Week 11 - Integrating Technology into a Lesson Plan

The last few weeks have been more about the philosophy of integrating technology. In general, I find contemplating theory much easier than applying it. Now it’s time to come up with a worthwhile learning experience that will be better because of the use of technology.

In my future classroom I would like to use virtual labs to accomplish one or more of several learning goals: to prepare students for physical labs, to give extended experience after a physical lab, or to allow experiences of technology and manipulation of data that would not be practical in a high school biology lab. As a student who isn’t actually teaching, I always find it hard to come up with ideas that:  integrate with a real set of curriculum; fit within the time allowed given everything else that needs to be covered in a biology course; and that, from a learning perspective, will be worth the time spent doing this activity rather than something else. 

As someone who is often critical of lessons that I see as using technology for its own sake, I hope I can come up with a lesson that uses technology effectively to increase learning and expand student understanding of, and interest in, biology.

For this assignment I went exploring on the Web and so far I’m impressed by the range of virtual labs available. I believe I have found one which would engage students and allow for an end product which can be assessed for amount of effort, thinking and learning. Here is a screen shot for a “guppy sexual selection” lab from http://virtualbiologylab.org/.

Other interesting resources I found were: Online Labs http://onlinelabs.in/biology, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/ , PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/, Biology Labs Online http://www.occc.edu/biologylabs/ and Science Creative Quarterly http://www.scq.ubc.ca 

I would use this lab as part of  a unit on Natural Selection. The experiment would be conducted after an introductory lesson on Natural Selection. By this point in the semester the students have already had units on Ecology, Ecosytems and Populations, so they will have a good foundation of knowledge to apply to their thinking about this experiement. Students will work in  pairs to set parameters and record data.

The basic lab would have the students study the background information and parameters of the experiment and answer the following questions:

Before beginning the experiment:

1. What assumptions have the program creators made about guppy behavior and natural selection?
2. Make predictions about the factors which will lead to the greatest extremes in male tail spots.
3. Using what we have already studied, why might female guppies exhibit this preference?
4. With your partner, decide the best way to record data during the experiment for future study. What information needs to be recorded? How often? What is the best way to record this information so that it can be understood when you look at it afterwards?

During the experiment:

1. Record settings and results.
2. Find settings which give largest number of spots.
3. Find settings which give least number of spots.
4. Explain results based on the background information provided.
5. Document the accuracy or inaccuracy of predictions.

After the experiment:

1. Take a position, and defend it with facts, on how realistic the simulation is or isn’t, and how it might be improved.
2. Are there factors not included which might also affect results? How would adding other factors increase the complexity of the program?
3. Under ideal circumstances would the males continue to change? 
4. Could it have continued indefinitely? 
5. What new factors might set new limits?

I want to explore having students enter their data using Excel, or some other program, that would allow visualizing the results in various ways. To be honest I’m not sure how to do this myself, but this might be a good time to learn.

Week 11 - Integrating Technology into a Lesson Plan

The last few weeks have been more about the philosophy of integrating technology. In general, I find contemplating theory much easier than applying it. Now it’s time to come up with a worthwhile learning experience that will be better because of the use of technology.

In my future classroom I would like to use virtual labs to accomplish one or more of several learning goals: to prepare students for physical labs, to give extended experience after a physical lab, or to allow experiences of technology and manipulation of data that would not be practical in a high school biology lab. As a student who isn’t actually teaching, I always find it hard to come up with ideas that:  integrate with a real set of curriculum; fit within the time allowed given everything else that needs to be covered in a biology course; and that, from a learning perspective, will be worth the time spent doing this activity rather than something else. 

As someone who is often critical of lessons that I see as using technology for its own sake, I hope I can come up with a lesson that uses technology effectively to increase learning and expand student understanding of, and interest in, biology.

For this assignment I went exploring on the Web and so far I’m impressed by the range of virtual labs available. I believe I have found one which would engage students and allow for an end product which can be assessed for amount of effort, thinking and learning. Here is a screen shot for a “guppy sexual selection” lab from http://virtualbiologylab.org/.

Other interesting resources I found were: Online Labs http://onlinelabs.in/biology

Other interesting resources I found were: Online Labs http://onlinelabs.in/biology, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/ , PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/, Biology Labs Online http://www.occc.edu/biologylabs/ and Science Creative Quarterly http://www.scq.ubc.ca 

I would use this lab as part of  a unit on Natural Selection. The experiment would be conducted after an introductory lesson on Natural Selection. By this point in the semester the students have already had units on Ecology, Ecosytems and Populations, so they will have a good foundation of knowledge to apply to their thinking about this experiement. Students will work in  pairs to set parameters and record data.

The basic lab would have the students study the background information and parameters of the experiment and answer the following questions:

Before beginning the experiment:

1. What assumptions have the program creators made about guppy behavior and natural selection?
2. Make predictions about the factors which will lead to the greatest extremes in male tail spots.
3. Using what we have already studied, why might female guppies exhibit this preference?
4. With your partner, decide the best way to record data during the experiment for future study. What information needs to be recorded? How often? What is the best way to record this information so that it can be understood when you look at it afterwards?

During the experiment:

1. Record settings and results.
2. Find settings which give largest number of spots.
3. Find settings which give least number of spots.
4. Explain results based on the background information provided.
5. Document the accuracy or inaccuracy of predictions.

After the experiment:

1. Take a position, and defend it with facts, on how realistic the simulation is or isn’t, and how it might be improved.
2. Are there factors not included which might also affect results? How would adding other factors increase the complexity of the program?
3. Under ideal circumstances would the males continue to change? 
4. Could it have continued indefinitely? 
5. What new factors might set new limits?

I want to explore having students enter their data using Excel, or some other program, that would allow visualizing the results in various ways. To be honest I’m not sure how to do this myself, but this might be a good time to learn.

Week 10 - Sexting

From an education point of view, the good news is that thanks to technology it is far easier to create and distribute content for a wide audience. Unfortunately, people seem driven to exploit technological advancements for both good and bad purposes. Adolescents have always done some things that appeared to the adults around them to be naive, or stupid, or emotion driven.  Add to this the fact that adolescents are instinctively trying to separate themselves from the adults in their lives in preparation for independent living and they tend to band together to make this separation less scary (for them, not us adults). They are just more likely to look to their peers for models of behavior and to reject the adults around them. 

As an adolescent I survived some actions that, in retrospect, were pretty stupid. The good news is that, like me, the majority of adolescents will survive their own foolish decisions. However, the range of actions, and the public exposure,  these actions can attract today is far far beyond what I had available in my day. Once anything enters cyberspace it can potentially be accessed by anyone forever. 

Back in my low-tech adolescence it was much more difficult for someone to torment me without my knowing who they were, and the spread of pictures or words were restricted to quant technologies such as word-of-mouth or copying. How can we as teachers help student learn to protect themselves in cyberspace?

I was amazed by the stories about “sexting”. It’s hard to imagine what is going on in the brain of someone who sends pictures to boyfriends or girlfriends without considering the consequences if these pictures are passed on to others. Would I have been that stupid? Actually, when I was young and in love (and filled with raging adolescent hormones), and thought the love would never end, I have to admit I probably would have been stupid enough.

Recent brain imaging studies have shown that adolescent brains are still developing to a greater extent than  previously thought, and are unlike adult brains in certain key areas. Most importantly, the pre-frontal cortex— the parts of our brain involved in decision making and fulfillment postponement— are not yet fully developed. Adolescents are just less likely to understand the consequences of their actions beyond the immediate pleasure that it gives them. So, at least we all have an excuse for some bone-headed choices in adolescence. I think we, as teachers, need to help students understand this— at least conceptually.


I don't want to imply that adolescents can't think before they act, or that they aren't responsible for their decisions, just that they need more direction and support and understanding. That's were we, as teachers, can come in.


Frankly though, sexting seems like just one more thing to try and dissuade students from doing. Like being gay or being bullied, we need to be aware that any adolescent who suffers from peer tormentors may need help in keeping it in perspective. It’s not the end of the world— unless you commit suicide! So, let’s add sexting, to the list of things we want our students to avoid such as taking drugs, driving under the influence, getting pregnant, facial and full body tattoos, and body piercings— most of which seem to me to have potentially longer lasting consequences than sexual pictures on the internet. 

Week 9: What is fair use and how does it apply to education?

Copyright protection, fair use, public domain: it’s quite a tangled web. Having worked for many years as a commercial photographer I’ve been involved with copyright questions my whole adult life, and yet I found that I had little of the knowledge needed by a teacher. When I took the Fair Use and Copyright Quiz I scored a humbling 50%. This means that, in spite of trying to apply what I know, my answers were no better than random. Sometimes I erred in the direction of being too conservative in my interpretation and sometimes my error was in the opposite direction.

Still, it is important to have an idea of how to identify whether potentially copyrighted materials can legally be used by both teachers and students. An image that is out of copyright is said to be in the public domain. It used to be fairly easy to know if something was in the public domain: it was either old, created with government funding (for example all NASA images) or was identified as being in the public domain. However, copyright law is subject to both changes by congress and re-interpretation by the courts. This leaves copyright laws subject to ongoing interpretation, and uses deemed legitimate are not always clear. Not always, but sometimes. For example most software is copyrighted and has a usage license— that annoying checkbox where you always answer yes or you don’t get to use it. Software is routinely shared or otherwise obtained illegally by students (and teachers and many others) who justify using it illegally by the fact that they are poor and/or not using it to make money. Music downloads also fall into this frequently ignored but clearly illegal category. I do believe that the creators have a right to make money from their efforts, and that we as teachers need to model for, and educate students about, this issue. 

Unfortunately, many other kinds of usage fall into “gray areas” where it is not so obvious. For example, showing students the video of a movie as a reward for good behavior is a violation of copyright because it is not licensed for public showing. However, under other circumstances showing all or part of the film could be legal under fair use. The rules for use can be complicated, imprecise and subject to change at any time.

Here’s a chart showing some major changes to the length of copyright protection over the years:

I believe I’m allowed to show this chart. I copied it from: Langran, E., Langran, R., & Bull, G. (2005). It seems no more than factual, and I could recreate it in a few minutes. I don’t believe it’s copyrightable.

But what about this chart?:

It’s from an article called Copyright Length And The Life Of Mickey Mouse. The copyright act of 1999, while technically called the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (which is funny enough) is frequently referred to as the “Mickey Mouse Act” because the Walt Disney company is well known for spending millions of dollars in political donations and lobbying for extensions that just happen to keep all their characters under copyright.

According to what I’ve read, to qualify for fair use, four factors must be weighed in considering whether I can safely use this chart in this blog: 1. Purpose of use 2. Nature of the work 3. Amount used 4. Effect on the market.

My “purpose of use” for this chart is education, which would qualify for fair use, although I do want to be entertaining too. If my primary intent is entertainment, how much educational intent is enough? The “nature” of the chart is certainly more creative than the first example, so I believe it would be copyrightable. In fact, legally any creative work is considered copyrighted at the moment of creation. Applying for and receiving proof of copyright gives additional rights for economic redress, but technically it’s copyrighted whether or not it is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, and regardless of whether it appears with a © symbol. As far as “amount used”— this is not a very precise term. I’m using 100% of the chart, but the chart constitutes only a small percentage of the article that I copied it from. Still, I’m not sure I can depend on this to protect my fair use rights. Finally, I’d say my “effect on the market”, i.e. how much my using this chart will diminish the creator’s ability to earn money from it is nil. After balancing all four of these factors I believe I’m virtually 100% safe in using this chart. I say virtually, because if the creator of the chart disagrees they could conceivably sue me and it would be a matter for the courts to decide. For practical matters the creator would probably ask me to take it down under the threat of action, and if I didn’t take it down they would still have to balance the likely court awarded damages against the cost and likelihood of successfully pressing a court case.

Still, each case is different. The article What is fair use? gives an example of a Jeff Koons artwork that used an advertising photo as part of a larger artwork. Koons was sued for copyright infringement but the court ruled it was fair use. I am surprised that the article didn’t also mention a case where Jeff Koons lost. Koons used a black and white photo of a man and a

woman with their arms full of puppies by photographer Art Rogers as the basis for a sculpture.

The Wikipedia article on this case describes the situation, “After removing the copyright label from the postcard, he gave it to his assistants with instructions on how to model the sculpture. He asked that as much detail be copied as possible, though the puppies were to be made blue, their noses exaggerated, and flowers to be added to the hair of the man and woman. The sculpture, entitled, String of Puppies, became a success. Koons sold three of them for a total of $367,000. Upon discovering that his picture had been copied, Rogers sued Koons and the Sonnabend Gallery for copyright infringement. Koons admitted to having copied the image intentionally, but attempted to claim fair use by parody.” A judge disagreed and Koons was forced to share all proceeds from the work with the photographer.

So Jeff Koons’ use of the photograph to create a sculpture was not ruled fair use and he owed the copyright owner compensation, but I believe, using the four criteria, my use of the two copyrighted works in this blog is. 

Another fair use case decided against the appropriator involves the iconic Barack Obama poster created Shepard Fairey in 2006. 

He admitted to downloading the photo of Obama from Google Images in order to create the poster, but claimed he had no idea who had actually taken the photo. According to an article on TechDirt.com this information was easily obtained: “a photo journalist from Philadelphia named Tom Gralish had tracked down the original photograph -- complete with a copyright credit to freelance photographer Mannie Garcia, who was apparently on assignment from the Associated Press.” Fairey licensed the poster image to a company for use on clothing and other merchandise and the Associated Press sued for copyright infringement. It took until March 16, 2011 for the case to be settled (with no admission of guilt) in a profit sharing agreement. Clearly, copyright lawsuits are expensive for everyone involved and the outcomes are far from certain.

School districts understandably want to avoid any chance of an expensive lawsuit, and hold teachers accountable in making sure they and their students do not violate copyright laws. Copyright infringement is also technically theft and there are also moral issues for both teachers and students. We, as teachers, should both model for students and explicitly teach students to respect copyright. Unfortunately, I believe the blurry border between fair use and copyright infringement can lead to student’s rejecting the whole concept. In thinking back to courses I’ve taken at MSU, I believe there were many infringements by the professors. The same is true in many classrooms I’ve been in as a substitute teacher. When the scrutiny of permitted uses are taken to an extreme it is virtually impossible to avoid the possibility of breaking the law. Unfortunately, this tends to create an atmosphere where the law is viewed as stupid or inequitable. This also creates an situation where these minor violations are never enforced which reinforces the perception that the law is both unfair and ignorable. The playing of videos in class is an example. Just like with software, having purchased the video doesn’t mean you own the content and the content owner can restrict what the video is used for, in this case not for showing to an audience. In the article Are you the copy cop? the authors state “showing entertainment videos to keep students occupied during rainy days recess, for perfect attendance rewards, or for assorted babysitting activities” are a violation of copyright. However, this is so specific that I’m not sure that other uses of the same video wouldn’t be covered by fair use. For example, if I’m teaching music and show Fantasia, and then have the students discuss the use of music with images is this fair use? How much discussion or writing would make it legal? Do I have to only show a part of it? If so, how much is legal? This same article suggests that photocopying by teachers should be monitored and “If a teacher requests copies of an item that may be copyrighted, it should be returned to the building principle for his or her signature before the print job is completed.” Isn't this fun!?

I wish that we, as teachers, could concentrate on the obvious copyright issues and ignore the gray areas and minor indiscretions. Unfortunately, from these articles and my knowledge of bureaucracies (such as schools), it appears the weight of this will fall increasingly on the teachers, so we might as well be ready to take it on.

Week 8: Integration of Technology Into the Classroom

This week we explored examples of incorporating technology into the classroom from the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. The assignment called for analyzing one of the ‘1-1 access’ or ‘Shared access’ activities from the matrix on this page. 

However, there is a “newly revised and expanded Technology Integration Matrix” that is under development. After looking at videos on both sites, I decided to use an example from this new matrix. 

This updated Matrix includes examples from four different content areas (math, science, social studies and Language Arts) and, as a future science teacher, I found it helpful to see examples that translate more directly to what I want students to learn. The examples are a work in progress, and I would have liked more examples from Middle and High Schools, and I suspect that others would agree with me that some of the examples are not all that good. One example that I liked is at “Authentic Learning|Infusion Level| Science.” Students work in groups of four, and each student takes on a different role (scientist, mathematician, sociologist or technologist), to explore a scientific problem.

I believe having each student have something specific for which they are responsible accomplishes several worthwhile learning goals. First, no student can shirk their own responsibility, so it encourages equal contribution by all the team members. Second, each student becomes the expert in their own area, but needs to communicate what they know (acting as instructor) to the other three “researchers”. Third, they experience how complex problems are usually solved by groups rather than individuals. Fourth, the use of technology and the internet flow naturally from the assignment, as does presenting what is learned by combining everyone’s contribution into a presentation that includes the use of technology. I think these are all useful for students, and all of these, with the possible excepting of my first point, encompass 21^st century learning goals.

As a good example of using technology in the classroom, the assignment naturally addresses a number of specific National Technology Standards (NETS) for teachers. These include 1.b “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources”; 2.a “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity”; 3.d “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning”.

This course has made me more aware of ways to both use technology in my teaching and encourage students to learn or improve their own use of technology to aid their own learning. However, I am still reflecting on how, and how much, to emphasize technology integration in my teaching. In looking at the descriptions on the Technology Integration Matrix, I find it hard to place my own current level of proficiency. I see areas which can be incorporated into nearly every lesson, and areas which I would hope to incorporate into some lessons. However, some of the goals seem more appropriate for either elementary school teachers or for whole schools to embrace as they seem outside the power of most teachers, at least in the higher grades. For example,  “Infusion: The teacher creates a learning environment that infuses the power of technology tools throughout the day across subject areas”. Other goals seem as if they could only be achieved with the kinds of radical changes to how we teach, such as “flipping” as described in this TED lecture by Khan Academy founder Salman Kahn. For example, “Transformation: The teacher creates a rich learning environment in which students regularly engage in activities that would have been impossible to achieve without technology” to me implies less time listening to lectures and more time doing. As a believer in the need for students to acquire the basic content knowledge to learn effectively, I believe this could only be accomplished if this knowledge is learned outside of class so that class time can be spent exploring what students have learned. Until I saw the above talk I didn’t have a vision of how this could be accomplished, so I’d recommend it if you are not familiar with this idea.

With the above in mind, I would hope to achieve— on at least one or two assignments during a semester— the highest level of Transformation,  However, on an every day level I’d place myself more at the lower level of Adoption, “The teacher directs students in the conventional use of tool-based software”, or Adaptation, “The teacher directs students in the conventional use of tool-based software.” 

After what I’ve been learning in this course, I can at least now say that I’m looking forward to seeing how I can increase student learning by incorporating the use of technology by both myself and by my students.

Week 7: Using a blog to supplement information from class.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

For my biology classes, I plan on having the students maintain their own blogs in which they will post their thoughts related to what they are learning in class, as well as discuss science articles that they find on their own. For my podcast I chose to explain in more detail both where to look for articles and what they should think about when choosing and writing about them. I think this is something that some students may already be comfortable with, and that others may need more explicit instruction in both the methods and the thinking needed. Podcasts seem like they could be an excellent way to make this information available to those who need extra help without boring those that don’t with long explanations in class.


I am using Garage Band and my .mac account which also allows me to add still images to the podcast, however, the format is M4A which is called “enhanced”. When I save it as an MP3 I lose the images. I don’t know if it’s possible to get the enhanced files to show on our blogs, but I’d like to, as I always learn better myself when I have something to look at.


Here is a link to the Podcast on .Mac which has the images. If you are interested, you can compare the difference. If I could embed the M4A file on this blog you would just have the small player window in the middle of the page. You will see that the player offers more control than the PodBean player. You can easily move forward and backward to skip or replay sections. I didn't do it for this podcast, but you can also mark "chapters" to allow moving directly to the section you want to review.


I did try to make the podcast understandable (and interesting) for someone who wasn’t looking at the images. In any case, I believe a series of podcasts like these would be a valuable resource for students that need more help with the technology, and/or the thinking needed. I know that sometimes after I have started an assignment I realize there are parts of it I don’t understand; I like that student’s can listen to the directions again if they realize there is some part they don’t understand. Reading (and writing) step-by-step directions can be tedious, and I think learning this kind of information from a podcast instead might be easier.


I don’t know why Blogger doesn’t support the “enhanced” M4A files which allow images. BeanPod can use these files, so it’s not a proprietary format issue, but when I tried to embed that BeanPod code I got an error message on my Blog. Perhaps there is another blog host that does support these files?

Week 6: Philosophical-21st Century Learning

Part I: Is the 21^st Century Movement the same thing as 21^st century learning?

I don’t think there is any question that changes in technology require changes in teaching. In the 20^th century some teachers might have ignored the influence of new technologies that led to such new mass media forms as movies, radio and TV, but they would have been as wrong as we would be to ignore the influence of the internet and other changes today. Many of these changes are also as much about mass media as technology.  

As educators, it makes sense to ask ourselves whether we believe changes are needed in how we educate our students, and if the answer is yes, how to adjust the way we teach our students. In my own mind I don’t think there is any question about the former, but I have many doubts about how to accomplish the latter. The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills (P21) believe they have the answer and many agree with what they say on their website. 

This week we were asked to read some articles by both critics and supporters of this organization’s prescriptions for change. I have delved into this before, and I have generally ended up with a feeling of “everything in moderation”. I am always wary of cure-all prescriptions, but I am also uncomfortable with the wholesale rejection of ideas. I am also leery of anecdotal evidence— either for or against. I don’t think it is difficult to find bad examples of implementation for any educational philosophy, and both sides have brought up their share. 

I agree with Professor Bigsby that, “Regardless of which movement you side with, the purpose of schooling has remained - preparing students with skills and knowledge.” I believe the debate is about both what best prepares students and what constitutes prepared. Until you decide on the what you can’t decide on the how.

I have already done some reading on this subject, and although there is plenty to ponder in the articles we were given, there are other’s I’d add, such as The Most Daring Education Reform of All by Diana Senechal, and New Jersey’s plan for implementation outlined in Creating 21st Century New Jersey Schools. 

I’m a fan of one of the “critics”, Daniel Willingham, having found his book Why Don’t Student’s Like School? (2009), to offer many insights into what makes for good learning. I was interested in what he sees as the flawed assumptions in the article Flawed Assumptions Undergird the Program at the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills. He is mostly critical not of the goals, but of their prescriptions for implementation. 

It’s not that the ideas are bad, but they clearly are not workable in the way that seems obvious: we want students to be able to do X in the world, so stick more X in the classroom. If it were that easy, it would have worked by now, because it has been tried many times before. That is the great danger of the P21 movement. To those unfamiliar with the history of education, the ideas sound compelling, and in fact, obvious. In the classroom, they are anything but.

Frankly, I don’t see any fundamental or idealogical differences that would prevent changes being made as new information and a better understanding of how people learn are incorporated. However, I don’t think this means we should accept the goals without agreeing on the methodology. Willingham criticizes what he sees as a lack of understanding of “how knowledge and skill work together.” In previous posts I have mentioned being bothered by what I see as a lack of appreciation for the importance of background knowledge to inform thinking, and I would be interested in whether there has been any modification in the thinking expressed by the advocates. I don’t see any reason why not, but I am often surprised when what I see as reasonable compromises are instead seen as basic idealogical differences. 

Willingham sees 3 mistaken assumptions: 

1. Knowledge and Skills are separate. “the 21st-century skills movement in general is too focused on skills (analysis, synthesis, critical thinking) and ignores the fact that knowledge is critical to thought”. 
2. Teachers don’t have cognitive limits. “The P21 group shows no recognition of the enormity of this problem, nor of the likelihood that teachers will end up not using these methods or having difficulty managing them.” 
3. Experience is equivalent to practice. “This means that 21st-century skills like ‘working well in groups,’ or ‘developing leadership’, will not be developed simply by putting people in groups or asking them to be leaders”. 

His conclusion is clear:

I believe [these 3 faulty assumptions] mean that states that adopt the recommendations of the P21 group will find they don’t work.

But are these really the P21 assumptions? I’m pretty sure that P21 would disagree.

I see as a weakness some aspects of the P21 coalition that other’s, I know, see as a strength. Much of the power is corporate or political. I don’t believe either of these groups have shown themselves to be good prognosticators of the future. I see education as being about preparing students for their lives as adults and citizens and not the preparation of workers to enter the workforce. It’s not that I think school should be so abstract that it doesn’t prepare students for their work future, but I do not believe this should be the primary (or even secondary) goal. I don’t think anyone really knows what the future will be. People should learn how to learn, and the duty of schools to corporations is to provide workers who are prepared to learn. As long as the P21 goals coincide with mine I’m all for it.

As you’d expect, I disagree with some of the conclusions of "The Workforce Readiness Report Card" from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management. What is the schools role in preparing students to be future workers? Is “workforce readiness” the primary or even secondary role of K-12 education? How do you define ‘workplace readiness’? Employers can say what they wish new applicants knew, but can they know what will be needed in the future, or even what skills they take for granted that might be lost with wanton changes in the education system? 

My impression since my son entered school is that his education is much more rigorous than anything I experienced before college. More depth, more analysis, more group work. I’ve been pleased with this as, after I entered college, I found my own elementary education lacking. However, there were many in my college who obviously had been in better schools that prepared them better for college. I saw this as an indication of the weakness of my California educational, in general, and the two school districts I attended, in particular. The bottom line is that there have always been better and worse schools, and our goal should be to raise all schools up to as near the same high level as we can.

We can agree on many goals, such as fostering creative thinking and problem solving. However, what is the best way to do this? Children are frequently very creative. And, all too often, we do educate it out of them. However, they are almost never ‘usefully’ creative or innovative until they have learned what is possible. Being creative can include discovering things that are already known, but that you were never taught, but this doesn’t help someone be ‘usefully’ creative unless they learn enough to come up with ideas that have never been thought of before. What is needed to give students the tools they need to be creative and innovative? Is it just an exposure to opportunities? Is it just making sure they thoroughly understand what they are studying? I’d say it’s a combination of them all as well as creating an environment that both encourages this and shows what is needed, including background knowledge, to be creative.