hgamble

Swinging the opposite direction

I think that the Maker movmenet has great potential to revolutionize the way in which we teach science and engineering. I really interesting expression of it’s absence in highschools right now is the number of Freshman who come into Stanford every year saying they want to be physics majors. In highschools, often the closest thing… Read more Swinging the opposite direction

Experiential Education

I found Zimmerman’s study of place based learning to be particularly interesting because it rests on a similar educational philosophy as that of Programs like Outward Bounds of SPOT. The motivating philosophy behind outdoor educational experiences is that, with the guidance of an expert, people may push themselves to adapt to often inclement or less… Read more Experiential Education

Bedtime Books and coolmath

I found the Berkowitz study to be interesting mainly because I find it hard that they were able to find “math” books that did not also have an effect on children’s literacy. Separating the two seems impossible to me. To Berkowitz’s point though that mathematical skills lag behind literacy due to lack of parent interaction… Read more Bedtime Books and coolmath

Breaking the Symbol Barrier?

I found the breaking the symbol barrier to be very interesting but it left me with a number of lingering questions. The first is, the video narrator made a distinction between everyday math and higher order math. I wonder how he drew that distinction? Another question of mine is whether everyday math can translate into… Read more Breaking the Symbol Barrier?

Videogames as STEM Gatekeepers

Williams mentioned an interesting theory that I would like to use this post to further explore. That theory is that video games can often serve as a kind of introduction to STEM disciplines for children. The Granic reading points to multiple different area’s, both cognitive and motivational, that support this theory. One finding in Granic… Read more Videogames as STEM Gatekeepers

Assignment 1

URL: http://www.funbrain.com/ Goal : funbrain is a K-8 targeted educational game sight. Funbrain.com Review Funbrain.com boasts that they are the #1 website for educational games for children K-8. I guess my question to them would be, #1 in what? Funbrain is divided into four distinct sections: “math games” which predictably has links to games involving… Read more Assignment 1

Scaffolded Fantasy Play

An area that interests me from this weeks reading is the intersection of children’s fantasy play and social robots or “smart” toys. Pellegrini makes a strong argument for the importance of interactive fantasy play in the development of children’s ability to communicate abstract, non-obvious concepts. Does a “smart” toy detract from that value? It could… Read more Scaffolded Fantasy Play

A Delicate Balance

A major theme that kept popping up in “Putting the Education back in ‘Educational’ Apps” was that of between potentially conflicting “pillars of Learning Science.” The largest conflict was that which exists between making an app entertaining, but not to the level where it becomes distracting to a child(or adult for that matter!). I feel… Read more A Delicate Balance

Harry Toy