This article first appeared in the Eduk8me newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to get articles such as this. In G. K. Chesterton.s 1929 book The Thing, he writes: In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be…
This article first appeared in the Eduk8me newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to get articles such as this. I once gave a talk titled “Using technology to procrastinate”. An idea that I have used since my sophomore year in high school. We had a big research paper due, and it had…
Thinking takes real effort. It requires sustained attention. Scientists have known for some time that focusing your mind consumes considerable metabolic resources. But in our day-to-day lives, we discount the effort needed to pay attention and think because it doesn’t feel as physically strenuous as, say, lifting a 50-pound weight. Source: To Avoid Thinking Hard, We Will Endure…
So we now can work in teams despite being continental distances away from each other but we do have to acquire the skills to do that. And if we fail to do so, that has a rather grave disadvantage, which is that… Nothing has as dire an impact on productivity as poor communications. This is a truism that applies…
This article first appeared in the Eduk8me newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to get articles such as this. The curse of knowledge is a relatively new idea, being coined in 1989. It is a state where a person with knowledge has problems putting themselves into the shoes of people without the…
This article first appeared in the Eduk8me newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to get articles such as this. In honor of Star Wars Day, I decided to dig out a presentation I did in 2014. It was entitled Star Wars: A New Teacher, and I laid out everything that Star Wars has…
Introducing the “I Am A Scientist” initiative, which provides opportunities for students, specifically those in Junior High School and High School, to interact with the science and stories of today’s scientists—breaking down barriers like race, gender, and personal interests. The program’s collection of classroom toolkits provide real-life stories of modern scientists, classroom resources, posters ,…
Stuff that’s ported lacks the native sensibilities of the receiving platform. It doesn’t celebrate the advantages, it only meets the lowest possible bar. Everyone knows it. Sometimes we’re simply glad to have it because it’s either that or nothing, but there’s rarely a ringing endorsement of something that’s so obviously moved from A to B…
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a test that uses children’s ability to assemble LEGO pieces to assess their spatial visualization ability. Spatial visualization is the ability to visualize 3D shapes in one’s mind, which is tied to increased GPAs and graduation rates in STEM college students. Source: Using LEGO to…
By analysing brain activity, researchers found that the brain regulates its resource use and tries to identify the most essential information.A recently completed study indicates that the human brain avoids taking unnecessary effort. When a person is reading, she strives to gain as much information as possible by dedicating as little of her cognitive capacity…