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Keynote: Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge

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Dr. Gary Stager kicked off the conference with the keynote in a packed Science and Leadership Academy IMC.

The goal of this event will be to create collaborative projects while having conversations with really smart people!

Stager began by sharing his "personal odyssey" as a student in New Jersey, where he had a 7th grade computer class from a teacher who was passionate about learning with these new tools, creating things that couldn't be done without technology. It was there that he developed "habits of mind" that have served him to this day.

Ideas:
  • Educational Technology is not about the hardware, it's about the software, as it's the software that allows you to inquire
  • NCTM in 1989 50% of Mathematics has been invented since WWII.
  • Computing used to have to do with Math and Science, then came word processing, now it's an information appliance, it's not being used as a tool to construct new knowledge.
  • Does the child program the computer or does the computer program the child?-Seymour Pappert
  • Design a video game, not just consume them. (Microworlds.com)

    I couldn't help but think that this conference points out what is missing in these standards!

Comments

Mike Dronen said…
Give me 6 Amiga computers and a constructivist teacher over the latest laptops with a passive consumption approach ANY day! Yes, there are some essential elements missing in those standards...hey, let's change 'em!
January 22, 2009 at 8:09 PM
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