Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Human thinking is individual improvisation in a sociocultural matrix. - Michael Tomasello

Primate brains vary according to social complexity, not environmental complexity.

Learning is not a spectator sport.

The more questions you ask—questions with difficult and complete answers—the more seriously I take you.

So many “best practices” are social conformity and don’t stand up to critical analysis.

Bias isn’t the existence of preferences, it is the unwillingness to abandon them.

Your claims should lead to reasonable predictions.
If you don’t observe what was predicted, you were likely wrong.

When authority is granted more credibility than observation, we all suffer.

If your students do well on tests, but are bored and not curious, have you accomplished anything?

Popular and high-quality are not the same... especially when evaluating information.

“Humans adjust new information to fit what they already know,” but what they “know” is largely based on bias.

Defining and framing the problem must be done by a diverse team, otherwise the solution solves only one small problem and likely causes many others.

“The ectoplasm of sampling error and other artifacts” is my new favorite term.

The cure for the misuse of science is not censorship, but clearer explanations, vigorous debates, and making science accessible to everyone. -Carl Sagan

Wicked problems are ill-defined & lack clear solutions, unlike tame problems. If these are foreign ideas, please look them up. Seriously. You can’t lead without knowing the difference. #WickedProblems #TameProblems #Education

“AI can facilitate a shift from teacher-centered learning to a model where the learner is an active agent and participant.” Sure, sure. Any idea how to make this happen?

I hear lots about how technology and AI will expand assessment, but all I ever see is more dynamic dashboards that don’t really tell us anything.

Traditional tests primarily measure short-term memory, which may not be the most relevant skill in an era of readily available and widely used information.

Evaluating students has changed significantly now that we have AI. Remember labs in high school? We are going to see a return to them.

Creativity is not using fancy fonts, colors, and adding pictures to presentations. It is putting ideas together that did not go together previously.