MATH Class Acclaimed!

Photos by WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press

Keionna White-Davis, 7, celebrates after answering a question correctly in her second-grade class at Barber Elementary School in Highland Park. Teachers in the district took a mandatory training course that is receiving national acclaim.

Linda Bassett, 57, teaches math in her second-grade class at Barber. She participated in program that has trained teachers in teaching the subject matter, going beyond rote memorization.

Tavita Hunter carries 26 cents to the front of the class to show several ways to count change at Barber Elementary School in Highland Park. An innovative math program for teachers has improved students' scores.

Linda Bassett, 57, teaches students Tavita Hunter, 7, left, and Montez Pollard, 8, to count change in their second-grade classroom at Barber. The teacher said her special training has made teaching math fun.

Class a plus for math teachers

Program for instructors adds up to better grades for students, acclaim

BY LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • December 31, 2008

Edith Hightower was a bit skeptical when she heard a new math professional development program would require her to be away from her middle school classroom one day a month. She thought it would be hypocritical to expect her kids to be in school every day, but then miss so much time herself.

But that program, now credited with helping improve math achievement in the Highland Park and Hamtramck school districts by helping teachers grasp a more in-depth understanding of the subject, quickly won her over as she saw her own teaching skills improving.

"And my children, my students, began to understand that was something I was doing for all of us," said Hightower, who at the time was a math teacher and is now supervisor of curriculum for the Highland Park district.

The 4-year-old program created by the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) is getting national attention now that it has trained dozens of teachers in the two districts. The success has allowed the agency to expand it this year to include the Ecorse, Melvindale-Northern Allen Park, River Rouge and Westwood school districts.

Carolyn Siebers, a math consultant at Wayne RESA, said teachers take classes in key math subjects such as number, operations and proportional reasoning; algebra; geometry; data analysis, statistics and probability, and improving instruction in rational numbers and proportionality.

The idea is to give the teachers a deeper understanding of the math they teach. That way, math becomes less about rote memorization of math concepts, and more about understanding the how and why of solving math problems.

That's not something at which teachers typically excel, particularly at the elementary level, Siebers said. But it is crucial as teachers evaluate student work. Three students may come up with the same answer to a math problem, but complete the work in widely different ways. It's up to the teacher to determine if each way would produce a correct answer every time.

That kind of in-depth subject knowledge is becoming more crucial, particularly in Michigan, where graduation requirements that went into effect with the Class of 2011 now mandate students take a greater number of higher level math classes.

The program has made teaching math fun for Linda Bassett, a second-grade teacher at Barber Focus School in Highland Park. And, she said, she has noticed that students are more involved in their learning.

"They realize that it's OK to use different strategies," Bassett said.

Both districts still have scores on the MEAP that are below state averages. But they've been on the rise.

"It's not huge growth, but it's steady growth. With the steady growth, you know things are improving," Siebers said of the test score gains in each district.

It's an intense program, requiring a four-year commitment from teachers. And they have made it mandatory for the teachers in the districts because a voluntary program would not have as much impact.

The teachers first must attend a summer institute for about five days. Then, during the school year, they are required to attend a day-long institute once a month. In addition, once a month, the teachers stay after school for more training.

Courses are taught by faculty at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

The program is a result of a federal grant for professional development, one that eight intermediate school districts and universities in Michigan have received. The Michigan Department of Education administers the money, which amounts to around $7 million this year.

Ruth Anne Hodges, the math consultant at the MDE, said the overall goal of the grants is to increase teacher knowledge, and there is evidence that is improving in the districts that are benefitting from the training. The Wayne RESA program, for instance, has seen teacher test scores rise significantly in four years. Student achievement improvement is the obvious next step.

"It's starting to go that way," Hodges said.

The Wayne RESA presented its results earlier this year at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association -- one of two agencies nationwide that were asked to present. The team also presented at the state's recent school improvement conference.

The original group of 60 teachers who began the program four years ago have completed the program. But they still attend grade-level meetings with their peers and attend summer classes.

"The idea is to keep it going -- don't let it die," Siebers said.

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@freepress.com.

Informs our Understanding (Liaison to business, industry and GOVERNMENT)

Bill may bring tuition help for Pontiac district students

Friday, December 26, 2008 10:22 AM EST

By RANDAL YAKEY
Of The Oakland Press

Students in the Pontiac School District could get a boost from legislation passed in Lansing.

State Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, chairman of the House Education Committee, said the Michigan Promise Zone Act has passed the House and Senate and is headed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm to become law.

The plan is designed to increase the accessibility of higher education by providing tuition assistance.

“In order for us to grow Michigan’s economy and create good-paying jobs for our workers, we need a strong and vibrant workforce,” Melton said.

Melton said the plan was not meant to be the cure-all for college funding woes for Pontiac students, but that it was a good first step in getting money for students who otherwise would not be going to college.

“There will be an 11-member authority board established,” Melton said. “This will not be run by the school district or the city, because we have several different cities in the Pontiac School District.”

The geographical boundaries of the Pontiac School District include all of the city of Pontiac, portions of Auburn Hills, Lake Angelus and Sylvan Lake, and the townships of Bloomfield, Orion, Waterford and West Bloomfield.

The Pontiac School District superintendent will establish the requirement for students receiving the funding. The requirements will most likely be based on how long the student lived in the district, grade-point average and ability to secure scholarships and grants.

“We limited it to the 15 Michigan public universities, and some private colleges and community colleges,” said Melton. “If you go to a private school like Baker or Lawrence Tech, we cap the tuition you can get at the average you pay at a public university.”

The authority board will also have to raise the first two years of funding on its own.

Melton said he has already contacted Oakland University, Oakland Community College, Fifth Third Bank and Flagstar Bank authorities about helping with funding. He has also contacted Chrysler Corp. and General Motors.

Under the legislation, up to 10 Promise Zones will be authorized throughout the state in areas that have a combination of low rates of educational attainment and high rates of poverty and unemployment. The Pontiac School District has already submitted an application to be the state’s first Promise Zone.

Melton’s plan is based on the Kalamazoo Promise — the nation’s first Promise Zone plan — which guarantees graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools free college tuition at any university or community college in Michigan. The Kalamazoo plan was funded by a wealthy benefactor.

Melton said after two years of raising money for the district, other sources will become available.

“After the third year, we will be then be able to capture half the state education tax in the zone,” Melton said. “That money can then help this Promise Zone authority capture some revenue. We may also have to continue to raise money.”

According to the House Fiscal Agency, the legislation could capture over $46.2 million based on data on the Kalamazoo Promise Zone. The Fiscal Agency said that the legislation could have a significant effect on the School Aid Fund.

Melton said he did expect Granholm to sign the legislation sometime before the end of the year.

The ROLE of DESIGN in INNOVATION!

Recession and Innovation

Julia Levitt
December 22, 2008 3:00 PM

At the close of a year that's been a tough one, I've been inspired by people around me to remember that it's often times like these – when things are at their worst – that potential for real and positive change is arguably at its very highest.

There is no question that the final months of 2008 have been bleak. Residents of countries around the world face the stress and insecurity of unemployment, and governments – especially the United States -- are turning to last-resort stimulus packages and policies to aid both corporate and private citizens. Economists predict that the recession will continue through at least July 2009 (with recovery effects lasting the rest of the year or longer), making it the longest period of economic downturn since the Great Depression. During the next year, people around the world will continue to suffer the recession's devastating impacts, and as is often the case, the ones who will suffer most are the ones who can least afford it.

A few months ago, I spoke with an acquaintance days after she was laid off from her job at a high profile firm. I found the news devastating – after all, if people as qualified and hardworking as she is could lose their jobs, then the trouble is truly serious. But she was actually in relatively high spirits, doing her best to see the positive angle. When things are going well, she pointed out, it's hard for most people to stir things up, to change their own lives, their jobs, their communities. When times are hard, she suggested, we might just be more likely to, for example, run with that startup idea we've always dreamed about … if for no other reason than the simple fact that there isn't much to lose.

It made me think about how, for better or for worse, collective action for change often requires a period of collective discomfort, or collective anger. Lean times can arguably beget innovation that is smarter than the innovation that springs from fatter times; innovations that are more practical and effectively more sustainable from both a social and financial standpoint.

Worldchanging contributor Rob Katz (who covers global enterprise and development on his blog, NextBillion.net) and I were recently talking about this on the phone.

"There are two main differences in social innovation during difficult financial times," Katz said. "First, the need for true social innovation is never more acute than when things are not humming along in the global economy. Second, there is increased oversight on social innovators to be ruthlessly efficient and profit-driven."

Instead of investing in superficial solutions that make people feel like there is progress being made, now is the time to move forward selectively, favoring the ideas that will pay for themselves in the long run. As one example directed at institutions, Katz says, "you should sink money into weatherproofing your entire [college] campus by improving heating and cooling, installing motion-sensor lighting, demand/response thermostats, better carpet; making your buildings more energy-efficient post-construction. We should be thinking about how we could be saving money from an environmental standpoint. If we were to upgrade all the existing buildings in America, it would save on the order of 25 percent of our energy consumption. In difficult financial times, social innovation has to be ruthlessly cost efficient and in pursuit of those innovations that don’t come out negative on the balance sheet."

The recession also showcases the resilience of – and levels the playing field for -- community and socially responsible investments. For example, Katz says, "investing in a portfolio of microfinance institutions, which offer a four to five percent rate of return, would have been below market rate. Now, four to five percent looks very competitive. Where once investors had to conjure up their inner do-gooder to give to socially responsible initiatives, now the rates of return on social investment are converging with market rates of return on any investment decision you could make." People who have been investing in microfinance institutions haven't been losing money in the last six months, he says, while other investors across the board have been watching their holdings drop. Microfinance offers an option for low-risk, medium-return investment that isn't directly correlated with the financial world, and that kind of investment looks much smarter to prudent investors right now. And community-oriented lending is not just for the developing world, as proven by new banking institutions like San Francisco's New Resource Bank.

Frugal practicality also shines a spotlight on community and cooperative solutions, illuminating ways we can support one other and pool resources for mutual benefit. At teach-in about the food crisis earlier this month in Seattle, Webster Walker, trustee of Central Co-op's Madison Market (a local, member-owned, natural foods cooperative) surprised me by saying that when the economy is down, the popularity of co-ops increases. Patricia Cumbie concurs in this article from the Cooperative Development Services: "It’s also notable that, historically, food co-ops are resilient, surviving challenging economic times just fine."

This could be a good time to look into community solutions. As a jumping off point, food offers endless opportunities for meaningful connections. I recently posted about many of these solutions, from starting a food buying club to volunteering to serve meals to those who need them, on our Seattle blog. But there are many other options for turning shared needs into shared resources: cohousing, community currency, and turning waste into treasure are just a few of these.

Another informed but optimistic prediction comes from design critic Alice Rawsthorn, who wrote last month in the International Herald-Tribune that recession creates "a boom time for creative energy." Though it's true that economic difficulty will hobble some corners of the design world – namely, as she states, the exclusively aesthetic "design-art," she makes the uplifting point that, "if you rewind through design history, many of the most exhilarating periods have been during economic downturns."

The entire article was well worth reading, but here are some choice bits:

2. Responding to Change

But the main reason why design could benefit from this recession is because it always thrives on change, and every area of our lives is currently in flux. The economic crisis will not only transform finance and business, but the way we think and behave. Then there's the environmental crisis, and the realization that most of the institutions and systems that regulated our lives in the 20th century need to be reconfigured for the 21st century.

At the World Economic Forum summit meeting last weekend in Dubai on the global agenda the dominant words were "change," "reboot" and "transformative." There was clear consensus on the need for fundamental change and for experimenting with new approaches to achieving it. I attended the summit meeting as a member of the forum's Global Agenda Council on Design, and we all agreed that design had an important role to play. Designers are adept at analyzing problems from fresh perspectives, and applying lateral thinking to develop ingenious solutions. They also excel at simplifying complex issues (and there are lots of those around right now), and collaborating with other disciplines.

The recent changes within design itself make those skills even more useful. The 20th-century model of design was devoted to the creation of things - both objects and images - but designers are now also applying their expertise to systems.

3. Redesigning businesses.

This means that designers will be called upon to advise recession-struck companies on how to cut costs without impeding efficiency. They will also be asked to exploit the entrepreneurial opportunities offered by the recession by developing austerity-friendly products and services.

An example is the Virtual Wallet online banking service developed for the young, tech-savvy customers of the American bank PNC, by the IDEO design group. It enables account holders to manage their finances online more efficiently, even on tiny cellphone screens. IDEO's design also helps them to manage their cashflow by anticipating when money will be paid in and out of their accounts. Rather than showing rows of numbers, as conventional bank statements do, IDEO has deployed visualization techniques to illustrate them graphically on screen. PNC's research showed that, as the credit crunch deepened, people felt confused and even frightened at being bombarded by complex financial information from their banks.

Designers will also help to develop recession-friendly business models, including rental systems, such as the bicycle services in Paris, Montreal and other cities. These projects not only involve old-fashioned product design, but a systemic approach to planning how they'll work. As the environmental crisis deepens, sophisticated new forms of renting - or "rentalism" as it's called - may emerge as popular alternatives to owning things that we'll only use for short periods of time.

Finally, difficult times seem to also be boom times for social values. The latest issue of ReadyMade magazine featured a fantastic collection of re-imagined posters based on the iconic designs of the Works Progress Administration (one of the posters appears above). From ReadyMade:

American art has never been so liberally supported by government as it was during the critical years between 1933 and 1943. The FAP served a dual purpose: It gave unemployed artists work while demonstratively branding the virtues of the nation through rousing mass communication. The WPA Poster Division was mandated to promote the cultural and social programs that FDR’s administration took great pains to foster. The posters supported hygiene, education, sports, vacations, conservation, community, theater, dance, and music; they cautioned about workplace safety and venereal disease.

Poster by Christopher Silas Neal
Image source: ReadyMade magazine, Issue 38, "Poster Children"

The Great Depression, and the recovery period that followed, irreversibly realigned the values of those who struggled through it, leaving its mark on the way they raised their families, spent their money, and did their jobs. Though ReadyMade hardly asserts that its readership represents the general American public, the values portrayed in the collection are noteworthy for the relevant messages the artists chose as much as for their bold and creative composition. These are the buzzwords of 2009: Simplicity. Creativity. Local. Global. DIY.

What legacy will this convergence of crises, both financial and environmental, leave on the psyches of today's young workers, students, artists and innovators? And what other solutions will emerge as intelligent messages of hope?

For my part, I hope that Rawsthorn is right about business, and that we'll see more sharing and a less wasteful approach to ownership. And I hope that Katz is right about efficiency, and that we'll see policy makers and entrepreneurs alike embrace smart solutions that conserve the planet's resources. I'd like to add the hope that we'll see the continued growth of open-source working and sharing when it comes to education, design, technology and more. And also the hope that as we learn, collaborative design and leapfrog development will continue, so that the social and environmental destruction generated by the consumptive habits of the Global North need not be repeated in spreading real prosperity in the Global South (and so that we here in the North can learn too from the innovations unfolding in the South).

What innovations do you hope to see spread and take hold as we recover from this recession?

Top and front page image credit: "Simplicity is the Key to Successful Living" poster by Nick Dewar. Image source: ReadyMade magazine, Issue 38, "Poster Children"

GIVE STUDENTS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY EDGE by DESIGN!

Photos by ANNIE O'NEILL/Special to the Free Press

St. Clair County students work on a solar-hydrogen fuel cell car. From left: Jason Hoogerhyde, John Freeman, Cody Benedict and Evan Miller. Rather than learning TV repair, students are getting trained in alternative energy.

Schools to invest in alternative energy, give students edge

BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • December 27, 2008

St. Clair County RESA Career Technical Center students will be calculating actual energy outputs from school-owned windmills, solar panels and a hydroelectric plant.

In Warren Consolidated Schools, students will find lessons from a district-owned wind power station integrated into their classes.

Both programs are the result of a trend by a growing number of schools to meld alternative energy into their lesson plans.

"I think kids are interested in this type of thing. And a lot of us see it as the future, to lessen our reliance on nonrenewable sources. And there are going to be jobs there," said Dan DeGrow, superintendent of St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency.

St. Clair RESA plans to invest up to $450,000, depending on how much grant money it receives, in three wind turbines -- each about 100 feet tall -- solar panels next to the turbines and a mini-hydro plant. It will be working with local governments on getting site permits.

Gone are the days of students taking high school electronics to become TV repairpeople. The jobs are moving to other categories, such as alternative energy technicians.

"What we decided was we wanted a way to teach traditional electronics but within a more current context," said Pat Yanik, director of career and technical education for RESA.

Beginning next fall, students will monitor the electricity generated by their three alternative energy sources, learn how to convert the power to actual energy and make decisions on how to distribute their self-generated electricity to RESA facilities. The actual energy generated will be small, but the lessons will be huge.

"With the energy crisis and the government push for it at the federal level and the state level, alternative energy seemed to be a pretty going item that students and parents can understand," said electronics teacher Zack Diatchun.

The Warren Consolidated Schools Board of Education has approved up to $9,000 for a wind spire -- a smaller (30-foot high) version of the windmill-style turbine -- to establish a district-wide alternative energy institute, said Superintendent Robert Livernois. Like St. Clair RESA, Warren Consolidated also hopes much of the cost will be offset by grants.

"The sky's the limit for us. That's what's so exciting about it from a K-12 perspective, you can talk to a second-grader and a 12th-grader," Livernois said. "Our belief is you've got to start somewhere, so as we launch this institute, it's really designed to begin cultivating awareness."

Students at St. Clair RESA have been told their program will open in the fall.

"It doesn't seem like something that they put into a high school-type course, but it's a really good idea they're putting it in," said Cody Benedict, 17, a senior from Yale High School who will be going to school for another year and taking the energy program. "It's going to be a larger range of stuff to learn for jobs."

There's no timetable for the Warren Consolidated program yet, but Livernois expects there will be varying components of alternative energy that will be applicable to most grades.

"We're going to use it in a study of just how much energy you can produce in the community," said Mark Supal, a technology teacher at the Macomb Mathematics Science and Technology Center, where the wind spire will be located.

Even students who won't be around for the new programs recognize the possibilities.

"I got accepted to Michigan Tech ... and I'm probably going to take electrical engineering, but I'm probably going to branch into some kind of alternative energy," said Dalton Pelc, 17, a senior from Kimball Township attending Port Huron High School. "That's what we need, and that's because that's what the economy needs."

Contact PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI at 586-826-7262 or mmwalsh@freepress.com.

NEW! FIT Project to Offer Educational Technology (Web 2.0) Workshops

See Winter Workshops on VLT

Presidential Transition Brief: Thriving in the 21st Century

The Partnership Offers Recommendations to Help the Obama White House Forge a 21st Century Workforce

Organization Publishes Presidential Transition Brief Aimed at Ensuring Americans Thrive in the 21st Century

TUCSON, AZ — Nov. 18, 2008 — At a time when America faces unprecedented challenges to its economy, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has released A Transition Brief: Policy Recommendations on Preparing Americans for the Global Skills Race, which offers broad proposals for forging a workforce and creating an education system that will thrive in the 21st century.

The brief notes that the current economic challenges cannot be adequately addressed without focusing on America’s competitiveness, which is intrinsically tied to the ability of Americans to effectively compete in the new global economy. Consequently, the next administration must concentrate on helping every American obtain the skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and effective communicating, that are required to be successful.

“Fundamental changes in the economy, jobs and businesses have reshaped industry and the nature of work, and are driving new and different skill demands,” said Paige Kuni, worldwide manager of K-12 education for Intel Corporation and chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “Competing nations understand that the key to economic prosperity is creating a flexible, adaptable workforce with diverse 21st century skill sets. We must focus our attention on closing this international achievement gap.”

While the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) attempts to address the achievement gap between minorities and low-income students and their more affluent peers, the 21st century skills achievement gap between American students – even top performers – and their international counterparts is widening, according to the brief.

To ensure that the American economy is strong and viable and students graduate high school capable of prospering in college and the 21st century workplace, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills offers the following recommendations to the next administration:

→ Lead: Advocate 21st century skills as a major theme of this presidency, beginning with the Inaugural Address and a White House Summit on 21st Century Skills in 2009.

→ Mobilize: Coordinate the policies and actions of federal agencies in promoting and creating an aligned, 21st century public education and workforce development system, including the reauthorization of ESEA and other federal legislation.

• Establish a senior advisor for 21st century skills and workforce development at the White House.
• Form an Office of 21st Century Skills within the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Education at the U.S. Department of Education.
• Create an Office of 21st Century Skills within the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Labor at the U.S. Department of Labor.

→ Empower: Support states and communities with investments to build a strong infrastructure and capacity for preparing students, workers and citizens with 21st century skills.

• Create a significant Global Competitiveness Research and Development Fund for U.S. education, and target a quarter of the funding to innovation in 21st century skills.
• Make the assessment of 21st century skills a priority.
• Support states’ ability to meet accountability requirements and foster 21st century skills.
• Ensure that schools are equipped with a 21st century technology infrastructure and 21st century technology tools.

“The Partnership’s work in states and districts around the country has succeeded because of our unique collaboration among business, education and policymakers. We need to bring this same spirit of partnership to the federal discussion of 21st century skills,” said Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “We offer this transition brief as a constructive starting point for what we imagine will be a tremendously positive dialogue with the incoming administration on the future of 21st century skills and American education. We are prepared to help in any way we can to support the Obama administration in making education policy a central part of our U.S. competitiveness policy.”

The brief is located at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills web site.

21st Century Transformation Toolkit!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

School 2.0 Transformation Toolkit - A Recommended Resource for Innovative Educators to "Let the conversation begin!"

A long-time fan of School 2.0, I only just recently discovered their “Transformation Toolkit." It appears to be a wonderful tool to help bring teaching, learning and leading into the 21st Century and seems like a terrific guide to all the great School 2.0 tools. Below is an overview and outline of what you’ll find inside this 77 page guide.

The Transformation Toolkit: Let the conversation begin!

These Transformation Tools are designed to provide individual schools and school districts with a menu of meeting facilitation tools, templates, and activities that enable the broad range of stakeholders - students, teachers, principals, chief technology officers, parents, community members and policymakers – to engage in a series of conversations that support strategic planning for education and technology.

These visioning and planning activities can be used in the order they are presented, or can be selected and combined in any fashion to meet school or district needs. The capstone of this collection is a process for developing and monitoring an implementation plan that includes the identification of responsible persons and timelines.

Theses tools lead to the creation of a set of living documents that capture the community’s education vision and that serve to guide the school or district through the process of creating learning environments that are future-focused and which leverage technology to be both engaging and productive.

Table of Contents

I. Give One, Get One
This opening activity provides participants with an opportunity to get to know each other while
exploring ways that integrating technology into the instructional program can enhance learning for all students.
II. Technology Shared Language Activity
This activity provides participants with the background knowledge and shared vocabulary necessary to meaningfully participate in the technology visioning and planning activities.
III. Introduction to School 2.0 Map
It is important that participants become very familiar with the School 2.0 map. This activity provides an opportunity for participants to explore the map in depth, reflect on the interdependent components and discover new ideas and practices.
IV. People Wheel Activity
Assuming that the ultimate goal of stakeholders in School 2.0 is to design the “next generation of
school” that ultimately prepares students for the 21st century, this activity provides an opportunity for all participants to understand the perspectives of the different stakeholder groups in a school community.
V. Process Area
Now that the specific needs and roles of each stakeholder have been established, participants will identify ways technology can enable stakeholders to address the identified needs.
VI. TechTacks Activity
This activity provides participants with the opportunity to use what they have learned in the previous activities to create a technology equipped 21st century classroom.
VII. Technology Visioning Process
This visioning activity provides participants an opportunity to efficiently draft an instructional technology vision for their district or school.
VIII. Give One, Get One for Technology Administrators and Principals
This activity sets the stage for Chief Technology Officers, Directors of Technology, Principals, Lead Technology Specialists, and Central Officeb Instructional and Support Staff to participate in writing a vision statement for their district.
IX. Challenge Scenarios
This activity provides opportunities for groups to focus on and respond to some common technology challenges faced by school staff and communities, and central office and school-based administrators.
X. Introduction to Strategic and Technology Planning
Strategic Technology Plan: This activity provides a foundation for the technology planning process. It allows participants to gain the information and background knowledge necessary to begin their own process for developing their strategic technology planning. Implementation Plan: After completing the creation of the Strategic Technology Plan, use this activity to develop an implementation plan that supports the previously-developed technology vision and sets their strategic plan in motion.

21st Century Digital Learning Environments (Pedagogy)

21st Century Pedagogy

Even if you have a 21st Century classroom (flexible and adaptable); even if you are a 21st century teacher ; (an adaptor, a communicator, a leader and a learner, a visionary and a model, a collaborator and risk taker) even if your curriculum reflects the new paradigm and you have the facilities and resources that could enable 21st century learning - you will only be a 21st century teacher if how you teach changes as well. Your pedagogy must also change.

So what is 21st Century pedagogy?

Definition:
pedagogy - noun the profession, science, or theory of teaching.
Source: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/pedagogy?view=uk

How we teach must reflect how our students learn. It must also reflect the world our students will move into. This is a world which is rapidly changing, connected, adapting and evolving. Our style and approach to teaching must emphasise the learning in the 21st century.

The key features of 21st Century Pedagogy are:
? building technological, information and media fluencies [Ian Jukes]
? Developing thinking skills
? making use of project based learning
? using problem solving as a teaching tool
? using 21st C assessments with timely, appropriate and detailed feedback and reflection
? It is collaborative in nature and uses enabling and empowering technologies
? It fosters Contextual learning bridging the disciplines and curriculum areas

Knowledge
Knowledge does not specifically appear in the above diagram. Does this mean that we do not teach content or knowledge? Of course not. While a goal we often hear is for our students to create knowledge, we must scaffold and support this constructivist process. The process was aptly describe in a recent presentation by Cisco on Education 3.0 [Michael Stevenson VP Global Education Cisco 2007]

We need to teach knowledge or content in context with the tasks and activities the students are undertaking. Our students respond well to real world problems. Our delivery of knowledge should scaffold the learning process and provide a foundation for activities. As we know from the learning pyramid content delivered without context or other activity has a low retention rate.

Thinking skills
Thinking Skills are a key area. While much of the knowledge we teach may be obsolete within a few years, thinking skills acquired will remain with our students for their entire lives. Industrial age education has had a focus on Lower Order Thinking Skills. In Bloom's taxonomy the lower order thinking skills are the remembering and understanding aspects. 21st Century pedagogy focuses on the moving students from Lower Order Thinking Skills to Higher Order Thinking Skills.

The 21st Century Teacher scaffolds the learning of students, building on a basis of knowledge recall and comprehension to use and apply skills; to analyse and evaluate process, outcomes and concequences, and to make, create and innovate. For each discipline in our secondary schools the process is subtly different.

Collaboration
The 21st century is an age of collaboration as well as the Information Age. 21st Century students, our digital natives, are collaborative. The growth of social networking tools, like bebo and myspace and the like, is fueled by Digital natives and Gen Y. The world, our students are graduating into is a collaborative one.

Collaborative projects such as Julie Lindsay's and Vicki Davis's Flatclassroom project and the Horizon Project, iearns and many others are brilliant examples of collaboration in the classrooms and beyond. These projects, based around tools like ning or wikis, provide students and staff a medium to build and share knowledge and develop understanding.

For example:

My own students are collaborating with students from three other schools, one in Brisbane, another in Qatar and a third in Vienna; on developing resources for a common assessment item. Collaboratively, they are constructing base knowledge on the technologies pertent to the topic. They are examining, evaluating and analysing the social and ethical impacts of the topic. But perhaps even more holistically they are being exposed to different interpretations, cultures and perspectives - Developing an international awareness which will be a key attribute in our global future.

URL: http://casestudy-itgs.wikispaces.com


Don Tapscott in Wikinomics, gives are many of examples of the business world adopting and succeeding by using global collaboration.

In a recent blog post from the Official google Blog, Google identified these as key traits or abilities in 1st Century Employees...

"... communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn't useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions."
"... team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team's expectations. "

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-googley-advice-to-students-major-in.html

So to prepare our students, our teaching should also model collaboration. A vast array of collaborative tools are available to - wikis, classroom blogs, collaborative document tools,social networks, learning management systems - Many are available at no cost. If you have not yet tried them, look at:
? wikis - wet paint and wiki spaces
? Classroom blogs - edublogs, classroomblogmeister
? Collaborative document tools - Google documents, zoho documents
? Social Networks - ning
? learning managements systems - Moodle etc
These tools are enablers of collaboration, and therefore enablers of 21st century teaching and learning.

Collaboration is not a 21st century skill it is a 21st century essential.

If we look at UNESCO's publication "The four pillars of Education, Learning: The Treasure within" Collaboration is a key element of each of the four pillars.

• Learning to know
• Learning to do
• Learning to live together
• Learning to be

(http://www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htm)

Collaboration is not limited to the confines of the classroom. Students and teachers collaborate across the planet, and beyond the time constraints of the teaching day. Students work with other students regionally, nationally and globally. Learners seek and work with experts as required. This is 21st Century Collaboration

Real World, Inter-disciplinary & project based learning
21st Century students do not want abstract examples rather they focus on real world problems. They want what they learn in one subject to be relevant and applicable in another curriculum area. As teachers we need to extend our areas of expertise, collaborate with our teaching peers in other subjects and the learning in one discipline to learning in another.
Projects should bring together and reinforce learning across disciplines. The sum of the students learning will be greater than the individual aspects taught in isolation. This is a holistic overview of the education process which builds on and values every aspect of the 21st Century students education.

Assessment
Assessment is still a key part of 21st Century Pedagogy. This generation of students responds well to clear goals and objectives, assessed in a transparent manner.

Students should be involved in all aspects of the assessment process. Students who are involved in setting and developing assessment criteria, marking and moderation will have a clearer understanding of:
? what they are meant to do,
? how they are meant to do it,
? why it is significant
? why it is important.
Such students will undoubtedly do better and use the assessment process as a part of their learning.

Students are often painfully honest about their own performance and that of their peers. They will, in a collaborative project, fairly assess those who contribute and those who don't.

This is their education, their learning and their future - they must be involved in it.

Linked to assessment is the importance of timely, appropriate, detailed and specific feedback. Feedback as a learning tool, is second only to the teaching of thinking skills [Michael Pohl]. As 21st Century teachers, we must provide and facilitate safe and appropriate feedback, developing an environment where students can safely and supportively be provided with and provide feedback. Students are often full of insight and may have as valid a perspective as we teachers do.

Fluency
What is fluency and why is it better than Literacy? Ian Jukes introduced this concept at NECC. He asserts that students need to move beyond literacy to fluency. They need to be
fluent in:
? The use of technology = technological fluency,
? Collecting, processing, manipulating and validating information = information fluency,
? using, selecting, viewing and manipulating media = media fluency,

What is fluency compared to literacy? A person who is fluent in a language does not need to think about speech, or reading rather it is an unconscious process of understanding. A person who is literate in the language must translate the speech or text. This applies to our students and their use of 21st century media. We need them to be unconsciously competent in the use and manipulation of media, technology and information.

The conscious competence model illustrates the difference between Literacy and Fluency. The person or student who is literate is in the conscious competence category. The person or student who is fluent is in the unconscious competence category.

As educators, we must identify, develop and reinforce these skill sets until students become literate and then fluent..

Conclusion and the path forward.

To teach using 21st Century pedagogy, educators must be student centric. Our curricula and assessments must inclusive, interdisciplinary and contextual; based on real world examples.

Students must be key participants in the assessment process, intimate in it from start to finish, from establishing purpose and criteria, to assessing and moderating.
Educators must establish a safe environment for students to collaborate in but also to discuss, reflect and provide and receive feedback in.

We should make use of collaborative and project based learning, using enabling tools and technologies to facilitate this.

We must develop, in students, key fluencies and make use of higher order thinking skills. Our tasks, curricula, assessments and learning activities must be designed to build on the Lower Order Thinking Skills and to develop Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Acknowledgements:
For being a brilliant critical friend, thanks for the advise and especially for the grammar - Marg McLeod.

By Andrew Churches

Arne Duncan Secretary of Education

Reform Starts Now: Obama Picks Arne Duncan

His secretary of education selection shows education is a priority.

by Grace Rubenstein
December 16, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama talked reform while announcing Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan as the next U.S. secretary of education.

"For Arne, school reform isn't just a theory in a book, it's the cause of his life," Obama said at Tuesday's press conference. Obama specifically mentioned pay-for-performance teacher salaries and charter-schools development as strategies with strong potential.

"If charter schools work, let's try that," Obama said. "Let's not be clouded by ideology when it comes to figuring out what helps our kids."

Duncan described his clear-eyed view of education in a June 2007 interview [1] with Edutopia when he said, "Quality public education is the civil rights issue of our generation."

Duncan, known for transforming underperforming schools and experimenting with new models, has a record as a pragmatist with a taste for innovations. His version of reform, judging by his record, centers on boosting teacher quality and supporting students with added services such as after-school programs. In the Chicago Public Schools [2], where 85 percent of the 400,000-plus students live below the poverty line, test scores, attendance, and teacher retention all went up during Duncan's seven-year tenure, while the dropout rate declined.

The Buzz
For weeks, pundits, educators, and education bloggers have speculated on what Obama's pick would show about his true beliefs on education.

"Arne Duncan has a type of personality that Obama seems to prefer, which is a pragmatist who will bring about change, but he'll do it in a way that will minimize confrontation in conflict," says Jack Jennings, president of the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy [3]. "He's brought about change in Chicago, but it hasn't been a head-on clash with the teachers' union. He's done it in a way that they all walk away from the table congratulating each other."

Supporters say Duncan has the right constitution for the job. On both substance and style, he has won praise from divergent interest groups, including the American Federation of Teachers [4] and the New York City-based Democrats for Education Reform [5].

Duncan shut down Chicago schools that performed poorly and reopened them with entirely new staffs. He started coaching and mentoring programs for teachers. He also supported a boom in new charter schools with diverse models, from military academies to single-sex schools, and piloted a program to pay teachers bonuses for top performance -- two controversial innovations Obama supports.

An Uncertain Future

Of course, an education secretary can't exactly dictate reform from on high. But he can use the bully pulpit to put a spotlight on certain problems and solutions, says Jennings, and hand out grants to support new innovations. He can also provoke change through regulations -- most notably those that guide implementation of the No Child Left Behind law.

On NCLB, Duncan is a middle-of-the-roader [6]; he supports the law's goals of high expectations and accountability but has challenged Congress to improve it by doubling its funding and amending it "to give schools, districts, and states the maximum amount of flexibility possible."

Not the least of Duncan's hurdles will be the nation's preoccupation with the economic crisis. In a sign of the media's interest in education, the first question at Obama and Duncan's press conference after the announcement of Duncan's nomination was about the Federal Reserve Bank lowering its interest rates.

The financial squeeze hitting schools could hinder Duncan's efforts.

Making money and resources key to success, Duncan and Obama both made the case for education by defining it as the path to prosperity; Obama called it the "single biggest determinant" of the economy's long-term health.

"We're not going to transform every school overnight," Obama said. "What we can expect is that each and every day, we are thinking of new, innovative ways to make the schools better. That is what Arne has done. That's going to be his job. That's going to be his task."

Grace Rubenstein is a staff writer and multimedia producer at Edutopia.

Begin with the End in Mind (Project-Based Learning)

WHAT did WE LEARN?

You Tube Challenge

School of the Future World Summit 2008

Evan Arthur - The Australian Digital Education Revolution

Martin Bean - What Technology Makes Possible

Randy Fielding - Design for the Creative Age - Part 1 (slides 1-49)

Randy Fielding - Design for the Creative Age - Part 2 (slides 50-75)

Randy Fielding - Design for the Creative Age - Part 3 (slides 76 - end)

Julio Fontan - Country Spotlight: Colombia

James Grant & Lee Burley - Building Schools for the Future

Bill Hill - The Digital Renaissance Age

Michael Horn - Disrupting Class

Allyson Knox - Career Forward

Victor McNair - Teacher E-Portfolios

Katrina Reynen - Innovation that Drives Transformation Across School Systems

Don Richardson - Innovation Management

Ratnasingam Selvarani & Angeline Fern - Transformational Learning - Part 1

Ratnasingam Selvarani & Angeline Fern - Transformational Learning - Part 2

Yasutaka Shimizu - NEXT Project - Part 1

Yasutaka Shimizu - NEXT Project - Part 2

Jaeshin Song - e-Learning of Korea

Wim Veen - Homo Zappiens: New Learning Strategies in a Digital Age

Tony Wagner - The Global Achievement Gap

UM-DEARBORN INNOVATION INDEX

Posted: Monday, 08 December 2008 5:28PM UM-Dearborn 'Innovation Index' Slows Down

Innovative economic activity in Michigan fell slightly during the second quarter of 2008, according to an “innovation index” developed by scholars at the University of Michigan-Dearborn School of Management. The index fell to 95.0 in the second quarter, down from 96.0 in the first quarter of the year. Despite the drop, innovative activity in the state is still significantly higher than it was in the last quarter of 2007, when the index tallied 89.9. The quarterly index, a project of UM-Dearborn’s Center for Innovation Research, or iLabs, provides a summary measure of economic innovation activity in the state of Michigan. The index tracks economic innovation in Michigan based on calculations of employment of “innovation workers,” trends in venture capital, trademark applications, incorporation activity, small business loans and gross job creation. Of the six indicators, three rose and three fell in the quarter. “The Index began to show the effects of the national financial crisis in the second quarter,” according to Lee Redding, associate professor of business economics and director of the Innovation Index at the UM-Dearborn School of Management. The positive indicators included venture capital, employment of “innovation workers,” and the number of trademarks applied for in the state. “Venture capital activity rose for the third straight quarter, adding two points to the Innovation Index,” Redding said. The proportion of “innovation workers,” or those employed in engineering or science fields, also grew slightly, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Trademark applications also were marginally ahead of their first-quarter level and slightly ahead of the year-earlier number,” according to Redding. “The second quarter’s total was the highest since the first quarter of 2006 and added 0.3 points to the index.” On the negative side, the number of loans arranged through the Detroit office of the Small Business Administration continued its decline. “This measure peaked in the second quarter of 2006 and has since dropped in seven of eight quarters,” Redding said. The number of new incorporations, while higher than the year-ago numbers, “declined somewhat from the first quarter number” and subtracted 0.6 points from the index, Redding said. The largest drag on the index was in “the reported number of new jobs created by new companies or companies adding jobs,” Redding said. While that number totaled 208,000 in the first quarter of 2008, that represents a significant decline from the 226,000 reported in the last quarter of 2007, causing a 2.4 point decline in the index. (Due to data availability, this item enters the index calculation one quarter late.) The Innovation Index for the third quarter of 2008 will be released in March. Redding collaborates on the project with economist Anne-Louise Statt.

© MMVIII WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved.

PMP Pals' Network Blog: Post Operative Weight Loss & Nutrition

PMP Pals' Network Blog: Post Operative Weight Loss & Nutrition

In addition to the challenges of regaining lost weight (43 pounds), I have had two instances of intestinal blockage in the last two months. After the first I was told to eat a low-residue diet (low in insoluble fibers). (e.g. nuts or apple, pear, and potato skins.) But, four weeks later I had a second blockage. Both blockages were resolved without surgery.

Have others had this experience? Do you have any ideas on avoiding blockages? I was told that surgery to remove adhesions often creates new scar tissue, and so often isn't helpful.

DPS Edison Elementary on the Art Road

SOMETHING to stay EVER-MINDFUL of and ADHERE to!

A Middle School Student Makes a Scientific Breakthrough

Solar-Energy Star: A Middle School Student Makes a Scientific Breakthrough
William Yuan earns a $25,000 fellowship in an Oregon school district's laboratory.
by Jennifer Hillner

Dressed in jacket and tie, William Yuan sits in the basement of the U.S. Library of Congress, his hands clutching the bench beneath him. The thirteen-year-old has traveled to Washington, DC, from his hometown of Beaverton, Oregon, not to sightsee like most kids his age, but to take care of business.

Yuan has already met with his state's congressional representatives, and in half an hour, he will appear onstage to accept a $25,000 fellowship from the Davidson Institute. The seventh grader won the award for designing a new, more efficient solar cell -- a project he undertook at Meadow Park Middle School.

Yuan began working with solar cells two years ago, after science teacher Susan Duncan encouraged him to tackle an engineering project. He spent hours searching the Internet, brainstorming with Duncan, and talking with professionals before he found a topic that piqued his interest: the global energy crisis. Building on research from Georgia Tech and Notre Dame universities, Yuan found a way to improve the conversion efficiency and yields of solar cells.
Most solar cells absorb visible light to produce electricity, but his design harnesses both visible and ultraviolet light. That's particularly helpful in cloudy areas, such as where he lives in the Pacific Northwest, because the solar cell can continue to generate electricity even when clouds obscure the Sun. To achieve this result, Yuan applied various coatings, integrated nanotubes, and added specialized nanostructures to a typical solar cell. Experts have given his method a thumbs-up.

Solar-Power Prodigy

Yuan was one of twenty scholars under the age of eighteen the Davidson Institute recognized in September 2008 for their extraordinary work in subjects as diverse as literature, math, and philosophy. What sets Yuan apart? He is the youngest student ever to win in the science category, a testament to both his intelligence and his tenacity. "The scientific process can be slow," notes Tacie Moessner, who manages Davidson's fellowship program. "So although many of the fellows begin their projects at a younger age, by the time they have something to actually present, they may be sixteen or seventeen years old."

Yuan's solar cell is certainly not the stuff of a typical middle school science project. But his achievements are a shining example of what's possible when a public school -- or a school district -- makes a concerted effort to promote advanced learning. The Beaverton School District did just that four years ago when it started Summa Options, a program of advanced curriculum for students who score in the 99 percentile on standardized reading and math tests or a test of cognitive ability.

The idea was to bring exceptional children in grades 6-8 together to be active participants in their own education. This approach is a departure from that of many traditional talented and gifted programs, which tend to label kids but do little to foster their abilities.
"I was enrolled in a TAG program, but they just tested me once and said I was in," Yuan recalls. "They didn't really do anything." By creating an outlet for his energy and talent, Summa Options gave Yuan the support he needed to thrive.

Of course, placing a disparate group of geniuses together in one room could have been disastrous. Yet the Summa teachers quickly discovered that profoundly gifted kids flourish when they are among peers. "Though you may envision a room full of bored, lazy, and surly know-it-alls, the real dynamics are very different," says Summa humanities teacher Mark Wandell. "Students are no longer scared of being put down or misunderstood, and so discussions are consistently rich and passionate. Formerly shy and withdrawn kids become gregarious, and the gregarious learn how to truly lead."

This environment encouraged Yuan to excel. "My peers are at about the same level, so we're spurred to go farther because of the competition," he says. "We push each other."

Summa Substance

The Summa program emphasizes individualized instruction within a broad curriculum. Each student chooses a science research topic, investigates it, and then prepares a background research paper. Classes focus on meeting goals. For example, a student may spend months -- rather than days -- trying to solve a given problem through extensive research and experimentation. "As long as you get everything done by a certain date," Yuan notes, "you can go at your own pace, spending more time on a certain subject, as opposed to finishing something that you're good at and then being bored for the rest of the time."

Students devoted much of the first trimester of the 2007-08 school year to preparing a science fair project, some of which are nominated to compete in the Northwest Science Expo (a qualifying fair for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair). Their teachers helped by providing them with the materials they needed. "We work with local high school and college instructors to find equipment for particularly advanced projects," says science teacher Susan Duncan. "Fortunately, our science lab has enough equipment and space for students to work as individuals, as partners, or in small groups to complete labs each week." (Students use a form with rubrics that helps them refine their classroom and science fair projects. Download a PDF of the form.)

Duncan also helps her students avoid boredom by strongly encouraging them to take part in extracurricular activities that pair academics with practical skills. Competitions such as the First Lego League -- in which teams design robots using Lego bricks, sensors, motors, and gears -- allow the Summa students to gain confidence, work in a multiage setting, and, of course, have fun.

"Last year at Science Bowl, our team was made up almost entirely of eighth graders -- I was one of the only sixth graders," Yuan says. "That was a really great experience. We made it to the state finals." (Yuan and his teammates are highly decorated. This year, they placed second at the Lego league's International Open and at the Northwest Science Expo, and they won the Oregon Chess for Success State Tournament.)

Meeting of the Minds

Competitions also provide the students with ample opportunity to bond with peers and adults beyond their classmates, teachers, and parents. While working on a Lego project, Yuan and the rest of the school's Math and Science Engineering (MESA) Club visited a Portland State University engineering-design lab. There, Yuan met research professor Chunfei Li and became interested in nanotechnology.

"Later, when the Lego project was done, I went back and Professor Li taught me about nanostructures using the electron microscope," explains Yuan. He met with Li after school and on weekends to learn how to apply what he'd learned to the solar cell. Without his science teacher and mentors, Yuan feels things would have been different: "I probably couldn't have finished my solar-cell project. If even one of them was taken out, huge chunks of the project would collapse."

Another key supporter was Zhiyong (Fred) Li, a process engineer at Applied Materials and a friend of the family. Li recognized Yuan's interest in engineering and math and became the boy's mentor. "I am excited to see more and more young and talented people such as William interested and involved in green renewable energy projects," says Li, who spoke with Yuan regularly on the phone. "William's project deals with the heart of the issue in solar technology -- increasing conversion efficiency and yields, and lowering the cost of solar electricity. His solutions are very well thought out and make perfect practical sense in theory."

Yuan also received a great deal of support from his parents, who are both engineers at Intel. William conducted his first science experiment -- studying the life of a laptop battery -- when he was in fourth grade. He attributes his love of science to natural curiosity. "Listening to the news or watching the Discovery Channel introduced me to all sorts of concepts that you don't get by watching the Cartoon Network," Yuan explains. "I would take all those concepts and events and look them up and start integrating them in to what I knew, and then my perspective of the world would change."

Yuan also possesses the discipline of a pianist and the critical mind of a chess player (two pastimes he enjoys). "I notice problems or inefficiencies of a certain product or process, and then I think about ways I can fix them," he says.

Even on his way to Washington, DC, Yuan was thinking deeply. "If I'm sitting in an airport, I note the inefficiencies of the McDonald's line," he says. "I think about those things if I get bored." Yuan plans to save his Davidson prize money for college, where he aims to study science and technology. For now, he's headed back to the Meadow Park lab. There, he's building an optimization model of the parameters of his solar cell for the school's science fair.
"I want to verify my calculations and experiment more to make sure everything that I've calculated and tested works in the real world as opposed to a simple lab setting," Yuan says. He wants to be certain that all the work he's done on solar cells -- already worth at least $25,000 -- gets put to good use.

Jennifer Hillner is a New Hampshire-based freelance writer who specializes in technology.
This article originally published on 10/29/2008

ADD this to OUR Conversation

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/reports/roundtable.html

SUMMARY: Informs Our Understanding

The OTHER-SIDE of the Coin!

Kids need more time in the land of make-believe


BY DAVID CRARY • ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 23, 2008


In one classroom, preschool teachers squatted on the floor, pretending to be cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers. Next door, another group ended a musical game by placing their tambourines and drums atop their heads.

Silly business, to be sure, but part of an agenda of utmost seriousness: to spread the word that America's children need more time for freewheeling play at home and in their schools.

"We're all sad, and we're a little worried. ... We're sad about something missing in childhood," psychologist Michael Thompson recently told 900 early-childhood educators from 22 states.

"We have to fight back," he declared. "We're going to fight for play."

The teachers then dispersed into dozens of workshops, some lighthearted, some scholarly, but all supporting the case that creative, spontaneous play is vital and endangered.

It's not a brand-new cause -- two years ago it was endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. But social changes and new demands on kids' spare time confront free-play advocates with an ever-moving target.

Among the speakers at the New York conference was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education "could be the next global warming."

Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America's children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.

"Play equals learning," she said. "For too long we have divorced the two."

Some of the factors behind diminished time for play have been evolving for decades, others are more recent. Added together, they have resulted in eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time per week for the average American child since the 1980s, experts say.

Among the key factors, according to Thompson:

• Parents' reluctance to let their kids play outside on their own, for fear of abduction or injury, and the companion trend of scheduling lessons, supervised sports and other structured activities that consume a large chunk of a child's nonschool hours.

• More hours per week spent by kids watching TV, playing video games, using the Internet, communicating on cell phones.

• Shortening or eliminating recess at many schools -- a trend so pronounced that the National PTA has launched a "Rescuing Recess" campaign.

• More emphasis on formal learning in preschool, more homework for elementary school students and more pressure from parents on young children to quickly acquire academic skills.

"Parents are more self-conscious and competitive than in the past," Thompson said. "They're pushing their kids to excel. ... Free play loses out."

The consequences are potentially dire, according to Thompson. He contends that diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.

Many families turn to organized sports as a principal nonschool activity, but Thompson said this option doesn't necessarily breed creativity and can lead to burnout for good young athletes and frustration for the less skilled.

Vivian Paley, a former kindergarten teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and now an author and consultant, argues that the most vital form of play for young children involves fantasy and role-playing with their peers.

"They're inventing abstract thinking before the world tells them what to think," Paley said in her speech to the conference. "It gets them thinking, 'I am intended to have my own ideas.' "

MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Report

Digital Media and Learning (Web-site)
http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2029199/

Video on The Future of Education

"The Future of Education" a keynote by Jamais Cascio at Moodle Moot June 2008


http://www.theelearninghub.com/resources/video/JamaisCmm08Keynote.mov

NSF GRANT Workshop #3

Creation of the FIT Parent Network Blog-Site

FI3T Project PI's Meeting AGENDA November 22, 2008

FI³T Project PIs Meeting

November 24, 2008

5:00 – 7:00 pm

SOE Conference Room 251

Fairlane Center South (FCS)

University of Michigan-Dearborn

AGENDA

1.0 Welcome

2.0 Seminar Meeting Dec. 13

2.1 Structure

2.2 Celebration

3.0 Food ideas for 12/3 and 12/13

4.0 Advisory Board Meeting

4.1 Schedule for early January

5.0 Workshops - Winter

5.1 Students

5.1.1 Schedule – want to distribute on 12/13

5.2 Parents

5.2.1 Schedule – want to distribute on 12/13

6.0 PI Meetings - Winter

6.1 Schedule

7.0 Meeting with School Principals

7.1 Schedule

8.0 Others

9.0 Adjourn

WINDSPIRE INSPIRES GOING GREEN! (GREAT LAKES IT REPORT PRESS RELEASE)

An example of a Windspire installation

Posted: Monday, 17 November 2008 9:35PM

Warren Schools To Consider Renewable Energy Curriculum

A unique vertical-axis wind turbine would be installed at the Macomb Math, Science and Technology Center under an agreement to be considered Wednesday night by the board of the Warren Consolidated Schools.

The Windspire wind turbine would be installed by Southern Exposure Renewable Energy Co. of Ortonville. It's manufactured by Nevada-based Mariah Power.

The turbine is part of a larger proposal to create a "renewable energy institute" at the math and science magnet school, with the company and the school district working together to develop a new renewable energy curriculum.

More at www.mariahpower.com or www.seenergyco.com.

Recently Mariah Power partnered with Mastech of Sterling Heights to manufacture its Windspire product at Mastech's plant in Manistee. The first Michigan made wind turbines are scheduled to become available in February.