Welcome to My Personal-Professional Web Site.

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.

MY BACKGROUND

• Curriculum Vitae
• Research and Scholarly Agenda
• Multiple Perspectives and Connections: My Passions and Interests

MY PAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS

• My Writings Index Page
• Selected Conference Presentation Papers
• Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists -- Elementary Science Teaching Methods Textbook

CURRENT PROJECTS & INTERESTS

• My Current Projects and Interests - Start Page
• Innovative Kids Project with an Introductory Video
• Metapatterns

RESEARCH

• Research Tools and Resources
• Research, Theory, and Resources
• Learning and Cognition
• Metapatterns

PEOPLE OF NOTE

• Gregory Bateson
• Bateson @ 100: Multiple Versions of the World -- report on the conference

TEACHING

• My Teaching Index Page
• ECI 306 Science in the Elementary School - Overview Page
• ECI 306 Science in the Elementary School - Main Page
• ECI 599 Contemporary Developments: Complexity Theories in Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum

ASSISTANT CHAIR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Jeff Bloom's Assistant Chair Page

MY OTHER WEBSITES

• The Exploring Science Site
• My Blog - "Connections"
• My Blog - "Science Education for Kids"
• Chaos and Complexity Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association

PHOTOS

• Photos
• My Photos at Flickr.com

• Go to the Login Panel on the upper right-side.
• "Click here to register"
• Send me an email at jeff.bloom@nau.edu with the following information (if I do not know you already):
• full name
• city/state/country location
• email address
• other information about who you are, what you do, etc.
• why you'd like to register
• I may either approve your registration or send an email to you first. If I do send an email, please reply.

This information and process has become necessary in order to prevent people from registering then trying to hack the site and/or add abusive or distasteful material to forums, comments, and the shout box. However, I do hope people will register and start some interesting conversations.