Cellular Automata in Google Sheets
I’ve been exploring binary with Year 8s and thought they might like to have a look at the weird world of Cellular Automata. There are lots of resources out there but I couldn’t find one that helped them create their own easily. So I made this in Google Sheets. It’s pretty simplistic but essentially there […]
Remote Learning, The Cathedral and The Bazaar
COVID-19 has forced schools to offer some sort of elearning service. It has forced schools, essentially, to swivel and offer something they’re not used to, at a time of high stress and uncertainty. As teachers, we tend, naturally enough, to look for “solutions” in the direction of education for what works: academic...
What cathedral are you building?
I’ve been on a school trip to York these last few days. As you’ll know if you’ve been there, the Minster dominates the city. On a walk round the city walls, I was chatting with a 10-year old about the 250 years it took to build, from 1220 and 1472. We spoke about how many […]
Some edtech maths
Have been doodling on the back of a napkin this evening about edtech and its cost-benefit. Let’s say a new technology is being introduced into your school, with the promise of “50% better learning for all”. Let’s assume the following: After 1 year, by the end of the pre-Tech course, your class will have generated...
Snippets from A Gentleman in Moscow
From A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Tiptoeing down the stairs of reason “Whatever the endeavour, if the setting is glorious and the tenor grandiose, it will have its adherents. In fact, as the locations for duels became more picturesque and the pistols more finely manufactured, the best-bred men proved willing to defend their...
Snippets from The Science of Story
The cure for the horror is story We know how this ends. You’re going to die and so will everyone you love. And then there will be heat. All the change in the universe will cease, the stars will die. And there will be nothing left of anything but infinite dead freezing void. Human life, […]
Being “nobody-but-yourself”
In the face of "a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else" and to make you a "consumer", it feels very easy to follow the crowd and feel like you are "losing yourself"
Jaron Lanier, BUMMERs and Being Human
I’ve just finished reading Jaron Lanier’s 10 arguments for deleting your social media accounts. Some are more persuasive than others, but they’ve made me decide to delete my Facebook account for 2020. The arguments are all linked and as follows: There are plenty of other ways to enjoy the internet and all it provides...
Trust and Whole Selves
This video is worth a watch, I think. John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods, makes some great points about people in organisations. At its simplest, viewing people as ”Human Resources” gets it wrong because it limits. It ignores the idea that people come to the workplace wanting to bring their whole selves. It ties in […]
Facts, Stories & Brain Scans
“We tend to use the word story casually, as if stories and narratives were ephemeral decorations for some unchanging underlying reality. The deeper neurological truth is that stories do not cloak reality but create it, triggering cascades of perception and motivation. The proof is in brain scans: When we hear a fact, a few isolated...