Gotta say this is pretty much the best video I have seen on UA-cam for our current state of technology and path for education! - Many thanks for this amazingly #awesomesauce piece of work!!!!!
Gene Carboni To answer your question here are a few things to consider. The current method of doing JK through 3rd grade works pretty well. It could be polished a bit but for getting the 3 Rs going in kids this will do for now. I wrote about JK through 3rd grade to point out how we get our start. It’s well documented at this point how up until and including the 3rd grade age if a teacher stands in front of a classroom and ask a question, almost all hands go shooting up as each student is about to pop to shout out what they think is the answer. In their minds they have yet to onboard the false message that school sends loud and clear, *a wrong answer is bad*. It is at this critical point in life where everything that can go wrong for kids, is going wrong. When you are around middle school age kids for a short period of time you find that each of them already have clearly defined academic strengths and weakness just as *Failing Superman* points out. Middle school age kids also already have individual interests and they will have favorites of these interests that consume disproportionately large portions of their free time. Gene Carboni you ask..._If you went to this type of school what would be your strengths?_ At the intersection of these kid’s academic strengths and their favorite interests is where you will often find that *1 Thing* which has the potential to really turn them on. The everyday grind of school work is causing people to ignore completely the absolute need to find this *1 Thing* in each individual. I went to turn off a lamp in my den the other night at bedtime. The geek in me loves gadgets so I have different types of light switches all around my house. I have some gadgets connected to lamps that allow me to use small remotes to turn these lamps off. There are several different types of switches on lamps scattered around our house. There are pull chain switches, turn button switches, push button switches and then there is the old standby, the clapper for turning lamps on by clapping. With all of this confusion around lamp switches I don't always remember what type of switch I have on any given lamp. If you look in your den where you may have a sofa, coffee table and maybe a couple of end tables with lamps sitting on them, you can get a good illustration for kids in school today. When I went to turn the lamp off the other night, the lampshade prevented me from seeing the actual switch. I was futzing around blindly trying to find the switch with my hand and then when I found it, I had to quickly figure out by feel which type of switch it was and then remember what type of action it took to turn the light on and off. Kids are like lamps in that you can't always see their switch to know what type of switch they have. Until you figure out what it takes to turn them on, they can’t shine. After the age of 3rd grade the current system is doing everything it can to make kids behave the opposite from what they were doing as they progressed rapidly up until the 3rd grade. You also ask… _Is this possible with our traditional school systems?_ School buildings will work just fine but for what Marc is showing us to happen, teachers will have to embrace what he is pointing to with each of his videos and they will need to become coaches and mentors that know how to turn kids on and light them up.
Thanks for your time in creating this video. It contains many important concepts that we are struggling with in schools. There is a constant negotiation between what is important to know in order to function as a well-rounded, capable person/citizen with one's personal passions and interests. Unfortunately, standardized tests and traditions continue to drive many of the educational policies and practices in schools, instead of recognizing the (potential) superhero in each individual child.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. On the subject of exams, I think differentiation is just as important here as it is everywhere else. A well-built exam can perhaps be useful in some instances. But that can only be true if we rethink exams. I think it depends on many factors, including subject area, autonomy, the function of the exam, the way it's administered, etc. An exam is one of several tools that can be used to ascertain a level of proficiency... Should it be the main one? Certainly not.
Wow! je suis renversée..... Tu as un talent hors du commun cher ami pour illustrer des concepts pas toujours faciles à comprendre ou à imaginer. La visuelle que je suis a été servie à souhait. Si seulement on pouvait y avoir accès en français, cette vidéo deviendrait virale dans notre cs. Merci Marc-André
I am very impressed and it is so true. I shared your video I just hope that it reached to the most people possible, so we can stop judging students that struggle more than others. hope it reached to lots of teachers.
You are very welcome. And thank you for your comments. I hope it can help change our view of school and get us to actually change school very soon. Like Marc Prensky said in a recent interview/chat (will upload clips from that soon), the last few years have been our last ditch attempt at fixing the school system as we know it... It is now time for something entirely different.
Very interesting video with some great ideas. A few questions to consider: Didn't you ever really like something that you were made to study that you wouldn't have otherwise? I was forced to take piano lessons in 6th grade. My parents were on me to take them since 3rd, but I kept refusing. Finally, they just signed me up. Well, I loved it, ended up majoring in piano, and perform often professionally. I don't think that would have happened had I not been required to study it. How many times do we hear about young people today having a bazillion careers in their life? And yes, we also hear about the importance of problem-solving over knowledge. But there are so many times in life and in our jobs that we must do something or learn about something that isn't our preference. Letting students have total choice for 12 years of their education doesn't seem like a good idea. But considering right now they have about 10-15% choice (depending on middle school and high school electives), I agree that much more choice would be great! I actually teach high school math, and I definitely know that so many formulas we teach (like Standard Deviation mentioned in this video) are not used every day. Computers automate this for us conveniently. But with so much innovative technology these days, a flood of new apps and devices, I ask this: what about those who create and program the software? Surely they will need to be fluent with the formulas they are creating their app around. It's not terrible for students to become familiar with some of the more basic formulas. And trust me, standard deviation is not among the more challenging formulas when compared to all of them our there. We keep telling students that they are preparing for careers that don't even exist yet. But so many of those careers revolve around technology, and we do know the basics of technology education: math, science, computer programming. So why not teach that to a basic level to every student? Anyway, again, I really like the video, I want to do what's best for my students, please help me - Thanks!
Thank you very much! Like Marc Prensky said in a chat/workshop we did (look for it in the uploaded videos playlist), this is the last grasp at trying to fix this system. The next system will be very different... not a reform, but a revolution (as Sir Ken Robinson aptly put it in Bring On the Learning Revolution). We'll get there soon!
Valid point. I wonder if the jobs would change if school did... I must say I'm not sure that there are 2 categories of jobs; the ones where you innovate, create and use critical thinking and the ones where you have to "grind it out". There might be several others. John Hagel has very interesting thoughts on those "vulnerable" jobs (John Hagel: Rethinking Race Against the Machines on Big Think). With a new school model, we just might have better tools to revisit how we see work, eventually...Thx!
Brillant comme vidéo Marc-André. Nous pensons l'utiliser auprès des orthopédagogues lors d'une formation sur les aides technologiques. Ma seule question est: est-ce qu'il y aura une version française éventuellement? Great work!!!
Indeed, Sir Ken Robinson is a strong influence. I hope to contribute to the dialogue he started years ago, especially through his videos (visit my Pinterest boards /lalandema). You might also note the influences of Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Chatfield, Stephen Heppell, Susan Cain, John Medina, Ali Carr Chellman, Yong Zhao, Dan Pink, Jane McGonigal, Salman Khan, Marc Presnky, Sugata Mitra and many others. I try to offer solutions inspired by the works of these amazing people.
I guess the point is yes, critical thinking skills are the most valuable of the skills that you can learn, and we do need a more immersive curriculum, but our problems are more cultural than housed in schools. MOST jobs require you to "grind it out" rather than innovate, create, or critically think. probably because the people who designed the current system learned how to create things with that structure, because their society had the same fundamental problems that we have today.
Thank you very much, André-Paul; you're too kind. Je suis tout à fait ouvert à produire une version française éventuellement. Je ne peux toutefois pas le faire à l'intérieur de mon plan d'action pour les c.s. anglophones. Ce serait comme déshabiller André pour habiller Paul ;o). Comme je le mentionnais à Danielle B., c'est une question de limite de temps. Bientôt, je publierai des extraits d'entrevue avec Marc Prensky que j'ai réalisés pour l'AQIFGA; il y en aura en anglais et en français.
Your point illustrates how the brain works (Authors@Google: Dr. John Medina starting at 4:10). Technology is no panacea, of course. But as the world changes, there are things we leave to technology so we can allow more brain resources to more complex things (more on this in Marc Prensky's Brain Gain). But if, for some reason, one needs to know how to do something that machines do very well, then by all means, learn it they should.
Merci beaucoup Danielle, c'est trop gentil. J'essaie d'employer un anglais accessible... J'aimerais bien pouvoir l'offrir en français aussi, mais c'est une question de limite de temps lié à mon plan d'action (pour les c.s. anglophones).
Wow. there's some good points in here, but there's also completely useless ones. using technology as a panacea isn't good. and not having basic calculating skills because you'll always have a smartphone... take it from a military person with access to absolutely no technology or network, regularly, realize that learning skills without crutches is absolutely necessary. to function in the modern world, we need diverse skill sets. exposure and well roundedness is the basis of innovation.
Hi Marc, I'm presenting at an edtech conference in Niagara Falls ( #bit14), and would really like to use this video as the MINDS ON for my student-centred (Inquiry) learning workshop.
Gotta say this is pretty much the best video I have seen on UA-cam for our current state of technology and path for education! - Many thanks for this amazingly #awesomesauce piece of work!!!!!
Isn't that the truth!
+Marc-André Lalande for -Secretary- Dictator of Education.
Gene Carboni To answer your question here are a few things to consider. The current method of doing JK through 3rd grade works pretty well. It could be polished a bit but for getting the 3 Rs going in kids this will do for now.
I wrote about JK through 3rd grade to point out how we get our start. It’s well documented at this point how up until and including the 3rd grade age if a teacher stands in front of a classroom and ask a question, almost all hands go shooting up as each student is about to pop to shout out what they think is the answer. In their minds they have yet to onboard the false message that school sends loud and clear, *a wrong answer is bad*. It is at this critical point in life where everything that can go wrong for kids, is going wrong.
When you are around middle school age kids for a short period of time you find that each of them already have clearly defined academic strengths and weakness just as *Failing Superman* points out. Middle school age kids also already have individual interests and they will have favorites of these interests that consume disproportionately large portions of their free time.
Gene Carboni you ask..._If you went to this type of school what would be your strengths?_
At the intersection of these kid’s academic strengths and their favorite interests is where you will often find that *1 Thing* which has the potential to really turn them on. The everyday grind of school work is causing people to ignore completely the absolute need to find this *1 Thing* in each individual.
I went to turn off a lamp in my den the other night at bedtime. The geek in me loves gadgets so I have different types of light switches all around my house. I have some gadgets connected to lamps that allow me to use small remotes to turn these lamps off. There are several different types of switches on lamps scattered around our house. There are pull chain switches, turn button switches, push button switches and then there is the old standby, the clapper for turning lamps on by clapping.
With all of this confusion around lamp switches I don't always remember what type of switch I have on any given lamp. If you look in your den where you may have a sofa, coffee table and maybe a couple of end tables with lamps sitting on them, you can get a good illustration for kids in school today.
When I went to turn the lamp off the other night, the lampshade prevented me from seeing the actual switch. I was futzing around blindly trying to find the switch with my hand and then when I found it, I had to quickly figure out by feel which type of switch it was and then remember what type of action it took to turn the light on and off.
Kids are like lamps in that you can't always see their switch to know what type of switch they have. Until you figure out what it takes to turn them on, they can’t shine.
After the age of 3rd grade the current system is doing everything it can to make kids behave the opposite from what they were doing as they progressed rapidly up until the 3rd grade.
You also ask… _Is this possible with our traditional school systems?_
School buildings will work just fine but for what Marc is showing us to happen, teachers will have to embrace what he is pointing to with each of his videos and they will need to become coaches and mentors that know how to turn kids on and light them up.
Thanks for your time in creating this video. It contains many important concepts that we are struggling with in schools. There is a constant negotiation between what is important to know in order to function as a well-rounded, capable person/citizen with one's personal passions and interests. Unfortunately, standardized tests and traditions continue to drive many of the educational policies and practices in schools, instead of recognizing the (potential) superhero in each individual child.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. On the subject of exams, I think differentiation is just as important here as it is everywhere else. A well-built exam can perhaps be useful in some instances. But that can only be true if we rethink exams. I think it depends on many factors, including subject area, autonomy, the function of the exam, the way it's administered, etc. An exam is one of several tools that can be used to ascertain a level of proficiency... Should it be the main one? Certainly not.
Wow! je suis renversée..... Tu as un talent hors du commun cher ami pour illustrer des concepts pas toujours faciles à comprendre ou à imaginer. La visuelle que je suis a été servie à souhait. Si seulement on pouvait y avoir accès en français, cette vidéo deviendrait virale dans notre cs. Merci Marc-André
Thank you very much! By all means, share it and get the discussion going!
Thank you so much! I hope it can help.
Great video about the need to change our current educational system! Love the superhero point of view.... Hilarious
I am very impressed and it is so true. I shared your video I just hope that it reached to the most people possible, so we can stop judging students that struggle more than others. hope it reached to lots of teachers.
You are very welcome. And thank you for your comments. I hope it can help change our view of school and get us to actually change school very soon.
Like Marc Prensky said in a recent interview/chat (will upload clips from that soon), the last few years have been our last ditch attempt at fixing the school system as we know it... It is now time for something entirely different.
Very interesting video with some great ideas. A few questions to consider: Didn't you ever really like something that you were made to study that you wouldn't have otherwise? I was forced to take piano lessons in 6th grade. My parents were on me to take them since 3rd, but I kept refusing. Finally, they just signed me up. Well, I loved it, ended up majoring in piano, and perform often professionally. I don't think that would have happened had I not been required to study it. How many times do we hear about young people today having a bazillion careers in their life? And yes, we also hear about the importance of problem-solving over knowledge. But there are so many times in life and in our jobs that we must do something or learn about something that isn't our preference. Letting students have total choice for 12 years of their education doesn't seem like a good idea. But considering right now they have about 10-15% choice (depending on middle school and high school electives), I agree that much more choice would be great! I actually teach high school math, and I definitely know that so many formulas we teach (like Standard Deviation mentioned in this video) are not used every day. Computers automate this for us conveniently. But with so much innovative technology these days, a flood of new apps and devices, I ask this: what about those who create and program the software? Surely they will need to be fluent with the formulas they are creating their app around. It's not terrible for students to become familiar with some of the more basic formulas. And trust me, standard deviation is not among the more challenging formulas when compared to all of them our there. We keep telling students that they are preparing for careers that don't even exist yet. But so many of those careers revolve around technology, and we do know the basics of technology education: math, science, computer programming. So why not teach that to a basic level to every student?
Anyway, again, I really like the video, I want to do what's best for my students, please help me - Thanks!
Some really important ideas here. Thank you for creating it, I would like to share it with my teachers.
Thank you very much! Like Marc Prensky said in a chat/workshop we did (look for it in the uploaded videos playlist), this is the last grasp at trying to fix this system. The next system will be very different... not a reform, but a revolution (as Sir Ken Robinson aptly put it in Bring On the Learning Revolution). We'll get there soon!
Valid point. I wonder if the jobs would change if school did... I must say I'm not sure that there are 2 categories of jobs; the ones where you innovate, create and use critical thinking and the ones where you have to "grind it out". There might be several others. John Hagel has very interesting thoughts on those "vulnerable" jobs (John Hagel: Rethinking Race Against the Machines on Big Think). With a new school model, we just might have better tools to revisit how we see work, eventually...Thx!
Yeah, this is it. Some of us do it anyway... because we know it's right. But it's difficult to do when stuck in subject based learning
Brillant comme vidéo Marc-André. Nous pensons l'utiliser auprès des orthopédagogues lors d'une formation sur les aides technologiques. Ma seule question est: est-ce qu'il y aura une version française éventuellement?
Great work!!!
Same here! I thought about Ken Robinson too. From his RSA and TED video. :)
Indeed, Sir Ken Robinson is a strong influence. I hope to contribute to the dialogue he started years ago, especially through his videos (visit my Pinterest boards /lalandema). You might also note the influences of Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Tom Chatfield, Stephen Heppell, Susan Cain, John Medina, Ali Carr Chellman, Yong Zhao, Dan Pink, Jane McGonigal, Salman Khan, Marc Presnky, Sugata Mitra and many others. I try to offer solutions inspired by the works of these amazing people.
I guess the point is yes, critical thinking skills are the most valuable of the skills that you can learn, and we do need a more immersive curriculum, but our problems are more cultural than housed in schools. MOST jobs require you to "grind it out" rather than innovate, create, or critically think. probably because the people who designed the current system learned how to create things with that structure, because their society had the same fundamental problems that we have today.
Came from the Sir Ken Robinson video. Wow, I almost used your exact words in my comment! xD Very interesting watch. =)
Thank you very much, André-Paul; you're too kind. Je suis tout à fait ouvert à produire une version française éventuellement. Je ne peux toutefois pas le faire à l'intérieur de mon plan d'action pour les c.s. anglophones. Ce serait comme déshabiller André pour habiller Paul ;o). Comme je le mentionnais à Danielle B., c'est une question de limite de temps. Bientôt, je publierai des extraits d'entrevue avec Marc Prensky que j'ai réalisés pour l'AQIFGA; il y en aura en anglais et en français.
Your point illustrates how the brain works (Authors@Google: Dr. John Medina starting at 4:10). Technology is no panacea, of course. But as the world changes, there are things we leave to technology so we can allow more brain resources to more complex things (more on this in Marc Prensky's Brain Gain). But if, for some reason, one needs to know how to do something that machines do very well, then by all means, learn it they should.
Merci beaucoup Danielle, c'est trop gentil. J'essaie d'employer un anglais accessible... J'aimerais bien pouvoir l'offrir en français aussi, mais c'est une question de limite de temps lié à mon plan d'action (pour les c.s. anglophones).
Wow. there's some good points in here, but there's also completely useless ones. using technology as a panacea isn't good. and not having basic calculating skills because you'll always have a smartphone... take it from a military person with access to absolutely no technology or network, regularly, realize that learning skills without crutches is absolutely necessary. to function in the modern world, we need diverse skill sets. exposure and well roundedness is the basis of innovation.
Small nitpick,Barry technically can fly,other than that great video.
Hi Marc, I'm presenting at an edtech conference in Niagara Falls ( #bit14), and would really like to use this video as the MINDS ON for my student-centred (Inquiry) learning workshop.
By all means!