ATTN: iPad users! If this post doesn’t display properly, with all its nifty graphic and text links, try here. Stuart’s workshop on Visual Learning and Story Telling in Early Childhood Education will take place on Friday, January 27, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., in Room 192C, West Building, McCormick Place. Hope to see you there!
Posts Tagged ‘Visual Learning’
Project Noah: Taking Attendance on the Ark
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
by J. A. Ginsburg
on the inspirations of childhood, why many heads are better than one; the nature / tech connection; & visual learning and science
- a crowdsourced nature guide
When Project Noah’s, “Chief Leaf,” Yassar Ansari was a boy, he was fascinated by reptiles and amphibians, keeping many in his room—much to his mom’s dismay. “It kept her out,” he recalls with a laugh. Although wise enough to humor her nature-loving son’s penchant for the scaled, spined, slimy and cold-blooded, she never could have guessed where his interests would eventually lead.
Fast-forward a few decades and Ansari, now armed with degrees in molecular biology and bioinformatics, finds himself at a career crossroads after stints the Salk Institute’s genome analysis lab and at telcos Qualcomm and Kyocera (where he worked on everything from hand-held radiation detectors to mobile gaming apps). So it’s off to the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, a.k.a.,“an Alice in Wonderland version of graduate school. It is the kind of place where Photocell 200K light sensors are stocked in the vending machine along with more traditional geek gorp. It is where techies go to dream.
“I took a class called ‘Social Activism Using Mobile Technology,’ where we were asked, ‘What are our causes?’ I really wanted to use mobile technology for a more meaningful purpose. I wanted to build something that was based on impact. Impact as the bottom line,” says Ansari.
His “big hairy audacious goal”? Creating a “common platform for recording all the world’s organisms.” Project Noah (Networked Organism and Habitats), the world’s biggest crowdsourced nature guide, was born. He had come full circle, determined to spark in others the same kind of wonder that his bedroom menagerie had sparked in him.
What began as a glimmer in Ansari’s eye in early 2010 is now available as a free app for smart phone (iPhone and Android), which has been downloaded over 100,000 times. While many use the site as a resource, nearly 24,000 photos have been uploaded by “citizen scientists” —including some from a class of second grader beta testers in Maine. And no less a “wow!” than National Geographic has come on board as an investor. Even more of a “wow!,” staff from the National Geographic regularly peruse the sight and about once a week choose a photograph to hare with five and half million Facebook fans.
Project Noah is still very much in its early stages (the search function on the website will, no doubt, improve), but the rallying cry of “No Child Left Inside!” is a siren song. This isn’t just about the world beyond the classroom: This is the world as a classroom. This is students as scientists, making observations in the field and sharing them in ways that simply weren’t possible before. Now, anyone anywhere can contribute data points of genuine value to researchers.
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(credit: PopTech / summer 2010)_____________________
Although envisioned as a mobile app, you actually don’t need a smart phone to contribute to Project Noah. Just sign on to the website and you can upload photos from computer files. You don’t even to know the name of what you’re looking at to contribute. Experts surf the site to help fill in the blanks. Just do your best to describe what something looks like, where it’s located, the time of day, the weather: Every details helps.
Also, unlike traditional field guides that focus solely on plant / animal identification, Project Noah can be used to analyze changes over time for specific species or areas. For example, a class could document all kinds of details about what’s “growing on” in a school garden or nearby park. Plants, of course, but also insects, worms, squirrels, rabbits, dogs and cats, too. When did the first bloom appear? When did the last leaf fall? Even in the middle of a city, it is possible to nurture a deep and textured relationships with Nature. Who knows? The next E.O. Wilson could be one of your students!
Select "Local" in the Field Guide section and see everything that's been tagged in your area. I uploaded a description of a daffodil near Northwestern University. Click on the photo and you can view a close-up. That's a LOT of data in your pocket!
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FISH, SCHOOLS, CROWDS & NETWORKS
One after another, the educator / presenters at TEDxNYED last month hammered home three messages about modern education:
- To succeed, indeed survive, in the 21st century, students must learn how to collaborate and network, and to sift through, sort and connect-the-dots from gushers of information.
- It is no longer about teaching children how to be taught, but teaching them how to be learners
- Technology is not a gee-whiz add-on—digital frosting to the analog cake of basic learning—but part and parcel of daily life for nearly all 7 billion people on the planet, rich and poor, urban and rural. It is how we function, almost as basic as breathing.
They could just as well have been talking about scientists. Social network tools are not only changing the way they work, but in many cases turbocharging it.
When a team from the Smithsonian recently found themselves at the Guyana border with an urgent need to identify 5,000 specimen fish quickly in order to secure an export permit, they uploaded thousands of photographs and called on their ichthyologist Facebook friends for help:
In less than 24 hours, this approach identified approximately 90 percent of the posted specimens to at least the level of genus, revealed the presence of at least two likely undescribed species, indicated two new records for Guyana and generated several loan requests. The majority of people commenting held a Ph.D. in ichthyology or a related field, and hailed from a great diversity of countries including the United States, Canada, France, Switzerland, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.
Now there is even a special network, a “Facebook for scientists,” called ResearchGate. Boasting nearly a million users so far, it promises a new way to reach out beyond the lab cubicle to others working on similar issues around the globe. Scientists can post research papers and send out inquiries. Although it doesn’t replace the richness of conferences with old fashioned in-person networking, panel discussions and poster sessions, it makes it easier for researchers to connect with colleagues outside their fields. Biologists can reach out to chemists, and geologists to structural engineers. New paths for collaboration are possible.
To paraphrase Ratatouille’s wise if ghostly chef Gusteau: Anyone can do science. Observe. Recognize. Interpret. Perceive. Express Ideas. Again and again and again. Visual learning skills are science skills (which delights us no end here at vizlearning…). The collective power of millions of new smart phone and digital camera “eyes,” connected by new digital platforms and social networks, means we can know more about more and faster than ever before.
So what are you waiting for? It’s Spring. Earth Day week, in fact. Go out there and pay attention!
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RELATED READING / VIEWING
“Earth Day—Hooray!” / vizlearning archives
“Eco-Comedy / Eco-Tragedy” / J.A. Ginsburg, TrackerNews editor’s blog
“What the hell is that?” / Steve Martin & Bill Murray, Saturday Night Live (video)
NCTM 2011: Teacher Mathfest in Indy!
Monday, April 11th, 2011
by J. A. Ginsburg
Spring is in the air and if you happen to be of a math teacher, that is particularly welcome news. Yes, flowers, sun and warmth, but also the season of NCTM, a.k.a. math teacher heaven!
From April 13 though 16, thousands will gather for the annual National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference held this year in Indianapolis. The toughest problem? How to fit in as many of the 650+ presentations as possible.
We, of course, hope you can make it Stuart’s talk on Thursday, April 14: See the Math! Sharpening the Definition of Visual Learning Practice (Convention Center Hall F/G).
I have long defined visual learning as how students acquire information from graphs, charts, diagrams and other visual stimuli. That definition still holds. But after years of practical application and ongoing research, the time has come to redefine visual learning according to the benefits that it provides.
High quality visual learning practices support:
- Mathematical Practices of Common Core State Standards
- Development of critical intervention strategies
- Differentiating classroom instruction
Visual learning is a powerful teaching tool!
And what better way to demonstrate than to feature real classroom projects? We will look at several wonderful and creative examples provided by teachers Cindy Cliche, Cathy Kuhns, Marrie Lassater and Dr. Kim Mueller; and by librarian Debbie Diaz from the Beijing City International School. (MathStart in China? Yes!... )
Stuart will also be signing books:
- at the EAI Education booth on Thursday morning, 4/14, from 10 to 11 a.m., and Friday morning, 4/15, from 9:30 to 10: 30 a.m.
- at the Pearson Education booth Friday afternoon, 4/15, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
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Recently, we updated the MathStart website. Now there are pdf activity pages for all 63 books!
Check out the “MathStart Book of the Day!” feature on Stuart’s new Facebook page and Twitter updates @vizlearning.
We also revamped our free e-newsletter and are rebuilding the mailing list from scratch. Please sign up and spread the word! Thanks!
And be sure to check out the fabulous new show, The Main Street Kids’ Club: A MathStart Musical! It was adapted by director Scott (“School House Rock Live!”) Ferguson through a workshop class at Northwestern University. Perfect for school tours and regional theatre productions—so get out your dancing shoes!
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ALSO AT NCTM:
- Movies and math: always a good combo. Jeffrey Travis, director of the new IMAX 3-D movie Flatland: The Movie, will show clips at the opening session, Wednesday, April 13, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in Convention Center Hall F:
A Puppy Named Pickle
Thursday, December 16th, 2010by Stuart J. Murphy
On happier, healthier, more confident children, being inspired by children, imaginary dogs, fancy doghouses, map games and the wonderful Pre-K class at Snyder-Girotti Elementary!
What would you name your puppy if he happened to be green? “Why he looks just like a pickle!” said Emma’s grandfather. So Pickle he became.
Pickle is Emma’s oldest friend. When she was very little and just learning how to walk, Pickle was right there, wagging his tail, cheering her on. When they moved to See-and-Learn City, he stayed by her side, helping her unpack and settle into their new room. My story, “Emma’s Friendwich,” is about how they learn to make new friends. After a while, Emma had lots of friends. Pickle did, too.
In “Freda Plans a Picnic,” Pickle get to tag along with Emma and play with Percy and Ajay, some of her schoolmates from Ready Set Pre-K. They even bring him a special treat!
These are two of the first books in the I See I Learn ® series (Charlesbridge). Each book focuses on a different skill—for example, how to make a friend, or planning and sequencing— which are important not only for school, but as life skills. “For happier, healthier, more confident children” is our tagline, and our mission.
ON PETS, PROPS, GRANDCHILDREN & INSPIRATION
Children (and I count myself among them) love to read about pets and make up stories about pets. This past summer, our two granddaughters, Maddie and Camille, took pet storytelling to a whole new level. They really really want a dog, and had even picked out a name: Clementine!
Camille and Maddie and Clemetine's dog house
One day, Maddie and Camille saw me unpack a large dehumidifier. Maddie immediately asked, “Can I have the box, Grandpa? It would make a nice house for Clementine.” A few days later, the house had windows with a window box for flowers, a door and a sign over the door that read “Clementine.” The walls were painted beautiful colors and there was a mailbox on the side.
Over the next few weeks, Clementine received mail almost every day. She had letters from neighborhood dogs telling her how they couldn’t wait to meet her. She even received a postcard from a dog on vacation. There was also an invitation to a doggy birthday party! Maybe one day the tale of Clementine will become a book.
I get most of my story ideas from children. While watching one of my grandson Jack’s baseball games, I noticed some younger children nearby trying to learn how to throw a ball. That’s how I got the idea to write “Good Job, Ajay!,” a story about a boy who learns about confidence as he tries and tries again to throw a ball well.
Children also like to read about playing—at the beach, at school, at the park—anywhere!. It is really important, though, that they learn how to play safely, so no one gets hurt accidentally. That’s why I wrote “Percy Plays It Safe.”
VISUAL LEARNING
Each of the first four titles in the I See I Learn ® series focuses on different learning domain—Social, Emotional, Health and Safety and Cognitive— but they all use visual learning strategies to help teach specific skills. Most of the young children for whom the books are intended are pre-readers, but they are accomplished visual learners.
I have spent my entire career working in the field of visual learning and education, studying how information is effectively conveyed and received using charts, graphs, models, and pictures. The visual learning strategies used in I See I Learn™ include symbolic icons, picture diagrams, visual sequences, and graphic models. Each book also includes a special two-page section at the end of the story called “A Closer Look,” which features a graphic recap of the story’s key point and a series of “higher order” questions to reinforce the learning (no simple “yes” or “no” answers!).
Camille, Ajay, Pickle, Emma, Carlos, Freda & Percy
THE GANG’S ALL HERE
In addition to Freda, Percy, Ajay and Emma, and, of course, Pickle, Carlos and Camille round out the Ready Set Pre-K friends.
Yes, this Camille is named after my youngest granddaughter! My older grandchildren have books “starring” a namesake character from my first series, MathStart: “Jack the Builder” and “Mighty Maddie.” Then along came Camille… Sometimes being last has its perks. Camille doesn’t just have one book, but is part of a whole series. Lucky Camille!
All of the I See I Learn ® children live in See-and-Learn-City. The love to play at Stay and Play Park and build sand castles at Friendly Waves Beach. Story time at Read-a-lot library is so much fun! And they adore Miss Cathy, their wonderful teacher.
See-and-Learn City: Each book includes a map, which is lots of fun for games: Where does Freda live? Can you find Duck Duck Goose Pond? Who lives just up the street from Carlos? Where's Ready Set Pre-K?
Now, back to Pickle! I was thinking that maybe Pickle should send a note to Clementine. But Maddie and Camille now have a real dog…named Bella! I bet Pickle would share some picnic treats.
Reading "I See I Learn" books to Pre-K class at Snyder-Girotti Elementary in Pennsylvania - Fun!
*An earlier version of this post first appeared on Charlesbridge Publishers’ “Unabridged” blog
Visual Learning, Emotional Intelligence and Mirror Neurons
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010by J.A. Ginsburg
On links between empathy & civilization, IQ & EQ, young children and why “I See I Learn” books work
When a baby first opens her eyes onto the world, not only does she begin to take in visual information, she uses it. Smile and she will try to smile, too. Stick out your tongue and she will stick hers out right back. By two months, she is so good at sorting visual information, she has a “memory picture” of her Mother and is able to tell her apart from all other women. By age one, she begins to recognize graphic imagery. And by age three, crayons in hand, she is busily giving Picasso a run for his money.
We are natural born visual learners. Remarkably, almost the entire human brain is devoted either directly to vision, or tied into it in some way. Although the loss of any of our senses would be devastating, vision, by far, is our dominant sense, integral to how we learn to function in the world and how we learn to interact with others.
So rooted is sight in our experience, we say, “Seeing is believing.” But it is even more than that. Through a system anchored by a web of special nerve cells called mirror neurons, seeing is intricately connected to feeling, to empathy. It allows us to imagine what it is is like be in someone else’s shoes, anticipate consequences and work together in groups.
“We are apparently ’softwired,’” notes author Jeremy Rifkin. “If I am observing you – your anger, your sense of frustration, your joy, whatever it is – I can feel what you’re doing. The same neurons will light up in me as if I am having the experience myself.”
In a suitably and brilliantly visual manner, Rifkin goes on to explain in this video that, “…research suggests that we are not softwired not for aggression, violence, self-interest and utilitarianism. We are actually softwired for attachment, sociability, affection, companionship. The first drive is actually the drive to belong. It’s an empathic drive.”
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IQ & EQ
Notably, at about the same age our example child is starting to express herself through drawings, the development of her mirror neuron circuitry is hitting critical mass and she is starting to feel the first stirrings of empathy as well. This is the beginning of prime “teachable moment” for social and emotional skills.
It is also the time when parents and teachers often see the first signs of autism in children. This is no mere coincidence. According to a 2005 study published “Nature: Neuroscience,” UCLA researchers discovered that children with autism had malfunctioning mirror neuron systems. When autistic children were shown photographs of people displaying different emotions, they were able to accurately identify the emotions verbally, but their mirror neurons failed to fire. The children also showed reduced activity in areas of the brain associated with emotion. Over the last five years, this has been a hot area of study, with indications that early intervention can help some children on the autism disorder spectrum develop the neurobiological wiring they otherwise lack.
Mirror neurons are at the intersection of IQ and what’s called “EQ” – a measure of emotional intelligence.
The ramifications go beyond understanding autism, to understanding the foundations of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Although we know it is important to help prepare young children for school – and for life – by teaching them the alphabet, how to count (along with other early math skills), and by reading together with them, the common assumption is that SEL skills are intuitive and don’t require any special nurturing.
Wrong.
Not only are SEL skills just as critical as academic skills, children with good SEL skills do better in school. Academic achievement and SEL “smarts” go hand in hand. In survey after survey, kindergarten and first grade teachers note that unless children know how to control their emotions, taking turns and work together in groups, it is almost impossible to teach them anything. EQ improves IQ.
Psychologist Roger Weissberg, a found director of CASEL, Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning at the University of Illinois at Chicago, points out that children with good SEL skills are better able to overcome obstacles, which translates into a sort of “academic tenacity”: They have the confidence to know that eventually they can succeed. Likewise, children with good self-control are less likely to get into fights or do drugs:
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I SEE I LEARN BOOKS
Stuart’s new I See I Learn series is designed to build on this natural fit between visual learning and young children, combining simple stories with illustrations that draw on various visual learning strategies. Although each story focuses on one of four domains – Social skills, Emotional skills, Heath and Safety skills and Cognitive skills – there is a little of each in every book. At this early stage in life, when all the “wiring” is starting to come together, the boundaries between IQ and EQ skills blur: It is all of a piece.
“Freda Plans a Picnic,” for example, is a book about sequencing, a cognitive skills. The picnic itself – a gathering of friends – is a social event. “Percy Plays It Safe” focuses on playground safety, but playing successfully in a group requires self-regulation, an emotional skill.
Each book also includes a special two-page section called “A Closer Look,” which combines a visual summary of the story’s key learning points, along with several questions to help parents / teachers / caregivers extend the learning beyond the book and into daily life.
The first four I See I Learn books will begin shipping to book stores and libraries in July. For Pre-orders & email alerts write to orders@charlesbridge.com, or call 800.225.3214
Booksellers & Librarians: ISIL books are available through Baker & Taylor, Ingram and, of course, all your favorite local wholesalers, too!
Stuart J. Murphy's "I See I Learn" books available in bookstores and libraries beginning in July!
RELATED READING / VIEWING / RESOURCES / NOTES
- “The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis” by Jeremy Rifkin (book website)
- “‘The Empathic Civilization’: Rethinking Human Nature in the Biosphere Era” by Jeremy Rifkin / Huffington Post
- “The Mirror Neuron Revolution: Explaining What Makes Humans Social” interview with neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni / Scientific American
- “EQ Meets IQ: An Interview with Roger Weissberg” / Edutopia (video)
- “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman (book)
- “Social Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman (book)
- “Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me: The Top 25 Friendship Problems and How to Solve Them” by Michele Borba (book)
If you're in Bologna... San Vitale 98/b
Nuts? That’s what Jeremy Rifkin says a scientist was nibbling when the brain activity of a macaque watching the scientist – while wired to an MRI – triggered a burst of static on a computer, which led to the discovery of mirror neurons. Others say it was ice-cream, which, of course, was probably gelato, since the lab was in Parma, Italy. In his book, Mirroring People, neuroscientist Marco Iacobani says Vittorio Gallese, the researcher, actually doesn’t remember what he was eating. Personally, I like the gelato option. M’mmmm. I am at Gelatauro in Bologna on a late spring day, sitting in the little courtyard with a two-euro cup of heaven: pistachio, pumpkin spice and ginger gelato. Ah that zenzero! I can see it! I can just about taste it! How about you? Are your mirror neurons firing yet?
Computers as a Social Event: Sugata Mitra, Peer Learning, Visual Learning & Toddler Techies
Monday, February 22nd, 2010by J. A. Ginsburg
In 1999, Sugata Mitra, a chief scientist at NIIT, a large IT training and education company in India, did something remarkable: He punched a hole in wall separating his company’s headquarters from a slum and installed a computer facing out. Within a few hours, curious children, all poor, started to crowd around, playing with the keyboard, teaching themselves and then their friends how it worked. “The Hole in the Wall” experiment was off to an auspicious start:
Mitra was just warming up. Over the next 20+ years, similar computer set ups were installed all over India. Even in rural areas where English wasn’t the primary language, children quickly mastered the basics through peer-learning.
Which, it turns out, is exactly what’s happening in Pre-K classrooms across the U.S.
As part of ongoing research for the new Stuart J. Murphy’s I See I Learn series (launching later this year!), we regularly talk with teachers and administrators about daily classroom life and needs. Computer literacy has become such a vital skill, computers are actually required to secure top ranking in Florida’s UPK program (Universal Pre-K). No matter how strapped a school’s budget, it seems at least of couple of laptops, often “vintage,” are available for the children.
And just like their counterparts halfway around the world, they gather around the screen, trying to make to make sense of the magic box.
Describes one veteran teacher in Texas:
I find these children are unbelievably computer literate. Their biggest struggle at first is manipulating the mouse. The software we use usually attracts a crowd, with several children participating. There may be one child using the mouse, but it’s a collaborative effort. It’s not ever just one child sitting with headsets on doing something quietly by himself. The computer is a social event.
TECH-SAVVY TODDLERS
Of course, in The Age of the Touchscreen, who needs a mouse?
New York Times writer Brad Stone, opens his story on “Children of CyberSpace” with vignette of two-year daughter holding his Kindle, casually identifying it as “Daddy’s book.” It dawns on him that his little cherub doesn’t view tech with the sort miraculous awe of her elders. For her the miracles are simply part of the way things are, from long distance video calls via skype, to phones that are really toys full of amusing “apps.”
…I’ve begun to think that my daughter’s generation will also be utterly unlike those that preceded it.
Researchers are exploring this notion too. They theorize that the ever-accelerating pace of technological change may be minting a series of mini-generation gaps, with each group of children uniquely influenced by the tech tools available in their formative stages of development.
“People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences.”
One obvious result is that younger generations are going to have some very peculiar and unique expectations about the world. My friend’s 3-year-old, for example, has become so accustomed to her father’s multitouch iPhone screen that she approaches laptops by swiping her fingers across the screen, expecting a reaction.
As Pickle the dog (you’ll be meeting him soon) would say…
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
- Much to Sugata Mitra’s surprise, “The Hole in the Wall” was the inspiration for Vikas Swarup’s book, “Q & A,” which was adapted to become the film, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
- “Slumdog Inspiration” - CNN video
- “‘Slumdog Milionairre’ inspiration Sugata Mitra talks about the movie” - interview with Dads-space.com
- Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education - TED talk, July 2010
