Category: STEM Education
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what is teaching anyway? (complicated argument 2)
Yesterday I ranted about politics, the reason being that education is crucial to our continued existence as a semi-democracy. The specter of a fascist, conspiracy-theory driven regime in Washington is so beyond horrifying to me. I noticed today that a group of teachers of the year have broken their own rules about remaining neutral in…
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why group-work is essential for learning
These children are engaged in what developmental psychologist Barbara Rogoff calls “intent participation.” Each group is learning to perform an engineering task with no teacher. The girls at upper left are constructing a book support out of newspapers and masking tape. The other two groups are constructing parachutes out of coffee filters. None of…
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Science Education for All. I Mean it: Each and All
I’m reading Larry Cuban’s new book, Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice, which has a chapter on the history of science education reform. (Note the subtitle, Change without Reform in American Education.) He quotes Jonathan Osborne, who points out that the goals of science education appear to be contradictory. Are we aiming to produce…
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Why STEM Education?
I keep coming back to some fundamental questions: What kind of world do we want to live in? Are we taking the steps to create the world we want? What is the role of STEM education in a world of 7 billion people (and growing). In my opinion, without advance of technology and increase in…