I was completely astonished after watching Did you Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version and the original version Did you Know 3.0 by Karl Fisch and Scott Mcleod. It was very disheartening to see how far behind the United States is compared to China and India. Both videos were full of interesting data. From the videos I learned that there are more honor students in India than there are students in the United States; and there are 18 million Chinese that speak English and if all the people in China that are currently "learners" of the English language actually learn it, by 2025 the Chinese will out number the amount of native English speakers in the rest of the world. The worst part of this information is that 93% of all 8-18 year olds had computers in their home 2 years ago and I am pretty sure that percentage is higher now. The video also stated that there are more than one million Google searches per minute. So, with all the technology and information we have at our finger tips, why is the United States so far behind? Did you know? I sure didn't.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman was about an old man that wakes up after sleeping for a hundred years. When he walks into an office building he sees many things he has never seen before like computer and printers. He observes people in video conferences with people from other parts of the world. Disturbed and feeling a little sick he goes to a hospital to find machines that are keeping people alive. He sees nurses and doctors looking at ex-rays of peoples bones. With the hospital not making him feel any better he travels to a school and finds that everything is just as he remembered it 100 years ago.
It is very disturbing that in most schools this is true. Children are being taught the same way they were taught a hundred years ago. This needs to change! Our children need to learn how to use the technology that exists today so they will be prepared to learn how to use new technologies that will exist in their future.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
I really enjoyed watching Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity. Robinson addressed the lack of creativity that exists in the public school system. Not only in the United States, but around the world creativity is at the bottom of the list. Our school system doesn't allow children to use their creativity and as they grow up they lose all the natural creativity they were born with. For me the one thing Robinson said that really stuck with me was, "If your not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original."
The point being, if we do not allow kids to be creative they will grow up as adults and be scared to try new things and task. The education system I think needs to spend as much time on kids creativity as they do on all other subjects; such as math, science and language.
Pinterest is not like every other online tool. Pinterest is very different and very unique. Pinterest is not just grab a piece of paper and a pen website, it has a ton of stuff to do for all ages. The education part of Pinterest is very fun and creative. It has crafts and games and fun learn activites for all ages.
Like the picture says above; it gets students attention and keeps their attention, it will help you organize lesson plans, and is a inquiry based learning. If you have an IPhone or Android there is an app for Pinterest. Go check it out!
Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteYou said something that stuck out to you is the sentence "if your not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original." I agree, it was something that hit home with me. I'm just curious as to your thoughts beyond that fact that kids lose their creativity as they grow. Do you think this is harming the next generation of adults in the job market?
In your classroom, how would you promote the arts? Some schools don't have the funding for an fine arts program. It's becoming more and more up to the teacher to promote the arts. Some teachers have found projects that require creativity to complete.
I think you misunderstood the comparative data on China, India and the United States. India has four times the population of the United States and China has five times the population of America, This means that the size of the population leads to the large numbers of "honor students" or English speakers when India or China are compared to the United States. You could also say that the 20 % of the population in China with the largest ears (or 25% of the population with the largest ears in India) outnumbers all of the people with ears of any size in the United States.
ReplyDelete"The worst part of this information is that 93% of all 8-18 year olds had computers in their home 2 years ago..." Why do you use the word worst?
Thoughtful. Interesting.