Alfie Kohn’s New EdWeek Article

Educators fortunate enough to attend Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 got to witness an amazing conversation between two of America’s most provocative and accomplished educators, Alfie Kohn and Deborah Meier (watch this site for video in the near future). Mark your calendars for a mind-blowing Constructing Modern Knowledge 2011, to be held July 11-14, 2011. Registration [...]

Important New Whitepaper on “New Literacy”

CMK faculty member Sylvia Martinez, President of Generation YES, commisioned a study by Dr. Jon Becker and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University. The study, Assessing Technology Literacy: The Case for an Authentic, Project-Based Learning Approach (PDF) is an important contribution to the field and should be read widely.
From Sylvia’s blog…
This whitepaper takes a comprehensive look [...]

Alfie Kohn on Teacher as Facilitator

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 guest speaker, Alfie Kohn, also spoke at this summer institute in 2008.
In this clip, Alfie Kohn discusses why teachers might think twice about embracing the metaphor of “teacher as facilitator.”

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 is July 12-15, 2010 in Manchester, NH USA. Other guest speakers include: Deborah Meier, Dr. James Loewen, Peter [...]

Alfie Kohn on Learning from the Inside Out

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 guest speaker, Alfie Kohn, also spoke at this summer institute in 2008.
In this clip, Mr. Kohn addresses how children construct intellectual theories and knowledge from the inside out.”

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 is July 12-15, 2010 in Manchester, NH USA. Learn more about the fantastic CMK 2010 guest speakers and faculty here.
There [...]

Alfie Kohn on Constructivism

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 guest speaker, Alfie Kohn, also spoke at this summer institute in 2008.
In this clip, he discusses how constructivism informs an understanding of how learning occurs.

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 is July 12-15, 2010 in Manchester, NH.
There is still time to register for constructingmodernknowledge.com

Alfie Kohn Bookstore powered by Amazon.com

Thanks to Brian C. Smith [...]

Alfie Kohn on Assessment

In this brief clip, popular education author, Aflie Kohn offers some provocative research-based thoughts on assessment and the problem with grades.

Alfie Kohn on Motivating Students

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 guest speaker, Alfie Kohn, also spoke at this summer institute in 2008.
In this clip, Kohn explores how teachers might address students they perceive as “reluctant” to learn.

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 is July 12-15, 2010 in Manchester, NH USA.
There is still time to register to register for this summer’s institute at constructingmodernknowledge.com

Alfie [...]

Gary Stager Interviewed in Qatar

In April, Constructing Modern Knowledge organizer, Dr. Gary Stager, was interviewed at length about computing, creativity and children following his keynote address at the national conference on ICT in Education in Doha, Qatar.
Here is the result.

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Many thanks to ICTQatar for the terrific job of putting the video on YouTube.

Creative Computing & the Case for Project-based Learning

Watch a recording of a recent webinar, “Creative Computing and the Case for Project-based Learning” and read the related resources assembled for a course I’m helping to teach in Australia.

Alfie Kohn Rejects National Standards

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 Guest Speaker Alfie Kohn has published a stunning new article, Debunking the Case for National Standards: One-Size-Fits-All Mandates and Their Dangers. It should be required reading for anyone concerned with democracy and long-term viability of public education. I’ve often said that national standards, even those thinly disguised under mischievous pseudonyms like [...]

The CMK 2009 Library

Constructing Modern Knowledge creates a material-rich learning environment filled with technology, art supplies, toys and books.

First CMK09 Video is Online – We Are Teachers

The following is a video documenting the 2009 Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute in Manchester, NH – July 13-16, 2009, through the lenses of Karen Gerstner, Mary Del Biano and Maryann Molishus. This is the result of a project designed by these three educators to tell their story of CMK 2009.
Enjoy!

We are Teachers! from Gary [...]

They’re Blogging about CMK 2009!

I am still exhausted from the exhilaration of Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009. We enjoyed an incredibly active four days – jam packed full of once-in-a-lifetime experiences and project development time. I’ll be sharing some of my reflections (and probably video as well) in the coming days, but in the meantime, several CMK09 participants have blogged [...]

Marvin Minsky Resources

Many MANY thanks to Dr. Marvin Minsky for his amazing spirit and generosity to Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009! The video from this and last year’s conversations with Marvin will be online here as soon as possible.

In the meantime, please check out the following resources:

Essay on Education 1 – What Makes Mathematics Hard to Learn
Essay on [...]

People are Blogging!

I am still trying to find the time and the words necessary to write about what the first Constructing Modern Knowledge Institute meant to me. I hope other participants will also share their thoughts on the experience.
In the meantime, here are a few of the blogs already published about our collective learning experience.
Over time, video [...]

One Multimedia Learning Story from CMK 08

Scott Floyd shares a terrific learning story about one project at Constructing Modern Knowledge in his blog,
Drowning in Rice and Other Deep Subjects From CMK 08.
Paul Wood and I visited the MIT Museum on Sunday with Gary Stager. Among the things we found were some truly awesome feats of engineering from Arthur Ganson. An incredible [...]

Constructing Modern Knowledge ‘08 – The Movie

New York City educator Michael Steinberg made a film documenting my recent Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. I think he did an admirable job capturing the spirit of CMK08, the collaborations between participants and the learning environment we created.
The quality of Michael’s effort is especially laudable since he shot and edited the video before the [...]

Not CMK08, but worth a look

This is one of my favorite Ted Talks. Author and publisher Dave Eggers tells the inspirational story of how one can create a learning environment for kids outside of school. Eggers and his colleagues also demonstrate a great deal of respect for teachers and the challenges they face.

Links:

826 Valencia writing centers
Once Upon a School
McSweeney’s

MicroWorlds EX Getting Started Videos

PROBLEMS SOLVED – LINKS BELOW NOW WORK AND VIDEOS PLAY
The following are a few “getting started” tutorial videos I created for MicroWorlds EX. The first two introduce the environment and the last two show you how to program your very own Pacman-style video game.

Getting Started – Video 1
Getting Started  – Video 2
Snacman Tutorial 1
Snacman Tutorial [...]

LEGO Robotics Reference Materials

Fred Martin’s Art of LEGO
Fred Martin, the engineer behind the RCX brick, wrote a terrific paper explaining LEGO engineering principles.
The Art of LEGO 2
MIT Media Lab graduate students, Arnan (Roger) Sipitakiat, Paulo Blikstein and Rahul Bhargava created a handy color collection of strategies for assembling LEGO elements.
MicroWorlds EX Robotics downloadable reference handout.
Great LEGO Challenges
Here [...]

Constructivist Software

Recommended Software

MicroWorlds EX Robotics (multimedia Logo programming language and robotics control environment – Mac & Windows)

Inspiredata (data collection, visualization and analysis tool for K-12 – Mac & Windows)
Tech4Learning Imagination Suite (Frames, Pixie, ImageBlender, WebBlender, Twist – Mac & Windows)

iLife ‘08 (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Garageband, iWeb)
Sibelius (the gold standard for music notation and composition) – Mac [...]

Plane Reading

Constructing Modern Knowledge stands on the shoulders of giants. The following articles help set the tone for the spirit, possibilities and powerful ideas guiding the event.
Some are whimsical, others complex. However, they’re all worthy of your consideration.
Ice-breakers (4 of my favorite stories)

What I Did On My Three Summer Vacations by Brian Silverman & Illustrated by [...]