Get Fresh Minds

Education 2.0

A local Minnesotan school district is experimenting with a novel way of educating students. Instead of teaching math to kids while they're at school, and expecting them to complete the assignment at home, the school flipped things around.

Lessons are pre-recorded and students are expected to watch the lessons at home. Then during the regularily-scheduled class time, students work on their math assignments individually or in small groups with the teacher standing by to help.

So far, the approach seems to be working extremely well. Teachers quickly learned how to teach to the camera, dvds are available for students without home internet access. And (unsurprisingly) it's dramatically increased the amount of time teachers are able to focus on helping students!

To me, it's shocking that more schools aren't doing things like this. In today's world, the knowledge-dispensing aspect of what teachers do has become a commodity.

The whole model of students quietly learning while a teacher instructs is a relic of a bygone time when that was a student's only way to learn. Teachers were the gatekeepers and they held the keys to knowledge in a world where only a few were truly educated.

But today, acquiring information is not the hard part. Students can spend 20 minutes online and learn how to solve a math problem, or learn about the history of the United States or even dive into the latest scientific breakthroughs.

What the web doesn't offer (yet) is help understanding and synthesizing the knowledge out there. A Wikipedia entry can't sit down with a student, find out why they're struggling and ask the questions that help the student solve the problem on their own. Nor can Google provide encouragement when a student hits a wall or push an outstanding student to challenge themselves.

Those are why teachers are so valuable to schools - not because they can dutifully show a class how to solve a multiplication problem!

Bravo to the Stillwater Area Schools for taking this fresh approach to teaching that takes the realities of the modern world into consideration!

Solutions, Solutions for one and all!

I feel it's time to finally come clean here on this blog. For a long time, I've been keeping a secret - much like I hide the fact that I did indeed watch the full last season of the Bachelorette! (Whoops. Cat's out of that bag too!)

Every month at work, I have to admit I eagerly await the arrival of a certain glossy piece of literature. Even more that I await National Geographic - or the latest gossip mag that keeps me more up-to-date about celebrities than I am with many friends.

No, this piece of literature that I snatch every month is none other than the Solutions Catalog!How can I love a catalog so much? Because it's all the cool solutions people have found to vexing problems!

Isn't that exactly what creative thinking and innovation is all about? See a problem - find a way to fix it. And Solutions Catelog is an entire mini booklet FULL of problems that people have solved!

It's so fun to read through this catelog, see a new product and have a lightbulb go off in my head that says "I get it! I have that problem too and it drives me insane!"

And to make it even better, every single item in the catelog has a headline that clearly states exactly the problem it solves.

For example, have any of you ever wanted to:

• Chill wine bottles fast & keep them at serving temperature?
• Save money on your water bill without giving up a luxurious shower flow?
• Quickly turn light strings into neat, ready to store bundles?
• Hide plunging necklines with without wearing a bulky tank top underneath?
• Keep your cat's litter box from ruining the decor of your small apartment?
• Play Fetch with your dog without getting dog drool all over your hands from throwing the ball?

Guess where you can find solutions to those problems and many more! (And if you don't like getting snail mail, they even have the url www.solutions.com! Jealous!)

Plus, I love all the whacky solutions people come up with - especially the seasonal ones. Who doesn't want to put up window hangings that make it look like monster eyes peering out of your house? Or glow-in-the-dark nail polish markers to make spooky fingernail designs???

Anyone else love the Solutions Catalog? What's your favorite solution?