Every year parents and kids prepare themselves for exams. Especially for those facing those big exams. Nevertheless, sometimes parents can get carried away and are already stressing out their kids tests from the first year of school. But are exams and tests that are really going to help our kids equip themselves with life skills such as problem solving, teamwork, creativity and develop character like patience, courage, discipline. Exams and tests are great for imparting knowledge and perhaps technical skills but whats important is how are they able to use those knowledge and skill in the real world, when they start going to work and when they leave their parents home and try to make a life for themselves.
Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
During #TEDEdChat, Sonya Sharififard (@ssharififard) co-hosts on inspiring leadership in the classroom. Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education — the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize our thinking.
When we think about our childrens education, we also need to think about what are the skills that they will need in their future when they are in their working years.
A lot of times we cannot look at the current job market requirements because in ten years many things could change. Especially with the advancement of technology, it would have change they way people work in ten years time.
…five years from now, over one third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed.World Economic Forum
We need to teach our kids design thinking that nurtures both creativity and critical thinking around complex challenges. In that way, they can develop core skills for the future workplace.
Design thinking comprises three core approaches to education:
Design thinking aims to improve student's empathy, their comfort with ambiguity and their ability to resolve conflicting ideas through solutions that are stronger than individual ideas.
Read the full article from World Economic Forum here
How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly, multitask.
Daphne Bavelier is a professor at the University of Geneva, who studies cognitive neuroscience. Watch this TEDx talk.
This video was published on 19th November 2012.
Well, I guess I'm off to go play some Call of Duty.
Can we learn from playing video games? Watch this video and see how we video games can be use in learning.
Play World of Warcraft to learn about cross functional teams in real life work environment
James Gee is an American researcher who has worked in psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and literacy. Gee is currently the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University, originally appointed there in the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. Gee is a faculty affiliate of the Games, Learning, and Society group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is a member of the National Academy of Education.
Remember the survey conducted by JobStreet? It as about how employers were asked why it was hard for fresh graduates to get hired and the top cited reason by 68% of respondents was that fresh graduates ask for unrealistic salaries and benefits. Well, it is understandable that their expectations was driven by the higher cost of living. There are other matters to be considered. And the main issue are the skill gap from a graduate to an employee.
In general there are many stages in life from childhood, to the teen years, to adulthood and finaly our retirement years.
When it comes to education, children have clear and straightforward transition. In Malaysia, kids start off in pre-school for 2 or 3 years depending on when their parents want them to start. Then comes their primary education which takes six years. Children usually start primary education at the age of seven. At the end of year 6, they will sit for the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR). Students then go in to Secondary school for 5 years (form 1 to form 5) with a test at end of form 3 (PMR) and form 5 (SPM). Then to be able to further their studies to college and universities, they can either go into form 6 to take the pre-university examination (STPM) or, the shorter and prefered route, matriculation programme or foundation studies or A-Level. Then off they go to universities or colleges with a major of their choice.
However, after that, there is usually the tougher decisions when it comes to their first job. A well-informed graduate will probably know what they want to do in life. For many of them, they may not even be equipped to start in the workforce.
An article from from forbes.com highlights several missing skills most sought of in fresh graduate. Here are the summaries.
Hard Skills
Soft Skills
Hope this post has been informative. As a parent myself, we need to equip our children not just with academic qualification but the necessary life skills to succeed in life and be able to contribute to society.
Curiosity is a strong desire to learn or know something—a search for information for its own sake.Character Lab
When was the last time you were curious about something? Curiosity is the critical ingredient in learning. Without being curious we would not have the desire to find out more.
There are three answers to a yes/no question. "Yes", "No" and "I don't know".Dr. Jon Baron
There was a research about active, open-minded thinking (AOT), which encourages us to seek new information. We need to review how we are educating our children. Are their formative years filled only with maths and science? Or are we allowing them to be curious and explore and ask questions?
Children are naturally curious. My five and nine year old are constantly asking me "why?" or "what is that?" At time I am tempted to just tell them to stop asking so many question. Then I remember that it is good to be curious and I will always try to answer their question and explain. At the same time to also ask them what do they think.
Collaboration. Communication. Critical thinking. Creativity. - Should be present in all classrooms.
Joe Ruhl received his bachelors and masters degrees at Purdue University and he has been sharing the joys of biology with kids for 37 years. He presently teaches Biology, Genetics, and Science Research courses at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana. Joe and his wife Gail have two children and two grandchildren. The National Association of Biology Teachers named Joe Ruhl the Outstanding Biology Teacher of Indiana in 1987. In 1988 he was awarded a Golden Apple Teaching Award by the Lafayette, Indiana Chamber of Commerce. In 1989 he was honored at the White House as Indiana’s recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. In 1996 he received the Purdue University College of Science Distinguished Alumnus Award for Excellence in K-12 Science Teaching. In 2004 he was awarded the Purdue College of Education’s Crystal Apple Teaching Award. And in 2012 he was honored with the Shell National Science Teaching Award.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Students are the future, but what's the future for students? To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing world, we need to revolutionize what it means to learn. 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, are redefining how we engage young minds for a creatively and technologically-advanced future. Which of these eduvators holds the key for unlocking the learning potential inside every student?