By Allan Alach
‘Rote
repetition can result in some information being retained, although it is
not a particularly effective method of encoding information into memory.
Why, then, are so many kids forced to learn this way?’
The Truth
About School
Your thoughts?
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it
to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
What can we learn from children's writing? (via
Michael Fawcett)
‘A BBC Radio 2 short story competition aimed at children
up to the age of 13 has had 90,000 entries. It's an exercise in creativity but
the words they used have also been put into a database which gives us an
insight into the way they think. Every one of the 40 million words from the
story-writing competition has been collated and analysed by lexicographers at
the Oxford University Press, in order to monitor and track children's
language. Here are some of the
findings.’
Warning: not
necessarily compatible with standardised education….
Noam
Chomsky on Democracy and Education in the 21st Century and Beyond
Chomsky is always worth reading…
New
data shows school “reformers” are full of it
‘Reality,
though, is finally catching up with the “reform” movement’s propaganda. With poverty and inequality intensifying, a
conversation about the real problem is finally starting to happen. And the more
education “reformers” try to distract from it, the more they will expose the fact
that they aren’t driven by concern for kids but by the ugliest kind of greed —
the kind that feigns concerns for kids in order to pad the corporate bottom
line.’
Lesson
for Our Leaders: The Best Defense is a Good Offense
Criticism of educational sector groups for
‘roll over and scratch my tummy’ attitude towards the school ‘reformers’ is
rather frequent. This article suggests that the alternative approach would be
more productive.
‘Educators
and our representatives have been on the defensive for so long, many of us have
forgotten one of the lessons of the great strategist Sun Tzu - the best defense is a good offense.’
Revising
the questions that shape learning (via Bruce Hammonds)
‘In thinking about the current slate of policies shaping
education, I can’t help but feel we are asking, and attempting to answer, the
wrong questions — questions rife with assumptions; questions that limit
thinking; and questions that quell curiosity rather than fuel it.’
Some very good
questions are raised here.
How outdoor play inspires independent learning for early
years (via Bruce)
Bruce’s comment:
‘Sounds like the good old days”
The
Next Generation of Assessments Can—and Must—Be Better
Bruce’s comment: ‘What's going wrong in the
US and soon NZ by Linda Darling-Hammond ( great educationalist).’
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