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Category Archives: science

inquiry on the nature of things

Terra Nullius

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

It’s an old story: If anything, the stories of corruption and incompetence serve to mask this deeper scandal: the rise of a predatory form of disaster capitalism that uses the desperation and fear created by catastrophe to engage in radical social and economic engineering. And on this front, the reconstruction industry works so quickly and [...]

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Getting Comfortable with Gravity

Saturday, August 1, 2009

While wildfires burn hundreds of thousands of acres near here, and we choke on the smoke, I’ve been out cutting winter firewood. It makes sense, in a way, since it has to be done before winter, and the smoke makes every other kind of outdoor activity a lot less fun. It’s hot, heavy, work. While [...]

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The Global Talent Pool

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Yet another dire warning about the need for workers who can “thrive in the global economy:” [T]he Commission concludes that reform in mathematics and science will be possible only if we “do school differently” in ways that emphasize the centrality of math and science to educational improvement and innovation…. As a society, we must commit [...]

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Wave After Wave of Reform

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The 21st century isn’t what it used to be. In 1991, before I joined the staff, my school was awarded a $748,500 grant from RJR Nabisco to develop “innovative programs to improve education” as part of an initiative called New Century Schools. Louis V. Gerstner Jr., chairman and chief executive of RJR Nabisco Inc. said, [...]

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Paying Attention

Friday, January 2, 2009

The internet is full of important and interesting things to know about, and it’s hard to manage the volume. Abundance easily becomes overload. I’ve been reading about the economy, Obama, Gaza, Arne Duncan, reading theory, Obama, poverty, and the economy. Oh, and every now and then, cats. I have no interest at all in cats. [...]

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NY Times Meets the Edublog

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The last of my three articles for the NY Times Lesson Plans blog was posted yesterday. The deal was to write 3 or 4 pieces during September, and I managed to put three together, saying about as much as I have to say, for now at least, in that forum. The second piece I wrote [...]

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More is More

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Here on the edge of the edge of the continent, my family’s view of the 2008 Olympic Games is a little fuzzy since we’re too far out of town for cable service, and the rabbit ears antenna won’t pull down the local broadcast signal. We do (as of 6 months ago) have a decent wireless [...]

Also filed in complexity, education, literacy, teacher research | | Comments (2)

Believing in Education as Cure-all

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Unlike David Brooks, I don’t believe that Education is The Biggest Issue – as he conceives it, anyway. Brooks says, “America’s lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment,” because of an “educational slowdown” around 1970, which resulted in too few skilled workers to meet the [...]

Also filed in commonplaces, literacy, teacher research, technology | | Comments (14)

Fault Lines

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Artichoke’s post about metaphor and education, and creativity, has me thinking about the lines and tensions in teaching. She notes the contradiction for art teachers working in schools with “The emphasis of verbal communication in a subject which is often about an individual language that has nothing to do with words.” Her post was provocative, [...]

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Sustainability and Science Education

Sunday, December 16, 2007

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, mainly due to hassles managing a classroom full of 12-year-olds full of holiday cheer bent on early celebration. It’s exhausting to maintain a focus right now. We have another week to go, right up to Dec. 21. And despite pressure to join the merriment, I push back [...]

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