:: The 4th Era ::

By Valerie Strauss

Summary by Public Education NewsBlast

 

"In an open letter to the students and parents of Montgomery County, Maryland and the Montgomery County Department of Education, teachers in the math department at Poolesville High School explain what they see as the systemic reasons behind widespread exam failures in their content area by students (letter reprinted by Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post). The failures proceed from policies in place for many years having a cumulative effect, they write. Students have been accelerated through the math curriculum as teachers and principals have been pressured to meet unrealistic targets, with the result that students have gaps in understanding. As many students as possible have been placed in honors math classes, so higher-performing students lack sufficient challenges, and those not in honors find themselves in classes with no peer role models and a culture of failure. The ubiquitous use of calculators in the early grades has resulted in students who lack number sense and basic skills, and thus cannot make the leap to algebra. And Algebra I de-emphasizes algebraic manipulation, leaving students unprepared for Algebra II and beyond. The teachers also recommend that students be required to pass a final exam to receive credit for a course, and teachers be allowed to assign grades that truly reflect mastery of content."

A great collection of links for self-directed learners. Over 100 resources in 12 different areas such as Open Courseware, Non-traditional education outside of college, Noteworthy Blogs about undorthodox ways of working, and Work Colleges combining schooling and working.

by Brandon Busteed

 

"The best type of curriculum for preparing students for the workforce is one that focuses on real-world problem-solving. It sounds simple, but for the first time, we have clearly established a link between students learning 21st century skills and future work success.

"The results of a Gallup/Microsoft Partners in Learning/Pearson Foundation study show that young workers in the U.S. who reported learning 21st century skills in their last year of school are more likely to say they have higher work quality. In fact, those reporting high levels of 21st century skill development in school are twice as likely to have higher work quality compared with their peers who had low 21st century skill development.

"In the study, the 21st century skills include knowledge construction, real-world problem-solving, collaboration, self-regulation, skilled communication, technology, and global awareness. Of all these,real-world problem-solving is the most important factor of higher work quality. Positive responses to the following two items have the strongest link to work quality:

“Worked on a long-term project that took several classes to complete”“Used what you were learning about to develop solutions to real-world problems in your community or in the world”

by Mike Brown

 

"Productive strategic thinking exercises are at the heart of The Brainzooming Group methodology. Great brainstorming and strategic planning questions encourage and allow people to talk about what they know including factual information, personal perspectives, and their views of the future."

- See more at: http://brainzooming.com/strategic-thinking-exercises-more-than-200-strategic-planning-questions/17443/#sthash.l7toLvKE.dpuf

Expanding on our weekly Innovation column — which asks, Who made that? — we explore the origins of dozens of products and ideas in this special issue of the magazine.

by Guillermo Campitelli

 

"Practice only accounts for around one third of “perfection”, and the oft-quoted motto should be reworded to:

 

"Practice makes perfect … but only if you also have natural talent and start early enough."

I’ll explain why this is — but first, we need to explore the motto’s origins.

 

"The deliberate practice framework proposed by Swedish psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues in 1993 has favoured the view that accumulated hours of “deliberate practice” — a type of practice aiming at correcting mistakes and rich on feedback — is the only factor that explains differences in performance in sports, arts, sciences and intellectual games.

 

"Ericsson exposed the idea that it takes around 10 years of intense dedication to achieve high levels of performance. This idea was recently popularised by British-Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell in his 2008 book Outliers, but with a twist: it takes 10,000 hours to achieve such level of expertise.

 

"Along with American psychologist Zach Hambrick and colleagues, I have been involved in a study that re-analysed previous research in the fields of chess and music, including data from Ericsson’s original deliberate practice framework study. Our findings were published earlier this month in the journal Intelligence."

 

via Mind-Body-Shift

"The Seven Spaces provide a common language that does not make mention of architectural or technological concepts, is totally accessible and lets more members of the school community take part in building a new school or new ways of learning. When the time comes for schools to rethink their physical space or technology deployment, teachers, leaders and students can fall into a trap: rather than thinking about what they know about most (teaching, leading learning and learning for themselves), consultants and architects will attempt to 'teach' them how to 'speak architect' or technology geek talk. The result is that too many educators and learners end up with technology and physical space that is great for teaching the old way, painful for teaching in different styles and which locks learners into a groove for many years to come. The Seven Spaces are changing that."

The science of learning can offer some surprising and useful perspectives on how we guide and educate young people.

by Justin Pot

 

"Have you ever considered writing a book? Are you planning to self-publish the book? If so, you probably have a lot to learn about the various processes you need to go through and the companies that can best help you along the way.

 

"Check out “Your Guide To Self Publishing: From Print to Kindle and Beyond!” This guide is by Christian Cawley, a resident MakeUseOf writer who has self-published his own book multiple times. It’s a comprehensive guide to the self-publishing process in order to make your life easier when you embark on the journey.

 

"Whether you’re working on a piece of fiction, poetry or any other piece of literature, this guide outlines your self-publishing options – digital and physical alike."

by Patrick Tucker

 

"A little-known California company called Esri offers a “Facebook for Maps” that promises to change the way we interact with our environment, predict behavior, and make decisions in the decades ahead."

"Building a project nest is a developmental process, not something that has boundaries. It is added to incrementally and over the course of your project. Throughout our work with a large fashion brand in London we built small display cases of ideas for teams to use. 

 

"For the schools we work with they can dedicate a wall space that becomes a working wall. In a primary school in South Brisbane, Australia they have a whole room dedicated to the artefacts of their project. Whichever way you decide to do it, the fact that there is a messy learning space that learners or members of a team can contribute to, provides a ongoing support to project work.

 

"Take a look at the following next steps to help you make the most of your project nest."

by Kevin Fitchard

 

"A group of French researchers believe that the sensors and transmitters we wear will route and relay data, not just collect it. We won’t just be connected to the network. We’ll be the network."