Constructing Modern Knowledge

Alfie Kohn’s New EdWeek Article

garystager — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:50:54 +0000

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 details will be posted here in early September.

Sign-up for news from Constructing Modern Knowledge and the Constructivist Consortium

Alfie began his CMK 2010 remarks by reading the draft of a stunning editorial he was preparing for publication in Education Week. The article, Turning Children Into Data: A Skeptic’s Guide to Assessment Programs, is a must read for any educator, parent or policy-maker who cares about children. Ken Bernstein also blogged about this article in The Daily Kos.

Kohn’s article begins with:

Programs with generic-sounding names that offer techniques for measuring (and raising) student achievement have been sprouting like fungi in a rainforest: “Learning-Focused Schools,” “Curriculum-Based Measurements,” “Professional Learning Communities,” and many others whose names include “data,” “progress,” or “RTI.” Perhaps you’ve seen their ads in periodicals like this one. Perhaps you’ve pondered the fact that they can afford these ads, presumably because of how much money they’ve already collected from struggling school districts

and then continues to list six questions that need to be asked…

What is its basic conception of assessment?

What is its goal?

Does it reduce everything to numbers?

Is it about “doing to” or “working with”?

Is its priority to support kids’ interest?

Does it avoid excessive assessment?

As always, Alfie supports his arguments with research-based evidence and common sense. Given the load of horse manure recently published by John Merrow and echoed by Grant Wiggins who displays contempt for teachers, Alfie Kohn’s column could not have come at a better time. Please share it widely.

Perhaps you’d like to leave a few copies around at Back-to-School Night along with his small book, The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools.

Share your comments below!

Alfie Kohn & Deborah Meier at CMK 2010

Important New Whitepaper on “New Literacy”

garystager — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:57:33 +0000

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 at the research, policies, and practices of technology literacy in K-12 settings in the United States. It builds a research-based case for the central importance of “doing” as part of technology literacy, meaning more than just being able to answer canned questions on a test. It also explores the current approaches to develop meaningful assessment of student technology literacy at a national, state, and local level.

Where “doing” is central to students gaining technological literacy, traditional assessments will not work; technological literacy must be assessed in ways that are more authentic.

Building on this definition, the whitepaper connects project-based learning and constructivism, which both hold “doing” as central to learning, as the only authentic way to assess technology literacy.

True project-based assessment is the only way to properly assess technological literacy.

The whitepaper is free and covered by a Creative Commons license, so please share it with all of your colleagues!

Summer Reading Recommendations from CMK 2010 Faculty

garystager — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:08:55 +0000

Summer Reading Suggestions

Here is a list of suggested reading by written by CMK 2010 faculty or recommended by them.

Whether you can join us July 12-15th or not, learning is a lifelong pursuit fueled by the powerful ideas and joy contained within the pages of the following books!

James Loewen

Constructing Modern Knowledge attempts to bring math, science, engineering and the arts to life through creative computing, authentic inquiry and project-based learning. This year, Dr. James Loewen, author of the bestselling books, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong will help participants learn history by learning to be historians!

His most recent book, Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History, is a critically important addition to any professional library and teacher bag of tricks!

Alfie Kohn

Alfie Kohn has written some of the most popular, provocative and acclaimed books about education in the past quarter century. Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The latest of his eleven books are The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (2006) and Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason (2005). Of his earlier titles, the best known are Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993), No Contest: The Case Against Competition (1986), and The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” (1999).

Perhaps most exciting of all, two riveting hour-long presentations by Alfie are now available on one low-cost DVD. No Grades + No Homework = Better Learning allows you take Alfie Kohn home with you after CMK 2010 and share him with your colleagues!

Check out all of Alfie Kohn’s books in the Constructivist Consortium Bookstore!

Deborah Meier

Legendary school teacher, principal, reformer, activist and blogger, MacArthur Genius Deborah Meier had a new book just released, Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground. This book should be on your shelf next to her classics, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem and In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization.

The rest of her books may be found here.

Peter Reynolds

Peter Reynolds has written or illustrated popular children’s books that have sold millions of copies and are beloved around the world. He will also host us at his fabled FableVision Studio!

Pete loves chilren’s books so much, he owns his own children’s bookstore, The Blue Bunny.

Check some of Peter’s books here!

Dr. Cynthia Solomon

In addition to being a veteran educator, researcher and one of the three inventors of the Logo programming language, she has written two important books on computers and learning! Cynthia’s doctoral research at Harvard led to the publication of the critical book, Computer Environments for Children: A Reflection on Theories of Learning and Education. Cynthia Solomon is also the co-author of Designing Multimedia Environments for Children, with Allison Drum.

I can’t imagine Constructing Modern Knowledge without Cynthia’s generosity of spirit!

Read all about the Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 faculty here

While not all of the CMK 2010 faculty have books in-print, they all love to read. They were asked to recommend books to enjoy before, during and long after CMK 2010!

Brian Silverman

Brian recommended the following ecclectic collection of books.

The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self & Soul by Douglas R. Hofstadter & Daniel C. Dennett
A collection of essays about the philosophy of mind. Some are amusing, others profound, several are both.

He, She, and It by Marge Piercy
An artificial intelligence robot love story told from a Jewish feminist perspective. Amazingly it works. It reads like something that could have been co-authored by Marvin Minsky and Margaret Atwood.

The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge by William Poundstone
The book starts by describing Conway’s Game of Life. Then uses the game as a metaphor to explore a collection of interesting topics in math, physics, and information theory.

Machinery of Life by David Goodsell
A molecular biology picture book. It gives a gentle but thorough introduction to the molecules that are the construction kit that living things are made of.

On Education by Betrand Russell
Bertrand Russell’s riff on Mindstorms. It was written a couple of years before Seymour Papert was born and foreshadows many of his ideas.

John Stetson

John said, “The first two have been favorites for some time; the rest of the list is current reading.”

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sachs
Oliver’s mother gave him a cadaver for his birthday. The Wright Brothers visited his home when they were in London. Oliver tried to relive the joy of discovery by reproducing the experiments of Humphrey Davey. The book is filled with chemicals that when mixed explode.

The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance by Henry Petroski
The history of how the pencil came to be and the history of engineering in the U.S., i.e., the Erie Canal, the first engineering schools in the 1850’s, etc.

Infinite Ascent: A Short History of Mathematics by David Belinski
A history of mathematics, Euclid, Euler, all the greats …

Astronomical Sketching: A Step-by-Step Introduction by Erika Rix
Some of my students have followed the guidelines in this book and published their sketches at the Astronomy Sketch of the Day website

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow
Yes, Louisiana and Florida defaulted on bonds (issued in London) during the 1840’s. One of Morgan’s board members advocated for socialism. How did we get into the current banking mess? Read this book.

Sylvia Martinez

Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth by Herb Kohl
A gorgeous meditation on learning, teaching and life by one of the world’s great educators and education writers!

The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School In The Age Of The Computer & The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap by Seymour Papert
You can’t think about thinking with computers without being well-versed in the wisdom of Seymour Papert!

The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith
One of the best books ever written about learning…

Teaching as Story Telling: : An Alternative Approach to Teaching and Curriculum in the Elementary School by Kieran Egan
An overlooked classic that should be part of any creative teacher’s library

Dr. Gary Stager

Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education by David Perkins
A critically important book for curriculum planners and teachers – a much more thoughtful alternative to the much more pedestrian and coercive Understanding by Design

Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities by Jason Shiga
An absolutely gorgeous, fascinating and fun choose-your-own adventure book in the form of a graphic novel

A Schoolmaster of the Great City: A Progressive Education Pioneer’s Vision for Urban Schools by Angelo Patri
This book identifies and SOLVES every problem facing public education today. Oh yeah, Patri published this book in 1917! An amazing read!

To Teach: The Journey in Comics by Bill Ayers
Bill Ayer’s classic tale of teaching republished as a graphic novel

HowToons: The Possibilties are Endless by Saul Griffith
Wicked cool science experiments and engineering projects for kids presented in cartoon form.

In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning by Carlina Rinaldi (President of Reggio Children and Director of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center in Reggio Emilia, Italy)
There are many fabulous books that help you learn from the innovations of the educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy. (list here) This book is so heavy, you can read and re-read it for years to come!

Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World by Mark Frauenfelder
The Editor of Make Magazine shares his DIY adventures, the values of tinkering and learning to learn.

Number Freak: From 1 to 200- The Hidden Language of Numbers Revealed by Derrick Niederman
You might think of this as an exciting biography of numbers!

Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share by Ken Denmead
Cool modern high and low-tech projects you can do with your kids

Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) by Gever Tulley
‘Nuff said

The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky
Dr. Marvin Minsky’s seminal book

The Emotion Machine by Marvin Minsky
Dr. Marvin Minsky’s most recent book on artificial intelligence

Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope by Jonathan Kozol
Kozol has published countless gems, but this book moves me in incalcuable ways. This may be his most beautiful book.

El Sistema: Music to Changes Life (DVD)
Theere be no more exciting youth movement in the world than Venezuela’s El Sistema. This film will remind you of the potential in each child and make you want to sing, dance and change the world.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard Feynman
This may be the only great ROTFL “beach read” by a Nobel Laureate for Physics you’ll ever read. I have given countless copies away as gifts to teenagers, colleagues and even grandparents!

Landon Carter’s Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation by Rhys Isaac
My Aussie friend, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, recreates life in Colonial America through the diaries and artifacts of a Virginia plantation owner.

The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century by John Brockman
Provocative thinkers and great scientists speculate about how life and science may change by 2050

History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling Over the Last 200 Years by Kyle Roy Ward
What we may not know or understand incorrectly about US History.

Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks by Kyle Roy Ward
A classroom edition of “History in the Making”

American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made It into the Textbooks by Seymour Morris Jr.
Another book about the wonders of history

Read all about the Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 faculty here

Be sure to explore many more recommended books and resources for creative educators at Thc Constructivist Consortium Bookstore!

Subscribe to Gary Stager’s blog, Stager-to-Go or peruse his articles and papers.

Learn more about The Constructivist Consortium!

You Should Know Cynthia Solomon

garystager — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:10:44 +0000

I was a pretty crummy student. My math and science grades were below average. Junior and senior high school were excruciating experiences made tolerable by my love of computer programming and fantastic music teachers. *

By the time I got to college, I took Algebra every time I needed to satisfy a math requirement and understanding as little as during my previous attempts. School often made me feel stupid, yet I also realized at a very young age that school was a cosmic farce I would somehow overcome.

Against that backdrop it’s difficult to imagine that the first time I ever spoke at a conference was at MIT. The occasion was Logo ’85 – The International Logo Conference. (Back then, edtech conferences had no exhibit hall and were held at places like MIT)

When this twenty-two year-old halfway through my 7 ½ year undergraduate studies, exited a taxi on the MIT campus, a group of people greeted me with, “Come on. Join us for dinner!” One of my dinner companions was Dr. Cynthia Solomon, now an irreplaceable member of the Constructing Modern Knowledge faculty.

Cynthia Solomon is a giant in our field despite her lack of recognition and absence from the lists of important edtech folks. That’s a real shame, especially when women and minorities are so underrepresented in our field. I am honored to have known Cynthia for twenty-five years and am deeply indebted to her for her participation in Constructing Modern Knowledge for the third consecutive year.

Cynthia Solomon Teaching at CMK 2009

So, who is Cynthia Solomon. She’s a computer scientist, educator and the inventor of the Logo programming language for children. That’s right, Cynthia Solomon, Wally Feurzig and Seymour Papert are responsible for creating Logo back in 1968. For the next two decades, Cynthia was engaged in much of the foundational research on children constructing knowledge with computers.

Check out the paper, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer, that Cynthia and Seymour published in 1971. How does what your school does with computers thirty-nine years later measure up?

Long associated with the MIT Artificial Intelligence and Media Labs, Dr. Solomon went on to lead the Atari Cambridge Research Laboratory in the 1980s. Alan Kay led the Atari Lab on the West Coast. (Check out the amazing historic videos she has assembled from that period) After that she was a founder of Logo Computer Systems, Inc. and earned a doctorate in education from Harvard. Until just a few years ago, Cynthia was a full-time school computer teacher.

Solomon’s doctoral dissertation is the basis for the seminal book, Computer Environments for Children: A Reflection on Theories of Learning and Education. If you haven’t read it, you should. She is also coauthor with Allison Druin of the book, Designing Multimedia Environments for Children.

In the late eighties I organized a distinguished speakers series for NJ school leaders and Cynthia Solomon was the first person I hired. Since then we’ve worked together with the MIT Media Lab Future of Learning Goup in Mexico City and at the One Laptop Per Child Foundation.

One of life’s great gifts is having the privilege to meet and get to know extraordinarily smart and talented folks like Cynthia Solomon. What a pleasure it was to watch Cynthia, Deborah Meier and Lella Gandini discuss at last year’s CMK.

Through Cynthia, I’ve met people like Marvin Minsky (who led fireside chats the past two CMKs) and Stephen Wolfram. Cynthia seems to know all of the smartest scientists and mathematicians of the past half-century. Now, participants in Constructing Modern Knowledge get to know HER.

My greatest joy comes from creating opportunities for educators to learn from and interact with smart, talented and innovative people. That’s why Cynthia Solomon is part of the remarkable Constructing Modern Knowledge faculty and why you should attend.

The Constructing Modern Knowledge faculty also includes Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, Dr. James Loewen, Peter Reynolds, Briann Silverman, John Stetson, Sylvia Martinez & Dr. Gary Stager.

* My Ph.D. in science and mathematics education is the best revenge.

Alfie Kohn on Teacher as Facilitator

garystager — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:23:44 +0000

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 Reynolds and Dr. Gary Stager.

There is still time to register to register for this summer’s institute at constructingmodernknowledge.com

Alfie Kohn Bookstore powered by Amazon.com

Thanks to Brian C. Smith for hiis help with video editing!

Alfie Kohn on Learning from the Inside Out

garystager — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:19:44 +0000

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 is still time to register to register for this summer’s institute at constructingmodernknowledge.com

Alfie Kohn Bookstore powered by Amazon.com

Thanks to Brian C. Smith for hiis help with video editing!

Alfie Kohn on Constructivism

garystager — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:55:51 +0000

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 for hiis help with video editing!

Alfie Kohn on Assessment

garystager — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:48:58 +0000

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2010 guest speaker, Alfie Kohn, also spoke at this summer institute in 2008.

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

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 Kohn Bookstore powered by Amazon.com

Thanks to Brian C. Smith for hiis help with video editing!

Alfie Kohn on Motivating Students

garystager — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:41:11 +0000

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 Kohn Bookstore powered by Amazon.com

Thanks to Brian C. Smith for hiis help with video editing!

Gary Stager Interviewed in Qatar

garystager — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:51:11 +0000

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.

Subscribe to My Free Newsletter!

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