Skip to main content

Keynote: Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge

By
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
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Syncronicity Regarding the Future of Learning: Are you a Sherpa or a Jazz Musician?

By
Yesterday, Sara Swenson , Edina High School Librarian (She prefers that term!) shared the following video with me via e-mail that she found on an NCTE Web s ite . I thought that the video crystallized for me the potential for educational technology integration, 21st Century learning and learning beyond the classroom walls. It is something we are working on with our Community of Practice . That isn't to say that there won't be road blocks to navigate, or crevasses to traverse! We know they exist now! I was intrigued to see the teacher's role defined in such creative ways!! When people ask you what you do for a living, do you respond as "teacher", "educator", "instructor", facilitator", or are you a "Connected Learning Incubator" or are you still "Keeper of All Knowledge Which Is Good?" Hmmm ... Then this morning, I checked my Twitter feed and Will Richardson had posted about a conference on the Future of Education ...
8 comments
Read more

We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint! A Reflection

By
Today, the New York Times ran an interesting article regarding the use of PowerPoint in the military, We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint . It was a fairly damning critique of an organization that gets most of its information or lack of information through PowerPoint slides. Here are a few quotes from the article: “PowerPoint makes us stupid" - Gen. James N. Matti “It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control...Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.” -Gen. H.R. McMaster And the following comment that I think has a great impact for us as educators: " Commanders say that behind all the PowerPoint jokes are serious concerns that the program stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making ." And this... "Commanders say that the slides impart less information than a five-page paper can hold, and that they relieve the briefer of the need to polish writing to convey an analytic, persu...
9 comments
Read more