By Allan Alach
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
What if the high stakes tests were wrong? (A thought experiment)
‘I discovered that by using the ‘achievement gap’ and standardized test scores for black and brown children, businessmen and politicians were able to usher in a set of market-based reforms that had the underlying mission of destroying public education while maximizing the profits of a selective group.”’
Why Education Reform is Probably Not The Best Way to Fight Poverty
The contention that education is the solution to poverty is being used in many countries, although the evidential basis for this claim is slight, and, as shown by this article, is disputable as well.
“The standard line among education reformers today is that the best route to improving educational outcomes is through improvements in teacher quality, but you apparently have to improve a teacher’s quality by a full standard deviation to get a student even a 1% income boost at age 28.”
Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers:Liberal arts and the humanities aren't just for the elite.
“We don’t intellectually embrace a society where the privileged few get to enjoy the advantages of leisure and wealth while the masses toil on their behalf. Yet that’s what a sell-out of the liberal arts entails.”
Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be … Paper
Not strictly educational but then again, consider the implications for schooling.
“Paper books were supposed to be dead by now. For years, information theorists, marketers, and early adopters have told us their demise was imminent. Ikea even redesigned a bookshelf to hold something other than books. Yet in a world of screen ubiquity, many people still prefer to do their serious reading on paper.”
Tales of the Undead…Learning Theories: The Learning Pyramid
“Since the 1960s, experts have been trying to convince people that the learning pyramid is bogus. But for every article written exposing its weaknesses, there seem to be dozens of instances where it is invoked as truth in presentations, websites, and trade publications. We hope that having read this post, you will join the forces of pyramid slaying and base your instructional choices on valid research, not educational myths.”
You Can’t Bounce Off the Walls If There Are No Walls: Outdoor Schools Make Kids Happier—and Smarter (thanks to Ken Woolford)
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| Real basics! |
“Isn’t this what we want for our children? This immersion in the natural world, this feeling-at-one-ness, these eyes sparkling with fire. We’re learning that grit and stick-to-it-ive-ness are some of the core character traits that determine success in school and in life. Teachers and parents of children in nature preschools and forest kindergartens are finding that mastering puddles is just as important as learning letters in preparing children to find their way through the smartboard jungle.”
Unleashing Empathy: How Teachers Transform Classrooms With Emotional Learning (another link from Ken Woolford.)
Rediscovering the obvious, part 2…
OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide - academics
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| Crumbling Tower of PISA!! |
“In this letter to Dr Andreas Schleicher, director of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, academics from around the world express deep concern about the impact of Pisa tests and call for a halt to the next round of testing.”
On the Edge of Chaos: Where Creativity Flourishes
Creativity definitely won’t flourish in a standards based classroom, that’s for sure.
‘For educators who have embraced the notion of the tightly controlled classroom, it’s a worst-case scenario. But Bilder has a reason for this theory. He tested it by asking children what aspects of a learning environment make them feel most creative. “One of the things
they found most valuable in their arts classes was the freedom not to have to seek right and wrong answers,” Bilder said. “It was that freedom to explore that led them to be increasingly engaged and allowed them to forge connections that allowed them to be more creative.”’
What's Really Wrong With Round Robin Reading?
I’m somewhat amazed that this question is being asked.
“Key here is the fact that each student is responsible for reading only a very brief portion of the text—as little as a few sentences and, at a maximum, a few paragraphs. As a result, they have minimal opportunity to improve either their fluency or their word recognition. This difficulty is further compounded given the fact that other students often jump in when the reader encounters a difficult or unknown word; as a result, the reader never has the chance to figure it out for him or herself.”
This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:
We’re About to Tell You the Secret to Creativity, and You May NOT Want to Sit Down
Bruce’s comment:Like this. Something we seem to have forgotten in this high tech obsessed world. Rediscovering the real world.
The Goal of Education Is Becoming
Bruce comments: Mark Prensky talks sense. Aligns well with the intent of 2007 New Zealand Curriculum – students becoming ‘good people’ able to ‘seek, use and create’.
poverty-2.jpg
The corporate takeover of society and education.
From Bruce’s oldies but goodies file - a discussion about the corporatisation of New Zealand education. Overseas readers can play ‘Spot the Coincidences.’
Discovery Time - Developing key competencies through activity based, child directed learning.
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