Wednesday, December 30, 2009

moving with the times

Here we go...quick, fast before the year is out...I'd better keep up with the times and get on this blogging bandwagon.
I'm hoping this blog will be a selection of innovative suggestions for Science teachers to help them get the best from their students while at the same time preparing their students for the future, an unknown future because of the rate at which Information Technology is evolving, a future which appears to be limited only by our own creativity.

"The best employers the world over will be looking for the most competent, most creative and most innovative people on the face of the earth and will be willing to pay them top dollar for their services. This will be true not just for the top professionals and managers, but up and down the length and breadth of the workforce. Those countries that produce the most important new products and services can capture a premium in world markets that will enable them to pay high wages to their citizens."

The days of "chalk n'talk" and "spoon feeding" are long gone, besides we as teachers are not a fount of knowledge, an up to the minute walking encyclopedia and our students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled nor are they sponges soaking up knowledge, in fact, if spoon fed, all they'd probably learn would be the shape of the spoon!
I believe that we as educators have a responsibility to equip our students with the skills to develop and build on their creativity using ICT as a tool and as a result become better lifelong learners.

I'm here because I was inspired by many superb speakers while attending the ULearn 2009 http://www.core-ed.net/ulearn/ conference in Christchurch, New Zealand and since then have stumbled upon many thought provoking blogs...should we allow the use of mobile phones in our classrooms, is playing computer games acceptable in lessons, are computers accessible to students from all socio-economic backgrounds, etc... More on those another day...

My thought for today, a quote from the keynote speaker at ULearn 2009, Gary Stager http://www.stager.org/ who said something along the lines of "We need to get our students to think outside the square...in fact, what square!"

Happy New Year
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TAGS science blog Gary Stager ULearn creativity