Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Data and information, which are the focus of instruction, are still needed, but alone those do not represent adequate education.

Once you have a way of thinking, you attempt to solve all problems through that method.

What you define as “natural” is grounded in familiar technology.

Before scientists accept an observation, other independent scientists must document the same observation. This requires science be done in a public and open manner and scientists must report what they did so that others can criticize and verify.

Brain Development
https://hackscience.education/2019/06/10/brain-development/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

The less controlled the variables in our data collection, the more tentative the conclusions must be.

Scientists begin with the null hypothesis (that there is no difference between two groups), and then will either accept the null hypothesis (if there appears to be no effect) or reject the null hypothesis (if there appears to be an effect).

Good science allows us to predict observations and to explain those observations: If we do A it will cause B, because of this mechanism.

Too often teachers simply repeat their original explanation, only slower, in hopes that students will understand.

On Portfolios
https://hackscience.education/2019/06/03/on-portfolios/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

In primates, the size of the neocortex is positively correlated with social interactions; the bigger the neocortex, the greater social interaction observed in the species.

Despite its central role in much of the myth and culture of schooling which is deeply embedded in our society, intelligence is a relatively recent construct and it is no more a natural phenomenon than the bells and schedules that organize students' and teachers' days.

Teachers often assume reading and hearing are methods whereby information can be transferred into the brains of the students.

Epistemology is something that is deeply important to educators in the modern world, especially if they are going to be sufficiently flexible to evaluate recipes, to adopt and adapt those that are useful, to discard them when they are no longer useful.

Who has access to technology matters… it matters a lot.

Someone Please Call These People and Tell Them it is 2019-- a post made 5 years ago, but still timely.
https://hackscience.education/2019/05/31/someone-please-call-these-people-and-tell-them-it-is-2019/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

What if intelligence only emerges from lived experience. Can it be artificial?

We left the earthquake last week. We are experiencing an eclipse this today. I've heard some wacky conspiracy theories. It must be fun to just shit up and not worry about following nature.

A View of Technology
https://hackscience.education/2019/05/29/a-view-of-technology/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

The reality for educators is that no recipe will work for all students in all areas (or even for the same students on different days). Educators must constantly reinvent their curriculum and instruction as students, learning science, and pedagogical tools change.