Changing educational paradigms

[Michael Nelson]

Animated speech of Ken Robinson on changing educational paradigms... this is where I think Learning goals can play a role (self-paced-yet-social learning):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded

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Michael Nelson

http://liveandletlearn.net 

[Maria Droujkova]

I just watched it a couple of days ago. I was thinking of homeschoolers - did I ever send you our essay? http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/family-educator-commons/2010/08/09

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova

Make math your own, to make your own math.

[Michael Nelson]

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just watched it a couple of days ago. I was thinking of homeschoolers - did I ever send you our essay? http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/family-educator-commons/2010/08/09

No - I'll look forward to reading it tomorrow while travelling. From the few examples I've been exposed to, I think homeschooling can be amazing when the parents are educators/learning enthusiasts, but I'm not sure how that can/could help the rest of the child population who's parents are not... but I'm eager to hear ideas :) I'll hopefully get some food for thought in the essay! Thanks!

-M

[Maria Droujkova]

I think homeschooling works well for about 5-10% of families. So do the rest of known educational methods. This is fine. The way I see it, it's better to have several dozen different methods, each working well for a minority of people.

[Michael Nelson]

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 8:13 AM, Michael Nelson <absol...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just watched it a couple of days ago. I was thinking of homeschoolers - did I ever send you our essay? http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/family-educator-commons/2010/08/09

No - I'll look forward to reading it tomorrow while travelling. From the few examples I've been exposed to, I think homeschooling can be amazing when the parents are educators/learning enthusiasts, but I'm not sure how that can/could help the rest of the child population who's parents are not... but I'm eager to hear ideas :) I'll hopefully get some food for thought in the essay! Thanks!

-M

I think homeschooling works well for about 5-10% of families. So do the rest of known educational methods.

Sorry, rushed reply... I do agree, but my uninformed guess would be that ~90% of those 5-10% of families for whom homeschooling works well have parents who are learning enthusiasts, and whose kids would be well supported for learning with nearly any educational method.

Conversely, I wonder whether there is a large section of kids (majority perhaps?) who have parents who are either very busy or not learning enthusiasts or both, and who wouldn't be well supported no matter what method was used. And if so, whether more energy should be focussed on various public education methods that could help these groups?

 

This is fine. The way I see it, it's better to have several dozen different methods, each working well for a minority of people.

Yep, I agree - as long as it doesn't let kids without learning-enthusiast parents miss out :)

BTW: can't wait for the first p2pu family maths course! My eldest daughter (6) already loves maths and is bored with the work at school... I try to keep her interested, but will be very happy to read/see other peoples ideas!

-M

[Maria Droujkova]

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Michael Nelson <absol...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 8:13 AM, Michael Nelson <absol...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Maria Droujkova <drou...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just watched it a couple of days ago. I was thinking of homeschoolers - did I ever send you our essay? http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/family-educator-commons/2010/08/09

No - I'll look forward to reading it tomorrow while travelling. From the few examples I've been exposed to, I think homeschooling can be amazing when the parents are educators/learning enthusiasts, but I'm not sure how that can/could help the rest of the child population who's parents are not... but I'm eager to hear ideas :) I'll hopefully get some food for thought in the essay! Thanks!

-M

I think homeschooling works well for about 5-10% of families. So do the rest of known educational methods.

Sorry, rushed reply... I do agree, but my uninformed guess would be that ~90% of those 5-10% of families for whom homeschooling works well have parents who are learning enthusiasts, and whose kids would be well supported for learning with nearly any educational method.

Agreed. So, if we take all families, homeschooling as a learning system/lifestyle works for a certain small minority of them. Actually, different styles of homeschooling (unschooling, cooperative groups, fundamentalist Christian home ed and so on) work for different types of families... Then there are families for whom, say, experiential education (apprenticeship) works well as a lifestyle and a learning system. Then there are families for whom Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, Montessori, Virtual Schools, X, Y, Z, A, B, C etc etc work.

 

Conversely, I wonder whether there is a large section of kids (majority perhaps?) who have parents who are either very busy or not learning enthusiasts or both, and who wouldn't be well supported no matter what method was used. And if so, whether more energy should be focussed on various public education methods that could help these groups?

Public as in, supported/paid for by communities? Shouldn't all viable educational methods be?
 

 

This is fine. The way I see it, it's better to have several dozen different methods, each working well for a minority of people.

Yep, I agree - as long as it doesn't let kids without learning-enthusiast parents miss out :)

BTW: can't wait for the first p2pu family maths course! My eldest daughter (6) already loves maths and is bored with the work at school... I try to keep her interested, but will be very happy to read/see other peoples ideas!

-M

Do you have any math clubs where you live? Here's a good video of a family math salon by someone who may be teach at p2pu as well: http://mathmamawrites.blogspot.com/2010/08/richmond-math-salon-sweet-sampling_08.html

There is also an excellent collection of "math readers" (fun books) for young kids here: http://www.livingmath.net/ReaderLists/ILoveMathandYoungMath/tabid/1062/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Cheers,
MariaD