A VC - Latest Comments in Let The Students Teach

Re: Let The Students Teach

happyseaurchin — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:13:13 -0000

after teaching for ten years
i think the natural progression of the maths department is to become
the games department

algebra is just a special type of game playing
which should be kept from the game because of the strategic advantage it gives to all game playing :)

Re: Let The Students Teach

happyseaurchin — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:02:34 -0000

let's take it one step further
shall we?

there's an open source game that all schools could put on their servers
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
it's to do with teamwork
and with an entry fee of eg $1
schools could win $1,000's from their winning teams
and thus they would have money to play with
rather than just study it :)

i've been a maths teacher for some ten years...

Re: Let The Students Teach

chrisdorr — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:42:32 -0000

It is in East Providence, http://www.bigpicture.org/ has all the information.

Also see this article by Eliot Washor, Dennis's partner in the Big Picture Company,
http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

Re: Let The Students Teach

Guest — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:02:13 -0000

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:11:15 -0000

Thanks fraser. Looks great

Re: Let The Students Teach

Fraser — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:16:56 -0000

Fred, check out the Problem Based Learning approach that was pioneered at McMaster University in Hamilton.

* Learning is driven by challenging, open-ended problems.
* Students work in small collaborative groups.
* Teachers take on the role as "facilitators" of learning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Let The Students Teach

daveschappell — Sun, 03 May 2009 09:28:26 -0000

Dave -- I didn't know you were so microfinance-focused -- gives us another topic to dig into, as I worked with the folks at Unitus from 2005-2006, and am still a big supporter.

Re: Let The Students Teach

Geoff — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:19:54 -0000

That's what used to happen in Victorian England - the older kids teaching the younger ones - the best way to learn is to teach! I remember being taught

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:09:19 -0000

Awesome

Thanks for the link bill

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:07:30 -0000

Thanks. I think experiments with this stuff would be interesting

Re: Let The Students Teach

bobwyman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:17:27 -0000

Be careful when evaluating "research" on educational styles or methods. The field is famous for poor research that focuses on anecdotal and impressionistic data -- subjective, not objective data. But, what is intuitively appealing is not always what is best and the best stories are not always true. The field would be well served by more focus on empirical data and the development of decent longitudinal studies. For instance, if Montessori or some other approach really is better, shouldn't we have solid statistical evidence in the form of distinct differences in life "outcomes" long after students leave school? (i.e. Shouldn't students, after 20 years, either be richer, happier, more or less likely to be incarcerated, etc. than other students? Try finding the data...) If there are no significant differences "long after" students leave schools, then what does it mean to say that one method is superior to another?

Also, for an intriguing bit of school data, check out the DoDEA schools (US Department of Defense). These schools consistently rank at the top of all US schools on NAEP scales. Why? Note: They don't have charter schools and they don't participate in most other "teaching fads."
http://www.dodea.edu/home/a...

Re: Let The Students Teach

BillSeitz — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:36:02 -0000

Large-scale student-teaching: Bell-Lancaster Method.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Let The Students Teach

Phanio — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:38:37 -0000

Should be it's own - You have math and reading and social sciences - why not add perosnal finance. - Might help keep us out of future recessions like this one.

Re: Let The Students Teach

Evan Lenz — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:23:51 -0000

My educational preferences (as a father of three young ones) have shifted from traditional homeschool to unschooling to the Sudbury school model, which some have called an "unschooling school". I'm still very sympathetic to unschooling, but I'm much more excited about the distinctives of Sudbury--in particular, its ability to foster independence from parents. (My envy of kids who get to attend a Sudbury school was what led my family serendipitously to co-housing, and our current residence in paradise in West Puget Sound--within a mile from a Sudbury-model school.)

I had the good fortune of visiting Sudbury Valley School last summer. Two books were being promoted: the one you mentioned (Turning Learning Right-Side Up), and A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting. The latter (although too dismissive of homeschooling/unschooling, I think) really hit home for why Sudbury works so well, and why it's so needed in our day and age. Highly recommended.

Re: Let The Students Teach

Bahiyyih Maroon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:40:51 -0000

Given the fabulous user interface that Etsy has, that's really exciting to hear!

Re: Let The Students Teach

Bahiyyih Maroon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:37:47 -0000

The students who enter class without passion, just like the presentation attendees who are there with little interest in opening up to be truly engaged are actually the most inspiring members of the groups. They're the ones who push the "teacher" to do more than talk to the choir, they make us try new methods engage new approaches. If I can get the person who starts my lecture looking like they are going to pass out from lunchtime sleepies and speaker overload, to spark and engage then that's when I really know I'm getting it right. If I can get the C or F student who walks into my classroom to leave really believing in the wonders of discovery, that's where the real thrill of teaching is. We call it the amp-effect in my neck of the woods.

Re: Let The Students Teach

Bahiyyih Maroon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:31:27 -0000

Glad someone brought up Reggio Emilia it's a wonderful early education approach!

Re: Let The Students Teach

Bahiyyih Maroon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:27:38 -0000

It really depends on how it's done. I've seen it get in the way (mass distracto audience) and seen it amplify. One approach is 'interacting' the audience: http://backchan.nl. I think other approaches are in order though. For example whenTweet/FB updates on a side screen are added to the conference experience. Given where technology and users are headed, it seems part of what needs to happen is visioning for experiences that incorporate bodies/movement/speech/clicking rather than just Speech at to and between people. For instance what would a ten minute break-out of "laugh Yoga" look like with body wired participants in 2014 whose sensory data could be viewed on a collectively seen screen? And what would that add to the dynamic of collaboration during the next learning/presenting session? So the questions I'm left with are how to bring the social nets into better play and how to do it incorporating people's increasing need/desire for physical stimulation. A recent superstruct event suggested that "Organic" and "real world" would become the fetishes of the future and I tend to agree, so as much as I dive into massively virtualized life and even teach through, I am still intrigued by how to bring the body into the interactive scene as well, particularly for larger conferences.

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:00:01 -0000

Public indoctrination camps!!!

I am so lucky you stop every day and keep this place lively

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:58:11 -0000

Good content brings together like minded people into instant communities

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:57:06 -0000

Thanks for the links

Great stuff!

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:56:58 -0000

That's good to know

Re: Let The Students Teach

Kevin Prentiss — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:21:44 -0000

great! excited to hear about it.

Re: Let The Students Teach

fredwilson — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:05:07 -0000

Rob Kalin, founder of Etsy, is working on something quite interesting in this area as well

Re: Let The Students Teach

Kevin Prentiss — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:15:33 -0000

You'll like this post and the theme in general - it's exactly what you do so well with this blog:

"when we make our learning transparent, we become teachers."

from:

http://www.connectivism.ca/...

So how can we give open learning a game interface, as @GrishaRemake was suggesting above?

I think both tumblr (for its simplicity) and disqus (for its "comments stay with content and the commentator" architecture) could be important parts of the publishing. Then we just need a mashup to parse the open data (feeds or api) from each and provide an accreditation (for the schools) component and a student feedback UI. The student feedback should borrow heavily from MMPORGs (massively multiplayer online roleplaying games).