Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education

I am reposting this from Matt Nyman's blog here

Please watch this talk here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

Here are some of my thoughts:  first, I found it a bit disturbing.  Is he saying that we can effectively eliminate teachers and students will learn on their own?  That what seems to be happening in some of the poor slums of New Delhi?  That kind of bodes poorly for us as educators!

Or can we look at it another way - given the correct guidance, mixture of direct and discovery instruction and access to technology students (even young ones who don't speak the language!) can learn (and remember) high-level content.  But can they learn the other non-cognitive skills that are required for learning - determination, stubbornness, grit - in this environment?

I liked the idea of "the granny cloud" - this brings in community involvement in the learning process, which I think is an important missing component in our educational models.  What do you think?

Another response I had was more positive.  In some ways I am trying to promote this methodology in our class.  Provide tasks, time, community and resources to investigate science content without a lot of direct instruction.  This is hard, right?  Is it effective? It certainly can be stressful at times.

Like many things - I believe that the true road lies somewhere in the middle.  I liked two quotes from the blog by Arthur C. Clarke:

A teacher that can be replaced by a machine – should be.

If children have interest, education happens.

Especially the second one resonates with me - kids want to learn and in some cases teachers need to step out of the way and let it happen.

So, to "score" for this SBG you need to post a thoughtful and detailed blog (2 would be even better).  I would like for this to be a conversation rather then a reporting.  But certainly do include some details from the video to support your statements.  This should be done by October 21st.

Thanks!  And Enjoy.

Matt

 

 

Angry Birds Physics

Over at dy/dan there is a blog post on the physics of Angry Birds. Please read this:
Physics of Angry Birds

1) Pick one of the lesson's Dan talks about. Post here about how you would implement one of the lessons in your classroom or in a teaching situation. 

2) Which lesson is most important to you and why?

Coaches for Teaching

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande

Physics Project Photos

September 28, 2011

NatSci261-1 9/28/11

Free Fall Video

Please watch this video for Monday. This should help clear up some common misconceptions!

Questions:
1) What questions do you have about the acceleration due to gravity works (in this case free fall)?
2) How would these objects fall on mars? What about in space with no other bodies nearby?
3) A lot of the people questioned in the video have taken a year of physics. Why do you think their misconceptions persist?

Physics Projects

So you will need to see the Physics - SBG located here:
Physics SBG

For your proposal you will need:


1) Aims - Concrete things you are doing that are tangible.
2) Reason why? Why is this of interest?
3) Research Plan - How are going to carry this out and address the Physics SBG
4) What do you expect to happen

Data Visualization

1. What did you think of the video?  What was striking?  Interesting? Eye-opening?  What type of impact did this video have on you?

2. How did this video affect you as a learner?  How did this video affect you as a teacher?

3. We are trying to re-hone our view of science towards story-telling, a concept aimed at “softening” and making the process of science more accessible.  How does story-telling hook into “The Beauty of Data Visualization”?  Can you give some specific examples of how his use of visualization enhances story-telling using data?

4. This is a bit of a jump – can you see connections between his work and our very simple investigations on burning candles?  Think about how you presented your information and some of the presentations that other people made.

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

Please write a response to this and post it here on my blog before Monday the 5th.

Sir Ken Robinson - TED 2006

Hello all,
Here is something for your Sunday "reading". Hopefully this will help put things in perspective the our current project. Please watch this a write a response. Post that here on my blog. Thanks!

Science Brainstorm

Why we explore

So before you watch this post your answer to the following question here on my blog:
What is science?
Why do we explore the world (either through science, poetry, music, food etc..)?

 And watch this:




I just want you to ponder the video. Hopefully we come up some answers throughout the semester!

Welcome

This will be the main blog page for a Natural Science class at UNM. We will being learning science by doing, learning about teaching by teaching and using Standards Based Grading as our assessment tools.