Graham Glass, etc.

IT Revolutions in Venice

I just accepted an invitation to be the theme-chair for education at the IT Revolutions conference this year. It's going to be held in Venice, Italy on Dec 17-19, so it will be a little cool but without the crowds.

Here's a description of the education theme, taken from their web site:

From school to the virtual classroom, eLearning is fueling one of the most radical revolutions in education, replacing the traditional teacher-driven supervised learning environment by the self-directed web-based individualized content. By 2020 almost all the knowledge will be available on-line. Several issues arise, which need to be addressed if we want to unleash the power of eLearning: Is school as a physical place important or, shall we regard learning as a universal right, thus make all the content available online to enable access to everyone from everywhere - with self-imposed limits dictated strictly by individual interest? What can governments do to sponsor such efforts?

Should be fun!

Disrupting Education

In the article "How do we Transform our schools?", Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn look at how computers are currently being used in the education system and how they could be used in the future.

The bottom line: computers are currently being used to support the current teacher-in-classroom model of learning whereas in the future they will likely be able to deliver personalized instruction directly.

I agree with this completely, and it's the focus of my new "Pirate Math" initiative on edu2.0.

Pirate Math, Part 2

In a previous post I mentioned that I'm working on a new way to learn Math based on a Pirate Game. The plot of the game is beginning to form.

The player (a boy for the purposes of this post) finds a piece of a treasure map while hunting around in their attic. A closer inspection reveals that the treasure is buried on an island someone in the Caribbean. The boy excitedly tells his parents but they laugh and ignore him. Frustrated, the boy decides to stowaway on a liner and try to find the island on his own. But after a few days at sea, the liner is attacked and boarded by some pirates. The pirates capture the boy and decide to use him as a cabin boy on their pirate ship. The boy keeps the treasure map a secret and hopes that his travels with the pirates will allow him to solve the mystery.

The plot is just in the early stages and I'd like the boy to stumble upon a greater mystery while looking for the treasure.

Of course, the whole point of the game is to allow players to learn Math in a fun and natural setting, so the first part of the Game will introduce money, counting, addition and subtraction. The boy earns copper coins for the work he does on the ship, and he can see the number of coins increase as the days go by on the ship (addition). When the ship docks at the first port, the boy goes to the market to buy some pirate clothes. Each item costs a certain number of copper coins, and the player can see the number of coins drop as he buys each item (subtraction).

Rather than require the player to perform arithmetic drills, I hope to introduce natural uses of arithmetic throughout the game at various intervals. This should reduce the boredom factor as well as allowing the complexity to be gradually increased.

More on the Pirate Math game soon.

Swedish Education

I wrote the post Education Vouchers Work about how private schools are becoming very popular and successful in Sweden. So I was very interested to read this recent article in The Economist which provides more information about how the private schools actually go about teaching.

Here are the rules associated with starting and running a private school in Sweden:

• Anyone who meets basic standards can open a school and educate students at the state's expense.
• The state pays private schools the same amount per student as it pays public schools.
• Private schools must accept students on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot have any religious requirements or entrance exams.

Here are some ways that Kunskapsskolan (Knowledge Schools), a chain of private schools, have innovated:

• The entire syllabus and all materials are on their web portal.
• Each child spends 15 minutes a week with a tutor reviewing their progress and setting goals.
• Learning takes place in a mix of lectures, classes, independent and group study.
• Each student can work at his/her own level and spend time on subjects based on their interest.
• Each subject is divided into 35 steps; 25 steps earns a pass, 30 steps earns a merit, and 35 steps earns a distinction.
• Teachers get 7 weeks of vacation a year, and are expected to create lesson plans, etc. outside of the school semester in order to spend more face time with students.
• The school rents fields for sports and facilities for arts and crafts.

About 10% of Swedish children now go to a private school, up from a fraction of a percent 14 years ago. It's clearly working. I wish this kind of innovation was taking place in more countries.

Pirate Math

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm working on a new way for people to learn Math. I've decided to use an online Pirate game as the delivery mechanism because it provides plenty of opportunities to introduce Math concepts in a natural and fun way.

For example, following a map to find buried treasure introduces the concept of 3D Cartesian coordinates, playing a game of cards below deck introduces probability, and steering a ship between islands introduces geometry.

I'm only in the planning stages right now, but it feels promising. I'll blog regularly about the evolution of the Pirate Math game. Arrrrrrrr!

New ways to learn

I believe that education in the US will only improve significantly when we challenge some of the fundamental assumptions about learning, such as:

• students should learn the same subjects at the same pace
• students should learn primarily in 8 hour blocks of time
• students should learn subjects in 50-minute blocks of time according to a schedule
• students should not be systematically taught useful topics such as critical thinking and finance
• students should learn primarily from teachers in a lecture-style setting

I've decided to focus some of my time and energy on a new edu2.0 initiative that will experiment with some new learning approaches and initially focus on Math.

It's only in the planning phase, but the main goals are:

• use a self-paced game as the learning vehicle
• introduce most of the key concepts in K-9 Math (5-14 years old)
• avoid getting bogged down in formalism and nomenclature
• introduce students to the big picture early on
• make it fun and intuitive whenever possible

If it goes well, I think that the approach could be applied to more advanced Math as well as other topics such as science.

I'm going to blog regularly about the development of my Math game. If you're interested in being an active participant, join the Curriculum Design group on edu2.0 where we're using wikis and forums to share ideas.

How to *really* teach Math

Here's a great paper by Paul Lockhart about how to really teach Math. It's very much in line with my own thinking about education, and I would love to work with Paul in the future.

Shift Happens

Check out this thought provoking video related to education and the future of humanity:

Mr. Rogers goes to Congress

Here's a great video (via Digg) of Mr. Rogers testifying in Congress in order to get a $20m grant. It's inspirational; watch it right to the end!

Brainstorming Curricula, Part 2

Here's a list of some of the things that I think should be in a curriculum. I came up with it over lunch today, so it's by no means complete:

• Money: learn how to save, invest, avoid too much credit or debt.
• Happiness: learn what kinds of things typically make people happy and which don't.
• Basic Math: adding, subtraction, multiplication, division
• Reading and Writing: the basics
• Critical Thinking: learn how to separate fact from fiction, design experiments to validate theories, debate topics with others, and understand the difference between correlation and causation
• Games: learn how to play several different kinds of games, including video games, board games and card games. learn useful strategies and challenge other teams around the world
• Sports: learn several different sports including football, tennis, and basketball
• Religion: learn about world belief systems, including atheism. understand their main tenets, their history and their geographic distribution
• Personal Relations: discussion of family relationships, friendships, dating, etc.
• Sex and Love: learn about different kinds of contraceptives, abortion, the consequences of having a child, ways to communicate about sex, how to avoid being pressured, etc.
• Your Body: learn how your body works and how to take care of it, with emphasis on exercise, portion size, daily intake, healthy foods, common ailments
• Self-Defense: learn various techniques for protecting yourself, including martial arts, the use of diplomacy, and simply running away
• Introduction to Technology: an overview of technology past, present and future
• Arts and Crafts: try some arts and crafts such as woodwork, painting, and jewelry making
• Introduction to Science: an overview of science past, present and future plus a discussion of how science works and what scientists do
• Altered States: discussion of altered states of mind induced by meditation, high altitudes, prescription drugs, alcohol and recreational drugs. addiction and treatment. relative risks.
• Politics: an introduction to various political systems, past, present and future. includes a discussion of communism, democracy, federalism and libertarianism
• Music: try several types of instrument, learn to play a simple melody on one and then play a piece together in a small group
• The Universe: a brief overview of the Universe
• History of Earth: an overview of the history of Earth from when it was formed until today. includes topic like continental drift, mass extinctions, and geologic eras
• History of Mankind: a brief overview of the history of Mankind, from nomads to tribes to big cities. includes topics like the formation of countries, wars, inventions
• Trekking: get outdoors and walk through a forest or through the hills, learn orienteering skills including how to use a compass and navigate using landmarks
• Introduction to Foreign Languages: learn a few phrases in several different languages and have a simple conversation with foreign students around the world
• Media: how to create and combine various media types, including audio, photography and video
• Introduction to Computers: learn how to use a keyboard and a few key computer applications, including a browser, an instant messenger, a word processor and a spreadsheet

My guiding philosophy is:

• They should all be taught with an emphasis of actually putting things into practice. In other words, they should all be oriented around hands-on activities.
• Most introduce the student quickly to the big-picture in a particular area. That way, the student can get a feel for what within the big picture takes their fancy. In addition, my own experience is that big-picture presentations can be fascinating and entertaining when done right.
• Many of the subjects are just plain useful in everyday situations.
• I think that learning games, sports and other kinds of playful activities have a large educational benefit. For example, they encourage students to think about strategies, how to form effective teams, and how to think quickly. They're also a lot of fun!
• Rather than avoid or skirt around talking about subjects like drugs and sex, I think it's better to discuss them in an open, calm and considered manner. Fear, ignorance, or bad information about these areas doesn't do anyone any good.
• Remain neutral with regards to any particular ideology.

I look forward to any feedback on the items in this list plus hope to add some more items over the next few weeks. I already have 16 more items on the list - see if you can guess any of them!