Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org
- On the web:
- https://hackscience.education/
Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation at a community college in New England
Retired k-12 science/ math/ technology teacher/ technology integration specialist/ coordinator
Joined Nov 2022
"There is no learning without having to pose a question."-Richard Feynman
It is through the work of rethinking about our knowledge to make it understood by others that we come to understand it.
The student who says “I know what I mean, I just can't say it” is about to experience a breakthrough and transition from having a sense of an idea to understanding it in language which is a social construction.
“The forces that shape the background [of human knowledge] are the social forces, always at work, within which and against which individuals configure their identity. These create not only grounds for reception, but grounds for interpretation, judgment, and understanding.” - John Seeley Brown
The solitary human devising a solution to a survival or other cognitive problem appears to be a rare person.
Once conceptualized, intelligence has captured educators' attention in a singular way. The profession has (unsuccessfully ) sought more reliable and valid methods of measuring intelligence with increased objectivity.
The concepts central to school (smart, intelligent, thinking, numeracy, literacy, even memory and learning) are neither well-understood nor well-defined.
Are math students supposed to be able to quickly and correctly apply algorithms to "evaluate" equations? Should they be able to pass tests? Should they be able to explain what they did to solve a problem and why they did it? Should they be able to use math to solve "word problems?" Should they be able to create their own mathematical solutions? Should they be able to solve problems even if we are not studying them?
Epistemology is deeply important to educators in the modern world, especially if they are going to be sufficiently flexible to evaluate recipes prompted by a range of folks, to adopt and adapt those that are useful, to discard them when they are no longer useful.
Personal incredulity isn’t evidence.
In Case You Didn’t Know, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
https://hackscience.education/2020/04/04/in-case-you-didnt-know-hackers-geniuses-and-geeks-created-the-digital-revolution/?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).
"Knowledge is a set of facts that can be memorized and repeating those facts demonstrates knowledge of them." 🤦
Learning Online: The Student Experience
https://hackscience.education/2020/03/29/learning-online-the-student-experience/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
As we becomes more sophisticated epistemologically, we recognize that knowledge changes and that much knowledge is not objective.
In general, educators are slow to adopt changes. In general, we believe that our existing instruction is excellent, and so we are hesitant to change.
Elevator Pitch on Zone of Proxial Development https://hackscience.net/2024/09/02/elevator-pitch-on-zone-of-proxial-development/
- On the web:
- https://hackscience.education/
Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation at a community college in New England
Retired k-12 science/ math/ technology teacher/ technology integration specialist/ coordinator
Joined Nov 2022
