My Concerns for Children and Education in Brief
I worry that we are losing sight of children in schooling. By politicizing schooling, our children have taken on the identity of a number in a box. Politicians aren't really interested in "THE child," only in the political capital they can accumulate by playing on the emotions of the voters. In addition, our educational institutions focus on educating "heads"... and only the left side of heads at that. This "educating" focuses not only on the logical and rational, but also on the superficial and disconnected. High-stakes testing, narrow and mechanistic views of curriculum, dispassionate and detached views of children, and limited views and visions of learning are "killing" our children. Most children enter school with their intelligence, curiosity, and creativity intact and thriving. However, it doesn't take long to turn them into living "robots," who no longer enjoy learning and who've lost their curiosity, passion, and creativity. Even though each child is unique, schools expect them to conform to some sort of lifeless standard. Children's voices are silenced; and their spirits are deadened. Yet, children are capable of so much more than we can ever imagine. This site and my other sites are devoted to exploring these issues and to pushing the limits of our assumptions about schooling and learning.
Announcements
Ecology of Mind - a film about
Gregory Bateson and His Ideas
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The Really Useful Elementary Science
Book — a wonderful resource for teachers and future teachers is now in print!
"A good elementary science teacher traverses a wide spectrum of science each year. While the content may be introductory, the breadth of science can be a challenge for anyone in the science community. The temptations for teachers can be to give up in despair and cherry-pick only those science topics with which the teacher is comfortable. Jeffrey W. Bloom has instead used the well founded notion of 'key ideas' to bring organization and economy to the breadth of science, and then linked those ideas to school grade levels as per the National Science Education Standards — all without dumbing down the content. I would expect any K-8 teacher of science to find this aptly–titled book of immediate value for the planning of grade appropriate science lessons without sacrificing rigor." |
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Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists
— a great companion to The Really Useful Science Book
“Jeffrey Bloom has deliberately added to the value of Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists in the second edition. In this book, he comprehensively connects the why to the how, providing those who use it with a vision and a pathway for effective teaching practice. As a veteran science educator, I understand that the goal of scientific literacy can, at times, seem insurmountably difficult to achieve, but this book will enable even the most inexperienced teachers to immediately address the problem of superficial science learning in their classrooms. |
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News
- September 9, 2010 — "What Passes for School Reform: 'Value-Added' Teacher Evaluation and Other Absurdities" by Alfie Kohn (Huffington Post)