Posts tagged as:

education

Metacognition, then and now
(a crisp example)

September 2, 2010

As a follow-on to recent posts here and here, I’d like to offer a crisp example of the standards of cognitive reflection that were taught in the once-upon-a-time United States: a sample from Studies in Civics (1897), a high school textbook.
TO STUDENTS.
You will notice in chapter one that at the close of nearly every paragraph [...]

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How to Learn about Everything in Belorussian

August 25, 2010

“How to Learn about Everything”, now in Belorussian translation:
       
(With thanks to Patricia Clausnitzer!)

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Evolution: The concept and how we talk about it

January 3, 2010

Note: I’m in the middle of writing a series on the history and prospects of advanced nanotechnology, prompted by the recent 50th anniversary of Feynman’s historic talk, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”. The next will discuss what the U.S. National Research Council has said about advanced molecular manufacturing, including its recommendations.

I’ve been asked [...]

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For Darwin’s sake, reject “Darwin-ism”
 (and other pernicious terms)

December 31, 2009

On this last day of the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth, I’d like to suggest that we honor Darwin by rejecting the dubious term “Darwinism”.
To call something an “ism” suggests that it is a matter ideology or faith, like Trotskyism or creationism. In the evolution wars, the term “evolutionism” is used to insinuate that the modern [...]

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Khan Academy:
On a mission to educate the world (for free)

December 28, 2009

I got a pointer to a free, online educational resource today.
It deserves more attention.
The eyeballs of a few million students might be a good start. Students in elementary school, grad school, rural Africa… places like that.
It consists of 1000+ brief lectures on YouTube.
It centers on math, but goes beyond.
Here are a few samples that [...]

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Asian Universities are Lagging
(according to lagging indicators)

November 7, 2009

I’ve recently written several posts related to research and education in China and India, and the comments led me to examine how their best universities are ranked among the universities of the world. The answer is “Low”, but the measuring rod looks crooked.
The “Academic Ranking of World Universities” (ARWU) is widely regarded as the best [...]

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Indian education, top to bottom

November 5, 2009

In response to my last post, which mentioned some high points in Indian education, a comment by fiaorsh offers some perspective on the extensive low points.
Since my reply ended up looking more like a post, I’m making it one:

@ fiaorsh — You make some important points regarding education in India, and I’d like to [...]

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E-Drexler in India —
where do all the visitors come from?

November 2, 2009

Rosa recently returned from Ashoka meetings in Chennai and Hyderabad, reminding me of some information I’d collected about Indian visits to my website, E-drexler.com. India is enormously diverse (e.g., many cultures, 18 officially recognized regional languages, and very different state governments), and I became curious about where inside India this traffic was coming from. Here’s [...]

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A Welcome to New Readers

June 2, 2009

In the last few days, other sites have directed many thousands of readers to my recent posts on knowledge and learning: How to Understand Everything (and Why), How to Learn About Everything, and A Map of Science.
The learning process I describe led me to focus on what I am persuaded is the greatest technological [...]

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Studying Nanotechnology: A Preface

February 18, 2009

Students interested in nanotechnology have often asked me for advice on what to study. I plan to write a series of posts about this, but there’s one basic piece of advice that will serve not only for nanotechnology, but for almost any area of physical science and technology: Study math and physics, then study more, [...]

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