Can we stop it with the "czaring" already? It's a nausiating term. I, like history, like my czars corrupt, incompetant, out of touch, with sociopathic tendencies.
The czar I'd like to see: Blagojevich the government transparency and accountability Czar.
This sounds like the Knowledge Mangement concept of Communities of Practice from Wenger.
If you put together people with similar knowledge and interests, the idea is that this can be a forum for learning and problem solving through interactions with the group.
This is an example of a person (in Australia) who has been doing work to try and make things a little better for people who had a bleak future. Perhaps not dealing with problems like what is being taught, but using education to try and make a difference.
A large problem I see with education is that while the bulk of people get an ok education, many many people are failed by the system. It's amazing that in this day and age that there are people out there who come through the education systems basically illiterate. And something like this is a result of something as simple as not picking up an eye sight or hearing problem when the child is young.
Another problem is see is that the education has been established on a foundation of a particular way of learning. That being, individual learning based on listening to lectures then taking an exam at the end to determine how much was retained. While this style does work for some people, including myself, that's not how things work in the real world and not the way a lot of people can learn.
The most important stuff I have learnt about life I have learnt out side of school. There are a number of basic aspects of LIFE which really should be included into schooling. Things like managing money, budgeting, and repaying debt. Watching out for financial death traps (interest free purchases, short term loans), understanding basic contract law, and reading contracts before you sign them. Teaching kids about taking responsibility, the power of doing so and how responsibility relates to the law - a lot of people (Adults) just don't understand this. Communication skills - understanding different points of view and avoiding conflict? Understanding your individual learning style and how you can best influence the way you learn. There are just a heap of fundamental things which just are skipped, but are critical.
I am pretty interested in this area, and am involved at a local level of trying to induce some change. If anyone is also interested in sharing ideas, shoot me an email. amorpha_@hotmail.com Unsure how wise putting the email down here. Oh well!:)
This is an example of a person(in Australia) who has doing work to try and make things a little better for people who had a bleak future. Dealing with insane levels of absenteeism and illiteracy.
Well of course we didn't evolve from monkeys! Any scientifically minded person who knows 1/2 a thing about evolution knows this. That's the sort of misconception some clueless creationist has, and uses to back up their theory. sorry, but i've met ALOT of creationists who say this to me and think of it as a 'silver bullet' in any sort of evolutionist argument.
But, if you follow the human and monkey(or better the chimp, it has a closer genetic similarity to us) back through the evolutionary family tree, you will find a common ancestor that both humans and chimps/monkeys are related to. so instead of thinking monkeys/chimps to be a direct evolutionary step, we are more cousins in the scheme of things.
Now that i've finished this, i dont even know why i wrote this post... d'oh!
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Can we stop it with the "czaring" already? It's a nausiating term. I, like history, like my czars corrupt, incompetant, out of touch, with sociopathic tendencies.
The czar I'd like to see: Blagojevich the government transparency and accountability Czar.
Now that's a czar I can believe in!
This sounds like the Knowledge Mangement concept of Communities of Practice from Wenger.
s s.shtml
If you put together people with similar knowledge and interests, the idea is that this can be a forum for learning and problem solving through interactions with the group.
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/l
This is a reasonably popular concept in Knowledge Management.
This is an example of a person (in Australia) who has been doing work to try and make things a little better for people who had a bleak future. Perhaps not dealing with problems like what is being taught, but using education to try and make a difference.
5 3.htm
:)
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2004/s12127
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A large problem I see with education is that while the bulk of people get an ok education, many many people are failed by the system. It's amazing that in this day and age that there are people out there who come through the education systems basically illiterate. And something like this is a result of something as simple as not picking up an eye sight or hearing problem when the child is young.
Another problem is see is that the education has been established on a foundation of a particular way of learning. That being, individual learning based on listening to lectures then taking an exam at the end to determine how much was retained. While this style does work for some people, including myself, that's not how things work in the real world and not the way a lot of people can learn.
The most important stuff I have learnt about life I have learnt out side of school. There are a number of basic aspects of LIFE which really should be included into schooling. Things like managing money, budgeting, and repaying debt. Watching out for financial death traps (interest free purchases, short term loans), understanding basic contract law, and reading contracts before you sign them. Teaching kids about taking responsibility, the power of doing so and how responsibility relates to the law - a lot of people (Adults) just don't understand this. Communication skills - understanding different points of view and avoiding conflict? Understanding your individual learning style and how you can best influence the way you learn. There are just a heap of fundamental things which just are skipped, but are critical.
I am pretty interested in this area, and am involved at a local level of trying to induce some change. If anyone is also interested in sharing ideas, shoot me an email. amorpha_@hotmail.com Unsure how wise putting the email down here. Oh well!
This is an example of a person(in Australia) who has doing work to try and make things a little better for people who had a bleak future. Dealing with insane levels of absenteeism and illiteracy.
5 3.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2004/s12127
Well of course we didn't evolve from monkeys! Any scientifically minded person who knows 1/2 a thing about evolution knows this. That's the sort of misconception some clueless creationist has, and uses to back up their theory. sorry, but i've met ALOT of creationists who say this to me and think of it as a 'silver bullet' in any sort of evolutionist argument. But, if you follow the human and monkey(or better the chimp, it has a closer genetic similarity to us) back through the evolutionary family tree, you will find a common ancestor that both humans and chimps/monkeys are related to. so instead of thinking monkeys/chimps to be a direct evolutionary step, we are more cousins in the scheme of things. Now that i've finished this, i dont even know why i wrote this post... d'oh!