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How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

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Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#71

Post by Ologn »

niccl wrote: post #64
Ologn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right that there is nothing new about almost all of these ideas. John Dewey covered a lot of this in his 1902 book "The Child and the Curriculum".

So what if it's not absolutely new? It's new to the people in their specific context and _appears_ to be producing results, again, in that specific context. Very little of what we do is new, but still has merit when applied in a novel way or a novel context.

"So what" is that the article says it is new when it is not new.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#72

Post by hosh »

3minus1 wrote: post #39
ef4 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but how can you possibly know whether the average person is innately stupid and incurious or whether school makes them that way? Anyone who spends time with small children knows that before they reach school age, they are all absurdly curious about the world, and they absorb information like a sponge. I suppose you think it's just a coincidence that they lose that curiosity right around the time they start being…

> I suppose you think it's just a coincidence that they lose that curiosity right around the time they start being stuffed into classrooms. I mean come on. Yeah, little kids are curious, but do you really think that curiosity will translate to the amount of sustained concentration it takes to learn a complex subject like algebra. I'm currently taking a computer science class and any time I don't feel like studying bu…

It can happen. Lots of little kids and teenagers sustain effort to play video games.

There is something to be said about being able to sustain effort over long periods of time (months, years) to master something, whose training includes things that are not pleasant. However, this is not something that formal education does very well. Ultimately, the person learning is the one who has to concentrate. Sticks and carrots do not necessarily goad someone into concentrating.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#73

Post by smellf »

> in 2010 only 50 percent of public school staff members in the US were teachers.

This has as much to do with schools hiring "staffers" and "instructional assistants" as a cost-cutting measure as it does with top-heavy public school bureaucracy. It's akin to the "associate/adjunct professor" fiasco in a college environment.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#74

Post by jacalata »

a_c_s wrote: post #44
ef4 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but how can you possibly know whether the average person is innately stupid and incurious or whether school makes them that way? Anyone who spends time with small children knows that before they reach school age, they are all absurdly curious about the world, and they absorb information like a sponge. I suppose you think it's just a coincidence that they lose that curiosity right around the time they start being…

1. I dispute your assertion that children 'lose that curiosity right around the time they start being stuffed into classrooms' - I don't think most people lose their curiosity. I think some people who chafe against rules and conformity may, but I don't see most people being in that category. 2. I also find being able to focus on subjects that are not innately interesting is a useful skill, as are conforming to simple…

Actually, the recorded literacy rate is 86% in the USA[0]. The only number I can find for numeracy is this study [1], and depending on whether 'level 1' is considered numerate, it seems to show that between 5% and 20% of the US population is innumerate.

[0] - http://www.statisticbrain.com/number-of-american-adults-who-... [1] - http://skills.oecd.org/documents/SkillsOutlook_2013_Chapter2..., p75

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#75

Post by xux »

noonespecial wrote: post #13

“I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.” ― Stanley Kubrick

What he fails to observe is that most kids don't have motivation to do anything.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#76

Post by phaemon »

ht_th wrote: post #4
hobs wrote: post #2

Children want to learn, and if you dont beat out their love of learning by forcing them into a box that hardly anyone fits in, their inherent need to understand the world comes out. Its almost... logical.

I am a fervent proponent for modern constructionistic learning environments, but affecting change in the current system is almost impossible. Some teachers are enthusiastic and willing to spend their own time to develop and implement these modern* ideas about learning, but in the end, one way or another, they have to conform to the traditional educational system. If it isn't for management that presses for better tes…

> but affecting change in the current system is almost impossible

Sorry to be a pedant, but that should be "effecting change". "Affecting change" would be pretending that some change had occurred. I'm sure it was just a typo, but it's one that trips people up so much, I figured it would be better corrected.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#77

Post by lifeisstillgood »

tokenadult wrote: post #17
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #8

Aaawww nuts. Yes, education could be vastly improved, but you know what, my sons school is vastly improved over what I had. Since 1913 when IQ tests started being nationally or internationally graded, the IQ median has been kept at 100. But without that smoothing the median level of 1913 would be 77 or so today, and the median today would be in the 130s We have got smarter, or perhaps we have had mental tools passed…

Here is your reference, the talk by James R. Flynn on TED (spoken in March 2013, published on TED in September 2013) "James Flynn: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents'." http://www.ted.com/talks/james_flynn_why_our_iq_levels_are_h... The research by James R. Flynn on changes in IQ raw score levels over time in many different countries has been described by intelligence researcher N. J. Mackintosh like…

Thank you - and apologies for the late reply.

ps if you ever do come across this I would love to know if you have either a really good memory, do a lot of research on the spur if the moment, or have an impressive filing system? cheers

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#78

Post by tokenadult »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #77
tokenadult wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is your reference, the talk by James R. Flynn on TED (spoken in March 2013, published on TED in September 2013) "James Flynn: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents'." http://www.ted.com/talks/james_flynn_why_our_iq_levels_are_h... The research by James R. Flynn on changes in IQ raw score levels over time in many different countries has been described by intelligence researcher N. J. Mackintosh like…

Thank you - and apologies for the late reply. ps if you ever do come across this I would love to know if you have either a really good memory, do a lot of research on the spur if the moment, or have an impressive filing system? cheers

For topics that come up over and over and over again on Hacker news, I have a 251KB flat text file with some references on various topics (and a few of those appeared in my reply to you). The particular TED talk was memorable to me because a local researcher shared it to an email list for the journal club I participate in, and then I posted that TED talk to my Facebook wall.
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