle school students.

What they did with it was research the concept a bit, and when they thought they understood it, they came to me to show what they knew.  So I would stand at the board, with two or three students, give them problems related to balancing equations, and they would talk each other through it.  I asked them question to clarify their knowledge or if they were stuck, I would give them pointers about what to do next.  In some cases, they really didn’t get it, so I sent them back to look at it again, with either manipulatives to help them or suggestions for things to do.

This gave me an incredible opportunity to talk to them in very small groups and to individualize their instruction.  Also, they came to the session with a bit of background information about the concept, which is something that wouldn’t be possible if all of them were getting the same instruction at the same time.

In another case, we were wrapping up a unit with one of my IPC classes and the discussion turned to what the next unit would be.  I told them what I had planned, but they disagreed, saying that a different unit should be next. 

First, I was amazed that they were that invested in the curriculum that they had an opinion on the sequence of units.  And then, I thought that level of engagement should be rewarded.

I rearranged the units I had planned, went back to my TEKS, and designed ways to apply some rigorous TEKS to what the students wanted to do next.  I have to get all the TEKS covered before the end of the year; it doesn’t matter to me in which order we do them.  Additionally, I was able to work in some TEKS from the lower grade levels to give them a review of some of the concepts that they will see on the STAAR exam.

I’ve talked about the structure for this year long project  before.  My IPC classes are doing units that are part of an overall narrative and I don’t want to take them out of that story by doing things in ways that don’t seem logical to them.  In this case, I’ve rearranged my curriculum to give them what they have told me directly that they need.

A few caveats – this is an advanced class where the students already have the foundational knowledge of physics and chemistry that they can apply to other areas of science.  Also, while they still have to take the STAAR test, they are not facing an End-Of-Course exam for this class.  I believe that other physical/Earth science disciplines build on physics and chemistry, and to get into those disciplines without the proper foundation is a mistake.

With Just In Time Education, I can adapt to the needs of my students, keep them in engaged in what we are doing, and give them ownership in their learning.