Catering for boys in primary education

I found this video talk to be extremely inspiring. As a male teacher in a primary school I agree with many of the points made in this talk. Well worth watching!

Sir Ken Robertson animated

A brilliant talk

"The best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most."

Latest Sir Ken Robinson talk from TED

Another inspiring talk

This talk is about the power of communication technology to enable global change.

Sir Ken Robinson in Australia

As you may or may not know, I really am a fan of Sir Ken Robinson - an expert in creativity and educational reform. Well, he has been in Australia and interviewed on one of our most respected current affairs shows. The interviews were aired over two nights and these are the links:

Interview Part One

Interview Part Two

Definitely worth a look!

A great talk

This was a video recommended by a fellow State Council member, Rob Rankin, from a Twitter post.
"An inspirational man!!! Watch Benjamin Zander before taking your next class."
Thanks, Rob!

Sir Ken Robinson - newest talk

I really connect with Sir Ken's philosophies and once again found his talk engaging. I have just purchased the book he is talking about, "The Element", using Fishpond - a great local book buying website.

2009 Innovation Showcase

Yesterday, I went to the 2009 Innovation Showcase at the Palladium, Crown Casino. This yearly conference is organised by the state government. It was a fantastic day and the keynote speakers (Jason Smith, co-founder of TeacherTube, and Martin Westwell, Director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century) were extremely engaging.
I found out lots of new things at the conference and will endeavour to showcase them in future posts. To start of with I learnt about a Ning, a place where you can create your own social network. So have a look at the Educator's Guide to Innovation Ning and find out all about the Innovation Showcase.

Another gem from TED

This is an amazing documentry that only goes for six minutes. It is about the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) program in Columbia.



I have had problems fitting this video in and so click here to go to the website and see it full screen.

The future of education...a timely reminder

I do not often get philosophical on this blog, but with the first installment of the national testing today I feel it necessary to replay an insipirational talk I used in one of my earliest posts! So, as the first day of the Australian NAPLAN, a country wide test for years 3 and 5 in primary school and years 7 and 9 in secondary school, on literacy and numeracy was implemented I wanted to play this video, because my question is how do we assess creativity and is it important in education, now and in the future?

"Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. He challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence."

Anthony Lawrence - Animator

Today we had an incursion from a famous Australian animator, Anthony Lawrence, to talk about his work to our grade 3/4 students. He showed the students the many elements in creating backgrounds, the staging of the animation and puppet creation. It was an inspiring presentation and the children are now keen to create their own. You can have a look at a range of his animations on his website in the Animation Gallery.

Here is one of his first animations, "Looking for Horses" 2002 (Direction/Photography/Animation by Anthony Lawrence Written by Chrissie McMahon Awarded Special Distinction 2002 Annecy International Animation Festival):

Hole in the wall project

Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?

Creative Genius (or thinking about the high flyers)

I saw this video on TED:"Ideas worth spreading" and a colleague of mine was most impressed, he immediately thought of highly gifted children and their, sometimes, difficulties dealing with their particular genius. I am passionate about ICT education and believe their are many, extremely gifted children who are capable of amazing things with technology. If you are a teacher who has taught such a child or are teaching one now - this will get you thinking!

For the parents

This is one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard and I really recommend you take the time to watch! I have suggested the parents of my students view this to inform and inspire!

Mitchel Resnick and Scratch

When I was at the ACEC2008 National Conference in Canberra last year, one of the keynote speakers was Mitchel Resnick.


"Mitchel Resnick is LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, Director of the Okawa Center, and Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. Resnick's research group has developed a variety of educational tools that engage people in new types of design activities and learning experiences, including the "programmable bricks" that were the basis for the award-winning LEGO Mindstorms and StarLogo software. He co-founded the Computer Clubhouse, an award-winning network of learning centers for youth from under-served communities.

Resnick's group has developed a new programming language, called Scratch, that makes it easier for kids to create their own animated stories, video games, and interactive art. Resnick is also involved in the next generation of Programmable Bricks and in the $100 laptop project."

Courtesy Wikipedia article "Mitchel Resnick"

I hope to use Scratch with my class this year - will let you know how it goes!

Click here to view a video of Mitchel Resnick speaking about creativity

Video Games in Education

Grading with Games: An Interview with James Paul Gee

An Arizona State University professor sees a bright future for video games in the learning process -- in and out of school.