Blogs

Post Day 2-session one.

Looks like there is only one legitimate purpose for teaching---helping kids learn about the functioning, care and manipulation of their own brains.

I teach Kindergarten at Lansdowne Friends School.  I have experience working with kids from 3 years old to entering ninth grade, have mostly concentrated on the younger grades (K-2).  I am passionate about teaching and am highly invested in my students and their development.  I developed this blog as part of the Brain and Behavior 2009 Summer Institute and the Inquiry Institute 2009. 

Introduction:

Commentary on the Computer Science Education Summer Institute

The Need for a Science Code of Conduct?

Supplementary Materials

These evolving materials are provided to encourage continuing and new thought about science and its role in culture and, in particular, about the possible need of both scientists and others to clarify the ethical responsibilities inherent in scientific research. See If you have any comments or find an article that you would like me to post, add it to the forum area below! 

Hello all, and welcome again to another year of the summer institute in computer science education.

MON: We have another good turnout (I count 15 attendees already), and after my brief logistical discussion (yeah on FRI), Paul Grobstein of Bryn Mawr College is discussing the role of computing in education.  The talk touches many sub-topics, but in general his thesis appears to be that computing provides a mechanism for student to really become teachers themselves.

Introduction

Wil Franklin, Paul Grobstein, Emily Lovejoy and I participated in a discussion over the draft of a paper entitled "Education in Life Itself."  These are my thoughts from the discussion.

Thoughts

I found many of the arguments in the article, “Education as Life Itself: Freedom, Integration, and Beyond” convincing.  But, I found myself wondering if the idea that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” is entirely realistic.  As Brie has mentioned before, scholastic testing poses a threat to emergent teaching.  Somewhat along the same lines, I was thinking about the concept of a curriculum in schools.  Teachers and professors are required to teach certain things in a given year or course, and A must be taught before B.  The idea behind a set curriculum is that students will learn a certain set of facts so that they can excel on standardized tests and then move on to the next level.  I certainly support