A Random Walk with Serendip

Making sense of ourselves in an evolving universe

Paul's notes - Session 9

Course subject: evolution (physical, biological, cultural, individual)

Course method: co-evolution, co-constructive inquiry, evolving by telling/hearing each other's stories, using them to create new ones,...

Initial Findings: Before visiting Wordsmiths’ physical site, I was able to access a great deal of information about the organization through other sources. My initial research about the organization was online. Wordsmiths has a stable online presence– a quick Google search brings up their Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Wikipedia page, and Vimeo site. To me, their constant output of information suggests an air of both transparency and playfulness. The organization is constantly...

For a year or 2 now I have subscribed to edutopia, an organization started (or at least funded) by George Lucas.  It's stated purpose is to further the use of inquiry-based and interdisciplinary methods of education.  Each month (or several times a month by the # of emails I get from them) they find or create and disseminate ideas, suggestions or plans for project based lessons for all age groups.  One article I just came across that had meaning for me can be found at:

...

Taking a step back from the Summer Institutes for K-12 Teachers, the three individual institutes seem to work in a spectrum of traditional to non-conventional form of educating. This order, ironically enough, is set up in the same way the institutes proceeds throughout the summer. For the first of the three, the Computer Science Institute, is the most information-fed workshop. It resembles the more habitual way of teaching in the way that its participants are suppose to...