Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

If you are certain of the answer, you are most likely wrong.

If you are not the *one and only* person who determines if you reach a goal, do not set it.

“We will never solve problems with this same level of consciousness we used to create them.” Albert Einstein was right.

Fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves.... Bertrand Russell was right

Criticism in #edtech has been needed for decades. Asking “Why?” has been met with incredulity since the Apple II days.

A blog post on parge language model, now with audio:
https://hackscience.education/2025/05/07/large-language-models/

A blog post for students in my database design and management course:
https://hackscience.education/2025/06/11/database-schema/

A blog post for students in my database design and management course:
https://hackscience.education/2025/06/11/database-schema/

Darwin used vox populi, vox dei (the voice of the people us the voice of God) to suggest “knowledge that we all know to be true” often blocks understanding. He was right.

Problems. Interesting problems.
I have taught long enough to realize they are way more important than learning outcomes.

“Students didn’t do the reading, so I must lecture...” maybe if the reading led to an interesting and engaging activity in class, they would do the reading?

Seriously, how did we eat pizza before they started making hot honey?

Seriously. How did we write before citation management software?

Inaccurate, biased, incomplete data is one factor that led me to leave public education... along with leaders who failed to realize it.

Once you understand the parts don’t explain the whole, you are beginning to understand a complex problem.

“Openness to differences, openness to alternatives, openness to other people.” Yeah, that’s were our future lies, whether we like it or not.

The debates about what we should teach students, are all the same. They seek to answer the question "which technologies are the correct ones for students to learn?"

"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, .plausible, and wrong."
- H. L. Mencken

Wonder is what we call the thinking in which we conduct thought experiments. It is valuable in many situations. Too bad school does not appreciate its role in solving important and troubling problems.

Wisdom begins with wonder. - Socrates