Blog
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Education is flooded with buzzwords. Those usually represent trending methods or subjects that everyone is talking about, due to their potential to transform education. Some of those words are project-based learning, problem-based learning, critical thinking, 21st century skills, and deep learning. These words are interesting because everyone is talking about them and try to do…
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The headlines about the latest OECD report were loud and clear:“Computers do not improve pupil results.” These controversial headlines were the outcome of a study published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) examining the impact of school technology on international test results such as the PISA test taken in more than 70…
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I don’t like tests. I have never been very good at it. I get extremely anxious in tests, making me forget half of the things I studied. Throughout the years I got used to them and performed better, but I never thought much of them. I could never understand what was the purpose of doing…
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Computer programming is hot again. Not like in the 80s, when Seymour Papert’s Logo programming became popular for several years and then declined when the education world failed to see the evolving technological revolution that was taking place in daily life. This time the movement to teach kids to code carries with it a sense…
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About a month ago I was intrigued to read that Finland was about to embark on one of the most radical education reform programs ever undertaken by a nation state–scraping traditional “teaching by subject” in favor of “teaching by topic”. It was big news because Finland is the first nation to realize that they need…
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We are constantly faced with problem solving situations at work and in daily life, which makes problem solving one of the most important skills that students can learn. In an economy that heavily relies on expert thinking and complex communication, the need to posses those deep learning skills, which consist of problem-solving, critical thinking, communication,…
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About a week ago, while searching on google, I discovered a website that intrigued me. It was the site of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning–a global partnership between education experts, schools systems, philanthropic and private sector organizations and hundreds of schools around the world. Their hope is to gather the experiences of all that are involved…
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As an advocate of project-based learning,my students were always busy working on projects. While observing them work,it always occurred to me,that there was a fundamental flaw in the way they were approaching problems. Instead of engaging in an investigative process of discovery that leads to deep learning,they approached it as a process of searching information…
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It has been a long time since my last blog entry, but I was busy founding a new educational startup called Project Pals. Project Pals is a web-based application where students can create projects with others. Project Pals is focused on “How to Solve the Problem” based on established findings in cognitive science. The application…
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As soon as I walked into this middle school classroom,I noticed that it was completely different from what I’d seen before. The classroom was quite big and students were working in groups, gathered around round tables or sitting on the floor next to their laptops. The elevated noise level was apparent, but no one seemed…
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One of my favorite things to do while reading a book is creating a vision of what the scenes and characters look like. For as long as the reading lasts,I can turn into an imaginary director –staging scenes,dressing characters,and putting on my own show. Later,if the book is made into a movie,I enjoy comparing my…
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In a typical middle school, a social studies teacher was contemplating how to commemorate black history month in a way that will leave a lasting impact on students who had no idea what type of life, humiliations, and struggles the black community in America had experienced. She decided to pick “The Story of an Escape:Flight…