Former America Online CEO Barry Schuler is now heading the National New Tech Board.
The goal of New Tech is to "engage students and teachers in an innovative instructional approach that integrates project-based learning and a 1:1 student to computer ratio".
Now why would tech companies be so supportive of that vision?
Here's the crux: these ed reform ideas that will result in little learning are great for a business' bottom line once they become a preferred government vendor.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which I think may be the progenitor of the phrase "21st century skills," was created by tech companies working in partnership with the NEA.
I'm against 21st century skills.
Seeing as how they don't exist and all.
I feel like I'm repeating myself.
"After you've crossed out and what Singapore can learn from the United States"
ReplyDeleteThey can. They don't have anything like DIstar.
ari-free
true
ReplyDeleteThe government hasn't shrunk in this recession, and that's the model: everyone a federal employee. Who needs innovation? There really isn't any need for mastery of calculus or biochemistry or historical analysis if everyone is going to have a job working in the Federal Department of Health Insurance Paperwork processing. Why bother creating value when you can just squeeze out what you can right now and damn the future?
ReplyDeleteOne of the most common complaints I see from homeschoolers is that Singapore doesn't have enough review. Very few people have figured out that you need mastery *and* cumulative review.
ReplyDeleteari-free
Singapore has plenty of review if you use one of the accompanying texts that are designed to be used with the text and workbook: Intensive Practice, Extra Practice or Challenging Word Problems**.
ReplyDeleteWe use all three, which is probably overkill. And let me tell you, when they say "Intensive"? They mean it. That stuff gets awfully hard. (I boggle at some of the stuff they put in the first grade I.P. text.)
**C.W.P. has unfortunately been discontinued, but we snapped up a full 1-6 set first thing we heard they were going away before they disappeared.
How do you do cumulative review, Terri?
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me that I have not to this day put up a post about that great cumulative practice paper.
Nor have I written up my interview with Mary Hake.
I bought the set of CWP when I heard it was going out of print, too.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered the same thing about cumulative review, btw.
Do you think CWP might be available on ebay or something?
ReplyDeleteCatherine:
ReplyDeleteMy pardons if you mean something different by "cumulative review," but twice in each text (there are two texts per year, A and B), they have large sections of review problems of everything that has come before that.
There isn't a daily review of previous skills, though, if that's what you mean.
We use Singapore concurrently with Math-U-See and that *does* have cumulative review (what they call "Systematic Review"), which means that you get, per chapter, 3 work pages covering the all new material, and 3 lessons of half new, half old.
(Though, if you're unfamiliar with MUS, you should note that it is strictly mastery -- you don't move ahead to the next chapter until you have mastered the previous. So if those worksheets aren't enough to master the material cold, you go to the website and print new ones.)
We use both, because sometimes it is helpful to be able to go "sideways" with Singapore for awhile when we can't move "ahead" with MUS.
(The Alpha level of MUS is pretty much solely for mastery -- in this case, memorization -- of the single digit addend math facts. It's been working quite nicely. And it goes *really* well alongside Singapore.)
I haven't looked at the Singapore books as closely as I should have -- I just always got the sense that they tended to 'close out' a topic for the year and move on without continually practicing material from earlier units...but that may be wrong. (I also don't know how much the old material is integrated into the new material --- something that was taken to a seriously crazy extreme with the AMSCO books C. used .... wish I could think of an example...)
ReplyDeleteThe article is:
ReplyDeleteTHE EFFECTS OF CUMULATIVE PRACTICE ON
MATHEMATICS PROBLEM SOLVING
KRISTIN H. MAYFIELD AND PHILIP N. CHASE
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS 2002, 35, 105–123 NUMBER 2 (SUMMER 2002)
boy, I hope these books are going to show up on eBay
ReplyDeleteI'll try to get ISBN numbers posted.
One of the most common complaints I see from homeschoolers is that Singapore doesn't have enough review. Very few people have figured out that you need mastery *and* cumulative review.
ReplyDeleteActually I thought this post was about 21st century skills but since everyone is talking about Singapore, I thought I'd chime in. I have to disagree that it doesn't have cumulative review. There are end of chapter reviews that encompass mixed skills and concepts. Plus the fact that you can't do many of the problems in Singapore if you haven't mastered the previous material since it builds on itself. So even within the main textbooks themselves there is review. Then there are the supplements as TerriW pointed out.
I'll skip adding to the debate on health care and that everyone is a federal worker (yes I work for the federal govt,) and try to stick to the topic of 21st century skills. You might want to read the latest issue of American Educator since it focuses on that topic. One of the articles is by Dan Willingham and Andrew Rotherham. They subtly look down their nose at teacher directed classes and seem to hint that problem based learning and "authentic problem solving" is the way to go.
Their article is here.
People have left some comments about it at Eduwonk's blog here.
Worth reading the article and the comments.
Do the books have cumulative review in the sense of continuing to review previous units??
ReplyDeleteOf course, I have the Grade 6 books sitting on my table.
I could always check and learn the answer myself.
Whole-group instruction.
ReplyDeleteA good thing.
Seat work.
Another good thing.
Skills taught in isolation.
The best.
I've reached Chester Finnland, I fear.
ReplyDeleteDo the books have cumulative review in the sense of continuing to review previous units??
ReplyDeleteIf I said no, would you suddenly start saying Singapore is bad? In fact, you must master the content of previous units in order to do the problems in subsequent units because it builds on itself. So the answer is yes.
Example:
ReplyDeleteIn fifth grade, a problem might be "John spends 2/5 of his weekly allowance on books. He spent $6. How much did he have at the start?"
In sixth grade, in the chapter on percents you have a similar problem (I'm making it up now but I can find examples): "John spends 20% of his weekly allowance on books. he has spent $10. How much did he have at the start?"
This builds on previous material and also constitutes a cumulative review. You are constantly using older material in newer applications.