A Conversation with Ken Robinson’s Daughter about Their New Book on Transforming Education — from betterhumans.pub by Eva Keiffenheim
Kate Robinson and Co-Author of Imagine if — Creating a Future for us All

Excerpt:

In writing the book, we highlighted ten “Manifesto Statements” that really summarize the key points the book is making.

The main themes of them are:

  • we are all born with immense creative capacities
  • our incredible powers of imagination are what separates us from the rest of life on Earth
  • Education systems are based on conformity
  • real life thrives on diversity
  • we are in the midst of two climate crises: the crisis of the Earth’s natural resources, and the crisis of our human resources
  • and no matter who you are, you are the system — if you change your behavior, you have changed the system, and when enough people commit to changing the system, we have a revolution that will change the world

According to Imagine if…, the future will be grim unless we take action to change the course where we’re heading. What actions need to be taken and what needs to be done and how? Where do we start?

The first and most important step is to embrace a richer conception of human intelligence. Like any ecosystem, our cultural ecosystems depend on a wide variety of talents, interests, and capabilities to thrive. Therefore, we must actively encourage each person to connect with and make the most of their own abilities and passions.

 

45 Next Generation Learning Tools That Kids Will Love — from ireviews.com with thanks to Alex Ward for this resource

Excerpts:

There’s a wide range of tools designed to support curriculum and help teachers and students achieve their goals. These are our top picks for school students of every age, due to their impressive functionality and simple integration into the classroom.

 


From DSC:
Below is a sample screenshot from the Elementary school resources section. They also have resources for middle schoolers and high schoolers.


45 Next Generation Learning Tools That Kids Will Love

 
 

If learning is easy, it's here today and gone tomorrow...like footprints in the sand on a beach

Excerpt:

While studying I misjudged the depth of my knowledge. I confused familiarity with knowing.

When you passively consume information like reading books or watching courses and things start to make sense we often tell ourselves: “Oh, easy. I understand this. Got it.”

But it’s wrong to think you can access something from your memory if you can recognize it.

 
 

Want Students Who Think for Themselves? Let’s Eliminate Our Standardized School System — from edsurge.com by Zachary Morita

Excerpt:

It is a wake-up call when a student feels defeated by an educational system that focuses on standardizing students who feel like they are “the problem.” We can’t expect students to understand the purpose of education on their own. They need educators, leaders and supporters to guide them to create the education system they deserve to succeed in life. I stand by what I share with all of my students: that we must reimagine and redesign our education system so that students are NOT the problem.

Instead, we must ensure that learners are intrinsically motivated through learning activities that are challenging, purposeful, relevant and empowering.

 

Students Co-authoring Their Own Learning — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Key Points

  • By inviting learners to co-author learning experiences, journeys and records, we help them build the most important skills and dispositions they’ll need to succeed in a changing world.
  • Helping learners weave together learner-chosen and co-authored experiences into coherent pathways is the new learning design challenge.
 

Contrasting Cases: A Simple Strategy for Deep Understanding — from cultofpedagogy.com by Sarah Levine

Excerpt:

Contrasting cases is a valuable tool for any cognitive work—in any subject area—that involves going beyond surface traits and considering deeper connecting principles, or reflecting on specific features of a thing.

In my field of study, literary interpretation, using contrasting cases is especially useful to help students enrich their reading experiences and build interpretations of many kinds of texts, including fiction, poetry, or political speech. But you can use this approach in any subject where you’re studying rhetorically powerful texts, like advertisements, headlines, art, primary historical documents, and film.

 

Tinkerhunts — from engagetheirminds.com by Terri Eichholz

Excerpt:

For anyone new to 3d design, Tinkercad is the perfect entry level program. It’s free, web-based, and contains lots of tutorials. As a teacher, you can create classes and assign projects that you can oversee through a dashboard. I’ve used it with students from 2nd grade through 12th, so it’s quite a versatile tool.

That’s why I think these Tinkerhunts from HL Modtech (Mike Harmon, @HLTinkercad) are pretty genius. In the first one, he gives kudos to his student, Kingston, who first gave him the idea for these three-dimensional virtual scavenger hunts.

Also see:

Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use web app that equips the next generation of designers and engineers with the foundational skills for innovation: 3D design, electronics, and coding!

 
 

One District’s Ongoing Hybrid Success — from by Erik Ofgang
Early in the pandemic, Kyle Berger, chief technology officer for Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, installed cameras in every classroom for hybrid learning. Those cameras continue to be used in innovative ways.

Excerpt:

In the meantime, the cameras continue to be utilized in a variety of ways, including:

  • For students who are out of school with COVID or for other medical reasons to keep participating in class.
  • To allow a teacher to quickly record an explanation or lesson so students can access it later. “The way they’re mounted on the ceiling, the teachers started taking that to a different level because you could reach up to the webcam if you wanted to and you could turn it to point down, and now in a sense, it’s a document camera,” Berger says.
  • To help with the substitute teacher shortage. “We can bridge two classrooms together through our video solutions, and maybe just have an instructional aide in the second classroom,” Berger says.
  • To allow educators to engage in professional development by watching videos of their own lectures and lessons.

“It’s really allowed us a lot more flexibility to continue to navigate the ever-changing environment and education right now,” Berger says.

From DSC:
I’d probably use the word hyflex here instead of the word hybrid…but you get the point. I would also assert that for the following relevant article as well:

 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Questions that provoke critical thinking: <a href=”https://t.co/AgSkJbOXO7″>https://t.co/AgSkJbOXO7</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/instructionaldesign?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#instructionaldesign</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/instructionaldesigners?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#instructionaldesigners</a></p>&mdash; Instructional Design Lady (@instructlady) <a href=”https://twitter.com/instructlady/status/1504664266661679104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

Google Invites Classroom Users to Join Beta for ‘Practice Sets,’ with Auto-Grading, Instant Student Feedback, and More — from thejournal.com by Kristal Kuykendall

Excerpt:

“With Practice Sets, educators can easily transform their own teaching content into interactive assignments and use the auto-grading tool to cut down on manual grading time,” Kiecza said in his blog post. “Practice Sets also helps teachers figure out which concepts need more instruction time and who could use extra support, giving them quick performance insights to shape future lesson plans.

In an accompanying blog post explaining the Practice Sets features, Google for Education Senior Director Shantanu Sinha said the adaptive learning technology at the root of Practice Sets uses more advanced artificial intelligence than anything seen before in ed tech.

 

Nurturing Non-STEM Gifted Kids and Meeting Their Needs — from raisinglifelonglearners.com by Colleen Kessler

Excerpt:

But what about that kid who doesn’t want a new chemistry set or microscope for Christmas? What about the gifted kid who doesn’t really get your science puns? What about the brilliant child who isn’t into STEM at all?

They’re rare, but they’re out there. Artists, chefs, readers, writers, dancers, musicians, linguists, all of the above. Kids who like space just fine, but like nature even more. Gifted kids who can crush their math work but would rather crush pigments. Gifted kids who can learn to code, but whose heart swells when guitar strings strum. Brilliant babes who appreciate the arts, the stories, or are just filled with curiosity that isn’t subject-specific. You see, intelligence isn’t a stereotype. An IQ score isn’t like a horoscope. Scoring a few standard deviations above the norm doesn’t dictate your personality, your likes, dislikes, talents, passions, or hobbies. It means your brain processes information differently than the majority of the population. That’s really it. Intelligence and brilliance are as likely to be found on a stage as they are in a lab. For every Einstein there is a Beethoven, for every Musk there’s a Spielberg.

What Can You Recommend For Students Who Finish Their Work Early? — from teachthought.com

Excerpt:

How to respond when students finish their work early is a classic teacher challenge.

Most of it boils down to lesson design–creating learning opportunities where students are naturally funneled toward extending, improving, and sharing their work so that ‘stopping points’ are more of a matter of scheduling than learning itself.

Motivating your child with ADHD: 7 tips for your homeschool — from raisinglifelonglearners.com by Colleen Kessler

Excerpt:

This series is all about homeschooling a child with ADHD. Today, we are discussing 7 of our best tips for motivating a child with ADHD.

Preparing Kids With Real-World Skills via Ed-Tech — from emergingedtech.com by Kelly Walsh

Excerpt:

Educational technologies enable children to learn things on a whole new level, broadening their minds and their capabilities. The practical applications alone make ed-tech a highly valuable tool in the classroom setting, but these technologies also can enhance kids’ skills as well as their emotional and cultural awareness and intelligence, which can better prepare them for real-world situations and scenarios.

Edumilestones Has Launched Career Lab™ For Progressive Schools — from edtechreview.in

Excerpt:

Edumilestones, a pioneer in career guidance platform has now launched a next-generation Career Lab™ for schools. Based on 11 years of experience in career counselling industry, this technology is set to help students to identify and execute their career goals with clarity and confidence.

 

Math worksheets for the learning process — from intelligenthq.com

Excerpt:

If you want to master the subject of mathematics, constant practice of various topics is a must. To ensure that you have the proper grasp of all the topics of the subject, solving worksheets for math is one of the best techniques. Worksheets for math facilitate the stepwise mechanism which enhances the learning process and helps students identify their mistakes. Once they can recognize what their mistakes are, they can work on improving them. Worksheets for math also have visual problems that help in the visualization process of students and make their analyzing and strategic capability high. Take worksheets for math from Cuemath and excel in math.

Also see:

Master Math with Cuemath's live, online-based classes


Also relevant/see:

In New Math Proofs, Artificial Intelligence Plays to Win — from quantamagazine.org; with thanks to Alec Lazarescu on Twitter for this resource
A new computer program fashioned after artificial intelligence systems like AlphaGo has solved several open problems in combinatorics and graph theory.

 
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