Worth Reading...

Sharing some articles and resources from the past week.

1. Do Our Students Have PLNs? (Dewitt)- thanks to Mark Manning (@fms_principal) for sharing this article about fostering PLNs in the classroom.

Make no mistake our students have their own personal learning network. Many students are on Facebook and Twitter. However, you probably believe that they are not on those social networks for the same reason we are. However, what if they are? We are on there to stay connected with people we have not seen since high school and we suddenly care where they are eating for dinner and press "like" when they "check in" to a restaurant. We have a need to stay connected and our students thrive on that same need. 

2. Incomplete Manifesto for Growth (Bruce Mau Design)-  design manifesto was first written by Bruce Mau in 1998, articulating his beliefs, strategies, and motivations. The manifesto outlines BMD's design process. 

Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

3. What We Aim (Tokyo iSchool)- i.school is a cross disciplinary educational program newly established in the University of Tokyo.  We develop and provide human-centered innovation educational programs, supported by the Center of Knowledge Structuring, and in collaboration with educational, business and governmental entities.

Human-Centered Innovation

We believe every technology, system and culture created by mankind has been inherently evolved to seek more freedom, more equality and, above all else, more happiness. As we enjoy sustainable happiness, we need to create things rooted in a deep understanding of humans realistically and holistically

 

4. Rethinking Schools: Hackerspaces (Ben Wildeboer)- Hackerspaces are “community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects

 

Giving students agency over their “stuff.” Making stuff is empowering. Taking apart and restoring a trashed bike gives you a sense of pride about the bike that wouldn’t exist if you had just bought it from the store. If your remote control for your TV breaks, you might just go buy a new one- but if you recently built your own solar battery charger, maybe instead you’d take apart the remote control and fix it yourself.

5. Visible Thinking- thanks to Kara Douma (@doumakara) for sharing this resource.  Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters.

 

6. Make Your Own Medical Device- The Little Devices group explores the design, invention, and policy spaces for DIY health technologies around the world

 

 

7. TedXAtlanta- Armin Vit - Think Stupid