Hello,
Does understanding the world have anything to do with being good? Imagine two people, one who has an accurate understanding of history, politics, science and everything else. The other person knows nothing about anything. Is there any reason to think the knowledgeable person is nicer? More capable of ethical action? I’d say no, understanding has nothing to do with that at all. You can be ignorant and excellent. Hmm. Makes you think.
Here are some things worth sharing:
- Video: Children’s TV is in general a steaming pile of garbage but Bluey is wonderful. It has some of that Pixar magic. Check out Shadowlands, but really I love all three of these seven-minute episodes.
- I wrote about doing math with my son when he barges into our room at 6:00 AM.
- I’m on Level 1.8 of Bad Calculators, and these really are nearly perfect puzzles. Tyler Auer really blew me away with this one. Reminds me of some of John Sweller’s cognitive science research.
- I’ve sometimes tried to ask my students to make geometric art, but Bowman Dickson seems to have done a better job at that. I want to try his project out with students.
- Music: Wilson Pickett performing his version of Hey Jude on the Bee Gees short-lived variety show. Every time it cracks me up to see Maurice and Wilson share a laugh when Barry hogs the mike (first at 1:25 and then throughout).
- “The process of improving policy through research is
much subtler and more complex than I had initially imagined …it is driven as much by relationships and organizational capacity as by the actual information studies produce.” ~Carrie Conaway, h/t Cara Jackson
- Been getting bored with my music, probably time to dip back into Elvis Costello’s list of his 500 favorite albums.
- I don’t think I fully understand this study, but the author finds that letting in the top X% of students from a school to California state colleges helped disadvantaged students, a lot. Students were more likely to graduate, go to grad school, and make more money.
- How creative people work.
- Whenever I hear “trust the experts” I think of the classic Steve Martin SNL sketch Medieval Barber Theodoric of York.
OK, bye! Drop a line if you’d like to chat.
Michael