Archives For Learning

The Courage to Try: Inquisitivism in Real Life

Dwayne Harapnuik —  November 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

Adam Savage's First Care
Source: https://www.wired.com/2012/10/ft-savage-first-car/

Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame relays his experience in learning how to parse complex systems which is a skill that he has used professionally ever since. Savage explains:

Every repair followed the same progression: (1) I don’t know how, (2) I can’t afford to pay someone else to do it, (3) I have to do it, (4) hey, that wasn’t so hard!

One of my teenage sons’ favorite shows is Mythbusters and while they may not yet appreciate the similarities they too have been learning how to deal with complex challenges. In the post I relayed the my son’s experience in diagnosing, disassembling and repairing a broken van door. Savage reminds us of the power that comes from solving these sorts of complex problems:

there’s a huge difference between not understanding something and not understanding it yet

Unfortunately, not enough people have the courage to try even the simplest of tasks. The following anecdotal story reveals just how pervasive this may be. My wife broke a windshield wiper the other day and went to local Canadian Tire for a replacement. At the check out the clerk asked if my wife would like a bag and my wife responded that a bag would not be necessary because our youngest son, Caleb, was going to immediately install the wiper–which he left to do. The clerks response was surprise and then turned to encouragement. She told my wife that most people had the shop install wipers even though they often had to wait a long time. The clerk went onto praise my wife that we had given our son a wonderful gift in teaching him how to do these sorts of things.

While I appreciate the kind words, I am also saddened and concerned by this experience. Replacing a windshield wiper is not even a task that my boys, or I, would consider complex–it is just something we all have to do. Teaching my children how to deal with complex systems and to solve problems shouldn’t be considered a gift–it is my responsibility as a parent. If I want my boys to grow into men of character who can positively contribute to society, they must not only learn how to solve ever day complex problems, they also need the courage and confidence to be able to tackle future problems that currently do not exist.

Are we as parents, schools and society doing enough to prepare our children to solve the complex problems that face society and the world?

In Leadership, Learning , ,
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Given Tablets but No Teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves

Dwayne Harapnuik —  November 2, 2012 — 2 Comments
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506466/given-tablets-but-no-teachers-ethiopian-children-teach-themselves/

Given Tablets but No Teachers, Ethiopian Children Teach Themselves | MIT Technology Review via kwout

Earlier this year, OLPC workers dropped off closed boxes containing the tablets, taped shut, with no instruction. “I thought the kids would play with the boxes. Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, found the on-off switch … powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child, per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs in the village, and within five months, they had hacked Android,” Negroponte said. “Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera, and they figured out the camera, and had hacked Android.”

This is a classic example of discovery or inquiry based learning. Given the right resources and opportunities children will learn how to use to a computer.

This is not the first time we have seen children teach themselves. Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK has learned from his Hole in the Wall project that children can learn as how to use a PC on their own and then teach other children. Mitra continues to ask what else children can learn. The following TED talk summaries the results of his Hole in the Wall project.

Mitra’s research that shows that children become computer literate without the aid of a teacher is formally presented in the academic paper Acquisition of computing literacy on shared public computers: Children and the “hole in the wall”

The OLPC experiment and Mitra’s Hole in the Wall research confirm that children can learn to become computer literate irrespective of who and where they are. What else can children learn on their own?

In 21st century learning ,
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20 Most Popular TED Talks

Dwayne Harapnuik —  October 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

When I first saw this list I was surprised that I had only missed a couple of the top 20. There is no denying that TED, Youtube, and video, in general, are changing the way that we think and learn.

#1 – Sir Ken Robinson says that schools are educating us out of our creativity
#2 – Jill Bolte Taylor demonstrates what a stroke does to the brain
#3 – Pranav Mistry uses the SixthSense to reveal a paper laptop
#4 – David Gallo reveals the mystery behind the sea creatures of the deep
#5 – Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry show how the real world and infinite world of data interact
#6 – Tony Robbins says that an ‘invisible force’ is what motivates us
#7 – Simon Sinek discusses how and why great leaders inspire action
#8 – Steve Jobs told Stanford grads how to live life before you die
#9 – Hans Rosling argues why the U.S. is not the most powerful nation in the world
#10 – Brené Brown discusses the power of vulnerability, courage, authenticity and shame
#11 – Dan Pink delves into the science behind motivation
#12 – Arthur Benjamin shares the power of understanding mathematics
#13 – Elizabeth Gilbert says everyone is a genius
#14 – Dan Gilbert reveals the science behind happiness
#15 – Stephen Hawking ponders the deepest questions about the universe
#16 – Jeff Han shows why computer mouses will soon become obsolete
#17 – Johnny Lee transforms the Wii remote into fascinating objects
#18 – Keith Barry hacks the most complex thing in nature, the human brain
#19 – Mary Roach reveals the most surprising facts about orgasm
#20 – Vijay Kumar demos robots that fly like birds

Please note the links to the above TED talks to go Youtube. If you wish to view the talk on the TED site and have access to the transcript then refer to the original Business Insider post.

How many of the top 20 TED talks have you watched?

In Learning , ,
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Stop Stealing Dreams: Seth Godin on the Future of Education

Dwayne Harapnuik —  October 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

What is school really for…?

In 21st century learning, Video - Wednesday Watchlist ,
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Smart failure for a fast-changing world

Dwayne Harapnuik —  October 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

The key concept in this talk needs repeating:

And this is what I’m trying to explain has happened to us in the 21st century. Somebody or something has changed the rules about how our world works. When I’m joking, I try and explain it happened at midnight, you see, while we were asleep, but it was midnight 15 years ago. Okay? You didn’t notice it? But basically, what they do is, they switched all the rules round, so that the way to successfully run a business, an organization, or even a country, has been deleted, flipped, and it’s a completely new — you think I’m joking, don’t you — there’s a completely new set of rules in operation. Did you notice that? I mean, you missed this one. You probably — No, you didn’t. Okay.

My simple idea is that what’s happened is, the real 21st century around us isn’t so obvious to us, so instead we spend our time responding rationally to a world which we understand and recognize, but which no longer exists.

The following video provides another perspective on the World After Midnight:

The world has radically changed and most people are still trying to make sense of it in from a perspective that no longer exists. Where you up at midnight 15 years ago? Did you notice the change? Some of us were…so why won’t you listen to us?

In 21st century learning, Innovation , ,
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