Saturday, November 20, 2010

OpenIDEO - new challenge

Calling on innovators! OpenIDEO has a new challenge out - "how can we improve sanitation and better manage human waste in low-income urban communities?" This challenge is a partnership with Unilever and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor to explore sanitation issues in Ghana.


Anderson Cooper - How schools 'Race to Nowhere'

Here is a CNN report by Anderson Cooper talking about the file 'Race to Nowhere.' In this short piece Cooper says, "some students really struggle with the expectations of success - how do we help them with that?" I think this is the wrong question. We need to be asking something like this... "Why are we defining success in such a narrow and restrictive way?" or "How can we value more types of success?"

If you want to feed this idea and learn more - take a listen to Sir Ken Robinson - RSA and Sir Ken Robnison

Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

There are some great quotes within this video - worth watching.... Get involved with Conrad's work sign up here.

"This is just nuts... why are we using computers to show a student how to solve a problem (math problem) by hand - that the computer should be doing anyway? - it's all backward."

Saturday, November 13, 2010

InnovationLab in Northern Colorado

I have been working with Monika Hardy to further the Thompson School District's (TSD's) effort to develop an InnovationLab for Northern Colorado Students. Although it is located within the Thompson Valley High School it is starting to attract students from other schools. Here is a video that demonstrates the learning process that they are following which is Notice, Dream, Connect, Do. In subsequent posts, I will write more about the InnovationLab and the ongoing research (joint research between Colorado State University-CSU and TSD) that I am directing. Meanwhile here is a link to a post that Adam Mackie (CSU graduate student) wrote for HASTAC that describes his observations.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Stop Bullying

If you haven't experienced this YouTube Video yet - you should. Yes and I mean experience. How did they do this. Note: I can embed it here - you will need to click on the link to get the "experience."