More Parker Palmer

If you enjoyed the Parker Palmer essay... Or even if you didn't... Below is a recent article of his published in the Journal of College and Character. You do need to submit a short form to get the free download but it is worth it!

http://journals.naspa.org/jcc/vol12/iss3/2/

The Global Search for Education: All That Is Me

Dear all,

Hope you all had a wonderful break.

Here is the link to an interesting article I read.

Anthony Seldon, the head of UK’s highest profile independent schools, Wellington College, discussed the evolution of education in the 21st century and the holistic model that can develop all the aptitudes of each child.

Siwei

Useful and free book on teaching

Dear GEDIs,

Here (https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/AboutUs/Publications/TeachingEng/index.html) you can find a book “Teaching Engineering”. As you may conclude from the title, it is related to engineering but I think it has a lot of useful practical advices for any teacher.


Regards,
Milos

Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur

An interesting video by Dr Eric Mazur from Harvard University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwslBPj8GgI


Best regards,
Milos

Peer-Driven Learning

Dear GEDIs,

Hope you are having a nice break. With that in mind, here is a short article that starts with a subject of breaks but then expands into the topic of peer-driven classes and its relation to "seat-based" measurements in education.


Best regards,
Milos

Learning through apprenticeships

Last night on Nightly News, an organization called SPARK was featured in the Making a Difference segment. The program places at-risk middle school and high school students in apprenticeship positions with a real professional to show them the relevance of education and allow them to explore their dream job.

Has anyone seen this very useful section of The Chronicle?

http://chronicle.com/section/First-Time-on-the-Market-/146/

They even have a section on how to handle awkward and even illegal interview questions.

Evident of Teaching Excellence!

Note that this young VT student credits her success to a single teacher who turned on the light bulb!

Determination propels physics major toward her dream

Those who know her agree that 19-year-old Chelsea Cook is the most determined individual they have ever met. And rightly so. Cook is a physics major from Newport News, Va. She’s taking a full load of courses such as physics and multivariable calculus, maintains a 3.3 grade-point average, and is active in the Society of Physics Students and the Ladies of Robeson, a women’s physics group. She likes to write science fiction and listen to astrophysics lectures on her iPod.

And one more thing. Cook is blind.

Her goal is to be an astronaut.

"I want to be an astronaut, and my blindness will not keep me from achieving that goal," sophomore Chelsea Cook says.

“The plan may change but the overall goal will not,” she said. “I want to go to graduate school, study astrophysics, and then knock on the right door and tell them I want to go up into space.”
Cook’s interest in astronomy started at a young age when she read an astronomy book by Noreen Grice, an author and educator who makes astronomy books accessible to the blind.

“I’ve always been interested in astronomy, but I never thought I could do anything with it until I read her books,” Cook said. “There was a foreword in one of them by the first blind radio astronomer, and it gave me confidence from the beginning.”

In 2009, Cook attended a ceremony sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind to honor Louis Braille, who invented the Braille alphabet. During the event, she read a letter she wrote for inclusion in a commemorative book about her experiences with Braille. She also met Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education.

Cook continues to be active in the federation and serves on several committees. She met Grice at the organization’s Maryland headquarters in 2005 and has maintained a friendship with her. In fact, in summer 2010, the two conducted a hands-on science exploration program at a camp for 200 blind high school students interested in science.

Chelsea Cook works in a physics lab with Evan Guarnaccia, a doctoral candidate in physics and graduate teaching assistant from Blacksburg, Va. In this experiment, they shot small steel balls and observed the effects of launch angle, initial velocity,and the basic parameters of projectile motion.

Several notable mentors helped Cook thrive over the years. One in particular was her 10th grade physics teacher, who made sure she was involved in every class demonstration and that she understood the concepts.
“Something as simple as a spring. He made sure I could feel it and play with it. He understood I need to process things tactilely. He could look at my facial expressions and judge if I understood something or not,” she said.
“He also realized I was good at math and that I had potential that wasn’t really being tapped in to. If I had not had the experience with him, I would not be a physics major today.”
Cook said the main inconvenience in her life is having to wait to get her textbooks and lab manuals translated into Braille. She said it was an almost unbearable frustration in the public schools.
“I knew there was something out there that other people had, but I had to wait for,” she said. “Science … I needed it. It was in my blood. I don’t think even my parents understood the kind of connection I had with it.”
One of the reasons Cook chose Virginia Tech was because of the assurance she got from the physics department that her accessibility needs would be met and that being blind would not be an issue, she said.
“They were great,” she said. “At the start of freshman year, I had both my math textbooks in Braille waiting for me at the beginning of the semester.”

Last year, Cook was invited to test drive a prototype of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle developed by College of Engineering students that enables blind people to safely operate a car. “It was so cool,” she said. “I can’t wait to do it again.

Chelsea Cook took the university's Blind Driver Challenge vehicle developed by a team from the College of Engineering out for a test run. Here, she poses for a picture with the team. Cook is on the far right of the first row.

Cook receives help through the universities’ Services for Students with Disabilities Office, where she has her textbooks and other materials translated into Braille and receives one-on-one assistance with keeping her coursework organized and working with computer software, as well as other support.
“Chelsea is an amazing individual,” said Beate Schmittmann, chair of the physics department in the College of Science. “With her determination, motivation, and inner strength, she is an inspiration to all of us.”

When told that some people consider her an inspiration, Cook’s response was, “Why? I just do what I love.”

What Spurs Students to Stay in College and Learn?

A nice conclusive text for this point in the course.


Regards,
Miloš

There's hope...

This article was sent my way by my biology advisor, and I thought it quite appropriate for all those "devil's advocates" out there. Beyond covering topics of our class from a broader context, the article offers some nice insights into specific perspectives; the execution of some learner-centered teaching methods by WPI on the last page and Mr. Moniz's perspective as an undergrad engineering major. Otherwise, I really appreciate the coverage by The New York Times to bring attention to the very issues we're priming ourselves to tackle in the near future.

What timing!

How’s this for timing?  It was in the “Virginia Tech Daily News” this morning! http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/11/110411-unirel-scienceopenhouse.html

Diane

Socrates had been killed but the Idea prevailed

Dear GEDIs,

I just read a text on one of the experiences with new teaching methods. As you will read, one of the reasons Steven Maranville, a professor in Utah, has been denied tenure was that he had tried to incorporate new methods of teaching and his students did not like it. You can read and make your judgments who was right or wrong in what point. My personal conclusion from this situation is - no one ever said that change is going to be easy - which change has ever been? I think this is one good example to be aware of some potential issues and be prepared to face them.


Have a good day,
Miloš

Dean Sibel's Contact

Hey GEDIs,

The presentation of the Learning Center Scaleup is another thing that really excites me particularly because I was dreaming of such a classroom to teach in! (The first thing was the super awesome Biochem finals from Delaware last week)

I'm definitely going to sit in at her a class next week; here is Dean Sibel's email address:

siblej@vt.edu


MattChan

Ethical question

I just read an article about a student who is transgender and see's her self as female even thought she is biologically male. She was expelled from her school and the reason she was given is that : she tried to engage in fraud, because when asked her sex she chose Female.
My opinion on this is that California Baptist Univ. took this to far. Faculty and administrators should always encourage professional ethics and that is they should avoid harassment, discriminatory treatment and encourage their students to pursue learning not prejudice. I went on the school's website and read their mission statement here is the link: http://www.calbaptist.edu/about/
They state: "...California Baptist University believes each person has been created for a purpose..." then they keep on saying that "... Graduates are challenged to become individuals whose skills, integrity and sense of purpose glorify God and distinguish them in the workplace and in the world...".
No how hypocritical is that, they believe everyone is been created for a purpose and this school will help distinguish its students in the work place as what, religious famnatics that can not accept that people are different in many ways. How long will this prejudice go on ?