Mathetics

defriending and mathetics

2010-01-04T17:00:00.001+01:00

Starting a new year with ending friendships?

It is 2010 since four days. Receiving many good wishes in all formats (digital, snail mail, live) from dear friends we hear that having less friends is the trend for this year. It is called defriending.

Until recent it was a sign of popularity if you had more than 200 friends in Hyves, Facebook or other popular social software. Gradually many users discover that having so many friends is impossible. Maybe you can say that this people know you and the more people knowing you, the higher your digital status.

However a real friendship is only possible with a (very) limited amount of people. The word friend has been used in an improper way. Discovering this, people start defriending, dropping many persons with whom they do not have real friendship.
That things go too fast, superficial and therefore loose part of their meaning is something also visible in the blogging world. The tendency of slow blogging illustrates this.

Both processes illustrate very well stages in Mathetical learning. In the beginning people think in terms of quantity, speed, because the media are pushing us in this direction. Going that way a lot of people follow the exhaustive method (going on until you cannot hold it any longer).
After a protest of our brain we turn back to basic needs. Some educational movements also use this method, when children or students have to adapt to a new educational environment.

Mathetics and school development

2009-12-03T19:01:00.001+01:00

For those able to read German, an interesting new book was published this month. It describes how school development can be accelarated by using eLearning.

Taking mathetics as a learning approach and grounding everything in a solid educational theory a succesfull design is possible. As leading theories the so called "reform education" (Dewey, Dalton, Freinet, Petersen, Montessori) is used.
New theories and research findings show that there are golden chances when we know how to combine the right educational and technical elements. However many times politicians don't know anything about it and choose other directions. That causes improductive processes and costs a lot of money.

The book offers some examples of succesfull approaches in Europe, making use of the theories mentioned before.

Growing interest in mathetics

2009-10-15T11:59:00.002+02:00

Since 2004 more people are looking for the meaning of mathetics on Internet. The graphic below shows this tendency.

Much of the growth comes from Australia, United Kingdom and United States.

A year ago (2008) the picture of searching countries shows differences.

German price for innovative language program

2009-09-26T13:38:00.006+02:00

The European project Viseus is grounded on theories of Reform education, New literacies and latest research regarding language education. It also emphasized mathetical learning, as an aspect of the learning process.

On september 23th the Viseus project received a German price, the European Language Seal 2009.Barbara Sommer, minister of Education from Nordrhein-Westfalen, handed out the prices in Bonn.

On November 11 and 12 the project has its final meeting in Osnabrück. If you would like to attend this meeting look at the website.

E-learning, face to face learning or both?

2009-09-09T15:22:00.003+02:00

In May 2009 the U.S. Department of education released a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies.
From 1996 through July 2008 more than thousand empirical studies were identified online.
Screening took place, using the following criteria:

* constrasting online learning with face to face learning
* measuring student learning outcomes
* using a rigourous research design
* providing enough information to calculate an effect size.

The study covered primary education, secondary and higher education.
Some general conclusions of the report:

* students in online learning conditions perform better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.
* the positive effects are even higher in a blended learning situation
* however: research suggests that the positive findings should not be attributed to the media, per se. In many studies there was more learning time, different instructional elements or another educational philosophy.
* unexpected was the finding that there are just a very small number of studies (just five!), meeting the criteria, for the K-12 area.
* elements such as online quizzes and video do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes. It looks as if having more media in an online application does not enhance learning.
* tools that help students to reflect on their learning are effective in improving the outcomes

For many people the outcome that the amount of media are not an important factor will be surprising. Research from Mayer and others showed different results.

Many more details in the report are revealing and interesting. As the focus was directed towards K-12, the results however are disappointing. Much more research evidence is needed to see wether the claims and expectances from so many users are really showing an effect size.

Multimedia, modalities and middle ages...

2009-05-07T11:20:00.007+02:00

In the medieval society the church saw as her task to disseminate the bible to as much people as possible. However reading was the privilege of a small group . To serve the illiterates, bibles with pictures were constructed, almost similar to cartoon books.

When building churches the principles of pictures were practiced by using paintings, statues and stained glass. Music was used to arouse the emotions of people and let them participate more actively in the celebrations. For that reason organs were used, already from the early middle ages.
Using smells, like incense, completed a holistic approach to store the cognitions and emotions aroused by the celebrations. This approach was also called biblia pauperum: the bible for the poor people.

From recent neuropsychological research we know that the use of pictures, sound and smell is an enormous powerful tool to store learning events successfully. Everybody knows to recall a specific smell that reminds him/her suddenly to a lot of detailed events and emotions. When hearing favourite music, our brains produce dopamine, that makes us feel comfortable. The use of these multimodal aspects in the middle ages was, although intuitive, so powerful that modern multimedia developers still can learn a lot from it. Recent findings regarding (new)literacy confirms this.

During a visit to Braga (Portugal), guest lecturing at the Universida de do Minh o, we discussed this phenomenon with Prof. Maria José Machado. She arranged a visit to the famous organs of the cathedral (Sé de Braga). Sitting high above the people, immersed in the technology of a three hundred years old instrument, knowing the neuropsychological impact of music on the learning of people, we felt humble and looked with relativism to our modern technological inventions regarding multimedia. Once again it demonstrated that our brains did not change significantly for 40.000 years….. enabling us to learn either open and free by ourselves (mathetic learning) or learn in a well prepared learning environment guided by teachers (as offered by the churches).

Literacies and new media

2009-03-25T21:50:00.002+01:00

New media skills.

What skills do we need in today's media culture? Researchers from the Project New Media Literacies (MIT) give their opinion.

Craftsmen needed!?

2009-03-25T11:00:00.006+01:00

In the eyes of Richard Sennett, professor at the London school of Economics, our society has become rather superficial. Since the eighties of the past century, management has been seen as a neutral and universal proces. It is not necessary to know what products a manager is selling. Management is like an entity in itself.

Those who like the construction of the products they make, the real craftsmen, were disappearing gradually. These craftsmen were, in the eyes of the management, not flexible enough. A craftsmen is not driven by financial stimuli, but by the motivation to make a product as good as possible.

New, young, dynamic, flexible are the buzzwords of that managerial culture. A craftsman is a problem in this thinking, having questions about the need to change and the real quality of the product. Questions regarding the underlying philosophy are not popular to a manager from the eighties. That takes too much time and besides the philosophy of the manager as entity is merely directed by fast money making or enlarging influence and feelings of importance.

Schools, hospitals and other public institutions were also put in the hands of these managers. Having the power, during the boom in the eighties and nineties, the managers found themselves capable to talk about everything: social, moral and political questions. Driven by money making and enjoying their power they reformed society to that model.

Being rich and having influence was associated by the managers with having competences. The international crisis now reveils some painful facts: you can be very succesful economically, having influences and networks and at the same time being very incompetent.

Sennett's opinion has great possible consequences for a lot of schools. They should pay attention to the primary process: learning, by didactical and mathetical means. Only craftsmen are able to hand this over to the new generation. And seeing a hospital, school or other public institution as a place to make money is one of the largest mistakes of the last decades for Sennett. Managers should be replaced by leaders, knowing the primary process and being craftsmen themselves.

Waldorf schools and mathetic learning.

2009-03-08T13:55:00.004+01:00

In a recent doctoral thesis students from secondary schools following Waldorf education in the Netherlands, have a significant disadvantage on mathematics compared to accounting students in mainstream education. A lower score is also visible for language education in the third class of secondary schools. In general the scores at the cognitive domain are lower than mainstream educated children.

However, their attitude towards learning as such is significantly more positive in the third class. In a mainstream school the motivation to learn is getting lower between the first and the third class.It is not clear wether Waldorf children over estimate themselves or have a realistic concept of their capacities.
Children at risk do no make enough progress in Waldorf schools. The system tends to continue differences, instead of diminishing them.

Data were collected during three years in thirteen Dutch secondary Waldorf schools.
Waldorf education is strongly classroom oriented and does not emphasize on differentiation and individual development of children, according to recent theories. Children in at risk situations tend to stay behind, instead of improving their results.

For those seeking good models of mathetical learning, Waldorf schools seem to be not a good choice.

Net generation disappearing?

2009-03-01T12:04:00.005+01:00

In a recent research the Canadian British Columbia Institute of Technology surveyed a random sample of over 400 students to determine wether these students exhibited the characteristics that have been attributed to this generation by people like Don Taspscott, Marc Prensky, and Neil Howe & William Strauss, and others. Schulmeister opponed already against the lack of empirical evidence for the existence of such a generation.

The research shows that on the characteristics there are hardly significant differences.

The research suggests that generational differences are not the issue. Contextual issues such as the nature of the program are more important considerations when making decisions about the integration of learning technologies.

More research after the cultural contextual aspects, age and other variables will be necessary to generalize these claims.

The world in crisis: what about learning?

2009-02-22T10:58:00.006+01:00

CRISIS.
The world is in a crisis, larger and more global than in the thirties of the 20th century.
What does it mean for learning and education?
At least some tendencies, discussions and political moves can be observed.

LEARNING IN A TIME OF ECONOMIC SHOCK.

Economic aspect.

One of the first reactions is to emphasize the importance of schooling. Many governments are willing to invest in education. The United States wants to spend 150 billion dollars to improve education and in Europe France and Germany are willing to spent a considerable amount of money for improving their educational systems too. Other countries, like the Netherlands for instance, spent nothing. The crisis reveils that Europe is far from united in her educational policy and philosophy of education. As there is a lack of money, attempts are made to look for cheaper solutions. E-learning, in combination with mathetic learning (without a teacher intervention) sounds attractive for some politicians. No need for schools and teachers. Just provide learning environments and content. In some countries the role of home education is part of the discussion. As parents take the role of school, it is cheaper. But there is no garantuee for a desired national quality. These solution are economic oriented and therefore interesting for politicians. However the dilemma is the control on succesful desired outcomes.

Content and moral aspect.

Another reaction and discussion is about the contents and tasks of a school in a period of economic crisis. The latest report of the American center on Education and Economy reveils some of the ideas. A distinction is made in "hard skills" (mathematics, language education and other traditional content areas) and "soft skills" (problem solving, being able to work in groups, being able to learn new content and skills, creativity and others)
How learning should take place is highly influenced by the culture of the educational system of the country. Some countries like a more restricted educational climate for their pupils, with a minimum of freedom, where others are in favour of more freedom and responsability for their educational system.
In some European countries the idea is that the school is the place where children should feel safe and can have some hope for the future. Growing up without any hope and perspective is one of the main threats for a moral and economic climate. This task includes specific capacities for teachers.

Access to sources is crucial.

The role of ICT and multimedia as tools for learning and also means of dealing with the crisis is highly agreed by almost all countries. As we are living in a global economy, but not in a global moral society, we have a large task in using the tools and possibilities of the ICT world.

Learning mathetic, independent, could be of great worth in a time where waiting for help is not always possible. Doing this by using elearning and ICT tools is almost inevitable. Having access to internet is therefore necessary to have enough chances for these learning processes. Those who have no access are very endangered in a time of global economic crisis.

New literacy and mathetics.

2009-01-21T22:05:00.006+01:00

For an interested audience the midtime conference on the project Viseus was held.
Central to the conference was the question of relationship between new literacy and mathetics.
In a brilliant keynote, prof. Verhoeven outlined present language education and literacy development. On these solid grounds the conference can built further.

Several speakers introduced specific themes and experts from six countries had a lively debate with the audience on actual questions.

More details on the conference will be presented soon.

Mathetics or didactics?

2008-12-26T13:16:00.005+01:00

NATURE OR NURTURE?
It all started with the appearance of the wild boy of Aveyron (1799). He was the first feral child being studied serious.

Structured learning, provided by adults, following a plan, could help this wild boy, was the thesis of Itard and Sequin. Their approach was an example for Maria Montessori, later.

Others, like Rousseau, saw it totally different: nature educates, and people can hardly add something to it.

The following part of a movie, made by François Truffaut, shows the moment that the wild boy was caught, in the woods of the Aveyron.

Living in the metaverse?

2008-12-23T21:36:00.005+01:00

Augmented reality: the real world extended

Adding and enhancing the real world with some kind of information is booming now. It is often described as augmented reality. Using Internet, rfid, gps, smart tags and portable or wearable information can add substantial information to real life objects. 3-D environments offer ideal spaces for social and economic experimentation.

At the MIT some researchers think we will have a kind of 3-D metaverse, in which the boundaries between real world and virtual worlds are blurring rapidly. They assume that, by the end of 2011, 80% of all internet users will have created virtual selves.

Depending on age and culture the question is what the effects of these new possibilities could have on the development and perception and learning of people.

In Japan many working man and woman are accustomed to a kind of virtual state of being, in which imagination and desire are mixed to a world that is called "mizu shobai".
In the novel "Norwegian Wood"from the japanese author Haruki Murakami, something of this culturally determined behavior can be felt.

Living in virtual worlds has been growing gradually. When children are in a
car, they have already the experience of an inside and an outside world. Hearing
the radio in the car, saying that there is an accident in front of them,
suddenly seeing the terrible results from the car, causes already the basic
effect of a split world.
The extend of these experiences, leading to a state of living in which we are immersed in these areas in which reality and virtuality are constantly mixed, is larger and widespread over more people than before.

From a point of neuropsychology and mathetics, there could be very rich moments in such experiences. Research however is scarce and not always reliable and valid enough.

Living and learning with new media...

2008-11-26T21:32:00.005+01:00

A recent report arrived this week: Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of findings from the Digital Youth Project. This joint project was carried out by the University of Southern California and the University of Berkeley. Granted by the MacArthur foundation.

Some major findings from the report are interesting in the frame of mathetic learning.

Youth uses online media in the first place to extend friendships and interests.
The majority of youth is "always on" , contacting friends they know already in real life and just "hanging out"and extending their friendships.
Just a small group is using the web for exploring interests and finding information. Driven by their interests they find peers outside their local community.

Youth engage in peer based, self directed learning online.
By trial and error the majority of youth learns themselves various forms of technical and media literacy. The digital world lowers barriers to self directed learning. "Geeking out" is just for a small part of youth. They dive into a particular topic or explore their talent. This way of behavior erases the traditional markers of status and authority.

New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy that is less apparent in an average classroom. Youth respect one another's authority online and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults.

Adults should facilitate young people's engagement with digital media.
They learn basic social and technical skills, demonstrate open and experimental behavior that is certainly not present in all educational institutions.

Adults can play an important role in interest-driven participation.
Although often learning from peers, youth can use adults as more mature role models, and specialized peers.

Tests to measure these capacities are in fact not yet available.

Parallel to these findings are some results from Neuropsychological research:

During young adulthood the brain of pupils is still under heavy construction. Planning and taking well balanced decisions is therefore difficult for them. Experiments, where young adults (12-17 year) were treated as if they could make their own plans completely independent, did not succeed in for instance the Netherlands. Educators discovered that they overestimated these capacities. Adults are better able to take balanced decisions and can play an important role, especially when they are seen as democratic peers, with knowledge at an expert level.

Searching and blogging for mathetics

2008-11-16T12:52:00.005+01:00

Is there a correlation between the countries on the top ten list of searching for the word Mathetics and those countries visiting this weblog?

In order to answer this question we used the top ten list and compared it with the results of the counter on our weblog (see picture).

There is indeed a correlation for the top searchers on Google: Australia, United Kingdom and United States. They also are the top of the blog ranking list.

The Philippines and New Zealand also correlate positive. They are on the 8th and 9th place.

Remarkable is the position of Germany. This does not correlate with search behavior on Google. However on the blog ranking list it is on the fifth place.

* There is a correlation for five countries: they search most frequent on Google for the word "mathetics". Those countries are also the most frequent visitors of this weblog.

* Germany is not in the top ten list of Google, but is looking at the weblog rather frequent.

* In both situations (Google and the mathetics blog) there is a fast growing amount of total visits observable.

Many questions arise and remain. One was answered in a pilot study, in the context of the European project Eisweb. There we used a small questionnaire for the participating experts from Universities, Schools of Education, and the students (teachers who worked in their schools for elementary and secondary education). Eleven of them answered four questions:

1. Are you familiar with the word
mathetics?
yes (73%) no (18%) ? (9%)
2. What country are you from?
Austria(2), Netherlands(3), Switserland(1),Czech
Republic(1),Hungary(1),Germany(2)Italy(1)
3. Is the concept of mathetics playing a role in your
country?
a little (55%); no (27%); ? (18%); yes (0%)
4. Would you like to learn more about mathetics?
Yes (100%)
All this lacks reliability and validity. It is just a pilot, showing a tendency and could be the start for further research. Let me know if you are involved in it or plan to do.

Mathetics: growing interest divided over the world.

2008-11-09T16:13:00.005+01:00

With the help of Google it is possible to see how often words and concepts are being searched. Either all over the world in a particular country or part of that country. Although rather elementary it gives an idea of the popularity of the term or concept in question.

Starting from 2004 there is a more than doubled interest in Mathetics as a search item. The top ten countries, in which the term is searched rather much are:

1. Australia
2. United Kingdom
3. United States
4.South Africa
5. Thailand
6. Singapore
7.Pakistan
8. Philippines
9. New Zealand
10. Netherlands

Although mathetics got twice as much attention as in 2004, Europe seems to play a minor role in searching the word. Only the United Kingdom and the Netherland have a place in the top ten from this moment. Next question would be to relate this to the educational developments in the countries. Why is there a growing interest and does it correlate with the search interests of people.

blog slower, read closer

2008-10-25T21:20:00.004+02:00

In the world of bloggers there are many classifications. One, already old, makes a distinction between life bloggers and link bloggers. The life blogger uses the blog as a tool to talk about his (and others) life experiences: events, emotions, moods and brief reflections on it.
The link blogger collects and publishes new links. There are more female than male life bloggers, where as men prefer link blogging. Link bloggers tend to give short information, sometimes commenting it and nearly almost linking to the spots where the information is related to.

For many people the link bloggers are going too fast, producing information that is shortened and shrinked, and tends to be at the surface, rather then going deep to the roots of a problem. It seldom leads to deeper reflection and there is hardly a chance to get to well grounded conclusions.
Another important objection against these speedy bloggers is that many of them lack a theoretical coherent theory. As a result their news is what it is: new, but without any or mainly poor grounding in overall theories.
Furthermore there is hardly historical reflection available. Many hypes have passed that have their roots in common human behavior and some of them were active already long before the internet application appeared.

However people have a need for speedy news, where the aspects mentioned before are not relevant for the majority of blog readers. The tabloids, reviving partly the newspaper scene, show that this formula works.

Some people however try to slow down in blog country. They introduced the term "slow blogging". Barbara Ganley, as far as we can see, introduced the term for the first time.
By slowing down the production and reaction rate there is more time for critical reading, better analysis and better conclusions. Time, especially as a factor to let the concepts and thoughts incubate, is seen as a natural aspect of the learning proces. Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy, in which many of these elements, useful for slow bloggers, are worked out.

In the sixties and seventies from the 20th century a similar development emerged. At that time teachers also thought that reading went too fast and therefore got no deep impact. They created the technique of close reading.

Combining experiences and research from that time gives a good starting point for a more in depth use of blogs, as a worthwhile and new tool.

Blogs and mathetical learning situations.

2008-10-13T17:37:00.005+02:00

Blurring the blogs?

Many teachers are disappointed because their attempt to
use a blog fails. In many cases this has to do with the observation that
students, in their private lives, use blogs frequently. So why not in classroom?

Introducing the blog with enthusiasm does not always have enough result. In many cases students do not like it. The mechanisms of private blogging are not the same for school use.
Sometimes they feel as entering in their privacy, in an unstructured and involuntary way. So.... end of the pilot, for many teachers.

Another reason is that students see the blog as just another task, on top of a growing mountain of study obligations. Older students sometimes reject the tool, because they reject the idea of having their thoughts read by anyone. They feel uncomfortable, shy and insecure.

Many teachers start with false assumptions. They see a blog as a construction or communication tool, where discussion will take place.
Blogs are, in essence, fundamentally individual. It is merely a one way monologue, where readers can comment, but not change the original posting, like for instance in a wiki or newsgroup.

Ruth Reynard points towards some common mistakes and gives practical ideas how to solve these problems. She mentions five points:

Ineffective contextualisation. Students need to know: where the tool will be used, how often, how necessary it is. They also need good scaffolding (temporarily help).

Unclear learning outcomes. This should be in line with course objectives, and also with student needs and objectives. Especially important, and many times neglected, are the transferable skills of critical thinking (like analysis, synthesis, generating new ideas, applicate ideas in a real situation). It's here where mathetics are involved explicit and where Reynard gives some practical suggestions.

Misuse. Blogs are not for discussion (like a wiki or discussion forum)

Illusive grading practices. Grading a blog should be clear. Starting from the assumption that posts are merely statements these can be used in rubrics.

Inadequate time location. Students need enough time. Some are faster than others.

With more research, based on practical experience like this, the question of evidence can be answered properly and a step forward can be made.

Toys for the boys... and girls??

2008-10-11T21:33:00.005+02:00

Is the appreciation for toys a matter of nature, or does nurture play a role? For decades we are struggling with this question. In the seventies parents tried to force boys to play with "girls toys" and the girls were surprised with boys toys.

Research on rhesus monkeys shows us that part of the preference for toys is nurture, and for the larger part dictated by hormons . (Janice M. Hassett, Erin R. Siebert and Kim Wallen: Sex differences in rhesus monkey toy preferences parallel those of children. Hormones and behavior, Volume 54, Issue 3, August 2008, pages 359 - 364) Similar research with children shows comparable results.

When girls had the disease congenital adrenal hyperplasia, they produced more male hormons and their preference for toys changed significant.

In the experiment from Hassett boys preferred to play with a car, instead of dolls. Girls are more flexible in their toy preference, but tend to play with dolls.

Other research (2002, in:Evolution and Human behavior) shows however that males had hardly preferences, where girls liked to play with dolls.

The assumption now is that the actual preference comes form the fact that boys are triggered by things that move and enable action. Their play is rough and tumble. Hormons are responsible for those triggering and as a result the brain forms different patterns.

The findings could be of importance for kindergarten and preschools, in which sometimes the post emancipatoric philosophy of equal treatment for both sexes, also regarding toys, is practiced. When mathetic learning at this age is forced in an impropriate way, there could be undesired consequences that obstruct optimal learning.

New literacies as a mathetic tool

2008-09-29T17:08:00.006+02:00

Are you just literate or already a new lit?

So far literacy was defined as:

“The ability to read, write, speak, and understand words. “

Using ICT, multimedia and other devices makes clear that we use no longer just words.
Growing up with Internet and being literate means being confronted with movies, sounds, pictures, words and sometimes even moving objects and smell. All working together to explain something, but also make the learner eager to read.

This new situation of literacy is called “ new literacies”. It is defined as:

The new literacies if the Internet and other information and communication
technologies include the skills, strategies, and dispositions necessary to successfully use and adapt to the rapidly changing information and communication technologies and contexts that continuously emerge in our world and influence all areas of our personal and professional lives. These new literacies allow us to use the Internet and other ICT’s to identify important questions, locate information, critically evaluate the usefulness of the information, synthesize
information to answer those questions, and then communicate the answers to
others.

Leu, D., Kinzer, C., Coiro, J., Cammack, D.(2004) Toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the internet and other information and communication technologies. In R.B. Ruddell & N. Unrau (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading, fifth edition. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Gradually it becomes clear that most learning takes place outside schools, under teacher independent conditions. That's what mathetics tries to investigate. In learning that way students encounter new literacy elements and learn to use them for their own benefit.
It is, according to Leu e.a., clear that there are some basic elements to keep in mind:
1. Internet and other ICT's are an important context for literacy and learning.
2. It requires new skills, strategies and dispositions to fully exploit its learning potential
3. it provides special opportunities for multilingual learners and schools in an increasingly globalized world.
Mathetical learning has been designed and researched in the European project "Eisweb". In the project "Viseus", development and research is going one step further, including multilinguality as a key point in vocabulary and language learning.
The projects also finds his grounding in research regarding language acquisiton, cooperative learning, practice proof concepts like some ideas from Freinet, evidence from neuropsychology and cognitive load theory. A special dictionary has been constructed, where children can, using all tools of new literacies, define concepts and relationships themselves, by actively exchanging with others. They do not consume but define their own words. This process emphasizes highly on higher order thinking skills, in his latest revision, as well as critical thinking and handling information.
Several European countries are working at this project. During 2009 the first research results will be available. The language environment, including the dictionary, will be available in 2009 for European schools.

Is there a net generation or just buzz?

2008-09-04T22:01:00.007+02:00

Many books and reports were published, showing the audience that we have a "net generation". This generation has, in the author's view, typical characteristics and is sometimes quite different from the elder generation before.

Tapscott, Prensky, Obliger and others belong to the most wellknown advocates of that net-generation theory.

The German educationalist Rolf Schulmeister doubts the existance of such a generation. In his publication "Gib'ts eine Net Generation? (Is there a net generation?) he points to the fact that there is hardly valid research evidence that underpins the claims from the authors.

Although Schulmeister presents considerable research for his claims, the quality of the research is divers and not fully comparable. It's also difficult for him to avoid the trap of journalistic generalisations and ill defined concepts. That makes it difficult to follow him in his conclusions that the concept of a net generation is just a buzz. He will need more evidence, grounded by solid theories, to throw away the bathtub with the net tubbies in it.

Ambient learning

2008-09-01T20:58:00.007+02:00

Confusing sometimes is the amount of terms used to describe merely the same phenomenon.

One of those phenomena is "ambient learning" , also called "ubiquitous learning" and sometimes described as "pervasive learning". It relies to an old idea of ambient intelligence, formulated in the late 1990s.

Pervasive learning, ambient or ubiquitous learning relies to the concept of
"always ongoing" education. It is a social process, that connects learners to
communities or devices, people and situations, so that learners can construct
relevant and meaningful learning experiences that they author themselves, in locations and at times that they find meaningful and relevant. (siobham thomas)

One of the technologies much in use is the RFID chip. This enables users to put intelligence in objects: toys, paintings in a museum, trees and almost every object. Even in human beings. Children could walk through a wood and hear the names of the trees, the way they grow, how old the trees are etc. Paintings in a museum could tell a story, either for children or adults.

One of the experimental applications is for instance the pilot in which people do not need any longer to exchange visit cards: with a simple gadget they can touch each other and exchange all the knowledge. Later they can put it in the computer. For young people it's a thrilling gadget, to be used in disco's. Just touch the object and you know each other's basic facts.

Real world and virtual world are meeting into a new synthesis. Of course we knew already recorders, dvd-players in musea etc., but this application could have a high interactive potential.
In language education, mathematics, history, geography it could play a very interesting role.
There still is little research available at this moment about the (non)sense of pervasive learning.

Ambient learning strongly supports mathetic behavior. Parts of intended
learning, normally provided by a teacher, could be communicated with the object itself.

Public interest and neuroscience

2008-07-05T17:31:00.005+02:00

Booming neuroscience interest. Who is afraid of the neurobomb?

Explanations of psychological phenomena seem to generate more public interest when they contain neuroscientific information. Even irrelevant neuroscience information is seen as more satisfying by non experts, in a research project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Researchers warn against the "seductive allure of neuroscience explanations".

Bringing research, that is still in a preliminary stage, into public circulation is accelarated by ICT. It points again towards the need for a more independent (mathetic) coaching of pupils, as young as possible, to make clear that there is always a basic need for judging the reliability
and validity of a given news item. It's often described as media literacy.

One of the champions of media literacy was the French educator Célestin Freinet. At the beginning of the 20th century he made newspapers with his children, using a simple printing press. By doing so, children learned that they could easily produce information themselves. That made them more critical towards text they saw in "official" newspapers. Freinet discovered several didactical techniques useful for critical and democratic media literacy.

Word clouds

2008-06-27T21:25:00.001+02:00

Just for fun: a word cloud around mathetics.

Religion and mathetics

2008-06-27T12:09:00.004+02:00

In their recent paper de Heus en Dronkers explore the extent to which educational systems and general societal features of destination and origin countries can explain differences in immigrant children's scientific literacy. Using data from the 2006 PISA survey, they perform a cross-classified multilevel analysis on the science performance of 9414 15 year old immigrant children, originating from 46 countries and living in 16 countries of destination.

Striking is the effect of religious affiliation on scientific performance of the children.
Immigrant children from Islamic countries perform worse that their counterparts from Christian or non religious countries. Although the study does not focus on the capacity to learn in a mathetic way, it starts at the other side: the influence of two schoolsystems (the educational/didactical entrance)

From several sides the research is critisized for it's methodology and conclusions.

Brain based learning: a myth?

2008-05-17T18:09:00.004+02:00

Cognitive scientists warn against too early adoption of results coming from neuroscience experiments. They make clear that most of the sometimes exciting research has to do with efforts to figure out how our brain works. There are not always immediate consequences for educational practice.

As an example the "Mozart effect" is mentioned. It has
to do with the myth that classical music is an important form of sensory
stimulation. It al started with a scientific paper, reporting that college-students showed a short increase in spational reasoning, after listening to a Mozart pianosonata, compared to other students who experienced silence or instructions to relax (Rauscher, Shaw, Ky (1993))
When other researchers tried to reproduce the effect, some were succesfull,
but the majority failed (Chabris, 1999). The assumption now is that
the effect has nothing to do with Mozart or classical music as such, but rather to a boost in mood and arousal (Thomson, Schellenberg, Husain, 2001).
However the findings from the experiment were interpreted by the media and
the mass as "music makes you smarter". People started to give a diet of
classical music to babies and young children. The governor of Georgia gave a CD
with classical music to every new born in his state and in Florida every
state-funded childcare had to play classical music to children under the age of
six. It would have been better to give each child a book (in Georgia) because
there is rather much research indicating that being read to makes a young child
smarter. That evidence is much more stronger than the weak "Mozart effect"
hypothesis.
What can we expect? Our better understanding of the brain is bound to lead to improved classroom practice in the very near future. A deep understanding of the brain will correspond with a deep understanding of the mind. And that could have consequences for our approach to education. One of the field is our better understanding of learning disorders. The other field could be the mathetic learning processes.

Neuropsychology and Montessori

2008-05-16T21:25:00.003+02:00

In Montessori schools the principles of neurobiology and neuropsychology are beyond the point of introduction. This summer, attention will be paid to the so called brain based education, during a special summer course, organized by the A.M.I., University of Muenster and Edith Stein/OCT school of education in Hengelo (Netherlands). In a special videoconferencing session Prof. Steve Hughes will share his ideas with participants of the course.

The brain based approach could be seen as one of the theories behind mathetic learning, according to it's outcomes.

Neurocognition and mathetics

2008-04-28T17:25:00.004+02:00

It took some time but now the Netherlands are seeing the importance of neurocognition for learning and education. Books, articles and attention in the newspaper do their work. At the University of Maastricht is a new special professor for neuroscience from perceptual learning and attention.
His research focuses on brain processes during observation from stimuli, arriving at the skin and the retina and focusing on how this is modeled through attention and learning.

Research is in cooperation with several Universities, amongst them the University of Coimbra and a Network of European Neuroscience Institutes (ENI)

independent learning

2008-04-28T17:12:00.003+02:00

National and local initiatives are seen more often, emphasizing independent learning. The theoretical grounding is not always optimal and connections to a mathetical theory are mainly absent or vague. Here an initiative from the Netherlands: leren leren.

Hole in the wall

2007-11-29T21:20:00.003+01:00

Is it possible for children to learn independent, using a computer?

This mathetic question was asked several years ago by Prof. Sugata Mitra, Newcastle University.
He did some spectaculair experiments in India, placing computers in public aereas, outside schools and observing what happened. In one experiment the computers were on a street corner, hidden in a wall. His conclusions so far:

* children learn themselves to browse in a short time by acting independent

* children teach other peers how to handle internet problems and how to use it

* childeren learn English independent, using an American accent

* childeren learn to deal with complex problems like DNA theory.

His overall conclusion: children are able to learn independent. It does not matter where they live and from what background they are. Triggering their emotions is the central point in this success, in his opinion.

Mitra states that it is important to situate computers in public places and not just in schools. The use of computers in schools is too often associated with forced learning and teachers do not succeed in bridging the gap between the curriculum and the necessary emotional drive.

Now Mitra is interested in the question: is it possible for children to finish a school by learning independent?

His observations and results so far are a plea for more emphasis on and research after mathetic learning. In this regard there is once more a growing revitalisation of the theories of Bloom/Anderson. It looks as if there is a growing tendency towards bypassing the school as an institution and laying emphasis on other public institutions. Some are doing this for philosophic, religious or political reasons, others are more pragmatic: "you can't wait untill schools are ready for the enormous changes. They are too slow".

Tests and mathetics

2007-10-16T17:52:00.001+02:00

Tests and mathetics making progress.

One of the main questions in mathetics is: how to test the basic components
of mathetic behavior. New developments strengthens the idea that there are
promising possibilities.

One of them is a new report from the US Department of education. It mentions research in which computerized tests are used. These tests seem to enable teachers to measure Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), better than paper and pencil tests do. Solving problems and synthesizing information are significant better in a computerized test.

A second development is a new discussion about the relevance of traditional testing. Prof. Schuwirth from the Maastricht University criticized the traditional test.
First of all the test assumes that competencies are static. This is not in line with new research in the neuropsychology. There it became clear that, due the changes in our brain, the person also changes.
A second problem is the mix of test and judgment. Not every test should be used to judge the pupil.
Another remark is the fact that a lot of subjective observations are more valid that one single so called objective test. of course the procedure for those observations should be clear and the discussion between observants could result in shared and agreed intersubjectivity.

In this blog we mentioned already the EISWEB attempt to train teachers who are able to organize innovations in their own countries. The test model behind this project was much in line with the developments mentioned above.

New magazine

2007-05-28T16:06:00.000+02:00

In the Netherlands a new magazine was presented: @PULSE. Main goal of the periodical is to enhance and distribute knowledge regarding innovation and ICT in didactical and mathetical learning environments. Only available in Dutch language.

Learning and feeling well...

2007-02-15T22:23:00.000+01:00

Unicef published her report "Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well being in rich countries."

It's obvious that there will be a relationship between mathetic conditions and the facts described in this report. Interesting research questions are waiting for those being able to tackle them.

search engines

2007-01-14T22:18:00.000+01:00

How does a search engine, like Google, work? What are (dis)advantages and threats?
This small video (in Dutch) shows how information about this topic is presented to children.

Toys4you?

2006-12-27T18:02:00.000+01:00

Language, thought and digital toys...

What are the effects of digital toys on young children, especially regarding language education and thinking?

This article, written in Dutch, presents some first impressions

Tragedy

2006-12-08T11:54:00.000+01:00

Seymour Papert, one of the pioneers of the constructionist learning theory, the inventor of the unique learning environment LOGO and the re-inventor of Mathetics in education, has been gravely injured in an accident in Hanoi. He attended a conference there and was hit by a motor bike. He is in coma now. Let's hope he will recover and continue his inspiring work.

From Boston comes this brief message:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/07/mit_figure_struck_injured_in_hanoi/

Conference on mathetics

2006-11-12T19:39:00.001+01:00

The European project "Eisweb" was set up to try out a way of learning, driven by mathetics, grounded on the ideas of reform education and carried out using a blended learning environment. By putting emphasis on mathetics a new paradigm was tested. Normally the focus is on didactics. As a result of this product findings around the didactics of e-learning/telematic enhanced learning are presented. Teachers from several European countries participated. They have to be able to take the position of innovators in their own countries.

During two years a blended learning course was followed , partially live, and partially by online learning.
A pre and posttest design made it possible to see results, with regard to the main topics: e-learning, reform education and mathetics. Evidence based research was applied, to collect a broad scope of data.

In the course the participants studied reform education, in live meetings and online using a learning environment. In order to make mathetics operant, the theory of Bloom/Anderson was taken as a starting point.

A brief summary of the main results:

the course showed (very)significant progress at the stages: knowledge, comprehension, analysis, synthesis and evalution (Bloom) Participants made siginificant progress in gaining higher order thinking skills.
the concept maps in which the participants described the content they studied, showed an increase in analysis; Starting at an elementary global level the maps were elaborated in detail and had more branches than at the beginning.
participants find themselves competent in applying the theory they learned, evaluating the theory as far as they are integrated in their own new concepts.
the electronic learning environment supported the mathetic process in several ways: by offering them an opportunity to work together on content; by communicating around the studied topics. Favorite tool was the chat option, used by all participants.
the course was presented according to reform educational principles (teach as you preach). It proved to be very succesfull for almost all participants.
In working with online groups elementary phases were followed, in which group building was a central point.
Participants significantly progressed in knowledge about reform education and e-learning.
In using chat options participants like to have structure and appreciate some coaching

More experiments and research is necessary to strengthen the conclusions from this first European pilot. Further development of a theory of mathetics, focused on learning arrangements, will be necessary as well.

Final results in detail will be published at the beginning of 2007.

Mathetical Excursion

2006-10-18T21:30:00.000+02:00

The national Wikipedia varieties allow us to make a comparison between countries.
Have a look for instance at the explanation of mathetics in the following countries:
English speaking countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathetics
German speaking countries http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathetik

In many European countries the name has not yet landed in the Wikipedia.

Mathetica moravia

2006-09-08T12:09:00.001+02:00

This summer we visited the craddle of mathetics: Uhersky Brod. Jan Amos Comcnius was born in Nivnice, not far away. Here he found the roots for his later thinking aout learning as a mathetical process.

Visiting the museum, looking at the landscape around the city and realizing the exciting history from Moravia in all those past centuries we felt much sympathy with the famous words of Komensky:

Omnia sponte fluant, absit violentia rebus.....

Lernen und Lernenden...

2006-06-10T11:31:00.000+02:00

Jörg Schloemerkemper beschreibt wie mathetik immer schon anwesend war im Pädagogischen denken in Europa.
Es wäre zu wünschen das der Autor noch mehr hinweise richtung Lernpsychologie macht.

Classificiation and mathetics

2006-05-08T08:32:00.001+02:00

How to classify the mathetical activities? What is the quality of it?
Recently there is a renewed use of the ideas of Benjamin Bloom.
He suggested in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century a taxonomy.

An improved scheme was presented by one of his fellow researchers, Lorin Anderson. Together with a team of cognitive psychologists he made some significant improvements.
At the beginning of the 21th century it has been usefull in many research already.

a social 2006

2006-01-04T20:37:00.000+01:00

We start 2006 with a growing amount of social software. Author's in wikipedia define the trend as:

Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate
through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities.
In the European educational context we see the first attempts to make connections between these new tools and some succesfull educational models, partly derived from the reform educational heritage of the 20th century.
There is a growing awareness that a consistent educational philosophy is the basic component for a beneficial integration of all new tools.

educational technology needs neuroscience

2005-12-11T22:24:00.000+01:00

Educational technologists have to look at the research results of neuroscientists. That is what Prof. Wim Veen claims in his presentation, also in Berlin. For those able to read Dutch a quote from the interview.

"Als ik al het onderzoek overzie, heb ik de indruk dat we voor
een periode staan waarin we als onderwijskundigen veel meer moeten samenwerken
met neuroscientists. We weten namelijk helemaal niet goed hoe die hersenen
werken. We weten wel dat delen van de hersenen zich fysiek ontwikkelen als
mensen bepaalde oefeningen vaak doen. Dat zal waarschijnlijk ook zo zijn voor
het werken met computers. De vraag is of mensen daardoor ook beter leren. We
hebben echter nog nooit kunnen aantonen dat leren achter de computer beter gaat
dan in het klaslokaal of andersom. Maar dat is voor mij ook niet zo relevant.
Stel dat eruitkomt: het cognitief effect is hetzelfde. Moeten we het dan maar
niet doen?"

Neuroscience

2005-11-29T22:05:00.000+01:00

The importance of neuroscience is recognized by a growing amount of teachers.

Neuropsychology is an essential part of the knowledge basis in mathetics. Some usefull sites here.

Neuroscience for children.
How do facts stick in our mind?
How many brains do we have? Site for children.

Critical thinking and mathetics

2005-11-24T21:50:00.000+01:00

Several useful publications for those dealing with mathetics can be found at the critical thinking website.
Not everything is illustrated with appropriate research evidence.

2005-11-02T22:40:00.000+01:00

"Don't Bother Me Mom -- I'm Learning" : How Computer and Video Games Are Preparing Your Kids For 21st Century Success -- and How You Can Help!
Is the title of the latest book from Mark Prensky, in press now. It brings up a lot of background information on present youth culture.
As i read the convocation for the new book i was in Switzerland at the time, guest lecturing and visiting Stans, the city where Pestalozzi worked for a couple of years.

Adrenalism

2005-10-13T22:04:00.000+02:00

Last week i was in a monastery in Germany for some days. We had a conference with teachers from secondary schools. As a result of a new system they get no automatic progress in salary any longer but have to take a course first.

In spite of the peaceful atmosphere the new system caused much negative adrenalism, from beginning to end in all the courses and interferes with the original goals.

These goals are derived from formulated competencies and worked out in a practical and theoretical program.

Research on language education

2005-10-02T10:27:00.000+02:00

What do we know about language education and ICT...? This is the title of a report (in Dutch).
It tries to diminish the gap between research and daily school practice.
Some comments on the report (in Dutch)

podcast and traditional teaching

2005-06-25T18:23:00.000+02:00

Sometimes a new medium has unexpected sides. In Belgium a teacher in mathematics and media technology uses unpolite and heavy language during teaching.
One of his students recorded a lesson and put in on a podcast site. Later he edited the lesson and made a technobeat mix out of it. The MP3 is on his way to the top of the hitparade.
Teachers beware of this new medium. One day your lessons are available all over the country in an unexpected way....

Mathetics and neuro didactics

2005-06-08T21:00:00.000+02:00

A very interesting development is the growing connection between mathetics, reform education and neuro science. This rewarding development is in some European projects under construction at this moment.

Distance learning and communication

2005-04-08T21:39:00.000+02:00

What works in distance learning?
A collection of theories and practical suggestions.
Usefull for those working with distance learning.

What communication theories are available.
A large overvieuw of these theories is presented by the University of Twente.

Network generation and digital immigrants.....

2005-04-04T19:45:00.000+02:00

The majority of elder teachers is "digital immigrant" (Prensky)

Do you feel like that? Why or why not?
What are you doing to bridge the gap?

Your answer can be in Dutch, German or French.
Let us know your name and relation towards the youth (i.e. teacher, parent, supervisor etc.)

Blogging and brain

2005-03-06T20:31:00.000+01:00

Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide believe that blogging changes our mind and offers many positive opportunities for (critical) thinking.

Recent international surveys have shown that students in the United
States have fallen far behind most of their first world peers in problem
solving and critical thinking. This fall has coincided with a shameful
decline in school-based instruction in critical analysis, rhetoric, and
persuasive writing. However because professionals like attorneys, philosophers, and academicians run many excellent blogs, we all can benefit from their intellectual rigor, and
their use of analogical thinking when communicating to the common world of the
blogosphere. Back-and-forth blog-based exchanges between experts also provide a
unique opportunity for young thinkers to witness and evaluate arguments from
analogy on an ongoing basis, and to develop their own abilities to think analogically.

Look at the article
http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/brain-of-blogger.html

Educational climate in Europe is not yet progressive

2005-03-05T18:50:00.000+01:00

Twenty seven pre-service teachers, from eight European countries, following an international class in the Netherlands, were asked to evaluate the educational climate in their countries.

The participating countries were: Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Turkey, Austria and the Netherlands.
What is their opinion? Does Europe support a progressive educational climate, in which mathetics could develop? What is their opinion about the school of education in the Netherlands and about Dutch primary schools?

Only one out of five students indicates to live in a country with an open progressive educational climate.
Most progressive scores come from the Netherlands (50%) and Spain (28.6%). Lowest score is for Turkey, where the climate is seen as very closed and traditional. Sweden is in the middle with a neutral judgement about their own climate.

What do pre-service teachers in Europe think about the educational climate at their schools of education? Are they being trained in a progressive way and prepared for Europe of the future?
Only one out of four students (25.9%) thinks that the school of education has an open progressive climate.
So the majority of the European teachers are not yet prepared for the open constructivistic goals that are mentioned in many European reports. Students from Austria and Turkey give the lowest scores to the educational climate at their schools of education. German and Dutch students are positive about the climate at their institutes. Boys make a more negative judgement than girls.

The climate at the Dutch guest institute is seen as open bij > 75% of the students.
The climate at Dutch primary schools is also seen as open/very open by > 75% of the foreign students.

If this little pilot study is right, than Europe still has a long way to go towards the desired emphasis on open education.

Connectivism and digital story telling

2005-02-25T22:32:00.000+01:00

George Siemens looks for new theories in our information society.
He focuses on connectivism. Look what he is talking about and think about the theory of Papert, mentioned before.

Another interesting development is digital story telling a form of audio blogging.
Especially in the frame of language acquisition it offers many possibilities in the hands of teachers with good knowledge of language development.
Some basic rules:

Point of view

Dramatic question

Emotional content

Gift of voice

Power of sound track

EconomyPacing

2005-02-18T15:23:00.000+01:00

Winter in the Teutoburger Wald (Germany)

Mindtools for mathetics

2005-02-17T22:20:00.000+01:00

Some ideas for working with mathetical techniques.

Kann ich gut gebrauchen. Ursula, Linz

Unterschiede

2005-02-14T17:32:00.000+01:00

Das Wort Mathetik ist in den Niederlanden noch nicht „Salonfähig“. Der Begriff „leren leren“ wird da im Moment mehr verwendet. Aus der elektronischen Lernumgebung beim Buch „IKT-Didaktik“ stammt folgende kurzer Notiz über Mathetik.

Learning organisation

2005-02-13T23:30:00.000+01:00

One of the champions of the learning organisation is Peter Senge. For mathetical activities in institutions his ideas are interesting.

Blog and mathetics

2005-02-11T19:32:00.000+01:00

Wat is the position of a weblog in the discussion about mathetics? Does it contribute to mathetic behavior? Suzan Herzog presents an overview of literature where some answers are available.

Random sample

2005-01-28T15:08:00.000+01:00

Today a group of 243 teachers from elementary schools were together for a meeting on "Reform education". They represent a good average of the national teacher population.

I asked them the following questions:

Who knows the meaning of the word Mathetics? less than 1 %
Who knows the meaning of "learning to learn"? more than 75%

Who uses a personal weblog? less than 1%
Who knows what a weblog is? 1,6 %

The word mathetics seems to be rather unknown for Dutch teachers.
The majority knows the "learning to learn" philosophy. As both terms are much alike it seems a matter of labeling.
Using a weblog is still an unknown phenomenon for teachers in Dutch elementary schools.
Only two colleagues were familiar with a weblog. Both were younger than 35. One male and one female.
The meaning of the word weblog is also rather unknown.

Does this mean a demonstration of the gap between the youth culture and the world of teachers? Are they loosing grip on their pupils, who live partly in a digital world?
If so, how to bridge this gap?

Mathetics and Freinet education

2005-01-16T10:51:00.000+01:00

The French educator Freinet was one of the early adaptors of technology in education. What is the relationship between his technique of free writing and mathetics? That's one of the questions Angela is dealing with in het masters thesis.

editorial staff moves on

2005-01-15T22:44:00.000+01:00

The complete editorial staff of the Dutch magazine "Computers op School (COS)" moves on.
Disagreement between the publisher and the editorial staff about the editorial independence could not been solved. Computers in School published, as one of the first magazines, about mathetics.
"It's a pity" was one of the reactions "I hope they will continue".
"We appreciated the magazine during more than 19 years" wrote another reader.

2005-01-02T21:44:00.000+01:00

Natura artis magistra.....

Papert and mathetics

2005-01-01T13:08:00.000+01:00

Seymour Papert pointed in the eighties of the 20th century towards the aspect of mathetics.
Here you find som quotes from him: http://westy.jtwn.k12.pa.us/users/sja/Papert.html

Why mathetics?

2004-12-07T21:50:00.000+01:00

Mathetics, what is it all about....

More than 300 years ago the word mathetics was first used by Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670). In his opinion there were two important processes occurring during learning: the art of teaching (mainly called didactics) and the art of learning (called mathetics) by him.

The introduction of computers is going through three stages:
the technological stage: learn to use
The didactical stage: learn to teach
The mathetic stage: learn to learn

In the eighties of the 20th century Seymour Papert re-invented the word mathetics. He created the most elaborated learning environment so far, enabling users to practice mathetics.
In spite of the large success the environment did not integrate in daily schoolpractice.
During the centuries past mathematicians claimed the word. Papert describes this as follows:

Mathematicians were so convinced that theirs was the only true learning
that they felt justified in appropriating the word, adn succeeded so well that
the dominant connotation of the stem math- is now that stuff about numbers they
teach in school. (Papert, S.(1993) The childrens machine. Harvester Wheatsheaf, New York)

Now, at the beginning of the 21th century, we try to change our learning and learning institutions in a mathetical direction. What is going on in this field? Who is experimenting, what do we know already and... most important: what works for whom under what circumstances?

Like to share ideas in English, Dutch, French or German?

Woorden

2004-11-28T18:14:00.000+01:00

"Woorde is soos gelaaide pistole.
Wie praat, skiet.."

De Afrikaanse weekendkrant van 26/11, waaruit deze quote komt, legt een stukje van onze nationale discussie bloot. Mag je alles zeggen en schrijven? Hoe zit dat met bloggers?

Zijn er verschillen tussen zeggen en schrijven? Ons leven speelt zich voor een deel op en achter de schermen af. Wat betekent dat voor kinderen?

Gelukkig zijn er ook troostende woorden, zakelijke, opbeurende en nog veel meer modificaties..