God Particle & Education

Welcome back dear readers one or many.  It has been too long since I've put energy into this wild and crazy blog about my recipe for education.  Gotta love a blah blah blog for this!


Remember my proposal: "Variables Thinking" across K-12 and across disciplines.  Students routinely reflect, analyze, play and act on their understanding of the various moving parts in a situation.  They learn that all problems have aspects and elements that interact and that figuring the right balance is key.  They learn this skill is transferable between disciplines and types of challenges.

Great... but what else might be missing from schools?



I think it is the "GOD PARTICLE"  (or GOD DAMN PARTICLE if you prefer.)  The finding of the particle that attracts matter and is the beginning of everything seems an apt metaphor for what our schools are trying to find.  More than ever educators are redefining what matters in teaching and learning and doing their best to find meaning, define and build curriculum that "gets the job done."


At this stage, having a GOD PARTICLE to organize curricular vision is needed. 
And what should this GOD PARTICLE look like or be?

I think every school should take the time to define that vision in 3 words, and then make a promise to their community that they will make these three words real and realized.

Creativity, Communication, Curiosity
Reflective, Resourceful, Responsible
Innovative, Interconnected, Interesting
Leadership, Life Affirming, Persistant
Technological, Inclusive, Global


What I think is most interesting about this is the process teachers and administration (and possibly students too) would go through to reach consensus.  Herein perhaps lies the real "goods" of this proposal.

Thanks for reading!
-Lisa B

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-07-05/Higgs-boson-explanation-particle-physics/56045722/1

Q: What does it do?

A: Simply put, the Higgs particle interacts with other subatomic particles that are building blocks of atoms in a way that slows them down. It's the reason that matter in the universe has mass. Mass gives the particles inertia, or resistance to being moved faster.

Q: What is a simple analogy that describes this effect?

A: Compare Higgs bosons to groupies mobbing a celebrity. The other particles are the celebrities, desperately trying to move but slowed by autograph-seekers. Higgs bosons don't have pens, but the attention they give to the other particles slows them, creating inertia.

Defining a Practice

Welcome!

Today I had a vision while listening to the radio.  My vision: every radio story, every expert interviewed, and every lengthy discussion would mention the handy term Variables Thinking.  Because every student had been given the opportunity to practice Variables Thinking from Kindergarten through 12^th grade, every adult would use the short hand term to describe the process of considering multiple aspects of any one challenge or problem.  Each variable would be considered in relation to the others thus completing the process.  And to describe this process: that’s right, the term I have coined, Variables Thinking.

I paint therefore I consider variables. My thinking process… from choosing subject matter, to deciding scale, to surface, to prepping that surface, to choosing brushes, to paint, to mixing paint, to rate of brushwork, to layers of brushwork, to extending drying times, to rushing drying times, etc and so on is one example of VT.  Any expert considers a large number of variables in everything they do well.  Cooks, athletes, scientists, doctors, astrologists, hedge fund managers, yoga Instructors and teachers do it.  Isn’t it time we begin to look at the meta process of considering variables and make it something our children get to practice?  And more importantly, isn’t it time we foster in children an understanding that all problems are essentially the same?  Problems have aspects/parts/elements which are variables.   Giving thought to the relationships between the aspects/parts/elements in addition to considering what aspects/parts/elements might be missing from the problem become fundamental skills.

Here are a few concrete ways I will use Variables Thinking this school year with High School students.

As idea generation:  Brainstorm Variables.  Example:  As you design your ideal home, list all the factors that would ultimately affect your choices.  (Budget, codes, materials, location, perceived spatial needs to name a very few.)

As focusing tool:  Isolate one variable.  Example: Tell a story in 5 paragraphs, then 1 paragraph, then 1 sentence.  LENGTH is the variable here.  Which length is suitable for what use?

As play:  Pick 3 variables from a list of 5 (color, texture, shape, line, value.)  Make 3 different compositions where you emphasize the three Variables differently. In other words in composition #1 prioritize Variable 1, then 2, then 3.  Then switch the order. 

As analysis:  Read two extremely different critiques of the work of Jackson Pollock. Then write about what possible factors contributed to such glaringly different points of view.

Variables Thinking is what goes on in any reflective practice.   Therefore it is adaptable and flexible.

Start with:  What are the parts?  How do they relate to each other?  The practice can address simple things (Play Doh) and complicated things (climate, poverty) and everything in between. 

With the world we live in, a routine practice of Variables Thinking across disciplines and grade levels is a pretty logical idea.  Or at least a pretty cool dream.

Thanks for reading. - L

A river runs through it. Throughlines

Welcome!

Have you ever thought about why rivers and streams, weaving and threads are so often used in poetry and in descriptive writing?

Today’s post is about “Throughlines,” a Hollywood & Project Zero term. Project Zero sprang out of Harvard’s School of Education and Hollywood- well you know... “X character’s isolation was a throughline in this movie- we reinforced it through this, that and the other.” 

At Project Zero a throughline is all about unifying and building stronger curriculum.

The idea is that every class needs throughlines- guiding questions, themes, overarching ideas.  Throughlines help students leave a class with broad understandings. “I learned that biology is really about systems and the relationship between these systems” as opposed to “I memorized different forms of life in Latin and can list them for you.”  “I learned that risk taking is really important to being an artist” as opposed to “I studied color theory, composition, shading, and learned all about pencils.” You get the idea!

So what does this have to do with my drive to create VARIABLES THINKING- a skill for life- a K-12 Curriculum Throughline? 

Variables Thinking needs to occur in all disciplines and all grade levels for the deepest understanding to occur.  It has to be designed to be flexible, adaptable and rich yet simple/clear enough to engage. It needs to be designed to create “habits of mind” (another great Project Zero term) and it needs to take the idea of THROUGHLINE to the next level – a holistic level. I love a challenge!

And I love a good taco.

Over the years I have returned again and again to a taqueria in the Mission district of San Francisco, Pancho Villa Taqueria.  I may be a taco addict.  Pancho V is hardly the only place I consume from but I do have a loyalty to it for the freshness and customer service.  I can go months without Pancho V (not without tacos!) breaking from my weekly habit of yesteryear when you could find me at Pancho on Fridays reliably. Not now- but let me tell you how good it is to go back now…

It soothes me.  It feeds me not just literally. I love you PANCHO VILLA.

Innovative curriculum will address the need for rivers, streams, weaving and threads.

It has to be reliable and put teachers at ease.  It has to be adaptable (no sour cream today or YES make it a super today or no tortilla, I’m trying a gluten free experiment.)  It will nurture one's faith in their mind and their ability to think through a problem.

My next post will provide some hints to the river ahead!  "PLAY DOH 3 ways" is next.  This is 3rd grade curriculum.  They teach the kindergarten.... for a day.

Thanks for reading this lengthy post (more in less soon) -L