read his book - tell me a story
steve's dad was dean of admissions at stanford... dang...
didn't do well in school, barely graduated college, ended up at stanford
all you ever did when you were listening is match what you heard with what you already knew..
that's how computers are going to get better
trying to figure out why people don't like schools
realization - doesn't have to do with kids or intelligence
schools were designed around a problem
not around - what would you do to make a computer smart -
what would you do to make a kid smart
only 2 things wrong with school:
what we teach and how we teach it
steve: do you think that passion and authenticity makes it hard for people to hear you
roger: much more famous in spanish speaking countries
why? - i can say algebra shouldn't be taught... and others could say - ok to algebra but not....(their discipline)
i say - they are all ridiculous
people say - yeah but i'm really good at x...there's always some sacred subject
in order for change - need to realize system was designed around false principles... there is no sacred subject
fallacious assumptions:
1) people don't learn by listening (the best a teacher can do is be a guide)
2) each subject you think you must know - quad eq on sat but is never used by people in life
why is quad eq taught... charles elliott's (pres of harvard) subcommittee, guy prof fine, chair of math dept, selling an algebra textbook... so he wanted it in there
entire country in an uproar over our math success when we all don't use it
how many kids do we lose because they don't think they're smart enough to know the stuff we insist... we actually it's just that they're not smart enough to know that they don't need to know.
Nick Siewert: David Perkins at Harvard now is very hot on this topic. What's worth knowing.
huge
stories..to make a pointwe are all collections of lots of stories we tell
we tend to forget life and remember our stories
we're creating and rehearsing the story that will become the memory
human memory is organized around stories.
human dialogue is organized around story exchange
when you listen - you are waiting for opportunity to tell your story that you are reminded of by someone else's stories..
so by listening you are gather more info to combine more stories to become
why you can't understand a lecture... each person is reminded of own story and making own connections - so they only way we can make lectures work - if they are not being reminded of own stories.. but then they are not learning
how can i get that expert knowledge in front of the right person at the right time - just in time stories
yes - you could share stories with right people.
problem with blogging, blog found through google...
what should you go to school for... he tricked google to give roger's answer when you google that question
index... humans are constructing an unconscious index
we need to teach the machine to know that...
blog would find you at the moment in need - like people do - they tell stories when they feel are needed
john seeley brown
one cannot convince the government
one cannot convince the teachers - they are powerless
one has to build the alternatives
nobody rich actually cares about ed..
learning is about experimenting - any child at any age is experimenting... that notion of experimentation gets stamped out in school and replaced with - we're going to teach you how to run an experiment - so you're just copying
so we take what is natural and ruin it
what ought to be the nature of learning isn't going on in school...
we should have help with how to do good diagnosis
school is about good solutions to problems...
just in time ed is critical
problem with ed - everyone on same page on same day
when we should let kids do whatever with their story
problem with home schooling - that they are doing school at home
what should do is teach kid what they are interested in
gosh roger schank... we need you...
he has 12 things we should be doing... not that they should become a curriculum...
diagnosis - notice
prediction - dream
experimentation -do/connect
evaluation
description
then reflect on all of these
he's building a first grade for his grandson
first grade engineering curric
don't tell kids what they should be interested in...
listen enough to know who they are
what i care about - is that my kids are passionate about anything..
other voices: steve wycoft - wichita -
you can't fight mcgraw hill...
the enemy is college profs at the ivy league schools... the curric is dictated by the colleges
test scores and standardized so they can't be judgmental
admissions is where it starts
even at uni level can't teach what kids need to learn
why calc requirement... sometimes used to weed kids out
everyone wants a ba from harvard but no one can say what they learned there for real life
stop thinking about creating scholars and
start thinking about things that people can use.
all good ed starts with a problem - that may be beyond the knowledge of the students - but never beyond the interest of the students
mba program
plan to turn into a hs mba program - cool jets (noodlestorm)
offer kids the opportunity to launch their own business.. and all the things they learn by doing
mentor available - not about getting a's about making the plan fly, the business up and running
diff between a student and those who drop out..
c student -
people who survive have an inherent self-confidence
successes are those who withstood it and came out with a passion and interest..
ideal in 10 years... 100's of online currics with mentors available...everyone learning same thinking ability within domain of their own.
dang.. exactly what we've been doing...
only i would push for - students create curriculum...
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