Clickable Print.org + Printernet Publishing

Augmented reality technology heading for classrooms in Australia | QR Code Press

2011-12-31T06:08:00.000-05:00

Researchers from the University of Canberra, lead by Danny Munnerley, have been working on the AR Studio project for several years in an attempt to bring augmented reality technology to the world of education.

Using augmented reality, Munnerley and his colleagues will be able to embed virtual information within textbooks through the use of markers, such as QR codes. When a smart phone is pointed at the markers, a virtual display is triggered, which will allow students to find out a little bit more information regarding a particular topic. The first books to feature these markers are expected to be released in November of this year when the AR system is installed in the University’s Innovation Centre for Education.

The Secrets of Finland's Success

2011-12-31T05:50:00.000-05:00

I found the following facts particularly interesting.

"Not only is education itself free, but the state pays students to study, through a student allowance"

"Starting in 1980s, families with children could choose whether they wanted to have a home care allowance, to be paid to be stay-at-home parents, or to have their children placed in a high-level kindergarten."

"Gender equality has always been strong in Finnish society"

The following is perhaps the most interesting.

"The downsides facing Finland

#1 is the unemployed—young people who have no education and no work. “That’s our time bomb,” admits Taipale. “It’s over 10 percent of young Finns. The lowest group in our social hierarchy is single men: unmarried and divorced men. Men without women. So I’ve been looking for new innovations for the second edition.”

Seems the problem of "young men" still exists even in the Finnish context. It suggests that even the Finns have to figure out solutions for this small but very important cohort.

Innovations from Finland:

The secrets of Finland’s success:

#1 is consensus, togetherness.

“We don’t have a two-party system, we actually have a three-party system,” says Taipale. “One party is always out of government, and the other two share power. And they change around. In city councils and executive bodies, ever party is proportionally represented. Even the labor market is trilateral—employers, workers and the state—and together they make agreements.” This approach began during the Winter War against Russia in 1939. Torn apart by a very bloody civil war in 1918, the country understood that it had to unite to fend off its aggressive neighbor.

#2 is open democracy.

Finland has a unicameral parliament but its communities and municipalities are strong. They have tax power. Helsinki gets 18.5 percent of its residents’ salaries as a city, making it half independent of the state. “The principle of openness, that all you are governing, all your documents have to be open to everybody, came from Finland more than 200 years ago,” says Taipale. “And it went into the Swedish Constitution around 1770.”

#3 is equality.

Today, the country has a woman as president, a woman as mayor of Helsinki, and a female speaker in its parliament. “Maybe a little too much equality,” Taipale chuckles. “I was on two parliamentary commissions, civilization and the constitution, and the chairs were both women. And at home, there’s a woman. But I have to say that we, the men, made the laws to establish equality with the help of women. And we’re happy.”

Gender equality has always been strong in Finnish society:

on family farms, the wife and husband traditionally worked together. “My grandmother never went to school because they were too poor,” says Taipale, “but she taught all the girls in the family, ‘Educate yourselves! This is the way to stand on your own feet.’”

During World War II, many European women entered the labor market to keep the factories going, but when the war ended, they were pushed back into their homes. In Finland, however, women stayed on the labor market, which meant that something had to be done with their children. The Taipales, for instance, had four children and their mother worked constantly.

By the late 1980s, Vappu Taipale had been appointed Minister of Social Affairs. This was when the first serious social innovations began.

For the first time, families with children could choose whether they wanted to have a home care allowance, to be paid to be stay-at-home parents, or to have their children placed in a high-level kindergarten.

This benefit has been universally available in Finland for 20 years now. The result? Nearly all children under two are taken care of at home. And nearly all children between two and school age are in kindergartens. Moreover, the public services are strong in Finland, they are trusted, and there’s no real competition with the private sector.

“This makes our labor market more effective because mothers and fathers don’t need to worry about their children,” says Taipale. “Young children are very important for our society and our birthrate is one of the highest in the European Union—although it is not very high, about 1.8 children.”

#4 is free education.

Not only is education itself free, but the state pays students to study, through a student allowance.

“This really is very important because it develops all talents by providing all children with opportunities to grow where they are talented,” says Taipale. “For instance, in the OECD’s PISA competition, Finland has stayed in the top three since 2006. One reason is that teachers’ education is at a very high level—university degrees. Many people complained, saying ‘Oh it’s not possible, it costs too much,’ but it’s not true. Finland’s social budget is below the EU average.”

Add universal social and health policies, then if you break your shoulder and go to the hospital, you will only pay 100 euros, 50 euros of that for surgery. In the small private sector, the same treatment would cost 7,000 euros. “We are happy taxpayers,” says Taipale. “I pay 47 percent of my pension and salary in taxes, but our four children got a free university education.”

Stricken after the soviet invasion in 1939-40—indeed, one of the key clashes was the Battle of Taipale—, the country began a policy of sharing what it had. It started with very small child allowances, very small universal pensions, and residence-based social security, meaning that anyone living in the country got something. “This created the dynamics of our society,” says Taipale, “and if you listen today, the ILO and the UN both say that you have to start with small allowances to poorer people and children.”

#5 is Finland’s nongovernmental organizations—some 70,000 of them. But this is where Finland parts ways with other countries: its NGOs are financed, not just by the state, but by gambling. All gambling and all Finnish casinos are in hands of the “NGO mafia,” as Taipale calls it, not the underworld mafia, and their profits go to NGOs. Finland also has a tradition of subsidizing political parties, even at the local level, while parties have to inform the Minister of Trustees about how they collect money for elections and all donations over EUR 2,000 have to be reported, along with their source.

“And the last secret? We don’t have any enemies,” says Dr. Taipale with a smile. “We’re not afraid of the Russians. The Winter War was enough.”

The downsides facing Finland

#1 is the unemployed—young people who have no education and no work. “That’s our time bomb,” admits Taipale. “It’s over 10 percent of young Finns. The lowest group in our social hierarchy is single men: unmarried and divorced men. Men without women. So I’ve been looking for new innovations for the second edition.”

Iowa Rocks!

2011-12-04T16:33:00.000-05:00

Iowa, Did You Know? - YouTube

History Education in a World of Information Surplus | Democratizing Knowledge

2011-12-04T07:14:00.000-05:00

History Education in a World of Information Surplus | Democratizing Knowledge

So what should a 21st century education in history be?

Let me start by explaining how my recent inquiry has been motivated by three things. First, I’ve noticed over the last couple years that I rarely pull a History Primary Source Reader off the shelf for my students. Instead, I find excellent sources online. I just can’t find a Reader that gives my students all the relevant primary sources the World Wide Web can. Second, my department is engaged in a curriculum review process this year that has taken us to some very fundamental questions, like: should we attempt to cover the whole history of all human time between 7th and 11th grade (when our required courses end)? should we be focused on “coverage” or on “meaning-making”? what should students know and be able to do upon graduation? is it more important they know a lot of historical facts or that they can think like historians?

And thirdly, a couple week ago I ran across this excellent TEDx talk by Diana Laufenberg. She is a Social Studies teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA, where the curriculum is inquiry-driven, project-based, and focused on 21st-century learning. Though her talk is ostensibly about learning from mistakes, I think she’s making an important point about history education. She begins by stating the obvious, but what most history education standards don’t yet acknowledge – students don’t need to come to school to find historical information:

. . . .

Common Core State Standards Initiative | Myths vs. Facts

2011-12-04T07:12:00.000-05:00

Common Core State Standards Initiative | Myths vs. Facts

Myths About Content and Quality: General

Myth: Adopting common standards will bring all states’ standards down to the lowest common denominator, which means states with high standards, such as Massachusetts, will be taking a step backwards if they adopt the Standards.

Fact: The Standards are designed to build upon the most advanced current thinking about preparing all students for success in college and their careers. This will result in moving even the best state standards to the next level. In fact, since this work began, there has been an explicit agreement that no state would lower its standards. The Standards were informed by the best in the country, the highest international standards, and evidence and expertise about educational outcomes. We need college and career ready standards because even in high‐performing states – students are graduating and passing all the required tests and still require remediation in their postsecondary work.

Myth: The Standards are not internationally benchmarked.

Fact: International benchmarking played a significant role in both sets of standards. In fact, the college and career ready standards include an appendix listing the evidence that was consulted in drafting the standards and the international data consulted in the benchmarking process is included in this appendix. More evidence from international sources will be presented together with the final draft.

Myth: The Standards only include skills and do not address the importance of content knowledge.

Fact: The Standards recognize that both content and skills are important. ......

Biosemiotics/Introduction - Books

2011-12-04T06:47:00.000-05:00

Biosemiotics/Introduction - Books

Peirce’s logical inference of abduction (Gk. μεταφέρω metafero – to carry; hence metaphor Gk. μεταφορά metafora – to carry away, via iconic signs, meaning from one place to another) is based on the iconicity of metaphor (and the primary ‘Universe of Firstness’ – see below). As I write in my own contribution to this Living Book, ‘Gregory Bateson and Biosemiotics’:

abduction is the only logic which introduces newness: induction merely confirms that something is so; deduction draws out further logical implications. But a genuinely new development (let us call it an ‘idea’ – whether natural or cultural) requires a mysterious and incalculable move. Peirce called it informed guessing, or a hunch or animal-like intuition: a semiotic operation, but hidden from view (Peirce, 1998a: 216-8). Bateson, working out of cybernetic understandings, thought about the problem of abduction in terms of systems consisting essentially of information as positive (excitatory) and negative (dampening) feedback. Biosemiotics, of which Bateson was an important precursor, recasts ‘information’ as semiosis in living systems. In biosemiotic thought, living systems are thus conceived as cybersemiotic systems, and this introduces a rather different sense of ‘mind’ and ‘idea’. A ‘mind’, as Bateson recognised, is something much more like an ecology in which ‘information’ (semiosis) circulates in a complex symphony of causes, feedback, and further effects (signs) (Wheeler, 2010: 41).

PLAYBACK: Tweeting History, Literature and Politics, and the Future of News | Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning

2011-12-04T06:45:00.000-05:00

PLAYBACK: Tweeting History, Literature and Politics, and the Future of News | Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning:

Tweeting History: The New York Times covers historical reenactments on Twitter this week with a story about@RealTimeWWII, which has grown to more than 15,000 followers since it started this past August. Alwyn Collinson, a recent Oxford University history graduate, has been live tweeting the events of World War II as they unfold in real time.

Collinson tells the Times the idea is to let followers experience how the war felt to ordinary people:

“I still get dozens of tweets every day from people who say, ‘I forgot I was following World War II, and I suddenly thought the Germans were about to invade Holland,’ ” Collinson said. “That’s exactly the effect I want: to convey the fear, the uncertainty, the shock. That’s what it was like for the people who lived through it.”

We’ve written previously about using Twitter to bring history to life for students (see tweeting the Civil War), and the Times has a few other great examples, including @1948War, which tweets the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Educators may want to check out twhistory.com, whose tagline is, “Those who forget history are doomed to re-tweet it.” You can browse past re-enactments and get guidance on starting your own.

The Short Form: I wrote about Twitter’s burgeoning literary community when we covered the medium’s fifth anniversary earlier this year. The community is growing – from poets to social media theatrics. The National Writing Project has done a great job of highlighting uses of Twitter in the classroom specifically for teaching the art and craft of writing.

I like this new collection on its Digital Is site called The Short Form. Curated by Paul Oh, it demonstrates the value of learning to write 140 characters at a time.

In this resource post from Keri Franklin, director of the Ozarks Writing Project and assistant professor of English at Missouri State University, she equates learning to tweet with learning to write and to read. “I learned as much about audience, purpose, conventions, and handling writing apprehension as I have learned from writing much longer pieces,” she says.

In-store Internet Shopping With QR Codes

2011-11-30T18:42:00.000-05:00

In-store Internet Shopping With QR Codes:

Nice example of emerging trend of Printable Click connecting Physical Spaces to Web based commerce.

Starting tomorrow for five days 34/35 Dean Street, just off London’s Oxford Street, will be home to eBay’s UK version of the pop-up store. There are no tills in eBay’s Christmas Boutique (image below) but with over 350 items on display shoppers simply scan an associated QR Code that resolves to the item’s page on eBay and then complete their purchase in the normal way. In addition to Christmas best sellers there are donated charity items and clothing from the Fashion Outlet.

Creating the Constitution

2011-11-30T09:34:00.001-05:00

[The Constitution of the United States] was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom,
the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands.

Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence announced the birth of the United States, the survival of the young country seemed in doubt.

The War for Independence had been won, but economic depression, social unrest, interstate rivalries, and foreign intrigue appeared to be unraveling the fragile confederation.

In early 1787, Congress called for a special convention of all the states to revise the Articles of Confederation. On September 17, 1787, after four months of secret meetings, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention emerged from their Philadelphia meetingroom with an entirely new plan of government–the U.S. Constitution–that they hoped would ensure the survival of the experiment they had launched in 1776.

They proposed a strong central government made up of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial; each would be perpetually restrained by a sophisticated set of checks and balances.

They reached compromises on the issue of slavery that left its final resolution to future generations. As for ratification, they devised a procedure that maximized the odds: the Constitution would be enacted when it was ratified by nine, not thirteen, states. The Framers knew they had not created a perfect plan, but it could be revised.

The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times and stands today as the longest-lasting written constitution in the world.

On September 17, 1787, two days after the final vote, the delegates signed the engrossed parchment shown in the Rotunda's centerpiece case.

2011-11-30T09:12:00.001-05:00

[The Constitution of the United States] was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom,
the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands.

Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence announced the birth of the United States, the survival of the young country seemed in doubt.

The War for Independence had been won, but economic depression, social unrest, interstate rivalries, and foreign intrigue appeared to be unraveling the fragile confederation.

They proposed a strong central government made up of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial; each would be perpetually restrained by a sophisticated set of checks and balances.

They reached compromises on the issue of slavery that left its final resolution to future generations.

As for ratification, they devised a procedure that maximized the odds: the Constitution would be enacted when it was ratified by nine, not thirteen, states.

The Framers knew they had not created a perfect plan, but it could be revised.

The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times and stands today as the longest-lasting written constitution in the world.

On September 17, 1787, two days after the final vote, the delegates signed the engrossed parchment shown in the Rotunda's centerpiece case.

2011-11-30T08:57:00.001-05:00

www.archives.gov

November 30, 2011

A More Perfect Union:
The Creation of the U.S. Constitution

May 25, 1787, Freshly spread dirt covered the cobblestone street in front of the Pennsylvania State House, protecting the men inside from the sound of passing carriages and carts. Guards stood at the entrances to ensure that the curious were kept at a distance.

Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, the "financier" of the Revolution, opened the proceedings with a nomination--Gen. George Washington for the presidency of the Constitutional Convention. The vote was unanimous. With characteristic ceremonial modesty, the general expressed his embarrassment at his lack of qualifications to preside over such an august body and apologized for any errors into which he might fall in the course of its deliberations.

To many of those assembled, especially to the small, boyish-looking, 36-year-old delegate from Virginia, James Madison, the general's mere presence boded well for the convention, for the illustrious Washington gave to the gathering an air of importance and legitimacy But his decision to attend the convention had been an agonizing one. The Father of the Country had almost remained at home.

Suffering from rheumatism, despondent over the loss of a brother, absorbed in the management of Mount Vernon, and doubting that the convention would accomplish very much or that many men of stature would attend, Washington delayed accepting the invitation to attend for several months. Torn between the hazards of lending his reputation to a gathering perhaps doomed to failure and the chance that the public would view his reluctance to attend with a critical eye, the general finally agreed to make the trip. James Madison was pleased.

General George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Philadelphia convention.

The Articles of Confederation

The determined Madison had for several years insatiably studied history and political theory searching for a solution to the political and economic dilemmas he saw plaguing America. The Virginian's labors convinced him of the futility and weakness of confederacies of independent states. America's own government under the Articles of Confederation, Madison was convinced, had to be replaced.

In force since 1781, established as a "league of friendship" and a constitution for the 13 sovereign and independent states after the Revolution, the articles seemed to Madison woefully inadequate. With the states retaining considerable power, the central government, he believed, had insufficient power to regulate commerce. It could not tax and was generally impotent in setting commercial policy It could not effectively support a war effort. It had little power to settle quarrels between states. Saddled with this weak government, the states were on the brink of economic disaster. The evidence was overwhelming.

Congress was attempting to function with a depleted treasury; paper money was flooding the country, creating extraordinary inflation--a pound of tea in some areas could be purchased for a tidy $100; and the depressed condition of business was taking its toll on many small farmers. Some of them were being thrown in jail for debt, and numerous farms were being confiscated and sold for taxes.

In 1786 some of the farmers had fought back.

Led by Daniel Shays, a former captain in the Continental army, a group of armed men, sporting evergreen twigs in their hats, prevented the circuit court from sitting at Northampton, MA, and threatened to seize muskets stored in the arsenal at Springfield. Although the insurrection was put down by state troops, the incident confirmed the fears of many wealthy men that anarchy was just around the corner.

Embellished day after day in the press, the uprising made upper-class Americans shudder as they imagined hordes of vicious outlaws descending upon innocent citizens. From his idyllic Mount Vernon setting, Washington wrote to Madison: "Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm."

Madison thought he had the answer. He wanted a strong central government to provide order and stability.

"Let it be tried then," he wrote, "whether any middle ground can be taken which will at once support a due supremacy of the national authority," while maintaining state power only when "subordinately useful." The resolute Virginian looked to the Constitutional Convention to forge a new government in this mold.

The convention had its specific origins in a proposal offered by Madison and John Tyler in the Virginia assembly that the Continental Congress be given power to regulate commerce throughout the Confederation. Through their efforts in the assembly a plan was devised inviting the several states to attend a convention at Annapolis, MD, in September 1786 to discuss commercial problems.

Madison and a young lawyer from New York named Alexander Hamilton issued a report on the meeting in Annapolis, calling upon Congress to summon delegates of all of the states to meet for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. Although the report was widely viewed as a usurpation of congressional authority, the Congress did issue a formal call to the states for a convention.

To Madison it represented the supreme chance to reverse the country's trend. And as the delegations gathered in Philadelphia, its importance was not lost to others. The squire of Gunston Hall, George Mason, wrote to his son, "The Eyes of the United States are turned upon this Assembly and their Expectations raised to a very anxious Degree. May God Grant that we may be able to gratify them, by establishing a wise and just Government."

Possible Postcard + QR to increase adoption rate for BodiMojo

2011-05-22T16:25:00.005-04:00

Front of Postcard:

Sick of People Telling Us
What to Eat!

Back of Postcard:

http://ilnk.me/BodiMojo

Click with a Smart Phone or type in the url.

Get this video on your screen:

Time-keeping Brain Neurons Discovered

2009-10-24T06:36:00.000-04:00

The point is that time and space are the deep fundamentals and time training is one of the most important things an education system does.

Time-keeping Brain Neurons Discovered:

"An MIT team led by Institute Professor Ann Graybiel has found groups of neurons in the primate brain that code time with extreme precision. 'All you do is time stamp everything, and then recalling events is easy: you go back and look through your time stamps until you see which ones are correlated with the event,' she says."

Open Source PD for High School Science

2009-09-06T07:02:00.018-04:00

version 4 updated 9.08.09 6:00 amEDT

Instead of paying teachers to listen to someone else, what if teachers were paid to listen to each other.

The Paper
It could be a postcard, a letter or an ad in the school newspaper. But whatever it is, it appears in the teacher's mailbox or is handed to the teacher by an AP.

The focus this week is Evolution and BioDiversity, There will be a PD session next Tuesday to brainstorm how we might be able to use what's in the video for our classes.

Reader's note 1 "brainstorm how we might be able to use" is at the heart of the "development" part of "professional development." A combination of face to face plus on line mentoring is the heart of the "professional" part of "professional development." (see argument at the end of the post)

A Taste for Insects 57:53 minutes. is from the University of California's UCTV.
On the web at http://bit.ly/VpbXS

Reader's note 2 "http://bit.ly/VpbXS" is an easy-ish to remember and type URL. But it is just one path. The other path is using 2D- QR code that is printed on the paper. It might look like the one below. Pointing a cellphone or a web cam will automatically take one to the A Taste for Insects video. That's the experience I'm trying to point to with "clickable print."

"How did the passion for collecting and collections of Darwin, Wallace and others of their period force them to understand and explain biodiversity? What is the legacy of this period of adventure and species discovery and how is it a vital part of current and future evolutionary research? Join Kipling Will, Associate Director of the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley for this exploration. (#16071)

The video

The argument
Any time taken away from teachers thinking about and working with their students is wasted time. Teacher time is the scarce resource in school systems. Wasting it increases costs without increasing learning.

My direct experience is in the New York City school systems. I've seen how much money and time is wasted in that context.

With the explosion of great content on the internet this no longer has to be the case. With asynchronous communication on wikis and nings, expert moderated discussions are practical.

With the simple use of a piece of paper and the open source resources on the internet, we can have the same experience we want to give to our students.

Babies Use Their Own Names To Help Learn Language

2009-08-30T05:48:00.001-04:00

"Bortfeld's research, which appears in the upcoming April issue of 'Psychological Science,' shows that babies use familiar words such as their names as a sort of 'anchor' into the speech stream. A baby as young as six months can learn to recognize an individual word that follows its own name, even after hearing both words as part of whole sentences, says Bortfeld who worked with colleagues from Brown University and the University of Delaware."

Recognition drives segmentation of the speech stream, and segmentation is a critical step in learning a language," Bortfeld explains. "We know from previous research that babies are recognizing their names in fluent speech by the age of six months, so we hypothesized that they should be able to use that recognition to segment the speech stream and recognize new words.

Much in the same way a person might have difficulty understanding a foreign language because it's hard to tell where one word starts and another begins, babies face a similar challenge in learning language. Bortfeld's research shows babies can begin to discern the beginnings and endings of words that follow their names, meaning their names form a foundation for learning language.

In what can be described as a "popping out" pattern, Bortfeld explains, one familiar word can allow a baby to pick out another word, and that newly familiar word may allow a baby to learn words that follow it.

Familiar And Newly Learned Words Are Processed By The Same Neural Networks In The Brain

2009-08-30T05:44:00.000-04:00

"In one of the experiments conducted in the NEURO programme, participants learned the name and/or purpose of 150 ancient tools. They had never heard these words before. The subjects' brain function was measured by means of magnetoencelography during the naming of the tools, both before and after the learning period.

The results show that the brain uses the same neural networks to process both familiar and newly learned words.
. . .
In other words, it seems that the processing of meanings in the brain differs essentially from the processing of names. On the other hand, the performance results indicated that new definitions were learned even faster than new names.

read at Familiar And Newly Learned Words Are Processed By The Same Neural Networks In The Brain:

Employee’s Loyalty To Workplace Damaged By Unfair Treatment

2009-08-28T06:07:00.000-04:00

Employee’s Loyalty To Workplace Damaged By Unfair Treatment:
"ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2009) — In organizational settings, managers as well as others in leadership roles should perhaps think twice before ridiculing subordinate employees on their choice of lunch, attire, or habits, or generally acting disrespectfully towards them. Recent research from the Journal of Management Studies shows that when an employee believes that he or she has been treated unfairly, the employee is not likely to forgive and forget."

Towards Malaria 'Vaccine': Discovery Opens The Door To Malaria-prevention Therapies

2009-08-23T07:20:00.000-04:00

The point is that until the mechanism is defined, it's very hard to fix dysfunctional systems. As in health v disease, so it is in smart v stupid.

. . .
"Researchers at the RI-MUHC and McGill University, discovered that hemozoin, a crystal-like substance may be the missing link that explains why malaria leads to devastating inflammation and fever.

'Our results describe the mechanism by which the hemozoin activates the immune system, resulting in the production of inflammation mediators and in the high fever that we witness in malaria patients,' said study first-author Dr. Marina Tiemi Shio of the RI-MUHC.

Hemozoin is first ingested by 'cleaning' cells called macrophages, explained the researcher which leads to a chain reaction ending in the activation of the inflammasome: an important structure inside immune cells which lead to inflammation. Activation of the inflammasome produces the body's fever mediator, interleukin beta (IL-beta)."
read at Towards Malaria 'Vaccine': Discovery Opens The Door To Malaria-prevention Therapies:

Mystery and the Impossible in Math, Science and Beyond (Aug. 8, 2009) | Intent.com

2009-08-19T07:45:00.000-04:00

The point is that scientists are working on the deep mysteries of life. To listen to 57 minutes of what that means click on Mystery and the Impossible in Math, Science and Beyond
(Aug. 8, 2009) | Intent.com:

"Deepak Chopra speaks with Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist and professor famous for his New York Times bestseller book Physics of the Impossible. Chopra also speaks to Amir Aczel, a lecturer in mathematics who wrote the book The Riddle of the Compass."

Revising English Part 4

2009-08-11T06:35:00.002-04:00

The point is this series of posts by Jim Burke is best thinking/writing I've seen about the purpose of education.

After considering carefully the ideas of Jago and Scholes, Langer and Marshall, and a long list of others, I arrived at my own sense of what English is.

We need to do more than teach skills and knowledge: We need to cultivate within our students a range of personae, each of which is necessary if they are, as Jago says, “to make a living, make a life, and make a difference” (2009, 1).

Note that each of the following personae has two sides: one devoted to comprehending, interpreting, and analyzing the text or content created by others; the other side dedicated to communicating one’s own ideas and content through whichever means or media that person deems most appropriate to the task and occasion. In other words, each role involves both comprehension and composition. Here is a brief description of these eight personae English teachers attempt to develop in students—and ourselves . . .
Storyteller . . . more at the original post
Philosopher . . more at the original post
Historian . . . more at the original post
Anthropologist more at the original post
Reporter more at the original post
Critic more at the original post
Designer more at the original post
Traveler more at the original post

Tumor Mutations Can Predict Chemo Success

2009-08-09T07:44:00.000-04:00

Tumor Mutations Can Predict Chemo Success:
"ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2009) — New work by MIT cancer biologists shows that the interplay between two key genes that are often defective in tumors determines how cancer cells respond to chemotherapy.

The findings should have an immediate impact on cancer treatment, say Michael Hemann and Michael Yaffe, the two MIT biology professors who led the study. The work could help doctors predict what types of chemotherapy will be effective in a particular tumor, which would help tailor treatments to each patient.

'This isn't something that's going to take five years to do,' says Yaffe, who, along with Hemann is a member of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. 'You could begin doing this tomorrow.'"

14-year-old 'surgeon' to present findings today

2009-08-09T07:35:00.000-04:00

The point is you never know what you can do until you try.

"A Jacksonville researcher has developed a way of sewing up patients after hysterectomies that stands to reduce the risk of complications and simplify the tricky procedure for less-seasoned surgeons. Oh, and he's 14 years old. Feel free to read that again. Tony Hansberry II is a ninth-grader who, as it happens, will be presenting his findings today before an auditorium filled with doctors just like any of his board-certified - and decades older - colleagues would. He would say he was following in the footsteps of 'Doogie Howser, M.D.' - if he weren't too young to have heard of the television show. Instead, he says that his remarkable accomplishments are merely steps toward his ultimate goal of becoming a University of Florida-trained neurosurgeon. 'I just want to help people and be respected, knowing that I can save lives,' said Tony, the son of a registered nurse mom and an African Methodist Episcopal church pastor dad. To be sure, he had some help along the way, but, then again, most researchers do. The seeds of his project were planted last summer during his internship at the University of Florida's Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research, based at Shands Jacksonville. To understand why a teenager would be a hospital intern, it's important to know that Tony is a student . . .

read the rest at 14-year-old 'surgeon' to present findings today | Jacksonville.com:

What do we mean by trust?

2009-08-09T06:13:00.005-04:00

I think the point is learn how to judge who and what you can trust. The question is what might this mean for education.

Video 2 of 7

Video 3 of 7

Getting together through the generations

2009-08-09T05:46:00.001-04:00

The point is this sounds plausible to me.

"Love and sex comprise the dark matter in our high schools. Dark matter is stuff out in the universe that is undetectable, matter whose existence can only be inferred from its gravitational effects on everything else. One couldn't ask for a better definition of love and sex.

I bring this up for two reasons. One, school doors are about to open for the autumn semester and two, schools are publicly concerned about their dropout rate. In Chicago, a good-looking hip-hop artist and recent Chicago Public Schools graduate named Jeremih Felton is encouraging students to remain in school. Calling himself simply Jeremih, the popular singer of the hit song 'Birthday Sex,' and the school district are hoping Jeremih's star power will influence other young people to remain in school. Good for him, although it seems a few people are concerned about some of his hit song's blatantly sexual lyrics. They think perhaps Jeremih is not an appropriate role model for high school students.
. . .
And when Paul Simon sings "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school it's a wonder I can think at all," I can only nod in agreement, and hope to never again see my own yearbook, a testament to bad taste and unfulfilled promise.

read the full column at Getting together through the generations -- chicagotribune.com:

The Paul Simon Song:

People With Lots Of Working Memory Are Not Easily Distracted:

2009-08-08T05:53:00.001-04:00

A working hypothesis is that it's a signal v noise problem in learning. It's only secondarily about "content."

"'Our attention is the continual interplay between what our goals are and what the environment is trying to dictate to us,' Vogel said. 'Often, to be able to complete complex and important goal-directed behavior, we need to be able to ignore salient but irrelevant things, such as advertisements flashing around an article you are trying to read on a computer screen. We found that some people are really good at overriding attention capture, and other people have a difficult time unhooking from it and are really susceptible to irrelevant stimuli.'

Vogel theorizes that people who are good at staying on focus have a good gatekeeper, much like a bouncer or ticket-taker hired to allow only approved people into a nightclub or concert. Understanding how to improve the gatekeeper component, he said, could lead to therapies that help easily distracted people better process what information is allowed in initially, rather than attempting to teach people how to force more information into their memory banks."

Read more @People With Lots Of Working Memory Are Not Easily Distracted:

How to get Boys in High School "Motivated" to get that A

2009-08-07T06:28:00.007-04:00

Being a grown up boy, I can only speak from experience for boys. But I'm pretty sure Video 2 works for everyone. Including teachers.

The point of video 1: ". . . maybe by being an A student baby, I could win your love for me."

The point for video 2: The more you know about how world works, the more you can enjoy the magic of being alive.

Video 1.

Video 2.

What's the Matter with Memory?

2009-08-06T07:34:00.003-04:00

The point is how can you trust your memories?

The full program is over an hour. You can watch it at Fora.tv.

The quantum theory of reincarnation by Roger Ebert

2009-08-05T06:28:00.006-04:00

The point is that this is food for thought.

If you thought Roger Ebert was only interested in movies, read "The quantum theory of reincarnation," the latest essay on his award-winning online journal. In it the renowned film critic offers both wide-eyed wonder and speculative rumination on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, its possible implications, and the role of string theory and ether and of consciousness as "gravitational." A lively series of postings follows. Also featured on the page are a handful of YouTube videos, including the animated double-slit experiment featured in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know!?.

you can read more here

"The God Effect" by Brian Clegg

2009-08-05T06:18:00.003-04:00

The point is that the leading edge of science is going in some very strange directions. You can see the 25 books that Clegg has written here. The other point is that he is trained in applying mathematics to warfare. Warfare is about making decisions that have predictable consequences. Some think it is life at its most clear and most dangerous.

Biography at Amazon

Brian has written a number of popular science books, including The Global Warming Survival Kit, The God Effect, on the most remarkable phenomenon of the quantum world (St Martins Press) and The Man Who Stopped Time on the motion picture pioneer Eadweard Muybridge (Joseph Henry Press/NAS). Other titles include A Brief History of Infinity (Constable & Robinson) which was launched with a sell-out lecture at the Royal Institution in London, and reached #1 position on Amazon in the general Popular Science category and topped the Amazon popular maths list for over 10 weeks.
Along with further appearances at the RI he has spoken at venues from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to Cheltenham Festival of Science, has contributed to radio and TV programmes, and is a popular speaker at schools. Brian is also editor of the successful www.popularscience.co.uk book review site and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Brian has Masters degrees from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences and from Lancaster University in Operational Research, a discipline originally developed during the Second World War to apply the power of mathematics to warfare.

Sometimes you can't see what's happening, becuase it's happening too fast

2009-08-04T06:51:00.000-04:00

If Mozart Increases Spatial Intelligence for some, What does Hip Hop do?

2009-08-04T06:36:00.001-04:00

To be clear, there is no assertion that hip hop doesn't increase some kind of intelligence. The question is only what kind?

from Miller-McCune Online Magazine:
"Researchers from the University of London have tested a thesis that may explain why studies of this phenomenon have produced such inconsistent results. In a study just published in the journal Psychology of Music, they conclude that listening to Mozart can indeed spark a certain type of intelligence, but the effect is limited to non-musicians. The reason, it appears, has to do with the different ways musicians and non-musicians process music in the brain.
The term “Mozart effect” can be traced back to a 1993 study, in which a research team led by Frances Rauscher reported that a group of college students outperformed their peers on a test measuring a specific kind of spatial intelligence after listening to one of the Austrian composer’s works: The Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 448.

The test subjects were asked to mentally unfold a piece of paper that had been folded over several times and then cut. Those who listened to Mozart were able to identify the correct shape of the unfolded paper more quickly than those who had sat in silence for 10 minutes, or those who had listened to a tape of relaxing sounds.

Unlearning 101: Education

2009-08-03T23:33:00.002-04:00

Unlearning 101: Education:
St. Louis's Gateway Arch is one of the world's largest optical illusions. It appears to be much taller Gateway-arch than it is wide. The reality is that it is as high as it is wide. The problem is that the illusion can't be overcome just by taking another look -- only an objective measurement will do.

The relationship to unlearning is this: You can't simply rely on what you see to be the sole determinent of truth. In many cases only objective measurement will do.

For example, as I explained in this video, people often "see" patterns when none exist. Alternatively, we tend to view people based more on their surroundings and environment than on who they truly are.

If you want to unlearn, my recommendation is to recall the old phrase: "Trust but verify."

"We are so good at seeing patterns that often we see them where none exist." Anonymous

Invisible Ink? What Rorschach Tests Really Tell Us

2009-08-02T06:41:00.000-04:00

The point is that you think what you think becasue you see what what see. My bet is that the problem is not the test. The problem is how you set the norms that say "normal" vs "pathological."

"Proponents of the CS claimed that it also provided a wealth of information for non-patient adults and children. However, critics of this system argue that the norms established by CS are out of date and based on small sample sizes. Furthermore, the CS norms are not representative of the population and actually classify a portion of normal subjects as having pathological tendencies. Many studies have also called into question the scoring reliability of the CS; that is, a number of experiments have shown that two practitioners will score one subject very differently using the CS method. The authors observe that 'disagreements can have particularly serious implications if the test results are used to reach important clinical or legal recommendations.'

Today’s Parents 'Not To Blame' For Teenage Problem Behavior

2009-08-02T06:36:00.000-04:00

The point is

Differences in the monitoring of teenage children, according to family type and income, have narrowed. For example in 1994, 14–15 year olds from single parent families were more likely to be out late without their parents knowing where compared with two parent families, but by 2005 this difference had disappeared.
. . .
A team led by Professor Frances Gardner from the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Oxford found no evidence of a general decline in parenting. Their findings show that differences in parenting according to family structure and income have narrowed over the last 25 years. However, the task of parenting is changing and could be getting increasingly stressful, particularly for some groups.
. . .
The research highlights a different set of challenges for parents compared with 25 years ago. Young people now are reliant on their parents for longer, with higher proportions of 20–24 year olds living with their parents. Many more remain in some kind of education or training into their late teens. In addition, the development of new technology, such as mobile phones and the Internet, has created new monitoring challenges for parents.

'Today’s parents have had to develop skills that are significantly different and arguably more complex than 25 years ago, and this could be increasing the stress involved in parenting,’ Professor Gardner said.

Twitter

2009-08-02T06:27:00.000-04:00

The point is that looking at twitter should help understand how communication works for people and for birds.

Twitter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. While the service costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity worldwide. It is sometimes described as the "SMS of the Internet"^[3] since the use of Twitter's application programming interface for sending and receiving short text messages by other applications often eclipses the direct use of Twitter.

Twitter is ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide by Alexa's web traffic analysis.^[4] Although estimates of the number of daily users vary because the company does not release the number of active accounts, a February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranked Twitter as the third most used social network^[5] based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits.^[5] In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, Zimbio of 240 percent, followed by Facebook with an increase of 228 percent.^[6] However, only 40 percent of Twitter's users are retained.^[7]

Roadmap for the Brain |

2009-07-31T07:20:00.000-04:00

"Doctors designed a computer program specifically for Stacy using four different imaging technologies -- MRI, functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging and CT angiography. Surgeons mapped out a 3-D image of the tumor and brain. With this clear picture, the tumor went from inoperable to treatable because doctors could see vital vessels and maneuver around them.

'The size of the tumor was so large that I needed to know where the arteries and veins were located,' John Tew, M.D., Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, told Ivanhoe.

'This allows you to do basically sort of a virtual surgery before actually going in and doing the surgery on the patient,' James Leach, M.D., Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute, told Ivanhoe.

Doctors removed 90 percent of Stacy's tumor without harming healthy brain tissue. She was talking and walking the same night.

read more at Roadmap for the Brain |
Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs:

Overconfidence Among Teenage Students Can Stunt Crucial Reading Skills

2009-07-31T07:06:00.000-04:00

"
'While some self-confidence is helpful, overconfident 15-year-olds are often below-average readers in all 34 countries we studied,' says Ming Ming Chiu, the lead author of the study and a professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction in the University at Buffalo's Graduate School of Education. 'In contrast, under-confident 15-year-olds are more likely to be above-average readers in all 34 countries.'"

read more @ Overconfidence Among Teenage Students Can Stunt Crucial Reading Skills:

Game Utilizes Human Intuition To Help Computers Solve Complex Problems

2009-07-31T06:51:00.001-04:00

The point is that play has always been at the heart of learning. Usually it's called a "hobby." Sometimes it's called a "passion." But mostly it's tinkering around with reality in the service of playing with it.

Game Utilizes Human Intuition To Help Computers Solve Complex Problems:
"ScienceDaily (July 30, 2009) — A new computer game prototype combines work and play to help solve a fundamental problem underlying many computer hardware design tasks.
The online logic puzzle is called FunSAT, and it could help integrated circuit designers select and arrange transistors and their connections on silicon microchips, among other applications.

Designing chip architecture for the best performance and smallest size is an exceedingly difficult task that's outsourced to computers these days. But computers simply flip through possible arrangements in their search. They lack the human capacities for intuition and visual pattern recognition that could yield a better or even optimal design. That's where FunSAT comes in.

Stories We Tell About National Trauma Reflect Our Psychological Well-being

2009-07-31T06:48:00.001-04:00

The point is that the stories we tell ourselves can reflect and affect our health.

Stories We Tell About National Trauma Reflect Our Psychological Well-being:
"ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — A new study by psychologists at the University at Buffalo and the F. W. Olin College of Engineering finds that in the aftermath of national trauma, the ability to make sense out of what happened has implications for individual well-being and that the kinds of stories people tell about the incident predict very different psychological outcomes for them."

History of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2009-07-30T13:26:00.000-04:00

The point is that to understand how a word has evolved, it's important to know about its history.

History of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Hyperactivity has long been part of the human condition. Sir Alexander Crichton describes "mental restlessness" in his 1798 book.^[1]^[2] The terminology used to describe the symptoms of ADHD has gone through many changes over history including: "minimal brain damage", "minimal brain dysfunction", "learning/behavioral disabilities" and "hyperactivity". In the DSM-II (1968) it was the "Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood". In the DSM-III "ADD (Attention-Deficit Disorder) with or without hyperactivity" was introduced. In 1987 this was changed to ADHD in the DSM-III-R and subsequent editions.^[3]

ADHD : One View

2009-07-30T12:02:00.001-04:00

Happiness Formula | The science of happiness

2009-07-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

Found by ConorMac.

BBC NEWS | Programmes |
Happiness Formula | The science of happiness:
"A new six-part BBC series, starting this week, looks at the newest research from around the world to find out what could it be that makes us happy.

We all want to be happy but the problem has always been that you can't measure happiness.

Happiness has always been seen as too vague a concept, as Lord Layard, Professor of Economics at the LSE and author of 'Happiness - lessons from a new science' points out.

'There is a problem with the word happiness.

'When you use the word happy, it often has the sort of context of balloons floating up into the sky or something frivolous.'

Now scientists say they can actually measure happiness."

Cortechs Labs - Tools for seeing what's going on in living brains

2009-07-30T07:58:00.001-04:00

The point is

CorTechs has received SBIR funding from the US National Institute of Aging to use data collected from the NIH and pharmaceutical-industry co-sponsored Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) project, to establish an indication for use for NeuroQuant^® as an adjunctive tool in the assessment of patients with AD.

Cortechs Labs - About CorTechs Labs : Company Overview: "CorTechs Labs Inc is a group of scientists, engineers, business professionals, and clinical specialists dedicated to bringing cutting edge brain image analysis technologies to the commercial market.

CorTechs was incorporated in 2001 by leaders in neuroimaging research in order to create advanced medical image analysis solutions for quantitative analysis of the structure and function of the human brain. An extensive and growing body of scientific and clinical research indicates that such tools may help physicians to more effectively diagnose and treat serious neurological disorders that affect millions of patients worldwide. It is our mission to effectively translate the fruits of such research into routine clinical practice.

Many empirical studies have shown that neurodegenerative disorders produce changes in the brain that can be measured with MRI scanning. Accurately characterizing the extent and progression of cortical atrophy from MRIs can only be accomplished only by comparing numerical information with normative data. Existing semi-manual methods for deriving numerical information from MRI scans are too slow and expensive for use outside of small research studies, and lack the reliability necessary for routine clinical application. CorTechs' quantitative image analysis technologies offer a solution to this problem."

Mental, Emotional And Behavioral Disorders Can Be Prevented In Young People

2009-07-30T07:33:00.002-04:00

The question to ask is how can you tell the difference between "mental disorder" and/or "acting like a dumb kid" and/or a natural maturing of cognitive functions?

No doubt acting like a dumb kid and/or having "mental, emotional and behavior disorders"can lead to very serious mental consequences and reduced chances of making good decisions in a complex world.

But is the best way to think about "either/or? " Or is the best way to think about it and/or X and/or Y and/or Z?

"ScienceDaily (July 30, 2009) — Around one in five young people in the U.S. have a current mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. About half of all adults with mental disorders recalled that their disorders began by their mid-teens and three-quarters by their mid-20s. Early onset of mental health problems have been associated with poor outcomes such as failure to complete high school, increased risk for psychiatric and substance problems, and teen pregnancy.
. . .
A new article by Mary E. Evans, RN, PhD, FAAN, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing assesses the recently released government report on preventing these disorders among young people. Dr. Evans' paper concludes that using certain interventional programs in schools, communities and health care settings, risk for mental illness can be better identified and treated.
The article highlights the fact that specific risk and protective factors have been identified for many disorders.

more at Mental, Emotional And Behavioral Disorders Can Be Prevented In Young People:

Biomarkers May Help Predict Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment

2009-07-30T07:22:00.001-04:00

Biomarkers May Help Predict Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment:
"ScienceDaily (July 30, 2009) — Several cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers showed good accuracy in identifying patients with mild cognitive impairment who progressed to Alzheimer disease, according to a new study.
. . .
Because of the type of progression of the disease, there is a need for methods enabling early diagnosis. "Treatments would need to be initiated very early in the disease process, before the neurodegenerative process is too severe. Much focus has thus been directed on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a syndrome characterized by cognitive impairment beyond the age-adjusted norm, but not severe enough to fulfill the criteria for dementia," the authors write.

The English Teacher's Companion: English Goes to Work (Part 1)

2009-07-29T08:12:00.001-04:00

The point is that this is a very clear, well written framework to see how the study of language fits into education. It's a four part series and is best read over there.

The English Teacher's Companion: English Goes to Work (Part 1):

Songbirds’ Elaborate Cries For Food Show First Signs Of Vocal Learning

2009-07-28T08:39:00.004-04:00

The point is that it's sometimes easier to see the mechanisms of communication when we look at non human social animals. Learning to learn evolves from vocal learning.

Songbirds’ Elaborate Cries For Food Show First Signs Of Vocal Learning:
"ScienceDaily (July 27, 2009) — Only a handful of social animals — songbirds, some marine mammals, some bats and humans — learn to actively style their vocal communications. Babies, for instance, start by babbling, their first chance to experiment with sounds. Now, new research in songbirds shows that vocal experimentation may begin with their earliest vocalizations — food begging calls — and perhaps for a more devious reason than previously believed. The findings could change the way we think about the evolution of vocal learning."

It may have started as cheating,” says Fernando Nottebohm, head of the Laboratory of Animal Behavior at The Rockefeller University. “By generating a diversity of calls, young birds may trick their parents into losing track of whom they last fed, in effect creating the impression of several individuals.” In this scenario, the most agile vocal dissembler would get more than its fair share of food at the expense of its siblings.
Nottebohm and Wan-chun Liu, a research assistant professor who made the original observations, are quick to say that the interpretation remains speculative for now, but if true, it would complicate the conventional wisdom that vocal learning evolved as an adjunct to reproductive behavior. In temperate climates, most often only male songbirds sing. The message conveyed by song is simple: I am a male robin, mature, single and ready to breed; females are welcome, males stay away. Depending on the listener, song is a lure or a threat. By imitating the song of established seniors with whom they would have to compete, young breeders presumably gained an advantage in courtship and territorial defense.
The vocal imitation expressed by adults, however, is a complex behavior requiring sophisticated underlying brain circuits, Nottebohm says. How would birds with only innate, genetically foreordained vocal repertoires have evolved the ability?
. . .
Males producing food begging calls also showed an increased expression of c-fos, a neural activity marker in a section of the forebrain known as the robust nucleus, which later plays a role in the control of learned song.

Here's how that plays out with scientists who study human languages.

Scientist at Work: Tucker Childs
Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools
New York Times July 28. 2009

If You're Happy, Then We Know It: New Research Measures Mood

2009-07-28T08:23:00.001-04:00

The point is that analysis of words and citations can reveal the shape of knowledge creation. More at Tough Love for Xerox.

If You're Happy, Then We Know It: New Research Measures Mood:
". . . what if you had a remote-sensing mechanism that could record how millions of people around the world were feeling on any particular day — without their knowing?

Large-scale happiness
That's exactly what Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth, a mathematician and computer scientist working in the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont, have created.

Their methods show that Election Day, November 4, 2008, was the happiest day in four years. The day of Michael Jackson's death, one of the unhappiest.

'The proliferation of personal online writing such as blogs gives us the opportunity to measure emotional levels in real time,' they write in their study, 'Measuring the Happiness of Large-Scale Written Expression: Songs, Blogs, and Presidents,3' now available in an early online edition of the journal.
Their answer to Edgeworth's daydream begins with a website, http://www.wefeelfine.org4 that mines through some 2.3 million blogs, looking for sentences beginning with "I feel" or "I am feeling."

"We gathered nearly 10 million sentences from their site," Dodds says. Then, drawing on a standardized "psychological valence" of words established by the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) study, each sentence receives a happiness score. In the ANEW study, a large pool of participants graded their reaction to 1,034 words, forming a kind of "happy-unhappy" scale from 1 to 9. For example, "triumphant" averaged 8.87, "paradise" 8.72, "pancakes" 6.08, "vanity" 4.30, "hostage" 2.20, and "suicide" 1.25.

NSF Funds Science of Learning Centers

2009-07-27T07:20:00.001-04:00

NNSF Funds Science of Learning Center at Dartmouth -
US National Science Foundation (NSF)

"Center for Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience will study the mechanisms of human learning across contexts

February 1, 2005
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

ARLINGTON, Va.--The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $21.8 million to Dartmouth College to establish the Center for Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience (CCEN). The CCEN comprises a multidisciplinary team that includes cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and education to explore how the human brain’s learning processes interact with educational experiences across the lifespan.

The CCEN team will address such complex questions as:

* What are the “windows” for learning as a child develops?
* How do social, emotional and cultural factors influence learning?
* Why are some things hard to learn?
* What factors contribute to the successful transfer of learning from one field of knowledge to another?"
. . .
“Questions like these call for the kind of integrated, interdisciplinary work fostered by a Science of Learning Center,” said Soo-Siang Lim, lead program officer for the NSF’s Science of Learning initiative. “With the Dartmouth center and the other three centers at University of Washington, Boston University, and Carnegie Mellon University, NSF is poised to see breakthrough research in fundamental questions about how people learn.”

New Science Of Learning Offers Preview Of Tomorrow's Classroom

2009-07-27T07:15:00.000-04:00

New Science Of Learning Offers Preview Of Tomorrow's Classroom:
"To understand how children learn and improve our educational system, we need to understand what all of these fields can contribute,” explains Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D., professor and head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and co-director of the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC) at the University of California, San Diego, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. “Our brains have evolved to learn and adapt to new environments; if we can create the right environment for a child, magic happens.”"

Multitasking Ability Can Be Improved Through Training

2009-07-27T07:09:00.000-04:00

The point is that the brain is plastic and can be improved through training. It's not about content as much as it is about practice.

Multitasking Ability Can Be Improved Through Training: "'We found that a key limitation to efficient multitasking is the speed with which our prefrontal cortex processes information, and that this speed can be drastically increased through training and practice,” Paul E. Dux, a former research fellow at Vanderbilt, and now a faculty member at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and co-author of the study, said. “Specifically, we found that with training, the 'thinking' regions of our brain become very fast at doing each task, thereby quickly freeing them up to take on other tasks.'"

What do you mean when you think "people like me?"

2009-07-27T06:34:00.001-04:00

Disabled? Who? Me? �
from Education On The Plate

"People are always asking me silly questions. Well, they’re silly to me and I doubt the questions, or any answers I might give, have any real import to the inquisitor.
. . .

I’m talking about questions like,
“What is your favorite song?”
“What’s your favorite fruit?”
“What single malt whisky do you like best.”

I answer questions like that by saying it is a matter of context. When selecting a whisky to sip on during an evening of conversation with friends (defined as people who have never asked me anything like one of the questions above) I sometimes enjoy the peppery flavor of Talisker, but on a damp foggy night in late autumn when I am sitting in my chair reading and listening to the muffled sounds outside, the iodine-laced Laphroaig appeals to me. Or when looking for a light refreshment….
At some point I’ll really hit my stride and say something like, “you see, context determines everything, even what we call disabilities.”
A long time ago I was involved in the disability rights movement on Cape Cod. This was long before the American with Disabilities Act. I belonged to an organization whose main activities involved teaching what I then considered to be “normal” people (I know, but I was young and foolish and this story is about how I learned better) about disabilities.

As a commenter to the post, I said,

Kids and editors looking for copy are always prowling around for the top ten, top 100, top 1000. It’s very satisfying because it’s about “me” or “people like us.”
It always feels good to be part of a tribe. As long as you don’t mix up “me” or “people like us’ with everyone else.

Mourning the Death of Handwriting - TIME

2009-07-27T06:08:00.000-04:00

The point is that "We've given up beauty for speed, artistry for efficiency. And yes, maybe we are a little bit lazy."

Mourning the Death of Handwriting - TIME:
Why? Technology is only part of the reason. A study published in the February issue of the Journal of Educational Psychology found that just 9% of American high school students use an in-class computer more than once a week. The cause of the decline in handwriting may lie not so much in computers as in standardized testing.

The Federal Government's landmark 1983 report A Nation at Risk, on the dismal state of public education, ushered in a new era of standardized assessment that has intensified since the passage in 2002 of the No Child Left Behind Act. "In schools today, they're teaching to the tests," says Tamara Thornton, a University of Buffalo professor and the author of a history of American handwriting. "If something isn't on a test, it's viewed as a luxury." Garcia agrees. "It's getting harder and harder to balance what's on the test with the rest of what children need to know," she says. "Reading is on there, but handwriting isn't, so it's not as important." In other words, schools don't care how a child holds her pencil as long as she can read.

John Seely Brown: Tinkering as a Mode of Knowledge Production

2009-07-26T15:18:00.000-04:00

The Anthropology of YouTube

2009-07-26T05:40:00.003-04:00

Presented at the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum at Jazz at Lincoln Center. About 10 minutes of it is a minor update (rehash) of An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube, but the rest is new. The gathering may have been the highest concentration of amazingly creative and concerned global citizens I have ever been around. Hallway conversations were different than your typical conversations. Instead of lots of people saying, 'You know, somebody should ...' there were lots of people saying, 'So I did this, this, and this, and now Im working on doing this, this, and this and we should collaborate ...' In other words, it was a bunch of people blessed with what I once heard Yochai Benkler and Henry Jenkins call critical optimism. Nobody there was blindly optimistic, thinking technology was going to make everything better. They were all continually trying to figure out where we are, where we might be going, and the possible downsides and dangers of new technologies so we can use the new technologies to serve human purposes. In other words, it was my kind of crowd. Special thanks to Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej for organizing the conference.

The importance of Wikitude for Print and High School Education

2009-07-25T08:12:00.000-04:00

Enabling the Ecosystem: WIKITUDE, Part One | AndroidGuys: "ML: WIKITUDE is an augmented reality world browser which supports the visualization of IP based information within the physical world. In other words, WIKITUDE enables the world to become a platform for information to be displayed in a mixed reality, within a situational context. WIKITUDE is also a platform for AR development API and a crowdsourced geo-information portal, Wikitude.me."

The Future of Education: Technology and How People Learn

2009-07-25T07:25:00.001-04:00

The point is "There’s a mimicking of biology: instead of top-down control, we see a bottom-up, evolutionary-based set of rules, based on parallelism rather than serialism. Wright applies a Darwinian analogy, echoing the set of Darwin-related themes bouncing around Aspen this week."

The Future of Education: Technology and How People Learn:
. . . "Gardner gives us the Five Minds in Under Five Minutes (pretty impressive speed here…): the five are the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind. The disciplined mind is about becoming an expert in something. It’s hard to imagine that the digital media are helping in this respect. The synthesizing mind, some have said, is the most important in the digital era: to sort through lots more information than has ever before been available to human beings. Digital natives like to search, but it’s unclear that they are in fact good at it. The creating mind comes up with new approaches, new methods. Creating minds think outside the box — but you need the box first, which are from your discipline and your synthesis. One of the big questions: can these media help creativity, or might they instead inhibit creativity, by giving too much of a frame and discouraging going beyond that box.

. . . There’s a mimicking of biology: instead of top-down control, we see a bottom-up, evolutionary-based set of rules, based on parallelism rather than serialism. Wright applies a Darwinian analogy, echoing the set of Darwin-related themes bouncing around Aspen this week.

Arthur Benjamin's Formula for Changing Math Education

2009-07-25T06:15:00.001-04:00

Are engineers the Rock Stars of Tomorrow?

2009-07-25T05:45:00.001-04:00

Engineering Students Rock -- Mechanical Engineers Rock Out On Guitars They Construct Themselves

2009-07-25T05:43:00.000-04:00

See the video by clicking the title:

Engineering Students Rock -- Mechanical Engineers Rock Out On Guitars They Construct Themselves:
January 1, 2009 — Mechanical engineers combined their skills with that of electrical engineering and computer science to create a college class inspired by the Guitar Hero game. The hands-on course requires students to build their own guitar. To do this, students choose a shape for the guitar, which is cut out of lumber by a computer. Located under the guitar strings, magnets detect vibrations and wire coils send an electronic signal to an amplifier and speaker. Effects pedals can also distort the sound and add special effects."

The video at clicking the title:

DNA 'Sloppier Copier' Surprisingly Efficient: Three Major Puzzles About Famous Enzyme Solved

2009-07-25T05:33:00.000-04:00

DNA 'Sloppier Copier' Surprisingly Efficient: Three Major Puzzles About Famous Enzyme Solved:
"The enzyme known as DNA polymerase V (pol V) comes in when a cell's DNA is reeling from radiation damage or other serious blows. Pol V copies the damaged DNA as best it can – saving the life of the bacterial cell at the cost of adding hundreds of random mutations.

The July 16 Nature study reveals pol V's key attributes: economy of motion and quickness to engage.

The study also solves two other stubborn mysteries about the mechanics of DNA repair: the exact composition of the active form of pol V and the crucial role of a protein filament, known as RecA*, that is always present around DNA repair sites, but was never shown to be directly involved."

The Good Life: Where Psychology Stands On Living Well

2009-07-25T05:29:00.002-04:00

The point is that as it has been said, science is just common sense, systematically applied. Just a quibble with the snippet. I would put "feeling healthy and safe" at the top of the list. It's the necessary, but not sufficient condition for everything else.

The Good Life: Where Psychology Stands On Living Well:
"So far we have learned from psychology that a good life includes experiencing more positive than negative feelings, feeling like your life has been lived well, continually using your talents and strengths, having close interpersonal relationships, being engaged at work and other activities, being a part of a social community, perceiving that life has a meaning, and feeling healthy and safe. And while these conclusions may seem like common sense, we as humans fall short on knowing just how to obtain and maintain these qualities.

Psychology still has a ways to go until the perfect formula for a good life is found. As Park and Peterson put it, "At present, psychology knows more about people's problems and how to solve them than it does about what it means to live well and how to encourage and maintain such a life." They suggest researchers across all disciplines of psychology come together and collaborate on their findings, perhaps pulling together a more complete picture of the human experience.

Potential New Drug Target For Diabetes And Alzheimer's Disease

2009-07-23T11:20:00.000-04:00

The point is that experiments on rodents can help us understand how Alzheimer's works in people.

Potential New Drug Target For Diabetes And Alzheimer's Disease
"The study, which focuses on diabetic rodents, appears this month in PLoS One and is the first to show a role in glucose metabolism for humanin, a small protein (peptide). The researchers also demonstrated that humanin resembles the peptide leptin by acting on the brain to influence glucose metabolism.

Humanin is found in mitochondria — structures that populate the cytoplasm of cells and provide them with energy. The peptide was first detected in brain nerve cells in 2001, and subsequent studies suggest that it protects nerve cells from death associated with Alzheimer's and other brain disease."

An Evolutionary Approach to Financial History

2009-07-23T07:09:00.001-04:00

The point is that an evolutionary approach to learning makes the most sense to me.

Teen’s Report Causes International Twitter

2009-07-22T14:11:00.000-04:00

Web Watch: Teen’s Report Causes International Twitter: "The 15-year-old was put to work in the bank’s media and internet research department where he wrote How Teenagers Consume Media, a report that has caused a sensation among fund managers, CEOs, and analysts in Tokyo, London, and on Wall Street. The report, which Matthew says reflects the collective views of about 300 teenagers, appears to spell doom and gloom for print and traditional media. He said teens don’t read newspapers or listen to the radio because they can access this media more easily on the Web. Robson also claims that “teens don’t use Twitter,” adding that it appeals to an older crowd.

Edward Hill-Wood, Robson’s Morgan Stanley supervisor said the report proved to be “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen. So we published it.”"

To get the PDF How Teenagers Consume Media

Top News - What educators can learn from brain research

2009-07-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

"As technology advances, new discoveries based on brain mapping are helping researchers understand how students learn. And those discoveries, in turn, are enriching and informing classroom practices in a growing number of schools.

Thanks to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)--a type of non-invasive, low-radiation brain scan that measures neural activity in response to certain stimuli, and the most recently developed forms of neuroimaging--researchers are learning more about how we learn than many thought possible."

Worth the click to read the rest:
Top News - What educators can learn from brain research:

Newsweek should consider clickable magazines to replace K -12 textbooks.

2009-07-22T08:09:00.000-04:00

McClatchy Watch:
Amazing stat of the day: Newsweek's paid newsstand circulation is less than 67,000 copies a week: "Newsweek lost $20.3 million in the first quarter of this year on revenue of $46.1 million. Those are ugly numbers. But given the circulation statistics, they're hardly surprising. It's a little hard to see why—especially in an age of real-time online news—The Washington Post Co. is keeping Newsweek alive. Readers (and advertisers) just don't seem to care."

Misdiagnosis Of Disorders Of Consciousness Still Commonplace

2009-07-22T07:56:00.001-04:00

The point is that if they can't diagnose a vegetative state, how can they diagnose much more subtle cognitive problems with certainty.

Misdiagnosis Of Disorders Of Consciousness Still Commonplace:
"ScienceDaily (July 21, 2009) — A sixteen-month study of consensus-based diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness has shown that 41% of cases of minimally conscious state (MCS) were misdiagnosed as vegetative state (VS), a condition associated with a much lower chance of recovery. Researchers have demonstrated that standardized neurobehavioral assessment is more sensitive than diagnoses determined by clinical consensus.
The researchers prospectively followed 103 patients with mixed etiologies and compared the clinical consensus diagnosis provided by the physician on the basis of the medical staff's daily observations to diagnoses derived from the CRS-R. They found that of the 44 patients diagnosed with VS based on the clinical consensus of the medical team, 18 (41%) were found to be in MCS following standardized assessment with the CRS-R. According to Laureys, "It is likely that the examiners' reliance on unstructured bedside observations contributed to the high rate of misdiagnosis of VS patients. Unlike traditional bedside assessment, the CRS-R guards against misdiagnosis by incorporating items that directly reflect the existing diagnostic criteria for MCS, and by operationalizing scoring criteria for the identification of behaviors associated with consciousness".

The researchers conclude, "The results of this study suggest that the systematic use of a sensitive standardized neurobehavioral assessment scale may help decrease diagnostic error and limit diagnostic uncertainty".

Brain's Center For Perceiving 3-D Motion Is Identified

2009-07-22T07:55:00.000-04:00

Brain's Center For Perceiving 3-D Motion Is Identified: "Neuroscientists have now pinpointed where and how the brain processes 3-D motion using specially developed computer displays and an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine to scan the brain.

They found, surprisingly, that 3-D motion processing occurs in an area in the brain—located just behind the left and right ears—long thought to only be responsible for processing two-dimensional motion (up, down, left and right).

This area, known simply as MT , and its underlying neuron circuitry are so well studied that most scientists had concluded that 3-D motion must be processed elsewhere. Until now."

Trash Or Treasure? Families And Their Beloved Possessions

2009-07-22T07:37:00.002-04:00

The point is that objects are one way humans can see their personal history, family history, national history and the history of the human race. That's why Print can be so important.

Read the full column at Science News.

Amber M. Epp (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Linda L. Price (University of Arizona, Tucson) conducted a two-year case study that tracked the origins, movements, and placement of one family's objects. "It is not necessarily the history of an object that rescues it from being discarded, but also its place in a network of other objects, practices, and spaces that determine whether and when it's replaceable," the authors write.

"Our study suggests that families should consider the downstream consequences when introducing new products or services into their homes," the authors write. "It's important for families to be conscious about which activities or objects are important to preserve, especially during times of change."

What is Learning? . . . according to Wikipedia

2009-07-21T11:02:00.002-04:00

If the object is to improve learning, it makes sense to define the terms. The learning we're interested is the kind that is best done by children coming of age. That's usually between about 13 and 20 years old. The place where that is supposed to happen is in last years of high school and first years of college.

From wikipedia:

Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.

Human learning may occur as part of education or personal development. It may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part of neuropsychology, educational psychology, learning theory, and pedagogy.
Learning may occur as a result of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a result of more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals^[1]^[2] and humans. Learning may occur consciously or without conscious awareness. There is evidence for human behavioral learning prenatally, in which habituation has been observed as early as 32 weeks into gestation, indicating that the central nervous system is sufficiently developed and primed for learning and memory to occur very early on in development.

^[3]

Study Calls For New Approach To Teaching English As A Lingua Franca

2009-07-21T08:39:00.000-04:00

The point is that speaking a language is both a token of group membership and a method to communicate. It's hard to be a member of a group. It's much easier to learn to communicate.

Study Calls For New Approach To Teaching English As A Lingua Franca:

"Doctoral student, Wafa Zoghbor from the School of Education said, “I was taught English as a foreign language and after years of learning Standard English pronunciation I found a wide gap between the target I have been trying to achieve and the level of intelligibility required to communicate effectively. Very few users of English today would claim that aiming at native-like pronunciation is necessary or even desirable. I hope that my contribution to this field can challenge the existing stereotypes of teaching English pronunciation. ”

Her research explores the notion that teaching native pronunciation might eliminate a significant indicator of an individual’s identity. She said, “We recognise Indian, South African, Egyptian and Chinese speakers from their accents. As long as they are intelligible and have the potential to communicate effectively there should be no reason for them not to retain their accents – something which they might like to do as this accent carries their identity, ethnicity and indicates the group of people they belong to.”"

Lumosity - Brain Exercises

2009-07-21T08:36:00.000-04:00

I haven't tried it yet, but could be interesting.

Lumosity -
From the website:
# Shown to improve memory and attention
# Detailed feedback and improvement tracking
# Fun and easy: full workout in less than 10 minutes/day
# Start your training today"

'Heart Healthy' Diet And Ongoing, Moderate Physical Activity May Protect Against Cognitive Decline

2009-07-21T08:32:00.000-04:00

My bet is that it has more to do with exercise than what people eat. Since correlation does not equal causation, it's still too hard to isolate the contribution each plays.

'Heart Healthy' Diet And Ongoing, Moderate Physical Activity May Protect Against Cognitive Decline:
"ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — Eating a 'heart healthy' diet and maintaining or increasing participation in moderate physical activity may help preserve our memory and thinking abilities as we age, according to new research reported July 14 at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.
. . .
Studies have found that older adults who are physically active may experience slower rates of cognitive decline. Less is known about the impact of changes in physical activity levels on rate of cognitive decline.
. . .

Alzheimer's Risk Gene May Reduce Benefits of Physical Activity to Cognitive Ability

While the relationship of physical activity with cognitive performance as we age is a subject of considerable research, much less is known about how this relationship is impacted by the Alzheimer's risk gene Apolipoprotein E (APOE). The APOE gene comes in three types, or alleles, known as e2, e3, and e4. Each person gets one type of APOE from each parent, making the possible combinations: e2/e2, e2/e3, e2/e4, e3/e3, e3/e4, e4/e4. Having two copies of e4 conveys the highest risk for Alzheimer's; having one e4 also raises one's risk. E3 is the most common type. E2, though rare, is thought to be protective.

. . .

n their analysis, the researchers found that physical activity was associated with enhanced cognitive function, and that this relationship was differentially influenced by the person's APOE genotype: non-E4 carriers and people with one copy of E4 performed better than people with two copies of E4. After adjusting for age, ethnicity, severe chronic medical illness, lean body mass, and education, aerobic physical activity continued to show a statistically significant association with cognitive function in non-E4 carriers but not in people with E4 (any combination)

"In our nationally representative sample, persons who reported higher levels of aerobic physical activity had better memory than those who reported no such activity. This was especially true in those people who didn't have the APOE-e4 Alzheimer's risk gene," Obisesan said.

"Because physical activity is a low-cost, low-risk, readily available intervention, it may prove to be an important public health strategy to reduce or prevent memory loss and other symptoms of mental decline in the elderly. Future rigorous clinical trials are needed to confirm these findings," Obisesan added.

Could Older Population Have Enough Exposure To Past H1N1 Flu Strains To Avoid Infection?

2009-07-21T08:23:00.000-04:00

The point is that there is an ongoing competition between viruses and other living things. It's one of the reasons that looking at history through the lens of demography, genes and evolution can be so useful in figuring out why what happens, happens.

Could Older Population Have Enough Exposure To Past H1N1 Flu Strains To Avoid Infection?: "ScienceDaily (June 25, 2009) — A letter to the editor by Rhode Island Hospital infectious diseases specialist Leonard Mermel, DO, identifies characteristics of the outbreak of H1N1 in 1977 and speculates its impact on this pandemic.

Mermel notes that in the late 1970s, an influenza H1N1 reappeared in humans. It had a pandemic-like spread that began in younger aged individuals. This strain, known as the "Russian flu" H1N1, was similar to H1N1 strains that circulated internationally between 1946 and 1957. The Russian flu spread rapidly across the former Soviet Union, initially affecting individuals between the ages of 14 and 20 in schools, as well as young military personnel, and later spread to preschool children. Individuals older than age 30, however, had dramatically lower attack rates and the overall mortality was low. The epidemic peaked rapidly, with a relatively short duration.

H1N1 Influenza Pandemic Modeling For Public Health Action

2009-07-21T08:19:00.000-04:00

The point is that if genes = viruses and memes=genes in the world of learning, then it's plausible to believe the mathematical modeling of memes could help measure learning. The only way to manage something is to be able to measure it.

H1N1 Influenza Pandemic Modeling For Public Health Action: "ScienceDaily (July 21, 2009) — Mathematical modelling can help inform public health policy in outbreaks such as the H1N1 pandemic, write members of the Pandemic Influenza Outbreak Research Modelling Team in Canada in a CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) article. These models are useful tools for simulating plausible scenarios, developing control strategies and identifying important areas for immediate research.
. . .
Mathematical models have shown that small seasonal variations in transmission of the influenza virus can drive large annual surges in the disease.
. . .
The authors conclude that "making these models better understood and more accessible will provide a valuable additional weapon in the fight against emerging infectious diseases."

In a related article, Canada's first human-to-human transmission of the H1N1 influenza virus is presented in a research case study. The article looks at the cluster of cases in Nova Scotia in April 2009 and outlines transmission, diagnostic testing and public health measures to control the outbreak.

Brain Response To Information About The Future Suggests That Ignorance Isn't Bliss

2009-07-20T07:24:00.000-04:00

The point is this might be one of the underlying nueral mechanisms for the "thirst for knowledge."

Brain Response To Information About The Future Suggests That Ignorance Isn't Bliss: "The authors conclude that the same dopamine neurons that signal primitive rewards like food and water also signal the cognitive reward of advance information. Importantly, this finding has important implications for modern theories of reinforcement learning. 'Our data shows the need for a new class of models that assign information a positive value,' says Dr. Bromberg-Martin. 'Dopamine neurons might treat information as desirable because it can help us learn how to predict and control our environment.'"

Trying to learn how learning works - USATODAY.com

2009-07-20T06:15:00.000-04:00

The point is that a science of learning is emerging from the art of teaching and learning.

Trying to learn how learning works - USATODAY.com:
"'New insights from many different fields are converging to create a new science of learning that may transform educational practices,' begins a report led by Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington in Seattle. The review in the current Science magazine makes the case for psychologists, neuroscientists, roboticists and teachers combining to quietly create a new field that combines everything from how brains grow to how classrooms work into a new kind of learning research.

For example, a companion study in the current Science by John Gabrieli of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, illustrates how neuroscience and education researchers have teamed up to tackle dyslexia, a difficulty with reading and vocabulary that afflicts 5% to 17% of children. Behavioral and brain measures can now identify dyslexic tendencies in infants, and lead to teaching that can "prevent dyslexia from occurring in the majority of children who would otherwise develop dyslexia," according to the study.
. . .
In April, President Obama called on National Academy of Sciences members to "think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering" and announced an initiative to raise those TIMSS scores.

Delinquent Behavior Among Boys 'Contagious,' Study Finds

2009-07-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

The point is that if behavior is framed as a contagious disease and the accelerator is the culture, then small changes in in the culture can lead to huge changes in the behavior.

Delinquent Behavior Among Boys 'Contagious,' Study Finds: "The more intense the help given by the juvenile justice system, the greater was its negative impact,' Dr. Tremblay stresses. 'Our findings take on even greater importance given that the juvenile justice system in the province of Quebec has the reputation of being among the best. Most countries spend considerable financial resources to fund programs and institutions that group deviant youths together in order to help them. The problem is that delinquent behavior is contagious, especially among adolescents. Putting deviant adolescents together creates a culture of deviance, which increases the likelihood of continued criminal behavior.

Learning Is Both Social And Computational, Supported By Neural Systems Linking People

2009-07-19T07:23:00.000-04:00

The point is that given the plasticity of the brain a science of life long learning is possible.

Learning Is Both Social And Computational, Supported By Neural Systems Linking People:
"ScienceDaily (July 19, 2009) — Education is on the cusp of a transformation because of recent scientific findings in neuroscience, psychology, and machine learning that are converging to create foundations for a new science of learning.

Writing in the July 17 edition of the journal Science, researchers report that this shift is being driven by three principles that are emerging from cross-disciplinary work: learning is computational, learning is social, and learning is supported by brain circuits linking perception and action that connect people to one another. This new science of learning, the researchers believe, may shed light into the origins of human intelligence.

"We are not left alone to understand the world like Robinson Crusoe was on his island," said Andrew Meltzoff, lead author of the paper and co-director of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. "These principles support learning across the life span and are particularly important in explaining children's rapid learning in two unique domains of human intelligence, language and social understanding.

"Social interaction is more important than we previously thought and underpins early learning. Research has shown that humans learn best from other humans, and a large part of this is timing, sensitive timing between a parent or a tutor and the child," said Meltzoff, who is a developmental psychologist.

"We are trying to understand how the child's brain works – how computational abilities are changed in the presence of another person, and trying to use these three principles as leverage for learning and improving education," added co-author Patricia Kuhl, a neuroscientist and co-director of the UW's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

BBC Earth TwitterNews July 18, 2009

2009-07-18T06:02:00.004-04:00

In High Schools, Science is often taught as something that happened then. The fact is that science is something that is happening now. Below is an example of what a daily or weekly Science A4 might look like. It could be delivered as a standalone. Or it could be the sidebar for a student newspaper, a clickable newspaper.

Unlike a textbook, it could be delivered fresh every day or every week. When students get fresh food for thought, it's much more likely that they will think. If CodeZ QR is embedded, it gives the teacher/mentor information about which student is looking, when and where. That information can be shared with parents and other teachers. As that body of information is analyzed, it will make it practical for the teacher to use it to plan appropriate interventions.

BBC_Earth BBC Science&Nature: Brazil demands return of UK waste http://bit.ly/x7Jfl
BBC_Earth Geology.com: First Deepwater Well Off Libya: Exxon Mobil began drilling the first deepwater explorat.. http://bit.ly/PorwHabout
BBC_Earth Telegraph: British companies accused of dumping toxic waste http://bit.ly/gIbA
BBC_EarthTelegraph: Most polluting postcodes in Britain identified in heart of middle England http://bit.ly/BId00
BBC_EarthTelegraph: Bottom 1000 least polluting postcodes in Britain http://bit.ly/zEZ4na
BBC_EarthGeology.com: Petroleum Product Demand at Ten Year Low: An article at the Oil and Gas Journal website.. http://bit.ly/NI35P
BBC_EarthScienceDaily: Reintroduced Chinese Alligators Now Multiplying In The Wild In China http://bit.ly/rfiT0
BBC_EarthGeology.com: Micronesia Islands Seek Help: The President of the Federated States of Micronesia has a.. http://bit.ly/jJdUA
BBC_EarthGeology.com: Amazon and Manaus Rivers in Flood: Earth Observatory has satellite images that show spe.. http://bit.ly/FwdNG
BBC_EarthGeology.com: Unconventional Gas Conference: The 11th annual Unconventional Gas Conference will be be.. http://bit.ly/137IPO
BBC_EarthEnviroCentric: NASA, CU-Boulder airborne expedition chases Arctic sea ice questions: A small NASA .. http://bit.ly/KVjAq
BBC_EarthDiscovery Earth: Climate Changes May be Slower Than Expected http://bit.ly/1lqny

Twitter + Clickable A4 + CodeZ = Actionable Information for Any Enterprise : Including Education

2009-07-17T02:10:00.005-04:00

From MSNBC

Personal stories of economic struggle and recovery http://ow.ly/hqlh #elkhartabout 16 hours ago from HootSuite
JPMorgan Chase posts $2.7 billion profit in second quarter, beating expectations http://bit.ly/H2h58about 19 hours ago from API
Space shuttle Endeavour launches on mission to space station http://bit.ly/125cwH6:06 PM Jul 15th from API
After several delays, space shuttle prepares for liftoff. Watch live @ http://ow.ly/hnyz6:01 PM Jul 15th from HootSuite
LIVE: Obama addresses health care reform from White House Rose Garden. http://ow.ly/hlQT1:18 PM Jul 15th from HootSuite
Senate committee passes health bill, first panel to act on Obama's overhaul http://bit.ly/3xg1cs10:27 AM Jul 15th from API
Sotomayor begins Day 3 of Supreme Court confirmation. Watch live and tweet along at http://ow.ly/hk9W9:44 AM Jul 15th from HootSuite
150 feared dead in Iran jet crash http://bit.ly/f06225:22 AM Jul 15th from API

From CNN

Personal stories of economic struggle and recovery http://ow.ly/hqlh #elkhartabout 16 hours ago from HootSuite
JPMorgan Chase posts $2.7 billion profit in second quarter, beating expectations http://bit.ly/H2h58about 19 hours ago from API
Space shuttle Endeavour launches on mission to space station http://bit.ly/125cwH6:06 PM Jul 15th from API
After several delays, space shuttle prepares for liftoff. Watch live @ http://ow.ly/hnyz6:01 PM Jul 15th from HootSuite
LIVE: Obama addresses health care reform from White House Rose Garden. http://ow.ly/hlQT1:18 PM Jul 15th from HootSuite
Senate committee passes health bill, first panel to act on Obama's overhaul http://bit.ly/3xg1cs10:27 AM Jul 15th from API
Sotomayor begins Day 3 of Supreme Court confirmation. Watch live and tweet along at http://ow.ly/hk9W9:44 AM Jul 15th from HootSuite
150 feared dead in Iran jet crash http://bit.ly/f06225:22 AM Jul 15th from API
Sotomayor defends her judicial philosophy at confirmation hearing. Watch live and tweet along http://ow.ly/he9q #sotomayor9:52 AM Jul 14th from HootSuite
For Sotomayor, the grilling begins http://bit.ly/WyILJ9:22 AM Jul 14th from API
Crooked cops pose threat to Afghanistan http://bit.ly/fq878:35 AM Jul 14th from API

From WhatTheyThink:

What's Wrong with This Picture? http://bit.ly/eTpl1about 2 hours ago from Twitter Tools
Going Green: Wal-Mart Speaks Sustainability... and It May Affect You! http://bit.ly/vKMQDabout 3 hours ago from Twitter Tools
Print CEO: Industry Icons http://bit.ly/CPv3Vabout 11 hours ago from Twitter Tools
PNI and Walmart to Offer Printing Services in Canada http://tr.im/sG2yabout 11 hours ago from Nambu
Mixing Up Capital With Credit, Inflation Growing, and Print's Trade Surplus http://tr.im/sEAoabout 14 hours ago from Nambu
Going Green: Reward Your Employees for Green Ideas http://bit.ly/13fQay12:11 AM Jul 16th from Twitter Tools
Going Green: "Print on Demand" is not just for paper any more! http://bit.ly/rKi214:25 PM Jul 15th from Twitter Tools
Print CEO: The @LVI Bankruptcy: A Larger Lesson http://bit.ly/bdc6h11:18 AM Jul 15th from Twitter Tools
Print CEO: Business as Unusual http://bit.ly/FtISG7:56 AM Jul 15th from Twitter Tools
Interveiw: Johnson Printing Recognized for Environmental Excellence http://tr.im/sogy #sustainability #print11:57 PM Jul 14th from Nambu
Kodak Sells First PROSPER S10 Imprinting System to Instant Data Forms in Hong Kong http://tr.im/socQ #inkjet11:44 PM Jul 14th from Nambu
Examination of Variable Data Printing (Part 1): Insights on VDP http://tr.im/snjN9:06 PM Jul 14th from Nambu
Print imports from China -$155mm, from Canada -$144mm YTD May 2008 vs 2009 (via @wtterc)4:42 PM Jul 14th from web
Xerox Offers Premier Partners Free Premium Membership to WhatTheyThink http://tr.im/slic4:41 PM Jul 14th from web
Print CEO: Recessionary Marketing Practices Provide Opportunity for Savvy Print and Marketing Services Providers http://bit.ly/11QQzU10:19 AM Jul 14th from Twitter Tools
Printing Office: PIA Says It's Wary of New Managed Print Service Offerings by HP http://bit.ly/GgaAv5:57 PM Jul 13th from Twitter Tools
May commercial printing shipments were $7.3 billion, down -9.4% compared to May of last year. More info+access to data: http://tr.im/sayt3:57 PM Jul 13th from web
Print CEO: LVI Seeks Creditor Protection and Sale to HubCast http://bit.ly/nzAr110:17 AM Jul 13th from Twitter Tools
Printing Office: Virtual Press Clips: Print Firms in the News http://bit.ly/4eWvSW12:01 AM Jul 13th from Twitter Tools
LaVigne (LVI) Files For Bankruptcy http://tr.im/rMGm Assets to be sold to HubCast Inc2:11 PM Jul 10th from web

From Oce North America:

Symposium on July 23 at the Océ Solutions Studio in Renton, WA #PPIA #Oce http://bit.ly/UqJyn2:44 PM Jul 9th from web
Increase productivity, mitigate risk and enhance business performance with outsourcing of document lifecycle management. http://bit.ly/S6rpO11:24 AM Jul 7th from web
Congratulations to John Reilly! Appointed President of Océ North America, Document Printing Systems #office #documents #digitalprinting3:18 PM Jun 30th from web
http://twitpic.com/8h230 - Duncan Newton, Business Development Manager, Océ North America, on "Implementation of the Individuated Newspa ...

In the news cycle, memes spread more like a heartbeat than a virus � Nieman Journalism Lab

2009-07-15T04:58:00.001-04:00

The point is that memes move through cognitive space. Genes move in physical space. But they both can be thought of as moving through space. History can be usefully looked at through the lends of demography + genes + memes.

In the news cycle, memes spread more like a heartbeat than a virus
Nieman Journalism Lab:
"The New York Times reports today: “For the most part, the traditional news outlets lead and the blogs follow, typically by 2.5 hours, according to a new computer analysis of news articles and commentary on the Web during the last three months of the 2008 presidential campaign.” By that measure, I’m past due in responding, but here’s why the Times has it wrong.

The study in question demonstrates a fascinating technique, borrowed from genetics research, for tracking memes in media coverage, and produces some surprising results that I’ll get to below. But part of the paper is based on a flawed methodology that totally discredits the findings highlighted by the Times. Here’s the illustration of that two-and-a-half-hour gap between peak coverage of memes — in this case, phrases from the 2008 presidential election — in the mainstream media and on blogs:. . .
From that perspective, the paper has quite a bit to add. First, it’s fascinating that memes in political reporting can be tracked with methods drawn from bioinformatics and genetic sequence analysis. As Bill Wasik explains in his new book on viral culture, And Then There’s This, the term meme was coined by the British biologist Richard Dawkins, who wrote in The Selfish Gene:
I think that a new kind of replicator has recently emerged on this very planet. It is staring us in the face. It is still in its infancy, still drifting clumsily about it its primeval soup…The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like gene. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme.

Darwin's mystery explained

2009-07-13T11:11:00.001-04:00

The point is that this is pretty much how I think it works for all life forms.

Science Centric
Darwin's mystery explained:
The rapid increase in the fantastic diversity of flowering plants - linked to their rapid conquest of the Earth - was one of the greatest puzzles faced by Charles Darwin. In a letter to Joseph Hooker dated 22 July 1879, he referred to an 'abominable mystery.' The great diversity of fossil flowering plants from the late Cretaceous, while there were virtually no fossils known from the early Cretaceous, appeared to be completely in conflict with his vision that the emergence of new species could only take place very gradually.
. . .
"According to Berendse and Scheffer, we must think in a totally different direction. They postulate that the flowering plants were able to change the world to suit their own needs. They grew more rapidly and therefore required more nutrients. In a world that was poor in nutrients and was entirely dominated by the gymnosperms, that kept the soil poor - with their poorly degradable litter - flowering plants had great difficulties to establish. But at some locations where the gymnosperms had temporarily disappeared, for example due to floods, fires or storms, the angiosperms could increase so that they were capable of improving their own conditions with their easily degradable litter.

According to the theory of Berendse and Scheffer, this led to positive feedback; as a result, the flowering plants could increase even more rapidly and were capable of replacing the angiosperms in much of the world. Ultimately, the improved edibility of the leaves and fruits of the flowering plants led to a tremendous increase in the number of plant eaters on the Earth, which opened the way to the rapid evolution of mammals, and finally to the appearance of humans."

In Case you thought iPhone was just for kids, think again.

2009-07-13T07:37:00.000-04:00

Top 5 Medical Apps for iPhone - ABC News:
"Medical apps make up a little more than one percent of all apps, but the downloadable medical apps are becoming so useful to doctors that the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., now requires all of its students to carry an iPhone or iTouch."

Monkeys And Humans Use Parallel Mechanism To Recognize Faces

2009-07-13T07:31:00.000-04:00

The point is that learning depends on what you see. What you see depends on genes and memes and proximate benefit/risk decisions.

Monkeys And Humans Use Parallel Mechanism To Recognize Faces:
"ScienceDaily (July 12, 2009) — Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have demonstrated for the first time rhesus monkeys and humans share a specific perceptual mechanism, configural perception, for discriminating among the numerous faces they encounter daily. The study, reported in the June 25 online issue of Current Biology, provides insight into the evolution of the critical human social skill of facial recognition, which enables us to form relationships and interact appropriately with others"

Link Between Oral Infections And Cardiovascular Disease Morbidity Explained

2009-07-13T07:29:00.000-04:00

The point is that small events can have big consequences in a complex system. The earlier one can see the signs, the easier is the intervention. As it is with healthy arteries, so it is with healthy learning.

Link Between Oral Infections And Cardiovascular Disease Morbidity Explained:
"In addition, a new screening diagnostic system called STAT-CK (developed by Dr. Gottehrer) which gives the dentist and the patient a simple solution to visualize and categorize the stages of periodontal disease using grades A – F (A being minor damage to gums, F being the most severe case of damage to the gums and bone, needing surgical attention). This diagnostic tool can be personalized for each patient and it allows all doctors to understand the patient's periodontal condition. “This tool can help improve the communication between the dentist and doctor, as well as the treatment and health of the patient,” says Dr. Gottehrer"

In a few years, it's likely that "No One Could Have Predicted" dynamic Qr codes and Augmented Reality.

2009-07-12T08:59:00.002-04:00

But then no one could have predicted the financial meltdown. Blablablabla.

From Seeking Alpha,

A research paper, published in June by Dirk J. Bezemer, Groningen University, addresses this question and says the answer is that many saw it coming but those with the power to act did nothing. Bezemer contends that the problem is that economic policy is executed using macro equilibrium models and what is needed to establish economic policy that can anticipate crises, such as we have now, and take actions to head them off, are micro accounting cash-flow models. The entire paper can be read here.

The point is we need less economists and more accountants. Read the column by clicking on the title of the snippet.

Newborn Brain Cells Improve Our Ability To Navigate Our Environment

2009-07-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure of the exact point as of today. But it has to do with new brain cells making finer distinctions. It feels like that means learning.

Newborn Brain Cells Improve Our Ability To Navigate Our Environment:
"ScienceDaily (July 11, 2009) — Although the fact that we generate new brain cells throughout life is no longer disputed, their purpose has been the topic of much debate. Now, an international collaboration of researchers made a big leap forward in understanding what all these newborn neurons might actually do. Their study, published in the July 10, 2009, issue of the journal Science, illustrates how these young cells improve our ability to navigate our environment."

Positive Emotions Increase Life Satisfaction By Building Resilience

2009-07-12T06:53:00.001-04:00

The point is that "micro-moments" are the appropriate scale on which to measure emotions. What are the micro moments in a normal school day?

Positive Emotions Increase Life Satisfaction By Building Resilience:
"“ . . . Getting those daily reports helped us gather more accurate recollections of feelings and allowed us to capture emotional ups and downs,” said Fredrickson, a leading expert in the field of positive psychology.

Building up a daily diet of positive emotions does not require banishing negative emotions, she said. The study helps show that to be happy, people do not need to adopt a “Pollyanna-ish” approach and deny the upsetting aspects of life.

“The levels of positive emotions that produced good benefits weren’t extreme. Participants with average and stable levels of positive emotions still showed growth in resilience even when their days included negative emotions.”

Fredrickson suggested focusing on the “micro-moments” that can help unlock one positive emotion here or there.
. . .
“A lot of times we get so wrapped up in thinking about the future and the past that we are blind to the goodness we are steeped in already, whether it’s the beauty outside the window or the kind things that people are doing for you,” she said. “The better approach is to be open and flexible, to be appreciative of whatever good you do find in your daily circumstances, rather than focusing on bigger questions, such as ‘Will I be happy if I move to California?’ or ‘Will I be happy if I get married?’”

Language Skills In Your Twenties May Predict Risk Of Dementia Decades Later

2009-07-10T09:37:00.000-04:00

The point is communication affects biology, perhaps more than biology affects communication.

Language Skills In Your Twenties May Predict Risk Of Dementia Decades Later:
"'A puzzling feature of Alzheimer's disease is how it affects people differently,' said study author Juan C. Troncoso, MD, with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 'One person who has severe plaques and tangles, the telling signs of Alzheimer's disease in their brains, may show no symptoms affecting their memory. Another person with those same types of plaques and tangles in the same areas of the brain might end up with a full-blown case of Alzheimer's disease. We looked at how language ability might affect the onset of symptoms.'"

Evolution Guides Cooperative Turn-taking, Game Theory-based Computer Simulations Show

2009-07-10T09:30:00.002-04:00

The point is that it's ALL about evolution.

Evolution Guides Cooperative Turn-taking, Game Theory-based Computer Simulations Show:
"ScienceDaily (July 9, 2009) — It’s not just good manners to wait your turn – it’s actually down to evolution, according to new research by University of Leicester psychologists.

A study in the University’s School of Psychology sought to explain how turn-taking has evolved across a range of species. The conclusion is that there is an evolution-based “invisible hand” that guides our actions in this respect. What's more, the researchers have shown that this behavior can be simulated using a simple computer algorithm and basic genetic laws..

. . turn-taking has also evolved in many other species without language or the capacity to reach negotiated agreements. These include apes, monkeys, birds, and antelopes that take turns grooming each other, and mating pairs of Antarctic penguins that take turns foraging at sea while their partners incubate eggs or tend to chicks.
“It is far from obvious how turn-taking evolved without language or insight in animals shaped by natural selection to pursue their individual self-interests.”

Difference In The Way Children With Autism Learn New Behaviors Described

2009-07-10T09:22:00.000-04:00

Difference In The Way Children With Autism Learn New Behaviors Described

: "ScienceDaily (July 10, 2009) — Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have collaborated to uncover important new insights into the neurological basis of autism. Their new study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, examined patterns of movement as children with autism and typically developing children learned to control a novel tool. The findings suggest that children with autism appear to learn new actions differently than do typically developing children.

As compared to their typically developing peers, children with autism relied much more on their own internal sense of body position (proprioception), rather than visual information coming from the external world to learn new patterns of movement. Furthermore, researchers found that the greater the reliance on proprioception, the greater the child’s impairment in social skills, motor skills and imitation.

read full story click on headline.

New Posibilities for Exhibtion Design

2009-07-09T09:32:00.000-04:00

The point is that dynamic QR codes are an important bridge between Print and Augmented Reality.

Canon unveils augmented reality dinosaur show in Japan:
"Canon's just unveiled its new augmented reality display in Chiba, Japan, and we have to say, we're thinking about heading over there to check it out... and hopefully experience what it's like to be eaten (virtually) by a T-Rex. Featuring 260 dinosaur specimens, the display makes us of a virtual reality viewer -- one for each person roaming round the exhibit -- putting the dinosaurs at a 'distance' of about 5 meters. The exhibit will make use of various Canon products, including an inkjet printer, an LCD projector and several different cameras. The dinosaurs will be on display starting July 18th until August 1st, so you probably want to just go ahead and book a flight right now."

The mechanism of the learning feedback loop

2009-07-08T06:58:00.000-04:00

The point is that to understand the mechanisms of learning, it is illuminating to examine what happens when things break down. The fact is that most life activity - including learning - is shaped by positive and negative outcomes. Understanding how that plays out in bottom of the pyramid High Schools might go a long way to managing attendance and homework compliance.

New Findings On Parkinson's Disease And Effect On Patient Behavior:
"Gluck explains that an increased sensitivity to learning from events that results in positive outcomes, coupled with a decrease in the ability to learn from negative outcomes, could explain why some Parkinson patients treated with dopamine agonists develop impulse-control disorders, including pathological gambling, hypersexuality, alcoholism, and compulsive eating and shopping. All of these behaviors can be understood as reward-seeking behaviors in the absence of appropriate sensitivity to their negative consequences."

Work Fatigue And Working Overtime Are Associated With Weight Gain

2009-07-08T06:44:00.000-04:00

The point is that while correlation does not equal causation, it is a data point that suggests that being over weight can be partly the result of stress reducing strategies.

Work Fatigue And Working Overtime Are Associated With Weight Gain:
"The study revealed some risk groups, where weigh gain was more common than in other groups. Especially work fatigue was strongly associated with weight gain. Work fatigue measures pre-stage for burn out. Those who report work fatigue 'feel totally worn out after a day at work', 'feel tired in the morning when they have to get up and go to work', 'have to work too hard', 'feel like totally exhausted', 'report that their work is definitely too stressful', and 'they worry about their work even when they are off duty'. Working overtime was defined as working over 40 hours a week."

5 Unique Uses for QR Codes

2009-07-06T22:12:00.000-04:00

5 Unique Uses for QR Codes:
"Anyone with a smartphone can scan and read QR codes with the click of a camera, and anyone with access to a computer can generate QR codes themselves. BayBrain’s Snappr.net offers a QR bar code generator and links to a comprehensive list of software for code reading. By scanning the codes, you can access images, websites and text. By creating the codes, you can produce your own messages.

Usually synonymous with mass production, the quick response (QR) bar code was originally created by Japanese company Denso-Wave to keep inventory. However, because QR codes allow for more data than the standard 10-digit bar code, and because scanning requires less effort than typing a URL, the QR has taken a turn for the personal. The genius behind QR codes is that even a hairless chimp can play with them. Below are five of my favorite uses:"

QR codes within context of art

2009-07-06T22:09:00.000-04:00

QR codes within context of art: "
streetartdealer,c6 and Steal from work are launching the exhibition Street Art Dealer at Bristol on 9 July (6-9.30pm at 74-76 Horsefair, Broadmead) which aims to show innovative uses of QR code technology within the context of art. An 'interactive installation that accomodates the nature of the QR code' will also be demonstrated. See the invitation by clicking read more"

The Purpose of Public Education

2009-07-05T10:22:00.000-04:00

ridging Differences: The Emperor Wears No Clothes:
"I think it would be fair to argue that an institution that is funded by public monies must defend itself on the grounds that it serves, first and foremost, a public purpose—one which by its nature is held in common by all citizens, voters, and their offspring.

Here’s my suggestion. They must serve to prepare future voters to be knowledgeable and skilled citizens by the time they reach voting age—smart enough to preserve, protect, and improve the democracy of which they now are full members. We need a national “bar mitzvah” ceremony that seriously stops and takes stock of how well it has used children’s time (12-13 years of involuntary schooling) and the public’s money."

Mannahatta � Home

2009-07-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

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