Blogs

Describing some aspect of my experiences with the
Brain and Behavior Institute '08

One thing that stood out for me in the institute was the way the professor and his co presenters made us realize that each and everyone of us is unique in our own way and that when we let everyone bring his own individuality into what we are doing the products of our endeavor will be unique. This will lead to new ideas being generated in the world of science.

The institute brought out the creative ability that had hitherto been lying more or less fallow in me enabling me to come up with tangible contributions to discussions or even ideas that were of great benefit to my group in general and the whole body of participants in general.

Specific Aim / Goal: A few sentences on the educational goal/outcome for my students.

First of all my students are highly visual. They respond better to learning materials presented to them on the LCD projector, documentary on TV and short presentations in form of skits. With this in mind my main aim is to depend less on the use of textbooks, tests and other printed materials and move towards performance based learning and assessment.

In addition, I intend to use audio equipments like CD players so that they can record lectures which they can listen to at their own time and also for playing back pre-recorded textbook information that come with core subject textbooks.

I cam to Bryn Mawr College with the goal of obtaining an education that would enable me to be a successful high school chemistry teacher.  In my first three years, I completed a chemistry major.  So fascinated by the science I failed to take more than two education courses. 

The K-12 Summer Institutes are a great program with their achievement evidenced by the numerous returning participants.  Clearly, the participants’ expectations are either met of exceeded or they would not return.  Another significant success, was the continuing engagement of participants involved in multiple institutes this summer.  This indicates that each institute significantly different material. 

Despite the different topics they addressed, there were some themes common to all the institutes.  They all advocated an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approach to education.  Each of them discussed and incorporated the use of computers and technology in the classroom.  These themes are consistent with those stated for the institutes on Serendip. 

The Science as Interactive, Interdisciplinary Inquiry Institute went very well. There was a diverse group of presenters including a Bryn Mawr College English professor, a current institute participant, and three Bryn Mawr College Biology professors.  The topics discussed varied from obviously relevant to those requiring more reflection.  This permitted participants to connect the concepts of interactivity, interdisciplinarity, and inquiry.  All of the presentations were engaging, interesting, and relevant.  The participants made excellent use of this material and produced an impressive body of work.  (Much of which is available on Serendip.) 

 

Barack Obama's speech in Denver, 29 August, 2008, excerpted with annotations
(see Paths to Story Telling as Life)

 

through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

That’s the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.

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Encouraging article in the NY Times yesterday: "A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash." Yes, there are ways to avoid drawing lines in the sand, to work productively across (even because of) divides.

"I don't expect you to 'believe' the scientific explanation of evolution ... I do expect you to understand it" ... David Campbell, high school teacher, Florida.

" ... there's a difference beween thinking something is interesting and believing it" ... Doug Dougherty, student in Campbell's course.

The Brain and Behavior Institute actually helped me to put myself in the position of my students and experience how it feels to be a student in a classroom with the Inquiry mode of learning. Most of the learning experiences we had were done through questioning and one form of hands-on activity or the other. On several occasions when the topic for the week or even the day was being introduced using the lecture mode, I feel very impatient waiting for the time we are going to be doing related activities on the subject. This is the situation with our students. They can’t wait to do something hands-on (Kinesthetic learners) or watch a video/teacher demonstration (visual learners) in order to enhance their learning.

There is a new teaching tool that uses "the most current understanding of how the children learn" to provide instruction as to how to best improve the learning of every child on an individual basis. That's the claim. Here's the link to a much fuller explanation of how this works. It takes a lot of work/child to set up the initial assessment, but then has a number of teachers who are singing its praises.

Oh, and it's $15/child/year.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=54932;_hbguid=aad77d55-6dcc-47bc-bf7a-d623374632ad

If it works, I'd say that it is very much worth it. However, I can't see a high school teacher using this for all the students.