Every student to have an iPad

Check out this story from today's Stuff website. It's all very well for the Ministry to come up with ideas that would lead to New Zealand students 'leading the world in digital literacy', but to do so, it will need to be funded somehow. The article starts:

'The prospect of every pupil having a touch screen tablet or laptop in the classroom has raised concerns it could create a gulf between the haves and have-nots'.

To read the article in full, click here.

The Talent Code

This is so inspirational!  Please watch it and gain more appreciation for what can be achieved with so little!

The Talent Code

A quality (and free) education for all!

I found this TED presentation from Daphne Koller absolutely inspirational!  Daphne finishes by stating three things that providing a top quality (and free) education could achieve:

1. Established education around the world as a fundamental human right, where anyone with the motivation could attain the skills and knowledge to make a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.
2. It would enable lifelong learning.  Learning doesn't have to stop when we finish high school or university.  
3. Enable a wave of innovation.  Talent could exist anywhere; from downtown Manhattan to the far reaches of village Africa.  The next Steve Jobs or Albert Einstein could be a child, who is right now living in an Indian slum.

To find out what else Daphne has to say, watch her presentation in full.

 

When we struggle, we get smarter!

A key message in the excellent TED presentation is 'when we struggle, we get smarter'.  I couldn't agree more!

To find out how to get really good at something, spend 18 minutes listening to what Daniel Coyle has to say.

Should we get children learning maths concepts earlier in life?

This article from The New Zealand Herald highlights what is happening in an Auckland kindergarten, where children are being exposed to mathematics concepts in their pre-school education.  The article starts:

'They had their annual Christmas party at the Lakeview Private Kindergarten on Wednesday.

Among the pint-sized participants were the 4-year-old graduates of the phonics, reading and writing class: the literacy programme designed to make them school-ready. Children who complete this course generally start in the top reading group when they move on to primary school, says owner/manager Michelle Tod-Bosch'.

To read the article in full, click here.

Boxing to improve educational outcomes

Here's an article to demonstrate that I practice what I preach; the importance of health and fitness to improve educational outcomes, in this case, through boxing.  The article starts:

'Pumping iron and boxing clever is helping turn a squad of Lakeview School pupils into classroom champs.

Deputy principal Tim Nelson said eight teacher-nominated Year 8 boys started training at Wai Weight private gymnasium in Masterton at the start of last term'.


Click here to read the article in full.

New Zealand ranks 8th in education outcomes

Check out this article re educational outcomes achieved by developed countries.  The ranking list was in a study called The Learning Curve, published by Pearson and carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit'.

The two leading countries, Finland and South Korea, share these common factors:

• High-quality teachers
• valued accountability
• a moral mission that underlay education efforts. 

To read the article, click here.