Category Archives: Future Skills

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?

I recently read this: In the name of being sensible, we end up becoming numb to our own desires. It’s no wonder that when we ask many teenagers what they want to do or be, they honestly answer, “I don’t know.”  There are too many layers of “should’s,” “ought to’s,” and “you’d better’s” piled onContinueContinue reading “Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?”

Lecture – a medieval technique that’s out of date

Lecture:  A medieval word which comes from the Latin for “a reading”. Monks would read a precious manuscript aloud so everyone else could copy it down. A transfer of knowledge “at scale” using the best technology at the time. 1375-1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin lēctūra a reading. Is listening to lectures an effective way to learnContinueContinue reading “Lecture – a medieval technique that’s out of date”

Student group work is TRICKY.

Well, you can’t go from zero to 100 with people, can you? I really wanted to get the coding club working on real projects, have them create a portfolio deliverable/accomplishment they could be proud of. Something beyond achieving level 72 in Code Combat, which was getting a bit repetitive…maybe building a computer game together? Yeah!  AllContinueContinue reading “Student group work is TRICKY.”

What are so-called Future Skills?

What are the critical future skills that will give students the best chance of being successful and carving out the future they want, in light of the changing world of work and the new ways technology is replacing human labor? There are many studies about the skills needed, and while they use different terms, you’ll see the sameContinueContinue reading “What are so-called Future Skills?”

What IS “Critical Thinking” anyway?

One of the important skills for the future, which all kids need to develop (according to a growing number of researchers and forecasters), is ‘critical thinking/problem solving.’ But what is critical thinking, and how do you learn it? Critical Thinking is… crit·i·cal think·ing  noun the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form aContinueContinue reading “What IS “Critical Thinking” anyway?”

Cognitive Computing Age – think beyond school PART 1

Thanks to Bruce Dixon of Pecha Kucha Santa Barbara for choosing me to be a presenter at the February event, which happend last night! It was a difficult-but-very-useful-and-rewarding exercise to pare down my ‘big idea’ to 20 slides, 6 minutes 40 seconds (Pecha Kucha is 20×20= 20 slides, 20 secs per slide). I got someContinueContinue reading “Cognitive Computing Age – think beyond school PART 1”

Takeaways from Sal Kahn’s talk – Education Reimagined

Teri Moore, author of The Secular Homeschooler- a Nonreligious Guide for Helping Kids Build Competence, Independence and Ethics Outside of a School Environment (and a personal source of insights for me on how to engender real, outside-the-box learning), asked me to tell her about the recent talk I went to – Sal Kahn from the Kahn Academy:ContinueContinue reading “Takeaways from Sal Kahn’s talk – Education Reimagined”

Human Skills for the Machine Age

One aspect of the way one learns and researches in ‘Modern Times’ is that it’s disjointed and non-linear…and sometimes old school?  Today, for example, sitting on the shelf in the GEM office, was the 2014 book “The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a time of Brilliant Technologies,” by Erik Brynjolfsson and AndrewContinueContinue reading “Human Skills for the Machine Age”