TEDx Lansing 2012

Last week I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.  After posting links to a few different TED talks here on my blog, I took part of a day to attend the Lansing TED conference.  TED originally started as Technology, Entertainment, and Design, but has extended over its nearly thirty years into education, environmentalism, science, and social improvement.  The premise of TED is “ideas worth spreading”.  The purpose is to give radical, original thinkers 18 minutes to articulate their idea to inspire human improvement to an audience of like-minded souls who are prone to enact those ideas in their own environments, professional, personal, or community.  Sound like my kind of stuff or what?

Here are some highlights of the talks that spoke to me and public education:

Terry Link – “One Planet, One Family, One Future”

Terry admitted what so many leaders won’t these days.

• The future is uncertain and will bring complexity beyond our comprehension.
• Learning must be social and adaptable.
• We must free our imaginations and question our contradictions.

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Jim Luke – “Will Plato Hack the iPad?”

Jim, an econ professor, scared me at first with his opinions of technology, then made it practical.

• Bill Gates, Salmon Kahn, and Pearson Education are “telling, not teaching”
• Teaching is interactive, involves individual’s schema, relationships, and synthesizing
• Metaphors: Mom’s Homecooked Meal Education (Lessons planned for the masses; this is what I made, so this is what you’ll learn. Flipped classrooms, etc.) vs. McDonald’s Education (a lot of quantity, a little substance, and pick what you like)
• Jim’s Preferred Metaphor: Potluck Education (Teachers learn their students, then used technology to create a wide menu of content crafted for each student.)
• Stories and dialogue are strong learning tools:  “Those who tell the stories rule society.”
• When everyone can create and tell their own stories, we will be closer to independence, equality, and personalized leadership.

Stephen Thomas – “The Comic Book: Mild-mannered Amusement by Day, Educational Superhero by Night”

Stephen, a zoology professor, examined brain-based research on using graphics to communicate scientific content.

• Scientists talk brain to brain; the rest of us don’t
• Emotional connections are stronger than brain connection
• Visual representations promote higher-order thinking; when combined with text inference increases and cognitive load decreases
• Narrative and importance of a story; connections lead to interest lead to understanding
• The arts improve learning in science; research shows a high correlation of Nobel Science Prize winners who also showed high aptitude in the arts

These are just my takeaway notes for some ideas worth discussing in education.  If any interest you, the TEDx Lansing talks will be posted online soon.  Stand by for details!