Math/Science Education

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AssortedStuff: It's The School's Fault Again

While this report sounds like another industry lobbying group trying to scare Congress into giving their companies lots of money, they do make one good point. We don't do a good job of math and science instruction in this country. Part of the blame for that goes to society in general which gives lots of lip service to learning those subjects but then has an adult population which is largely (and often proudly) ignorant of even the most basic math and science concepts. How many people actually understand the odds behind the lottery or what the theory of evolution actually says?

Over at Assorted Stuff, Tim Stahmer is discussing the state of math and science education and how it is being linked to the exporting of jobs to other countries.

SXSW Panel

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Had the opportunity to take part in a panel at SXSW with Tom Hoffman, Kaye Trammel and Mike Sloan. The panel went well, but the best part was meeting Mike, Kaye (and her husband Mark, oh and Triumph the Dog too.. long story...) and connecting again with Tom Hoffman. Was a nice weekend in Austin. Will post more about sessions later, but wanted to note how good these folks are to work with. The panel went well. We actually had a few compliments from folks. Austin is a great city... was a nice time. I look forward to working with Tom, Kaye, and Mike again in the future.

SXSW Photography and Power Issues...

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There is a "no photography or videotaping" policy for the sessions. If I had known, I wouldn't have lugged my Canon Digital Rebel with me...

There is also a $90 fine for using any of the power outlets in the halls or in the session rooms. What do they think we're going to do, plug Marshall amps into the power outlets and start playing in the halls?

Pretty blogger unfriendly...

[Joi Ito's Web]

Several folks are talking about the use of the power outlets. I must say I didn't hear anything about it until tonight and only after reading the SXSW Community Blog and Joi Ito's site. Not exactly sure what the problem can be... Am glad I didn't get fined... :-) Concurrently at the Austin Convention Center, The Texas Home and Garden Show is taking place. Wonder if they let them use any water?

I noticed the no photography sign that Ito posted about later in the day. I didn't see it in the morning session when Werbach spoke.

One thing I did see was about 15 folks using flash cameras during the session. Am thinking it may have more to do with speakers getting tired of folks having flash cameras going off in their faces than anything else. But am thinking a sign just telling folks not to use flash photography should be enough.

One sign I did see that made me laugh was the sign indicating that the Smoking Balcony (designated smoking area) was sponsored by National American Spirit Tobacco. Maybe next year the escalator will be sponsored by Otis...

Joe's Back...

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Almost two months without a post although I have been skimming my favorite weblogs via my aggreagator on a daily basis. The new small schools in NYC have just been announced so here's my explanation of where I've been during the past few months. My school proposal was finally approved and we'll be opening our doors in September 2004 with 100 ninth grade students. I'm thrilled, exhausted, and eager to move forward to September. An incredible amount of work has gone into this since last fall but we've really just crossed the starting line. Our first task is to sprint... [Brooklyn BloggEd]

Congratulations Joe...

SXSW Geekout...

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SXSW /geekoutThe folks at SXSW have a page that highlights all the "cool" things they have done this year to make the conference more accessable and frankly just fun.

Calendar Apps...
For example, if you use calendar applications such as iCal or Mozilla Calendar, you can create personalized calendars of chosen events right from the SXSW website. Each event page has a link to add selected events to your personalized calendar.

Live Audio Streams from SXSW 2004
SXSW will be streaming a live audio feed from interviews being conducted on the exhibit floor. These will also be archived too. During the evenings of the Music Festival, SXSW will be providing live audio streams from approximately 10 music venues.

iTunes Shared Playlists over FREE Wi-Fi
SXSW is sharing their playlist of over 600 songs by SXSW Music Festival Showcasing Artists to WiFi users running iTunes at selected Austin-area wireless hotspots.

Also of note is that the ID badges have RFID chips...

SXSW...

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SXSW /interactive/panelsAm in Austin for SXSX (South by Southwest) Today's panels look very good. Last night I had dinner with Mike Sloan, the organizer of the panel that I'll be taking part in on Sunday.

Am now in a session being conducted by Mike Werbach, SXSW /interactive/panels

WiFi is just the tip of the iceberg. We're in the midst of a fundamental transformation of wireless communication, which has the potential to foster massive innovation, revitalize the technology industry, and dramatically lower barriers to connectivity everywhere. This presentation will provide an overview of the technological, business, and policy implications of this revolution, which challenges basic assumptions about wireless technology, interference, and regulation.

Will be nice to spend some time thinking about technology and how people can use it to communicate and share their work... more later...

Rumblings from the Lincoln School

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Tom points to a post by a teacher at Lincoln School in Providence. She talks of an inter-connected school/district web site that utilizes RSS and such to make Small Pieces, Loosely Joined...

I imagine a network of school websites, or portals, which are independently maintained but are interconnected using RSS feeds. Imagine a school district with a district site, and individual school sites. Info. from the district site RSS feeds to school sites, and vice versa. Top to bottom, bottom to top. Parents with PDA's or pocket pc's or laptops or desktops can get feeds from their school and stay up to date on happenings and news. (Is there an RSS aggregator available for PDA's, cell phones, or pocket PC's? Could be a cool new project to work on. The idea is exciting. [by way ofTuttle SVC]

One of the nice pieces of of Moveable Type is the ability to use plug-ins such as MTOtherBlog. MTOtherBlog allows me to pull content from several independently produced web sites on to the Lewis Elementary web page. For example, items from our music teacher, Tony Jamesbarrry are nested in the left sidebar of the Lewis site. Our weekly parent newsletter is listed on the right sidebar. Also the main page features a photo gallery. All three are independent weblogs, but via the Moveable Type plug-in architecture, I am able to have them all appear "loosely coupled" on the main school web page.