Kids, and adults, can certainly learn stuff from watching videos of the type Green produces (and I have). But those topics exist in isolation. And connecting them into something actually useful is a far more difficult process. One that requires teachers.
Pick any field “X,” from archaeology to zoology. There either is now a “computational X”, or there soon will be. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, whatever—the future of all these professions will be full of computational thinking. Whether it’s sensor-based medicine, computational contracts, education analytics or agriculture—success is going to rely on being able to do…
Classrooms around the world have been the equivalent of open offices almost since their inception. Is this the best way? Some new research shows that schools may want to think about how the classroom affects their students. Open offices are as bad as they seem—they reduce face-to-face time by 70%: Employees at two Fortune 500…
A new study shows you can be easily re-identified from almost any database, even when your personal details have been stripped out. Source: You’re very easy to track down, even when your data has been anonymized – MIT Technology Review I see this in schools, where the staff will strip out any identifiable information from…
From academic honors to “employee of the month” awards, we are regularly exposed to and made aware of the exemplary performance of others. Many believe such recognition not only acknowledges the individual but also motivates others to strive toward greater achievement. But new research suggests that exposure to exceptional performance can sometimes have the opposite results, effectively discouraging…
I received a tweet asking me for suggestions on keyboarding programs for students. I didn’t respond. I couldn’t respond. I am not a fan, and when schools are saying that they are either a) in a time crunch or, b) having limited use of technology, I struggle that we use this precious amount of time…
It is common from time to time for connected colleagues to send me questions that they would like my input on. Usually it is motivated by one or more of these factors: curiosity, wanting to inform their practice, or maybe information for a paper or book they are writing. One such request came yesterday and…
