Check out this video. Don’t want to give anything away. It’s got quite a visceral punch. (via one of Chip’s students at Stanford)
Archive for the 'Unexpectedness' Category
“Choice” video
Published by March 11th, 2008 in General, Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness and Emotion. 11 CommentsTriggers and water conservation
Published by December 20th, 2007 in General, Simplicity, Unexpectedness and Concreteness. 0 CommentsPark Howell saw our column about “Triggers” in Fast Company and wrote us with a great story:
In 1999, we created the “Water - Use it Wisely” conservation campaign that was completely built on environmental triggers. I think we were simply more intuitive (lucky) in our approach than brilliant (good) when creating the campaign, but it […]
The 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 […]
Wyoming Libraries Mudflap and Idea Judo
Published by November 1st, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness and Emotion. 0 CommentsCheck out this very clever campaign for Wyoming’s libraries. (One bumper sticker offers a more literate twist on a classic: “You can have my book when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.”) And the mudflap girl is a must-see (and, while it would be stretching it to call her a must-buy, she is indeed […]
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 interested in. […]
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 book. […]
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:
“We weren’t happy with how our unit on oceanography went last year. […]
Credibility from stating the obvious
Published by September 21st, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness and Credibility. 5 CommentsFrom an article on nice-but-cheap bottles of wine in the NYT:
Let’s face it, you can find hundreds if not thousands of bottles in [the $10 or under category], down to the lowest of the low. We cannot try them all and say, “Here are the 10 best.” But we can give you some suggestions as to […]
Unsticking Baby Einstein
Published by August 24th, 2007 in General, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility and Emotion. 4 CommentsThe research is in on Baby Einstein videos: “For every hour a day that babies 8 to 16 months old were shown such popular series as “Brainy Baby” or “Baby Einstein,” they knew six to eight fewer words than other children, the study found.”
Concrete enough for ya? But if the enduring appeal of the discredited “Mozart Effect” […]
Tanzania post-mortem
Published by August 20th, 2007 in General, Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotion and Story. 8 CommentsChip and I had an incredible time in Tanzania. So, let me start by saying this: You know that feeling you get when a full explanation would take 25,000 words, but you’ve only got 500, and you’re afraid to oversimplify, but you’re also afraid to give a vague “neat experience” summary, and this causes a […]
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