Proto-Knowledge

Video about the history and art of data visualization

2013-05-13T13:36:00.001+10:00

Visualizing data is an ancient human activity that dates back to stone age drawings and, later on, cartography. This informative PBS video discusses the history and range of the art of knowledge visualization. The video features Edward Tufte, Julie Steele, Josh Smith, and Jer Thorp.

Inspirational future of learning video

2013-04-04T17:05:00.000+11:00

What will the future of learning look like? GOOD magazine created a video that discusses technology-oriented visions from Whole-in-the-Wall and Khan academy to serious gaming. The video features education innovators like Dr. Sugata Mitra, visiting professor at MIT; Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy; and Dr. Catherine Lucey, Vice Dean of Education at UCSF.

The video suggests that the current school system is still based on Victorian-age ideals (such as submission) and industrial age skills (such as arithmetic . People featured in the video suggest that education needs to prepare students for the post-industrial world. Basic arithmetic skills are now less relevant than reading comprehension, information search and retrieval skills, and critical evaluation skills.

Order of academic authorship (and how to avoid conflicts)

2013-04-04T16:05:00.000+11:00

Photo by Shironosov/ iStock

Academic papers are often co-authored by several authors, from two to several hundred (for example in CERN physics studies).

Rules for the order of multiple authors vary by discipline, but generally there are three possibilities:

By degree of contribution: Authors are listed in descending order of contribution. The principal investigator is often placed last in the author list. However, some universities want to change this practice by only having the principal investigator listed if he/she actively contributed to that particular paper.
Alphabetically: Authors are listed in alphabetical order (by family name).
Random: Authors are listed in randomized order (rarely used).

In theory, deciding on an order of authors should be a straightforward process. However, disputes over the order of authors can ensue. Ilakovac (2007) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that over two-thirds of 919 surveyed authors disagreed with their coauthors regarding contributions of each author.

There are several suggestions how to avoid authorship conflicts (compiled from source #1 and source #2):

1) Who counts as an author? Only people who made substantial, direct, intellectual contributions should be listed as authors. All authors should meet the following three criteria, and all those who meet the criteria should be authors:
a. Scholarship: Contribute significantly to the conception, design, execution, and/or analysis and interpretation of data.
b. Authorship: Participate in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
c. Approval: Approve the manuscript to be published.
People who provided technical services, administration, acquisition of funding, collection of data, editorial writing, or general supervision should not be listed as co-authors but mentioned in the acknowledgement section (see argument here).

2) Responsibilities of lead author: As a practical matter in the case of publications with multiple authors, one author should be designated as the lead author. The lead author assumes overall responsibility for the manuscript, and also often serves as the managerial and corresponding author, as well as providing a significant contribution to the research effort. A lead author is not necessarily the principal investigator or project leader. The lead author is responsible for:
a. Authorship: Including as co-authors all and only those individuals who meet the authorship criteria set forth in this policy.
b. Approval: Providing the draft of the manuscript to each individual contributing author for review and consent for authorship. The lead author should obtain from all coauthors their agreement to be designated as such and their approval of the manuscript. A journal may have specific requirements governing author review and consent, which must be followed.
c. Integrity: The lead author is responsible for the integrity of the work as a whole, and ensuring that reasonable care and effort has been taken to determine that all the data are complete, accurate, and reasonably interpreted.

3) Responsibilities for co-authors: All co-authors of a publication are responsible for:
a. Authorship: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors acknowledge that they meet the authorship criteria set forth in section 1 of this policy. A coauthor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
b. Approval: By providing consent to authorship to the lead author, co-authors are acknowledging that they have reviewed and approved the manuscript.
c. Integrity: Each co-author is responsible for the content of all appropriate portions of the manuscript, including the integrity of any applicable research.

4) Talk about contributions early: Co-authors should talk early in the process about the order of authorship, degree/kind of contribution, and the decision-making process (how decisions are made and who has final say if a consensus is not reached). The order of authors is a collective decision of the authors (not just by the lead author).

5) Deal with disagreements: If disagreement arises, make every effort to resolve the dispute locally among the authors. If necessary, get the principal investigator or the Ombuds office involved.

6) Revise degrees of contributions: If authorship seems straightforward, the order of authors can be arranged in advance but with the caveat that this could change if contributions change significantly. Create a culture of transparency and revisit the issue of order of authorship periodically in case contributions (or assumptions about contributions) have changed. Towards the end of the writing process, each co-author should describe his/her contributions and what he/she thinks every other author contributed (this can reveal misunderstandings and provides the opportunity for clarification).

7) Approve final document: Each co-author should review drafts and approve the final version before submission.

8) Describe contributions for reader: When submitting to the journal, include a short description of each co-author's contributions and how order was assigned to help readers interpret roles correctly.

References:
Ilakovac V, Fister K, Marusic M, Marusic A (January 2007)."Reliability of disclosure forms of authors' contributions".Canadian Medical Association Journal 176 (1): 41–6.doi:10.1503/cmaj.060687

Using video game design for education

2013-03-28T14:57:00.002+11:00

Gamestar Mechanic Website

In his Edutopia blog post, teacher Andrew Proto discussed the online tool Gamestar Mechanic to use video game design for education.

Gamestar Mechanic is a browser-based tutorial for video game design. After an interactive tutorial about game mechanics (such as setting goals for your players, having clearly defined rules, and different styles of games), students can use a simple drag-and-drop interface to create their games. Students can share their games with the Gamestar community to get feedback.

Gamestar mechanics has been named one of the American Association of School Librarians Best Educational Websites of 2012.

For teachers, Gamestar Mechanic offers instructional material at gamestarmechanic.com/teachers. Gamestar offers teachers a discount for classrooms, with student registration available at a fraction of the normal cost.

Andrew Proto suggests that video game design projects can be used in an variety of subjects. For example:

After reading a book in class, have your students recreate major scenes in the form of a video game.
Ask students to design a game that teaches other students a specific scientific concept you've been studying.
After studying ratios, ask students to create a game that contains a certain ratio of coins (for the player to collect) to enemies.
Recreate famous myths from different cultures that have been studied in history class.
Have students create a game that consists of a level for each stage in a butterfly's life cycle.

Examples of directly observed evolutionary changes

2013-03-22T00:31:00.000+11:00

Anolis Lizards

150 years after Charles Darwin (and others) first proposed the theory of evolution due to natural selection, many people still struggle to accept and understand the theory. One frequently observed claim is that evolutionary change cannot be observed.

The website phylointelligence.com has a great list (with scientific references) of examples of evolutionary changes that have been directly observed by scientists. A great resource for science teachers (and everyone interested in evolution).

See the list of observed evolutionary changes here. The examples also include the occurance of human lactase persistence which I used as a case study in my PhD (see PDF here).

Great TV shows about Nerds and Geeks

2013-03-21T00:53:00.002+11:00

Being proud of being a nerd or a geek is becoming more popular (Read more here: Evolution of Geek). Not surprisingly, TV producers picked up on the trend and are now producing shows featuring nerdy and/or geeky main characters. Whether you laugh with the nerdy characters or laugh at them (preferably the first), there are many great TV shows about nerds and geeks to choose from:

Big Bang Theory (See an overview diagram here (spoiler alert!)	Chuck
Dexters Laboratory	Phineas & Ferb
Eureka	The IT Crowd
The Guild	King of the Nerds
Community	The Book Group
Freaks and Geeks

Read more here: The geek hierarchy chart.

Living in front of a computer screen

2013-03-13T18:25:00.001+11:00

Children in front of computer screens
[Source: http://images.smh.com.au/2011/06/04/2408569/art-screens-420x0.jpg]

How much time do people spend in front of a computer screen? The 'Halifax Insurance Digital Home Index’ presents findings from an online survey by One Poll in January 2013 that included 2,500 adults aged 18 and over living in the UK.

Not surprisingly the survey data indicates that people spend a large amount of time in front of computer screens.

73% of the participants would struggle to go one day without technology devices such as smartphones, laptops and MP3 players. 23% would feel ''uneasy or worried'', while 19% would feel concern about ''missing out''.
74% check emails and social networks before starting work in the morning.
25% check technology devices from their beds, and 10% take theirs into the bathroom.
Each owns an average £4,164 worth of technology devices.
Almost one in 10 (9%) respondents use their phone during mealtimes - a figure that doubles for those aged 18-24.
53% of women use their laptop parallel to watching television, compared to 43% of men.
45% communicate via devices to speak with friends and family despite being in the same house.

This survey predicts that current children will spend an average of 25% of their non-working time in front of screens (not counting sleeping time). Dr Aric Sigman, psychologist, says: "As the amount of time spent looking at a screen or plugging in increases, the amount of time spent on direct eye-to-eye contact and developing real life relationships inevitably decreases. By the age of seven years, the average child born today will have spent one full year of 24 hour days watching screen technology; by the time they reach 80 they will have spent almost 18 years of 24 hour days watching non-work related screen technology. That's a quarter of their lives."

In a national study of over 2,000 young people, aged 8 to 18, researchers found that participants were able to squeeze the equivalent of 8.5 hours of electronic media into 6 chronological hours because of multitasking (or rather 'multi-device usage'). By the time Net Generation kids reach their twenties, the typical teenager has spent over 20,000 hours on the Internet and over 10,000 hours playing video games of some kind (Source: Digital game-based learning) [Read more here]. With devices like Google Glass and multi-device usage, time in front of computer screens might soon even exceed 100% of people's work and spare time).

Sources:

Imagining the 3D digital bookshelf of the future

2013-02-21T12:13:00.002+11:00

How can digital books be displayed more efficiently and aesthetically? Currently, most eBook programs use a 2D bookshelf or an iTunes-like cover flow display.

2D digital bookshelf
[Source: http://www.authormedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/shelfari.jpg]

Digital media give us the freedom to explore new ways to display books. Google engineers created the 3D "Infinite Bookshelf". It is a compromise between a traditional bookshelf view while accommodating large amounts of books (One effect of switching from physical books to eBooks is that one can store a much larger collection of books than one would ever own in physical form). The "Infinite Bookshelf" is an infinite 3D helix that you can spin side-to-side and up and down with your mouse. It holds 3D models of more than 10,000 titles from Google Books.

Google 3D Infinite Bookshelf
[Source: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6219/6258962915_b1b16ef550_b.jpg]

Each row represents books belonging to the same genre. The books are organized into 28 genres/subjects. To choose a subject, click the subject button near the top of your screen when viewing the bookcase. The camera then flies to that subject. Clicking on a book shows the cover and the first page with a link to google books and a QR code that’s in the bottom left corner of the page, using a QR code app likeGoogle Goggles. Try the "Infinite Bookshelf" demo here.

This short video explains the functionality of the bookshelf.

Without physical bookshelves, there is no more shelf-snooping when you visit somebodies home or office. The books we have on display show our intellectual heritage and interests. Discovering that a new acquaintance read the same book is a great start for a conversation. But how can that happen if all our books are stored electronically? Do we give a new acquaintance acces to our shelfari, goodreads, or calibre accounts? Will we have wall-sized touch-screens displaying our digital libraries?

Browsing Google's Infinite Bookshelf (at Google NY)

Will we have physical book-dummies on display? Once we are all wearing google glasses, will visitors be able to see my personal library displayed on a wall?

While Google's Infinite Bookshelf is an interesting concept, I wonder why a digital 3D library couldn't look more like this:

Clementinum National Library (Czech Republic)

Jedi Temple Library (aka Trinity College Library, Ireland)

I imagine a 3D digital library that links to my eBook collection (e.g. on goodreads or calibre) and displays books from each genre on a different book shelf (and one shelf for to-be-read). I could give visitors full or partial access to the library and allow them to borrow books. I hope that somebody will take on the task of creating beautiful 3D digital libraries for personal use.

See more pictures of beautiful libraries here and here.

Teaching machines in 1954

2013-02-12T10:53:00.000+11:00

Harvard psychology professor B.F. Skinner presents the benefits of self-paced mastery learning using "teaching machines".

Home office of the future in 1967

2013-02-07T14:53:00.002+11:00

Walter Cronkite presents the "Home office of the Future" on March 12, 1967 in an episode of the CBS show "The 21st Century".

A brief introduction to evolution

2013-01-25T12:01:00.000+11:00

This youtube video by "Stated Clearly" introduces the basic mechanisms of evolution.

Gallup poll indicates students' loss of interest in school over time

2013-01-15T17:40:00.001+11:00

Albert Einstein said that "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.“ Sadly, a recent Gallup survey of nearly 500,000 students from grades five through 12 from more than 1,700 public schools in 37 US states in 2012 suggests that students increasingly loose their interest in going to school in the first place. By the time students get to high school only about 4 in 10 qualify as engaged.

Larry Ferlazzo rightly points out that this is not a statistically valid survey as there was no random sampling involved; schools and students participated on a volunteer basis. However, the large sample size still provides an interesting dataset.

Another critique point is the measure for the construct "engagement". Here are some sample questions:

8. I have a best friend at school.
9. I feel safe in this school.
10. My teachers make me feel my schoolwork is important.
11. At this school, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
12. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good schoolwork.
13. My school is committed to building the strengths of each student.
14. In the last month, I volunteered my time to help others.

The data however fits well with other surveys who indicated waining interest in STEM education (See http://proto-knowledge.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/usa-fails-to-make-progress-in-stem.html)

Mark Twain suggested: Don't let school interfere with your education.

Source: A Bad Start to Lifelong Learning? - Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog

Test your web searching skills

2012-12-06T18:26:00.002+11:00

Connected information
[Picture source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/semantics-searching-intuitive-internet_1.jpg]

The internet offers vast amounts of information. The challenge is to find desired information quickly.

These two fun online applications will test your abilities to locate information fast:

"A google a day": Using the google search engine, how quickly do find the answer to question to a given question?

"The Wiki Game": This game asks you to locate information within Wikipedia. The answer can only be found by clicking through related information within Wikipedia pages. The fewer jumps the better.

Want to improve your search skills? Click on the infograph below for helpful Google search tips. [See original infograph here]

The future of digital [Slideshow]

2012-12-05T14:54:00.001+11:00

This extensive slideshow presents an interesting overview of the history, present, and future of digital spaces. [Click on "Slide Deck" below]

Knowledge Integration Maps (KIM)

2012-11-30T16:31:00.002+11:00

Knowledge Integration Map (KIM)

A Knowledge Integration Map (KIM) is a discipline-specific form of concept map. Concept maps are a form of node-link diagram for organizing and representing connections between ideas as a semantic network. KIMs consist of concepts and labeled arrows. Different from traditional concept maps, KIMs divide the drawing area into discipline-specific areas, for example in biology into genotype/phenotype.

Knowledge Integration Maps (KIMs) have been developed at the University of California, Berkeley by Beat A. Schwendimann in the research group of Marcia Linn.

You can learn more about Knowledge Integration Maps in this Wikipedia article.

More about the research on Knowledge Integration Maps in my dissertation (available for free here).

Causes for the persistent denial of evolution

2012-11-28T17:35:00.000+11:00

Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-awxblqFfG3U/T7_Bjw0DPsI/AAAAAAAABXY/5jc5IqjD_9I/s1600/denialism.jpg

Why are many people resistant to accept the theory of evolution despite the overwhelming evidence? The blog post below from NothingInBiology discusses three studies that explore why some people reject science over religious views.

Read more here: http://nothinginbiology.org/2012/11/27/science-denial-is-rationa/

Unfortunately, the article doesn't have any concrete suggestions how to better promote scientific understanding and acceptance among religious people.

Building "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"

2012-11-28T15:23:00.000+11:00

Neil Stephenson's book "The Diamond Age" presents a fascinating piece of educational technology called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" (See diagram below).

The primer is an interactive book that can answer a learner's questions (spoken in natural language), teach through allegories that incorporate elements of the learner's environment, and presents contextual just-in-time information.

The primer includes sensors that monitor the learner's actions and provide feedback. The learner is in a cognitive apprenticeship with the book: The primer models a certain skill (through allegorical fairy tale characters) which the learner then imitates in real life.

The primer follows a learning progression with increasingly more complex tasks. The educational goals of the primer are humanist: To support the learner to become a strong and independently thinking person.

A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer Diagram [Click to Enlarge]

Currently, educational technology has early examples of adaptive tutoring systems. However, an artificial (pseudo-) intelligence that can mentor a learner in real-life complex problems is still far away.

For example, the IBM Watson computer can understand natural spoken language and give simple answers. Educational toy company LeapFrog developed the LeapPad - a tablet computer for children that resembles the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" - except for the goal of subversive critical thinking.

Another example, the teaching software for the One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) wis directly inspired by the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer". It is even named "Nell" (after the main protagonist in the novel).
Dvice.com posted an example of how children in a remote Ethiopian village use Nell. Nell uses an evolving, personalized narrative to help kids learn to learn without beating them over the head with standardized lessons and traditional teaching methods:

Miles from the nearest school, a young Ethiopian girl named Rahel turns on her new tablet computer. The solar powered machine speaks to her: "Hello! Would you like to hear a story?"
She nods and listens to a story about a princess. Later, when the girl has learned a little more, she will tell the machine that the princess is named "Rahel" like she is and that she likes to wear blue--but for now the green book draws pictures of the unnamed Princess for her and asks her to trace shapes on the screen. "R is for Run. Can you trace the R?" As she traces the R, it comes to life and gallops across the screen. "Run starts with R. Roger the R runs across the Red Rug. Roger has a dog named Rover." Rover barks: "Ruﬀ! Ruﬀ!" The Princess asks, "Can you ﬁnd something Red?" and Rahel uses the camera to photograph a berry on a nearby bush. "Good work! I see a little red here. Can you ﬁnd something big and red?"
As Rahel grows, the book asks her to trace not just letters, but whole words. The book's responses are written on the screen as it speaks them, and eventually she doesn't need to leave the sound on all the time. Soon Rahel can write complete sentences in her special book, and sometimes the Princess will respond to them. New stories teach her about music (she unlocks a dungeon door by playing certain tunes) and programming with blocks (Princess Rahel helps a not very-bright turtle to draw diﬀerent shapes).
Rahel writes her own stories about the Princess, which she shares with her friends. The book tells her that she is very good at music, and her lessons begin to encourage her to invent silly songs about what she's learning. An older Rahel learns that the block language she used to talk with the turtle is also used to write all the software running inside her special book. Rahel uses the blocks to write a new sort of rhythm game. Her younger brother has just received his own green book, and Rahel writes him a story which uses her rhythm game to help him learn to count.

[Source: http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/ethiopian-kids.php] Read more in this paper.

Envisioning the future of learning

2012-11-26T13:15:00.002+11:00

Ericsson released a new video that highlights descriptions of the future of learning by educational thinkers and enterpreneurs. The video critiques the current industrial-age conveyor-belt model of schooling and standardized testing. Innovations discussed in the video focus on technology-enhanced, adaptive, and mobile learning approaches.

Why education research should matter to educational practice

2012-11-16T15:40:00.000+11:00

Geek Manifesto (by Mark Henderson)
[Source: http://geekmanifesto.wordpress.com/about/]

Science journalist Mark Henderson's book "The Geek Manifesto - Why science matters" illustrates the importance of science for all aspects of society.

Chapter 7 refers to the connection between science and education. Here is a quick summary of the main points:
-Currently, schools do not pay enough attention to findings from science (e.g. brain research, cognitive science, or education research). Additionally, schools don't apply scientific methods themselves by systematically implementing promising changes in quasi-experimental setups.
Some positive examples:
-brain research suggested that teenagers brains (different from younger children or adults) work better later in the morning [Most schools still operate on the industrial-age model that treats early rising as a virtue]. A UK school who pushed the first lessons for teenagers back by an hour documented great improvement in attendance and test performance (The principal also noted that other factors might have contributed to these improvements).
-Research suggests that the ability for delayed reward and self-control (findings from the famous marshmallow experiments) are major predictors of success in life (along with IQ and socio-economic background). Role-playing exercises, martial arts, or yoga could help students learn accept delayed gratification.
-Research suggests that boys and girls learn differently, especially around puberty. Education could use these findings to create different tasks for boys and girls.

Henderson suggests that education research, similar to medical research, should implement exhaustive randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Currently, school reforms are often policy-driven (or driven by for-profit companies who are pushing their educational products) instead of evidence-driven. School reforms could use RCTs by gradually rolling out new initiatives in randomly chosen schools. Only after results from these first schools show positive effects will an initiative be implemented system-wide. Later adopters can serve as a control group for study.
In the medical profession, many doctors are also researchers. As practitioner-researchers they are in the best position to evaluate new methods or suggest new ideas based on their experience. It is not necessary that all teachers become action researchers, but that they are familiar with research methodologies, interested in participating in studies, and receptive to using findings of research in their practice. Teachers should be expected to keep up with recent developments and discuss them with their peers. Schools could set up "journal clubs" in which current scientific findings relevant to education can be discussed. Teachers need accessible academic literature to keep them informed of current findings.

School science often focuses on the product of science ("facts") but not on how these findings came to be (the process of science). Understanding the nature of science should become an central focus of the science curriculum to foster students' approaching problems in a scientific way, appreciate scientific findings in the media and being able to critically evaluate them (e.g. "correlation does not equal causation"). As Carl Sagan said in Demon-Haunted World: "If we teach only the findings and products of science - no matter how useful and inspiring they may be - without communicating its critical method, how can the average person possibly distinguish science from pseudoscience?". Science education should give students the mental tools to distinguish science (e.g. theory of evolution) from non-scientific views (e.g. intelligente design and creationism). Learning about philosophy of science requires teachers who have strong disciplinary knowledge and received appropriate training in philosophy of science.
Learning science requires time. K-12 education should extend the amount of time students learn about science. Additionally, students need early career advice to see the relevance of science for future jobs. School science should have strong connections to current scientific research, e.g. through field trips to laboratories, inviting scientists as guest speakers, connect to scientists as mentors for science projects, participate in citizen science projects.

Imagining the ideal teacher

2012-11-16T14:27:00.002+11:00

What would the characteristics of an "ideal" teacher be? As it is the nature of "ideals", they don't exist, but they can serve as inspirations and guidelines.

I imagine the ideal teacher to be involved in three different domains (see diagram above):
-Educator: Naturally, the first domain of a teacher is education.The ideal teacher has the knowledge and skills to create an inspiring and safe environment that facilitates learning. The ideal teacher knows and cares about the backgrounds of learners. Classroom and organizational management skills allow the ideal teacher to create a well structured learning environment in which student behaviour leads to positive and negative consequences. The ideal teacher has a clear understanding of educational goals and the curriculum.
-Practitioner: A master in an apprenticeship situation is a practitioner of his/her field. For example a master carpenter, master musician, or master athlete is an active member in a community of practitioners and can demonstrate desirable skills in practice. Teachers on the other hand often do not practice their own fields. The ideal teacher would practice his/her field, for example a history teacher would conduct historical research and publish on it, a language teacher would publish novels or poems, a science teacher would be involved in current scientific research projects, etc. The ideal teacher would use his/her mastery knowledge and skills to guide students towards increasing expertise and demonstrate the practical use of knowledge in a profession. Students can respect a person who is able to put theory into practice and demonstrate mastery in his/her field.
-Researcher: Currently, there is only a limited exchange between educational research and educational practice. Teachers have unique insights and understanding of current learning environments. The ideal teacher would act as an action researcher conducting research on how to improve the learning environment for his/her students and participate in larger educational research projects. The ideal teacher would be actively involved in the educational research community be publishing in journals and presenting at conferences.

Even an ideal teacher would not be able to be an educator, practitioner, and researcher without institutional support Teachers need adequate time, salaries, and financial support. The medical professions can serve as model for such teacher-practitioner-researchers. Medical doctors are expected and required to stay up-to-date with current research in their fields. Many doctors conduct research and are active members in research communities. Similarly, teachers should be given the opportunity to be researchers and practitioners, and such outstanding efforts should be adequately recognized. The ideal teacher is an artisan and a professional who skillfully designs learning environments. Overly restrictive top-down settings (such as standardized tests and standarized curricula) are a hindrance to the professional freedom of teachers.

To get ideal teachers, the whole system requires reform: Only highly qualified students would be selected into a teacher-training program. The teacher training program is comprehensive and prepares pre-service teachers to act as researchers and educators. Job conditions for in-service teachers are comparable to medical doctors. Junior in-service teacher receive systematic mentoring by more senior teachers and are part of supportive teacher communities (both offline and online). Schools recognize teachers' achievements as educators, researchers, and practitioners. Schools give teachers the time and support needed to succeed in all three areas.

"Ideal" teacher as described above already exist, but they are much too few in numbers. The goal is to change conditions to get more teachers to approximate the ideal teacher.

Job searching strategies for science education researchers

2012-11-06T18:54:00.000+11:00

Below are the slides of a short presentation I gave at the Institute for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (IISME) on the topic of how science education researchers can find jobs after graduation.

Understanding where new genes come from

2012-11-05T12:06:00.001+11:00

New mutation in DNA
[Image source: http://www.topnews.in/health/genetic-mutation-may-have-allowed-great-expansion-early-humans-216902]

Researchers from the University of California, Davis, und Uppsala University observed for the first time how new genes emerge.

In their model, a mutated copy of an existing gene first gains a weak function next to its primary function. If conditions change, the secondary function might become increasingly more important.

The researchers tested their model in the bacterium Salmonella and observed changes for over 3.000 generations.

The new model aims to explain how new functional genes emerge (given that cells have mechanisms in place to constantly remove mutations).

Read more here: Evolution of new genes captured

Imagining the classroom of 2030

2012-11-05T11:57:00.002+11:00

How will the classroom (or learning in general) of 2030 look like? This pannel discussion (comprised mostly of online-learning entrepreneurs) discusses some emerging trends.

Crowdsourcing book publishing

2012-10-26T13:21:00.000+11:00

UK-based company Unbound is a crowdfunding company for book publishing. Similar to kickstarter, authors pitch their book ideas directly to you. If you back a project before it reaches its funding target, you get your name printed in the back of every copy and immediate behind-the-scenes access to the author’s shed. If any project fails to hit its funding target, you get refunded in full.

Open access academic publishing

2012-10-26T12:54:00.001+11:00

The traditional academic publishing process is flawed. Tax-money funded research is published in journals that are only available through very expensive subscriptions. The public gets charged twice (for the research and access to the publications). Research should be made more accessible so it can be used for decision-making and further research.

You can learn about open access academic publishing at Open Access Week: http://www.openaccessweek.org/

You can get open access to scientific publications here:

Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.doaj.org/home
The Public Library of Science (PLoS): http://www.plos.org/

The video below, illustrated by Jorge Cham from PhD Comics, discusses some of the main elements of the open access debate: