Metalearning, The Four Hour Chef, and Instructional Design. Sharebar My ears perked up when I heard the word metalearning in an interview with the author of The Four Hour Chef, a new book by Tim Ferriss. I was curious how metalearning—roughly defined as learning how to learn—related to a cook book. I wondered if the author had devised a new speed learning model based on experience that could be applied to instructional design. As it turns out, the author learns to cook as a way to demonstrate his methods for accelerated learning.
He claims his approach can overcome the dreariness of slow learning we often experience when acquiring new knowledge and skills. This is not an academic tome, but rather an informal, conversational and circular read. If you prefer a linear narrative, you won’t find it here. The DiSSS Method for Accelerating Learning Over the years, Ferriss has constructed a quick-learning methodology, known as DiSSS, that he’s used to learn languages, tango dancing and other pursuits. Second Set of Principles: CaFE. Trees of Knowledge. Hacking Everyday Objects Inspires Students to Explore Technology (Transcript) Jay: This circuit consists of a speaker, so you can hear the sounds when they're made, a battery for power. If we were to hook the circuit up to itself with no resistor... [ high-pitched tone ] ...you'll get that constant frequency.
If we disconnect the circuit, then we can hook it to another resistor. So, in the case of water... [ tone descends and ascends ] ...it's a variable resistor. This circuit sends electrons through the blue alligator clip and creates that wave that makes a sound. Well, what else is a resistor? Well, the whole world is a resistor. Jay: So, I'll just start. Jay: It's like the whole education system is locked down from some ancient, you know, 100-year-old idea, except for kindergarten.
Jay: We're going to forget that cans are for holding food, and we're going to make cans and everything else here do something else. I have a marrot triangle. The Leaning Tower of Flowers. Yeah. Jay: Great. Oh! Why Tech Still Hasn't Solved Education's Problems. One researcher has a compelling hypothesis as to why the once-booming ed-tech sector has struggled. Children at a school in Abuja, Nigeria, use prototypes from the 'One Laptop Per Child' program in 2007. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters) Remember MOOCs?
Two years ago, massive open online courses seemed to be everywhere. The wave of Internet-enabled disruption that had swept through the post office and the book store had now arrived at the quad, threatening the existence of America’s higher education system. Now, as another school year lurches into gear, those companies have a meek record. Why is that? Paul Franz has a guess as to why. Here are his thoughts: [<a href="//storify.com/ddmeyer/paul-franz-rains-hot-fire-on-the-silicon-valley-s" target="_blank">View the story "Paul Franz Rains Hot Fire on the Silicon Valley's Disruption of Education" on Storify</a>] Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change. Writing In The 21st Century. What are the arts but products of the human mind which resonate with our aesthetic and emotional faculties?
What are social issues, but ways in which humans try to coordinate their behavior and come to working arrangements that benefit everyone? There's no aspect of life that cannot be illuminated by a better understanding of the mind from scientific psychology. And for me the most recent example is the process of writing itself. (37 minutes) Introduction Psychologist Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct discussed all aspects of language in a unified, Darwinian framework, and in his next book, How The Mind Works he did the same for the rest of the mind, explaining "what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life".
He has written four more consequential books: Words and Rules (1999), The Blank Slate (2002), The Stuff of Thought (2007), and The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011). MOOCs as a Gathering Place | Sloan-C eLearning Landscape. At a recent conference, David Wiley, open education pioneer said that MOOCs (massive open online courses) were essentially 1999 online learning with the password protection taken away.
He’s certainly not alone in his dislike of all things MOOC – and no wonder. In the last three years the theory-work of decades of educators has been ignored and co-opted. A few good self-branders have suddenly discovered people can learn online. Worse, these people are becoming the voices of online learning and are, in some cases, claiming to be the discoverers of educational approaches we’ve all been using since the dawn of the Internet. Along with these activities, old school behaviorist approaches to learning have been married to MOOCs as if the only way to learn at-scale on the Internet is to standardize everything.
I have a complex relationship with the word MOOC. We are all aware, at this point, that the Internet has ushered us into a powerful moment in the history of learning. Written by Like this: Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality' - Christine Gross-Loh. Finnish education often seems paradoxical to outside observers because it appears to break a lot of the rules we take for granted. Finnish children don’t begin school until age 7. They have more recess, shorter school hours than many U.S. children do (nearly 300 fewer hours per year in elementary school), and the lightest homework load of any industrialized nation. There are no gifted programs, almost no private schools, and no high-stakes national standardized tests.
Yet over the past decade Finland has consistently performed among the top nations on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year olds in 65 nations and territories around the world. Finland’s school children didn’t always excel. Finland built its excellent, efficient, and equitable educational system in a few decades from scratch, and the concept guiding almost every educational reform has been equity. We used to have a system which was really unequal. What Do Finnish Teachers Think of Standardized Testing and Rankings?
What we can learn from Finland’s successful school reform. Finland came from behind to become the world leader in student achievement. Their strategy is the opposite of what we’re doing in America. Illustration by M. Glenwood One wonders what we might accomplish as a nation if we could finally set aside what appears to be our de facto commitment to inequality, so profoundly at odds with our rhetoric of equity, and put the millions of dollars spent continually arguing and litigating into building a high-quality education system for all children.
As an example, I am going to briefly describe how Finland built a strong educational system, nearly from the ground up. I use the term “teaching and learning system” advisedly to describe a set of elements that, when well designed and connected, reliably support all students in their learning. The Finnish Success Story Finland has been a poster child for school improvement since it rapidly climbed to the top of the international rankings after it emerged from the Soviet Union’s shadow. Qualified teachers. Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success. The Global One-Room Schoolhouse: John Seely Brown (Highlights from his "Entrepreneurial Learner" Keynote at DML2012) Watch Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education | Learning Without Frontiers Episodes | Learning Videos. Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.
Sir Ken Robinson - Changing Paradigms. Ken Robinson - The Element. Seth Godin on Failing Until You Succeed. STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS. Rita F. Pierson: WATCH: How A Teacher Encouraged Her Students With An 'F' TED and The Huffington Post are excited to bring you TEDWeekends, a curated weekend program that introduces a powerful "idea worth spreading" every Friday, anchored in an exceptional TEDTalk. This week's TEDTalk is accompanied by an original blog post from the featured speaker, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost community.
Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation! This blog was produced in collaboration with TED for the TED Talks Education Special. The one-hour special, which will include talks by Sir Ken Robinson, Geoffrey Canada and Bill Gates, will air on PBS on May 7 at 10pm EST. Teachers don't make a lot of money. In the spring of my career, I found myself questioning the choice of my life's work. I was on a plane recently and the flight attendant asked my name. I most certainly realize the extreme importance of being a competent teacher. Ideas are not set in stone. Debunking the Genius Myth. Picture a “genius” — you’ll probably conjure an image of an Einstein-like character, an older man in a rumpled suit, disorganized and distracted even as he, almost accidentally, stumbles upon his next “big idea.”
In truth, the acclaimed scientist actually said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” But the narrative around Einstein and a lot of accomplished geniuses — think Ben Franklin, the key and the bolt of lightning — tends to focus more on mind-blowing talent and less on the hard work behind the rise to success. A downside of the genius mythology results in many kids trudging through school believing that a great student is born, not made — lucky or unlucky, Einstein or Everyman. Harvard-educated tutors Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien began to notice that this belief about being born smart was creating a lot of frustration for the kids they tutored, and sometimes unwittingly reinforced by their parents.
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