Here’s Google CEO Schmidt, in response to a question about whether Google is “dumbing down” kids:
Kids use [Google] all the time because it’s a new way of learning. When I was growing up, in Virginia, they made me memorize the names of all the capitals of every county in the state. Completely useless information. So […]
Archive for the 'Teachers' Category
Google and memorization
Published by August 14th, 2008 in General, Concreteness and Teachers. 5 CommentsThe Partition of Africa
Published by November 1st, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Emotion, Story and Teachers. 2 CommentsHere’s a story we received from Peri Chinoda, an AP & Honors World History Teacher at Hume Fogg Magnet High School in Nashville:
Background Information: In 1885 the Chancellor of Germany, Otto Bismarck, convened a meeting attended by 13 European colonial powers including the USA and the Ottoman Empire. The Africans whose land was to be […]
Tammy Is a Quitter
Published by October 23rd, 2007 in General, Simplicity, Concreteness, Credibility, Story, Curse of Knowledge and Teachers. 3 CommentsHere’s a story from Dave Rendall, who has a blog called the Freak Factor. (I love his post that argues that if you’re getting rejected, you’re doing something right.)
I hadn’t seen Tammy in almost a year, when she approached me in the hallway. I was there to teach an evening class for non-traditional students. She […]
The lightning and the lottery
Published by October 19th, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility and Teachers. 2 CommentsI almost spit up my coffee when I got to the punchline on this one.
From Tony Pratt:
I’m a first year teacher (4th Grade) in the New Orleans Recovery School District. The one common thread that I’ve noticed between the lessons that have stuck was a relation to something the kids were familiar with or […]
Digital signal processing, made to stick
Published by October 17th, 2007 in General, Simplicity, Concreteness, Story, Curse of Knowledge and Teachers. 4 Comments[Preamble] If you ask someone to think of a sticky idea, a lot of times they’ll blurt out a slogan. “Wassssup!” “Just do it.” And, no question, these are sticky ideas. But because people tend to associate the notion of “stickiness” with things like slogans — i.e., short, punchy, cleverisms — they have a hard […]
The Screaming Man in the Four Stroke Engine
Published by October 12th, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Emotion, Story and Teachers. 2 CommentsHere’s one of our favorite stories so far from the “100 books for 100 stories” contest. There are still plenty of books to giveaway, so make sure to tell your teacher friends: Email us — heaths@fastcompany.com — a story of a lesson that stuck and we’ll ship you a free signed copy of our […]
Oceanography, amplified
Published by October 3rd, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Story and Teachers. 3 CommentsI conducted a workshop recently for high school science and math teachers. We were working together to find ways to make their lesson plans stickier. My favorite example came from a couple of teachers who were trying to revamp the oceanography unit. Below is my own paraphrasing of what they said:Â
“We […]
An ob/gyn on lectures that work
Published by July 13th, 2007 in General, Simplicity, Concreteness, Credibility and Teachers. 6 CommentsChip and I love this post by an ob/gyn, which is titled “Teaching medicine to residents and students.” Lots of concrete examples of good versus bad teaching techniques. In particular scroll down and read the author’s 4 different options for presenting the “differential diagnosis of amenorrhea” (from the “right way” to the “disaster”). […]
When Sand Attacks
Published by June 22nd, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion and Teachers. 1 CommentIn the book we discuss how to combat mistaken perceptions, such as people’s inflated sense of the danger of shark attacks — the attacks are so rare as to be mathematically soothing, and in fact the danger of shark attacks is dwarfed by the danger of deer attacks (aka those little furries who dart mindlessly […]
Making a yucky idea stick
Published by June 8th, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion and Teachers. 3 CommentsFrom a story in the Eugene, OR Register-Guard (thanks to Len H for the link):
Kyleray Katherman, 13, thought something was funny about the water coming from the drinking fountains at his school. So, being far more intelligent and resourceful than I was at 13, he conducted an experiment. He used a Q-tip to […]
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