Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown. -Stephen Jay Gould

Nothing is more dangerous than a dogmatic worldview - nothing more constraining, more blinding to innovation, more destructive of openness to novelty. - Stephen Jay Gould

Teaching: “deliberate assistance provided us facilitate learning.” Yup, that seems accurate... and indicates the ambiguous nature of our work. #education

Learning can result because of teaching or despite teaching.

It is sad to hear and see the first response that education leaders give to include “the data.” For almost every situation you face, neither the problem nor the solution is “in the data.” #education #schools #highschool #highered #leadership

Observation leads to inference; inference to conjecture. Conjecture to observation.

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. -Stephen Jay Gould

If you say, “this is how all students should be taught,” I will stop listening. #teaching

Variation and persistence produce culture.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. - Albert Einstein

Scientific theories are not arbitrary. They reflect reality of nature and human interaction with nature. #science

When does “think, pair, share” stop becoming innovative instruction?

“No amount of belief makes something a fact” - James Randi

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy. - Richard Feynman

Toffler: The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.

If you are not doing statistics, you can't be a "data person."

Toffler: You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment.

Eric Hoffer: Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.

Is it just me or does every call for “accountability” translate to “do what I want” especially if it makes absolutely no sense?

Speaker: “Learning styles help design lessons.”

Audience member: “But learning styles are not real.”

S: “No, my learning style changes depending on who is teaching, the topic, and other things.

A: “Yeah, that’s the point. If learning styles were real, then they wouldn’t change.”