"Around the globe, we have done a good job of educating children of privilege. Now we must begin the harder work of equipping poor and vulnerable children with the skills they need to succeed. As you know, worldwide, approximately 77 million children do not attend school. More than 771 million adults cannot read. Two-thirds of these adults are women, and 85 percent live in just 35 countries."
ARTICLE: Secretary Spellings's Remarks at UNESCO General Conference Plenary Debate in Paris, France
Universal primary education by 2015 is a UN Millennium Development Goal. In this article Secretary Spelling argues for constructing systems built on the principles of measurement and accountability. I sure hope that there will be considerable attention being given to providing instructional resources, tending to local educational needs and processes, and utilizing models of diagnostic, low-stakes assessment -- rather than simply layering on high-stakes testing and educator accountability. more»
ARTICLE: Experimental School Gets Rid of Classes, Teachers
Imagine a school where students select their own learning projects rather than having scheduled classes, where adults serve as guides and critics rather than teachers, where technology is employed as a learning infrastructure, where loners feel comfortable and collaboration is promoted, and where test performances are perfectly fine... more»
PRESS RELEASE: Universities get $7 million for history-education clearinghouse
Stanford University's School of Education and George Mason University have been awarded $7 million by the U.S. Department of Education to establish a virtual "Federal Clearinghouse for History Education" to help teachers become more effective educators and teach K-12 students why history is relevant to their daily lives... more»
ONLINE DEBATE: The Economist Oxford-Style Debate on Effectiveness of Technology in Education
Proposition: The continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of most education. debate»
Over the last several decades, large investments have been made to equip primary and secondary schools with computers and teacher training. Now it is time to examine whether there has been a sufficient return on this investment. Does technology really offer substantive advantages to students? Does technology accelerate or impede real progress in education? Similarly, does technology serve as a teaching crutch or does it offer the ability to promote sustainable change in the world?s classrooms? And if so, is the technology deployed today being used to best possible advantage? What conditions need to exist in schools for technology to have an impact?
IMAGE OF SCIENCE: Astrophysicist Replaces Supercomputer with Eight PlayStation 3s
Here in the US, we have collectively decided long ago to present the disciplinary work of science as a universalistic methodological apparatus -- packaged in such images as the scientific method, fair tests, experiments. Given that there is no disciplinary unity in method, the gap between the contemporary practice of science and science education continues to expand. This is especially true as we ratchet down to increasingly narrow educational outcomes -- still hopelessly focused on content. Here's a nice image of what the 'practical work' of contemporary science looks like -- it is one of persistent tinkering, customization, finagling of resources, and innovation... more»
VIDEO: A vision of students today [about the world and education]
Here's a short video made by some college students summarizing how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams & what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime... more»
RESOURCE: Educator orientation island unveiled in Second Life
A new destination in Second Life designed to help quickly orient teachers to the immersive enterprise... more» more» more»
BOOK: The Gestural Origin of Language
The authors of this volume demonstrate that modern language is derived from practical actions and gestures that were increasingly recognized as having the potential to represent, and hence to communicate. In other words, the fundamental ability that allows us to use language is our ability to use pictures or icons, rather than linguistic symbols... more»
STUDY: Young toddlers think in terms of the whole object, not just parts
"This new research shows that as young toddlers learn language, they are more likely to focus on objects rather than parts..." more»
HANDBOOK: The New Handbook of Science and Technology Studies
Science and Technology Studies is a flourishing interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their cultural, historical, and social contexts. The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the field, reviewing current research and major theoretical and methodological approaches and analyzing emergent issues in a form that is accessible to new and established scholars from a range of disciplines. more» more» table of contents»
ARTICLE: Failing Schools Strain to Meet U.S. Standard
"More than 1,000 of California’s 9,500 schools are branded chronic failures, and the numbers are growing. Barring revisions in the law, state officials predict that all 6,063 public schools serving poor students will be declared in need of restructuring by 2014, when the law requires universal proficiency in math and reading.
“What are we supposed to do?” Ms. Paramo asked. “Shut down every school?” more»
“What are we supposed to do?” Ms. Paramo asked. “Shut down every school?” more»
REPORT: National Action Plan for STEM Education
The United States possesses the most innovative, technologically capable economy in the world, and yet its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education system is failing to ensure that all American students receive the skills and knowledge required for success in the 21st century workforce... more»
ARTICLE: Snooze or Lose
Overstimulated, overscheduled kids are getting at least an hour’s less sleep than they need, a deficiency that, new research reveals, has the power to set their cognitive abilities back years... more»
QUOTE: Goethe on How We See and Learn to See
"We don’t know what we see; we see what we know."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
STUDY: Ten Myths of Scientific Collaboration
From this book, here are 10 myths of scientific collaboration...
Big Myths...
Other Myths...
Big Myths...
- ICTs improve collaboration
- Larger collaborations are more rigid & hierarchical (No -- on matters pertaining to the generation of scientific research, they are not. Size is less significant than we suspected.)
- Outcomes of a collaboration determine success.
- Collaborations are based on Trust. (Trust has no influence on outcomes.)
Other Myths...
- Co-authorship tells us important things about collaboration
- We can learn from high energy physics. (Not typical - Physics is only typical of high-energy physics. Not a model.)
- Collaboration is a necessity
- Collaborations are formed by people who know each other.
- Collaborations benefit everyone (e.g., Matthew effect).
- Benefits of collaboration are greater than the costs. (Believe it -- but it isn’t true.)
BOOK: Structures of Scientific Collaboration
"Collaboration among organizations is rapidly becoming common in scientific research as globalization and new communication technologies make it possible for researchers from different locations and institutions to work together on common projects. These scientific and technological collaborations are part of a general trend toward more fluid, flexible, and temporary organizational arrangements, but they have received very limited scholarly attention..." more»
The authors find that collaborative research depends on both technology and bureaucracy; scientists claim to abhor bureaucracy, but most collaborations use it constructively to achieve their goals. The book analyzes the structural elements of collaboration (among them formation, size and duration, organization, technological practices, and participant experiences) and the relationships among them. The authors find that trust, though viewed as positive, is not necessarily associated with successful projects; indeed, the formal structures of bureaucracy reduce the need for high levels of trust--and make possible the independence so valued by participating scientists.
SPECIAL ISSUE: Social Cognition in SCIENCE
Social cognition is a very active field these days. SCIENCE magazine recently did a series of articles on recent developments... more»
OPINION: Cave Man Didn’t Have Classrooms
In the beginning, there was action -- and learning was accomplished through sustained apprenticeships and deliberative practice. And now, of course, there is still action -- but we put a lot of energy into thinking it isn't the central thing... more»
The cave man’s mind was never prepared for, or concerned with, knowing. There was no test. There were no game shows. There was no Nobel Prize. There was action. The winner was the person who brought down the elk or buffalo. He didn’t have to know how to do it, at least not consciously. He had to be able to do it. What knowledge he had was unconscious. He may not have been able to say what he knew that helped him throw a rock straight. He could just do it. He practiced a lot.
RESOURCE: NCTM Illuminations - Standards-based resources that improve the teaching and learning of math
From the national organization that oversees math ed...here are activities, lessons, clarifications about standards, and links to resources involved in the teaching and learning of math... more»
ARTICLE: 2007 Visualization Challenge Winners
Scientific visualization is a powerful representational practice that can clarify complex concepts, reveal patterns in data, or provoke a deep aesthetic reaction. SCIENCE magazine held a contest to identify the best visualizations in science for 2007... more»
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