Most people make relatively few personal experiments, in both small and big things. The cost of passivity is enormous.
Source: Why Trying New Things Is So Hard to Do
The opening story on pop struck home for me. For the longest time I would never get a pop from the gas station’s self-serve fountain machine because I just didn’t think I’d like it. But now, I almost exclusively get a fountain drink. It tastes good and is a lot cheaper.
Much of the public enthusiasm for STEM education rests on the assumption that these fields are rich in job opportunity. Some are, some aren’t. STEM is an expansive category, spanning many disciplines and occupations, from software engineers and data scientists to geologists, astronomers and physicists. What recent studies have made increasingly apparent is that the…
The more we use smartphones, the dumber we become. Research has found that having a smartphone physically nearby actually causes us to perform worse on tasks than those who’s smartphones were in another room. In other words, the mere presence of your smartphone reduces your cognitive capacity even if you’re not conscious of the affect. Source: How…
There are few organizations in the world that can claim more expertise when it comes to storytelling than Pixar. The Disney-owned animation studio is known for its ability to consistently create… Source: Pixar offers free online lessons in storytelling via Khan Academy | TechCrunch Pixar has released lessons on the technical sides of movie making…
Turing Tumble is a new type of game where players (ages 8+) build mechanical computers powered by marbles to solve logic puzzles. It’s fun, addicting, easy-to-learn, and while you’re playing, you discover how computers work. I’m all about teaching kids to code. When I was a professor at the University of Minnesota, I saw how valuable…
Findings showed that using video instead of other teaching methods resulted in small improvements in student learning, whereas using video in addition to other teaching methods resulted in larger improvements. Source: Study: Pre-Recorded Videos Prove More Effective for Student Learning Than In-Person Instruction – Higher Education The article discusses the various advantages to using pre-recorded…
If we are waiting for some “technology” to come along and redefine schools, we will be either waiting a long time, or it will be too late. This is a shift we will need to create in our own thinking. Source: Technology Will Not Redefine Schools As a product of 20th century school who is…