What is the history of the future?

When we think about the most important news headlines of the past few years, how many of them will be a big deal a hundred years from now? Which ones of them will have historical relevance? Which ones will be in our great grandchildren's history books?

I can't help but to believe that with our focus on the short term and 24 hour news cycle that the "BIGGEST MOST SHOCKING HEADLINE OF THE DAY" is just not that important. Even when something of relative importance is brought to the forefront we don't have time to discus it or to reflect on it before the next news cycle wipes it clear.

Here is your assignment - Find a headline from the last 5 years that you think will be relevant in 50 to 100 years.  Post it in the comments below.

Here is a short talk to highlight the possible choices for the Long Term News.

What Motivates 21st Century Tasks?

Motivation - not what we do, but why we do it.

I tell my psychology students all the time, that while studying behavior is interesting, studying motivation is more important. Trying to understand behavior without understanding why we behave is pointless. Why we do something is more interesting than what we do.

Why do we get up and go to work or school in the morning? Why do we choose to eat one thing over another? Why to we act the way we do when certain people are around? Why do we play? Why do we study? Why do we work hard? Why do we buy one product over another? Why do we complete a puzzle? Why do we act destructively sometimes?  Why do we love? Why do we hate?  Human behavior is complex and often confusing. To truly understand human behavior we have to investigate what motivates us.  Hunger, money, sex, belongingness, power, achievement?

We must think and then we must rethink!  As Dan Pink illustrates in his book Drive, what we know to be true based on scientific inquiry is that we are doing it wrong -at least in the corporate world - and I would suggest these concept are also very relevant to the educational world.  We are holding onto outdated, unscientific, flawed assumptions as to what works as far a motivating behavior.

Do incentives work? If so, on what kinds of tasks?  Where do new innovations come from?  Where does rigor come from?  What will get kids to stay at a task that is difficult? Can we mandate creativity? Can we motivate it? Where does the joy of solving a problem come from?

I believe that EVERYONE ENJOYS LEARNING.  Just look at any young child learning something new.  You can see the joy and the fascination,  The inherent curiosity, the inherent creativity,  the internal drive to learn and discover is part of what make us human.  It is an inborn capacity hard wired into our DNA.  So how come my students seem to lack motivation?  How come they aren't chomping at the bit to learn?  I see the negative affects of grades on authentic learning. I see the negative effects of rewards on creativity and problem solving. Watch Dan Pink and let me know what you think.  Any and all comments are welcome.

How close are genius and madness

It is intriguing to watch Clifford Stoll think.  Here we have a trained astronomer, and expert internet security guru who teaches college level physics to eighth graders and believes we should keep computers out of the classroom.  In his spare time he makes zero volume glass bottles called Klein Bottles (see image below.

http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html

http://www.kleinbottle.com/whats_a_klein_bottle.htm



http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html

Do you have 8 Minutes to Consider 4 in the Morning?

I was thinking about what the least favorable and most favorable hour of the day were. I think my favorite hour of the day is the hour just before the sun rises. A time that still has every possibility in front of it. But what is it about 4AM?  Click on the link below and learn about the conspiracy that is 4AM.  Then post in the comments what your favorite or least favorite hour of the day is and why?

http://www.ted.com/talks/rives_on_4_a_m.html

Are Schools Killing Creativity?

As schooling became a government mandate and government sponsored it was designed to serve the industrial complex. Math and science became the focus and the arts have become less and less important. How dangerous is this thinking in a world where creativity is paramount. Where will the next thing come from? What is the next big idea? How do we use the new ideas we have? We need kids who are creative in their thinking. We need flexible thinkers. Creativity in science and math is the source of all the great discovery. We need to celebrate creativity.

Are grades and standardized tests immobilizing our students?  Is the focus on content instead of process  making students who don't enjoy school.  Give me your thoughts.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

It's all about possibilities - Benjamin Zander

"It is one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he is dreaming." - Zander

"The conductorof an orchestra doesn't make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful." - Zander

Very Interesting TED talk on world Economy and Statistics

Check this out

How can a twenty minute lecture on Statistics be interesting? Well when you watch this you will see. The hard thing about statistics is "seeing" what they mean. Here you can watch the statistics take life. And are the "haves" and the "have nots" getting closer to each other?