Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Humans use technology for useful purposes. Sometimes the ones envisioned by the developers; always the ones they find useful.

In reading what commentators wrote about science and society 40 years ago, I see the rejection of science is a problem we have had for generations.

Customization of Computers
https://hackscience.education/2019/10/04/customization-of-computers/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Curriculum intended to teach everyone everything is going to be too broad to teach anything.

Students do have interests unlike the interests of others. These are a valuable source of motivation that we miss when we teach a standard curriculum, and they represent valuable (economically, socially, and personally) skills that are undeveloped during their schooling.

When I hear about school IT, I hear lots about Chromebooks. I know that is the dominant devices for students. I understand it. They are inexpensive and easy to manage. They do not, however, help students to be facile computer users.

Just because it is deterministic does not mean it is predictable.

The things you learn when you read books.

In the decades I have been working with computers and students, I have found that students are very content following reasonable rules about computing that are well-explained to them. Explaining the potential threats is more effective than punishments.

Human knowledge is far more than information, and what we learn or when we apply what we have learned, it is rarely as clearly bounded as our curriculum would have it.

“Knowing stuff” may be necessary to apply it, but teachers who think their work done when students have demonstrated knowing are leaving the most important work undone.

Of all the jobs done in schools, managing the IT is the one they would be least prepared to assume if they needed to.

How Education is Changing
https://hackscience.education/2019/10/03/how-education-is-changing/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Plato observed, “You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom” about writing.

What we think, how we think, and the types of thinking we value depend largely on the nature of the information technology we experience.

Extraneous cognitive load is that which is wasted by the learners managing bad design or poor organization of information or information technology tools.

When using IT, “performance gains are often obstructed by users' unwillingness to accept and use available systems" was observed 35 years ago. It is still true in many settings.

Every theory clearly identifies those factors that are relevant and that deserve managers’ attention as they design interventions. Those who ignore the importance of theory in their work are misguided.

One Teacher’s Experience
https://hackscience.education/2019/10/02/one-teachers-experience/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

In the vernacular, “theory” is associated with ideas that are incomplete or not necessarily true. It has a much different meaning when used by scientists.

School leaders make budget and personnel decisions that impose unrealistic limits on IT professionals, and they advocate for practices beyond the capacity of the available IT or are contrary to the professional tendencies of the teachers.