Bricoleur The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss developed the concept of the bricolage in 1960 to describe a human who adopts a particular approach to framing problems, solving problems and learning. Others have adopted the concept, and applied it to thinking about how to approach the use of information technology in schools. In my experience, being Read More
I walked past the books in the discount retailer I was visiting to purchase storage supplies for my wife’s home office. When she arrived at the section she needed, she noticed I was not with her. When I finally caught up with her, she noticed the book in my hands: Walter Isaacson’s 2014 The Innovators: Read More
Another post based on my file clean-up. This is from about 25 years ago, and it largely still accurate. So just what are the things that I believe about learning?
Prior to starting work compiling the portfolio, one should compose two statements of purpose: The brief statement will serve as the first page of the portfolio and the longer one is a brainstorming and clarification document. Composing each will focus the portfolio creator’s attention on what is being done, why it is being done, and Read More
I recently found this piece I wrote several years ago about a book written by a high school classmate: In 2018, one of my high school classmates wrote Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America’s Students (Baker, 2018) in which he takes a close look at the myth “we are spending more, Read More
I am in the middle of cleaning out old files. I discovered a assignment for my doctoral studies in which I commented on my observations of school principals and their collective ignorance of technology. I am unsure of it is still true. I hope my observations are les true than they were, but I expect Read More
Media theorists tend to understand information technology as a non-neutral aspect of culture. These scholars recognize characteristics of cognition and interaction that are attributed to the effects of information technologies. Walter Ong used the term primary orality to describe cultures that are free of writing, so the only way to recall was to “think memorable Read More
Cognitive and learning scientist are finding evidence that brains process the information that is stored in memories. The processing allows the learner to find connections and organize the memories. As a result, what one “knows” is not a collection of discrete facts, but it is integrated and one’s knowledge can be used to create new Read More
I am in the middle of rereading Carl Bereiter’s 2002 book Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age. Among the intriguing ideas is the book is his confrontation of the “mind as a container” metaphor. Recent generations of educators have operated under the assumption that one’s brain is a container and that what we know Read More
I assume that those of you who want to be—or already are—teachers have a broad and deep experience as learners. You likely succeeded in school, an achievement that may actually have remarkably little to do with formal teaching and learning. You have also likely been a successful learner outside of school. After all, one does Read More