kitchen table math, the sequel: authentic 21st century teaching tool

Sunday, January 31, 2010

authentic 21st century teaching tool

The Inner Life of the Cell

BioVisions at Harvard University

More here.
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5 comments:

Jean said...

Yowza. If only I could understand more than 10% of the words, I'd be so happy!

Yes. That is a great 21st-century teaching tool. I love it. Now I want one geared to middle-school kids.

January 31, 2010 at 3:01 PM
Exo said...

I don't know what is so 21st century? Computer animaion used to illustrate quite colledge level cell bio concept... I have seen those way in 20th century) May be not so nicely done graphically. But what's new?

January 31, 2010 at 4:11 PM
concernedCTparent said...

Computer animation has been around for some time, but certainly not at this level or with this entertainment/big-media type of quality.

From the BioVisions website:

The potential of multimedia in the area of biology education has yet to be fulfilled. Indeed, multimedia as a means of imparting biological information is years behind its use in other areas such as entertainment. BioVisions is meant to close this gap by combining the highest quality multimedia development with rigorous scientific models of how biological processes occur. In addition, this new generation of science visualizations are not meant to simply be simulations or mirrors held up to reality, rather they are designed with a specific pedagogical goal in mind. This means that each decision made on how to represent a given biological process also includes consideration of how best to visually communicate particular aspects of the process.

So much of the 21st Century skills stuff is pure hype, but this feels different. I simply think this kind of teaching tool deserves to be in the 21st century teaching tools category. So much of what claims to be just isn't.

January 31, 2010 at 6:04 PM
Anonymous said...

There is a huge problem with this type of presentation. Even if the material is presented in a pedagogically-appropriate order, it's presented too fast. And it skips from process to process too fast as well. Even for college students, this video is more on the level of overview than instruction, but for many students the pace lead to discouragement rather than enlightenment.

February 1, 2010 at 6:28 AM
SteveH said...

"this video is more on the level of overview than instruction"

It looks like it's purpose is to showcase the technology, not to demonstrate how a curriculum or class would work. It's neither necessary or sufficient. I can see how it might be quite useful, but I would have to see the rest of the materials and structure of a course.

February 1, 2010 at 7:01 AM

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