Heft: Finding Weight in a Weightless Age
Heft might be due a revival... The path forward requires more than just reaction to the lightness of technology; it requires the intentional protection and promotion of those weightier parts of life that tether us to meaning, responsibility, and connection.
Wayfinders, Navigation and Progress
Wayfinders are extraordinary – highly trained, technology free and remarkably successful navigators. I’ve been wondering quite a bit recently about data, measuring progress and all that sort of thing, especially given complexity, and these Polynesian navigators provide some rich lessons, I think. They’re not operating...
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, […]
24 Books for Teachers
There’s probably a more graceful way to put this list up and there’s certainly a catchier title for this post but for the moment/in no particular order here are some titles that might be of interest. I’ve certainly found them useful pointers in some shape or form. A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at […]
Even idleness is eager now
From George Eliot’s Adam Bede [via the brilliant Brain Pickings] Surely all other leisure is hurry compared with a sunny walk through the fields from “afternoon church”… Ingenious philosophers tell you, perhaps, that the great work of the steam-engine is to create leisure for mankind. Do not believe them: it only creates a vacuum...
Questions & Answers & Feynman
via The Science Explorer
MIST – Educational Videos for Maths and Science
Outside the day job, I’ve been working away trying to repurpose an old project called MIST (Mentored Investigations into Science and Technology) and is essentially a set of videos and lesson ideas for maths and science at the primary level. I’ve also put up a number of “cheat sheets” for those teaching science...
TLAB Notes
Took a while to get there, what with train cancellations, but it was worth it. Lots to think about, though various themes/books seemed to be being hammered home. Nuthall’s Hidden Lives of Learners and Berger’s Ethic of Excellence were heavily plugged. Notes from what I saw: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore Institute of Cognitive...
Couple of School Projects
There are a couple of mini-projects I thought I’d share. FPS Zoo The first is the FPS Zoo. Most of our Year 6 have finished exams so this is an experiment to tie in various cross-curricular themes in (hopefully) a fun way. The idea is to make a zoo full of made-up animals. Science will […]
Notes from Martin Robinson’s 21st C Trivium
Some dog-ears from Martin Robinson’s Trivium 21stC Spoon-feeding “No longer were the students expected to enter the kitchen; rather they chose from a menu and expected it to be served up ready-cooked. This is the problem with spoon-feeding: the whole process devalues the making and concentrates on the service.” Art vs...