Category Archives: Creativity

Perspective shift

So, a great deal of thought and blogspace, even time at conferences, goes into such topics as “PBL” (problem-based learning), “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”, and “21st-century learning” (which is either self-evident or means so many different things to … Continue reading

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Algorithms, programs, and robots

As I read emails about improving customer service with better software and similar things, I am coming to agree with the conventional wisdom (though it’s not phrased this way) that the more algorithmic your work is, the more likely you … Continue reading

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Just read Thomas Friedman’s column of that name in today’s New York Times.  Guess I have to read the book of Gladwell’s to which he refers, but… I suppose you could say I’ve stayed at St. John’s so long because … Continue reading

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Would that….

this article had come out 25 or 30 years ago…. http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/03/06/teaching-the-last-backpack-generation/ It’s both gratifying and annoying to see that what I’ve been doing in some way for the last at least 25 years, probably my whole career, but I may … Continue reading

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Another kind of summer

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more dangerous by far. The sun can merely burn my skin Your kisses burn my soul. My adoration boils out fierce Like sweat drawn from my pores. At night, instead … Continue reading

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Laziness

A friend of mine in college was writing me his take on what he used to call laziness. I thought I would share my response. ———————————- I see I didn’t address your point about laziness.  I think for creative people, … Continue reading

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New Year’s Thoughts

Seemed like an appropriate time for some thoughts from Whitehead on education:   Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilization of knowledge. In education, the broad primrose path. . . is represented by a book or a … Continue reading

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AMA (11.15.12)

“Why do people like symmetric things? What’s a cardioid? Why does the Fibonacci sequence show up in plants? What makes e so special?” There aren’t unequivocal answers to the first and third ones, but some speculations are more reasonable than … Continue reading

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Math and English

One of the vocab quizzes from the previous post talked about how the student preferred math to English because math produced “objective answers.”  When I shared that quiz with some other folks, it produced an interesting exchange. Stanford student:  Good … Continue reading

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A little comic relief

The two passages below are vocab quizzes from two of my students.  The control of tone is especially fine, I think, since although there are some obvious exaggerations, you can’t always be sure what is at least semi-serious and what … Continue reading

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