Learning, Innovation & Tech
February 2012
The 3 Myths about Competition: How it affects student motivation
"When 85% of school is built around competition . . " Read more
Learning Math: The Symbol Barrier
Street Math, School Math, and Video Games Read more
Is Learning a Sport?
Students should not go to school to win - students should go to school to learn. Read more
Do students and teachers get feedback or measurement?
"And haven't we yet learned that any measure or reward only works as an incentive in the short term, if at all?" Feedback is self-generated. An individual or system notices whatever they determine is important for them. They ignore everything else. Read more
Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions
Now, here were college grads looking for jobs, and not recognizing that showing curiosity and asking engaging questions could show MORE about WHO they were than reciting some resume paragraph to interviewers in a random interview. -C.J. Westerberg Read more
Is Math Art? Dream or Nightmare?
"A Mathematician's Lament"Every parent & educator should check out this book excerpt Read more
New Literacies? Why?
"Relevancy is not an option." Read more
Are Teacher Education Programs Irrelevant?
"The most innovative teachers are drawing on experiences and skill sets they developed outside of education." Read more
What Makes Kids Creative? A Box or a Spaceship?
Just tell me what to do. I want to be right. Read more
BIG SHOES: The "de facto national model of the digital school"
the genuine heartfelt desire of young people to be in the company of adults who are doing adult work, and the way our institutions and adult lives are structured more and more to keep us at a distance. - Diane Meier, "In Schools We Trust" Read more
The Dark Side of Our Achievement Culture
New "Race To Nowhere" Trailer Video Read more
"It's Disengagement, Stupid"
The 10 Essential Rules for Engagement Read more
Is This The Best High School in America?
WATCH: How These Six Minutes May Change Your Idea of Innovative Education (dramatically). Phillips Exeter, Harvard Westlake & Lawrenceville may be taking notes from this charter school leading the next wave. Does your High School look anything like it? Read more
Noam Chomsky: The Purpose of Education
"Education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn on their own. . . " Read more
21st Century Skills: A "thorny problem" in the classroom
. . . .most high schools' science "experiments" are really "demonstrations," because they are "rigged" for the right answer, thereby disqualifying them as true experiments where outcomes are unknown. Read more
Three Young Women Wow Crowd at TEDx
" . . .making my own opportunities when I didn't even know what I was doing." Read more
"I can write a 20-page research paper and my roommate can't .."
It's an amazing skill. Also, they feel more comfortable talking. They report they are participating in class discussions and backing up what they say with evidence and that they feel very comfortable in their first year of college. It's amazing how often we hear from college profs and job recruiters how these skills - writing, communicating, researching and supporting an argument in-depth - are lacking, even from "A" students. A disconnect of assessment, one would think. Read moreMany of the Innovation Generation are deeply worried about the future of the planet, seek healthier lifestyles, and want to make a difference more than they want to make money. . . . . But they are swimming against the tides of tradition. A lot of parents still harbor hopes that their children will pursue prestigious careers and be economically better off than they are. . . . Too many teachers and employers still reward the 'old school' behaviors of deference to authority and striving for 'success,' conventionally defined - and count on carrots and sticks . . . . for motivation.Tony Wagner, Harvard-educated author, Educator, Collaborator, Creating Innovators, The Finland Phenomenon with Bob Compton, The Global Achievement Gap
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