Revisiting Chess

This is really interesting:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-03-chess-2-the-sequel-how-a-street-fightin-man-fixed-the-worlds-most-famous-game

As I was reading it, I was imagining this as a STEM project. Learning to build something while actually building it.

The Power of One Teacher's Vision

Another great conversation starter from MindShift.

This article and associated video (embedded below) demonstrate the work of one teacher.
For me, what he is doing is impressive. I worry, though, that, as so often happens, his work will become a model.

While that would be fine, what I am more interested in is who he is and where he was standing to develop his classroom. I think his particular vision is more important than whatever the implementation might be.

Measuring Learning

This article is really interesting, and completely  matches my experiences in teaching middle school students.

Also, check out Negroponte's ideas about evaluating learning.

Article

A Different Kind of Distance Learning (and Teaching)

I recently saw this piece in Ode Magazine that talked about people from Guatemala providing online language instruction via the internet.

Twice a week, Margo Griffin, who lives in Denver, Colorado, has a one-on-one Spanish lesson with her teacher, Mayra Juárez, who lives miles and miles away, in Antigua, Guatemala. Both attend from the comfort of their homes via the Internet, a webcam and an innovative socially responsible business called Speak Shop.

You are Here?

 

An article in today's New York Times talks about the extensive use of maps as tools in various cell phone/SmartPhone applications:

It has been 25 years since the desktop, with its files and folders, was introduced as a way to think about what went on inside a personal computer. The World Wide Web brought other ways of imagining the flow of data. With the dominance of the cellphone, a new metaphor is emerging for how we organize, find and use information. New in one sense, that is. It is also as ancient as humanity itself. That metaphor is the map.

 The piece goes on to connect maps with neuroscientists who believe that this type of representation of the world matches our internal brain functioning.

While interesting, I found the article a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a deeper analysis of how mobile computing has shifted how we handle information.

Two Million Minutes

Here is the trailer for a film called "Two Million Minutes."

From the makers:

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the eighth grade -- they have just Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately a career.

This important documentary examines how students in India and China are being better prepared than American students to compete in a flattening world.

How does learning work?

This morning my 3 1/2 year old looked at this picture, the cover from the latest issue of Wired.

Then, he said, "Look, there's some juice in the snow."

It reminded me that we learn new concepts by piggbacking them on what we already know. Then, as we go on, we fix any misconceptions (or they are fixed for us) -- hopefully.

Amazing use of tools to visualize statistics

Happy New Year!

Here is a video from TED which shows global health expert Hans Rosling looking at trends in the developed and developing worlds.

What he says is cool, for sure.

How he says it, using some amazing tools to visualize the statistics is really impressive.

What if we did this in our classrooms?
What if we taught our students to do this in (and out of our classrooms)?

Breaking the Model

I have been interested in investigating the places where learning happens (and this usually involves technology in some way) that goes beyond our traditional model of education (teachers in classrooms, homework, etc.).

Here's some things to report --

Will Richardson posted this piece on his blog about ways that he and his wife are trying to extend their children's education:

Every Tuesday afternoon for about an hour, my wife’s office turns into a classroom where my kids are making wikis, learning about searching, and creating stories around whatever their interest is. And they’re being shown some ways in which technology can be used to connect, as in the picture above. (Click on it to see a more viewable size.) A couple of weeks ago, Steve Hargadon made a guest appearance using Skype to help them identify what they might want to work on in terms of projects. And there are plans to invite other people in to speak to them and help guide their work. (Let me know if you want to volunteer!) Real people, real work, real audiences.

Then, in response or inspiration, Neil Winton shares about his son's experience teaching and learning the computer programming language Scratch:

If ever you wanted proof that we can find learning everywhere and from everyone, tonight was it. The earth was flattening before my eyes as Andrew talked a group of kids in America through an introduction to programming. I need to think more fully about the implications of what I was watching, and I think I need someone like Will himself to give these thoughts some shape and direction. The implications of being able to find what you want to know from someone who is willing to share… even if they are not present… turns our traditional model of education on its head… and even more so when you realise that the person with the knowledge you require might be the person you thought you ought to be teaching!

What happens when more and more of us "play" with these kinds of ideas?

A Powerful Video

Thanks to a fellow teacher, I was able to watch (and be moved by) this video. It is called "Education 2.0." Here is what the author says:

Education used to be about transfer of information from teacher to student. Now there is too much information available in the world. Much of this information is being used by people trying to sell us something: an idea, a product, a political agenda, a way of seeing our entire country.

New Hampton School's Junior Urban Adventure attempts to turn around this notion of one-way education in the same way that Web 2.0 is changing the way we think about the web. Students will learn to ask questions, make meaning from the glut of information available to them and engage, upload and maybe even start to solve some of the world's problems.