Girls and technology: Girl Scouts on the ‘net

May 26, 2007

Here, try this brain teaser.

Girl Scouts of America can be found on the web; some of the stuff at this “Go Tech” site could be useful in the classroom. The design appears to encourage girls to pursue the use of technology, and to open them up to possibilities for careers where women are badly needed, but too seldom go. That becomes clear with this .pdf, 14-page guide for parents, It’s Her Future: Encourage a Girl in Math, Science and Technology.

I wish more organizations would put up sites for kids to use to learn. I’d love to see some interactive sites with great depth on several topics: Geography map skills, navigation, European explorers in the 15th through 20th centuries, market fluctuations for commodities and securities (for economics), Native Americans from 1500 through the 21st century, westward expansion of European colonists in America, time lines of history, great battles, etc., etc. etc.

We are missing the boat when it comes to using computers as tools for learning. Like unicorns and centaurs standing on the dock as Noah sailed away, education as a whole institution and educators individually are missing the boat (with a few notable exceptions — pitifully few).

Where is the Boy Scout site with games and material for the boys?

Leave a Comment » | Boy Scouts of America, Brain development, Brain learning, Girl Scouts, Pedagogy, Science, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Fire on the Cutty Sark, to Mary Tyler Moore

May 23, 2007

Everything is connected.

Unaware that the Cutty Sark still existed, the news of the fire on the most famous of the clipper ships caught me by surprise.

Fire on the Cutty Sark

Our U.S. history texts these days mention the clippers, but little more. This wonderful chunk of history, showing great invention in the capture of wind power, and great romance of the sea, falls by the wayside.

Were a teacher so inclined, she might introduce some of that romance and admiration of invention with a bit more than two minutes spent on clipper ships.

For starters, what does “cutty sark” mean? Antiquarian’s Attic provides links to the news of the fire and enough background to make any teacher sound like an aficianado in just a few minutes. “Cutty sark” means a short shift, a very short skirt or dress — it’s from a poem, “Tam O’Shanter” by Robert Burns.

Her cutty sark, o’ Paisley harn,
That while a lassie she had worn,
In longitude tho’ sorely scanty,
It was her best, and she was vauntie.

Hey, who knew there was a poem that gave the name to the hat favored by U.S. Sen. Sam Hayakawa, and the hat which played such a prominent role in the opening sequence of The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

Tam O'Shanter in opening sequence of Mary Tyler Moore showConnections can get a bit out of hand, no?

I digress. Back to Cutty Sark.

Progress in transportation, particularly in speed, makes a solid unit of study in 8th and 11th grade history in Texas, fitting neatly in the advances in technology and how such advances push history along. Particularly with the defense of the America‘s Cup this year putting a spotlight on speed sailing and sailing history, there should be a lot of supplemental material to provide good lesson plan hooks to make a day’s diversion into clipper ships well worth the time.

Perhaps your class would like to contribute to the restoration of the Cutty Sark? Remember it was pennies from U.S. school kids that saved Old Ironsides, after Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., wrote a poem in tribute to her. See also the Ballad of Mad Jack.

Did you hear how Mad Jack saved “Old Ironsides” too,
From the scrapheap of flagships too old to renew,
At sixty-five years he inspected each shroud,
And promised the Navy he’d make her stand proud.
He collected the finest ship-riggers around,
From Boston, New Bedford, and Old Portsmouth Town,
He rigged her and jigged her and made her stand tall,
Then he sailed her around the world once and for all.

  • Ballad of Mad Jack by Steve Romanoff, performed by Schooner Fare, 1981

Leave a Comment » | Brain learning, History, History museums, Technology, Transportation, Travel, War of 1812 | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Practice history, then teach it

March 25, 2007

Practice makes perfect, the adage says.

Teachers who practice analysis of primary documents can better translate the study of primary documents to their classrooms, according to an article I found through the American History Association‘s online version of Perspectives magazine.

One of my concerns for teachers of social studies — economics, history and geography — is that “in-service” training most often revolves around issues not unique, and sometimes not germane, to social studies disciplines. District-sponsored courses generally involved new or different methods to do paperwork, sometimes new programs hoped to spur overall performance by students on tests. In Irving ISD, Texas, social studies coordinator Sherry Perkins frequently provided sessions specific to social studies issues, and they were wonderful even when they didn’t pertain directly to the courses we taught (someone who teaches economics only, for example, may not have a lot of use for history exercises on presidential elections; but such exercises may provide ideas for others more directly related to economics).

Courses that immerse teachers in the subject matter tend to provide big benefits in the classroom. Many teachers do not have majors in the areas they teach, even after certification as “highly qualified” under new federal guidelines. Consequently, there are areas of history, or economics, or geography, where teachers are not much better informed than the students. Think of when you have had to give a presentation on a topic — you tread lightly in those areas where your expertise is least.

Investigators Kelly Schrum of George Mason University, Eleanor Green of the Fauquier County (Virginia) Public Schools, and Sarah Whelan of the Loudon County (Virginia) Public Schools, found that teachers often used too many original sources in lessons, after attending summer training sessions in the sources.   Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments | Accuracy, Brain learning, Pedagogy, Research, Teaching, Textbooks | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Treating kid’s brains as finely toned muscle

March 3, 2007

How many of us have worked with former athletic coaches who just don’t quite master the need for practice of academic topics, time to master academic skills, the need for constant rehearsal of the skills, and good care and feeding of the brain, the same way they understand the care and feeding of kinesthetic skills?

Chris Wondra.com posted a 7-point summary of Eric Jensen’s plan for keeping kids’ brains in top learning order. It’s worth a look. Treat it like a checklist: How many of these get done in your classroom? How much of this brain conditioning do you have control over?

Now, remember that part of the No Child Left Behind Act that says what we do should be backed by research?

Leave a Comment » | Brain development, Brain learning, Classroom technology, Creativity, Education blogs, Education reform, No Child Left Behind Act, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Teaching critical thinking, “further reading”

March 1, 2007

Once upon a time I was a graduate student in a rhetoric program. At the same time I was the graduate assistant for the intercollegiate debate program at the University of Arizona, which at the time had an outstanding, nationally-competitive team and a lot of up-and-comers on the squad. From there I moved almost immediately to a political campaign, a sure-loser that we won, and from there to Congressional staffing, writing speeches, editorials, press releases and a few legislative dabbles. Then law school, etc., etc.

Some of the fights I’ve been involved in include air pollution and the laws controlling it, land use in statewide plans, tobacco health warnings, compensation for victims of fallout from atomic bomb tests, food safety, food recall standards, education testing standards, measurement of management effectiveness, noise control around airports, social studies textbooks and biology textbooks, and a few others. Most political issues are marked by people who really don’t understand the information available to them, and many issues are pushed by people who have no ability or desire to understand the issues in any depth.

And so, having survived a few rounds in the crucibles of serious debate with real stakes, I am often amused and frustrated by state education standards that demand teachers teach “critical thinking,” often as not grounded in something that looks like hooey to me.

In one of my internet rambles I came across a site with modest ambitions of continuing discussion of critical thinking. Rationale Thoughts comes out of Australia. The view is a little different, but not too much so (hey, it’s in English, which is a bonus for me).

If you’re looking for sources to seriously understand what critical thinking is, this is one place you would be well-advised to check. You might find especially useful this list for “further reading” in the topic.

1 Comment | Accuracy, Brain development, Brain learning, Creativity, Education, Hoaxes, Pedagogy, Research, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Carnival of . . . Mathematics?

February 11, 2007

Divest yourself of that tired and false notion that you’re bad at math. That’s hooey, though it probably sets your self-expectations low enough that it damages your math performance. Don’t make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

New Carnival on the block: Carnival of Mathematics at Alon Levy’s Abstract Nonsense. It’s got some good stuff there for math teachers, and I suspect people with other interests will find something of interest, too. For me, for example, there is the link to the post that Fisks arguments of some of the more unsuspecting intelligent design fogmeisters. More pure historians may like the history of algebra post. There’s a lot more history and controversy in a post about why students should study math at all:

Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals—the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned, if at all.

—Martin Gardner
quoted by G. Simmons, Calculus Gems

(Take THAT you creators of state history standards!)

Hmmm. I’m teaching algebra and geometry this week (“go figure!”). I may use some of that stuff.

Tip of the old scrub brush to JD2718.

2 Comments | Accuracy, Brain learning, Creationism, Creativity, Education, Education blogs, History, Intelligent Design, Lesson plans, Public education, Science, TEKS, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Seymour Papert: Hope – eyes open

December 28, 2006

Brief note from MIT’s Media Lab:

Wednesday, December 27

While still in Intensive Care, Seymour is making progress every day. He has opened his eyes and sees the people around him, but has not yet spoken. He is also able to move his arms, legs, and head. His doctors hope that he will be able to be moved out of Intensive Care soon, but for now, is still not receiving visitors.

Earlier coverage, noting his December 7 collision with a motorbike in Hanoi, here.

One may still leave an electronic flower for a get-well bouquet to be delivered to Papert.

Seymour Papert, MIT photo

Leave a Comment » | Brain learning, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Anti-fundamentalist Christian ire gone awry

December 2, 2006

Update: The speech took place as scheduled; 125 people attended, the lecture was great, the questions were fine — you can listen and read for yourself [from Language Log]:

Anyway, whether that’s right or not, I do know this: the lucky people who live in the Boston area (I regret that I now do not) have a chance to hear Everett in person on Friday, because despite the hate campaign he still plans to get in that taxi at Logan Airport and take it to MIT’s Building 46. His lecture is called “Culture and Grammar in Pirahã”, and it’s on Friday, December 1, from noon to 1:30 p.m., in room 46-3310 at MIT (that is, Room 3310 of building 46; MIT people do have a system of number names, and they use them to name buildings). Language Log readers in New England who get there early enough to find a seat can check out what Everett actually says, rather than what his enemies say he says, and then make up their own minds.

[Update: Dan Everett’s talk did place as scheduled on December 1; it was not boycotted by the linguists in the area; about 125 people showed up, in fact; and a good, spirited discussion followed in the question period. You can actually listen to it, and look at the handout, thanks to Ted Gibson’s lab: handout in PDF form here, and audio for Windows Media Player here.]

ORIGINAL POST:  WordPress has some wonderful features that carry to one ideas from realms one would not otherwise visit. And so it was that I found this post at Language Log, about a Bush-style “pre-emptive strike” on the scholarship of a linguist, condemned for a pro-Christian bias that does not exist, according to the blogger.

An unnamed scholar was ranting in e-mail about the work of linguist Daniel Everett of Illinois State University, who was scheduled to give a lecture on his work on the language of the Amazonian tribe Pirahã, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), on December 1. The e-mailer threatened at least a protest of the lecture.

I have not found any indication either that there was a protest at the lecture, or that it went on as planned. Does anyone know?

The MIT listing for the lecture:

Brain and Cognitive Science

December 1, 2006
12:00p.m. – 1:30p.m.
Building 46, Room 3310

Culture and Grammar in Piraha

Dan Everett
Illinois State University / University of Manchester Abstract:
This talk considers the on-going research into the relationship between culture and grammar in Piraha, an Amazonian language isolate. As background, it surveys a number of unusual linguistic and cultural phenomena in Piraha, e.g. the absence of numerals, number, and counting, the absence of myths, the lack of quantifiers (and quantification), then summarizes the analysis of Everett (2005) which accounts for these facts in terms of a cultural value of ‘immediacy of experience’. The talk then turns to focus on how culture constrains segmental phonology in Piraha.

Leave a Comment » | Brain learning, Civil Rights, Dissent, Research | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

“Man dancing”: Checking the facts

December 2, 2006

If you haven’t seen it, you may be in a minority that includes mostly people without internet access.

The story behind it is rather innocent and charming. Matt Harding, a young American computer programmer working in Australia, decided to spend a year touring the world. Somewhere along the line he got the idea to shoot video of himself dancing in various places. He posted in on YouTube. A chewing gum company saw the thing, and for reasons known only to public relations freaks and geniuses, called Matt to do it again, with better production quality, for a bit of publicity. So there are two videos of Matt Harding dancing, in exotic and interesting places.

Especially if this is new to you, you’re skeptical. Good. Kempton’s Blog was similarly skeptical, and did some research on the video, and on Matt.

Is there a lesson plan in here for history and other social studies? I think so. This can go directly to the issue of how we know what we know, and what are primary and secondary sources for history, as tested in Texas’s Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).

There are several ways to use these videos, when I sit down to think about them for a moment, listed below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | Brain learning, Classroom technology, Current History, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History video sources, Lesson plans, TAKS, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Chalk it up to art in the name of science

October 26, 2006

 

 

Owl, by Chrys Rodrigue

You should read this post. It demonstrates why P. Z. Myers is one of the most-read bloggers in the world — he writes so well, on topics that are so dramatically interesting.

Myers tells an interesting vignette of a professor of gross anatomy who was a wizard of illustration in colored chalk.

Visuals, especially spectacular visuals in color, contribute to the ability of students to learn the material illustrated. Drawing is rapidly becoming a lost art, a victim of too-easy-to-use clipart and Bush’s dour view of education that excludes music, dancing, painting and drawing, anything that might distinguish us from lower animals or otherwise bring delight and insight into human existence (and other factors). How could PowerPoint seriously compare to live art in a classroom?

 

Presentations are always made better with specific, relevant illustrations. Most people are at least partly visual learners, with about four times as much information going through eyes on illustrations than going through ears hearing a lecture, or eyes reading text. I use a simple tree to illustrate the Constitution, its roots in the consent of the people, its three branches of government, and fruits of liberty and freedom. Students — whether budding lawyers, eager Boy Scouts, or complacent high school kids — get the point, and do well on the exams.

Myers’ tribute to Professor Snider is touching, informative, and inspiring. Where is Professor Snider today?

3 Comments | Brain learning, Education, Pedagogy, Science, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Literally: Can’t shut up to learn history

September 27, 2006

There should be a Congressional Medal of Honor, or something similar, for junior high school and middle school teachers. Particularly the boys can be among the most irritating creatures on Earth, above mosquitoes in a tent on a hot night, above a cat who wants you awake at 4:30 a.m. Such teachers, afflicted by kids who appear absolutely unable to be quiet long enough to allow two sentences together into their heads, face audiences more daunting than any faced by non-funny comedians, or by school boards proposing an increase in taxes.

Maturing teenage brains

Now we have the MRI images to demonstrate that it’s true, and why. Jake Young at Pure Pedantry has a post on the research (just published in Nature), with good links to the videos of the maturing teenage brain.

One theory is that teenagers are actually from a separate barbarian race. However, I suspect that there is also an underlying neurological reason for this barbaric behavior that has to do with the different rates of brain maturation in the human cortex.

The neurological changes that happen in the human brain over adolescence are described in a great article by Kendall Powell in Nature.

Alas, no sure-fire lesson plans, nor even hints of teacher survival strategies accompany the research findings.

Santayana was right: Some of these kids will be condemned to repeat history, either Texas history, or U.S. history to 1877.

3 Comments | Brain development, Brain learning, Education, Harry Wong, Pedagogy, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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