Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

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.

Despite the widespread belief that "what worked for me will work for everyone,” there are many many variables that affect how one experiences a classroom and how those experiences will change a student's ability to interact with information and with other humans in the future.

The rate of replacement of one technology with another led to the situation where I can show teachers how to use new devices at the beginning of the school year and new devices before the end of the school year.

As an undergraduate student enrolled in a course on teaching methods, I made an appointment with the staff at a small media office and had them sign a sheet confirming that I successfully threaded a film strip into a projector and had operated a video cassette recorder.

"Different problems require different approaches." Yeah...unfortunately many leaders do not realize this.

If the curriculum is “too easy” or “too hard,” students pay little attention and make little progress. When the curriculum is “just right,” students “get it.” When we standardize education, we ignore this reality of learning.