–This article took some effort for me to grasp but it’s worth it.
The principle is called the power principle or “what comes first, using it or ‘getting it’?” The natural mode of acquiring most knowledge is through use leading to progressively deepening understanding. Only in school, and especially in SME is this order systematically inverted. The power principle re-inverts the inversion.
Induction and deduction are pervasive elements in critical thinking. They are also somewhat misunderstood terms. Arguments based on experience or observation are best expressed inductively, while arguments based on laws or rules are best expressed deductively. Most arguments are mainly inductive. In fact, inductive reasoning usually comes much more naturally to us than deductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning moves from specific details and observations to the more general underlying principles or process that explains them (e.g., Newton’s Law of Gravity). It is open-ended and exploratory, especially at the beginning. The premises of an inductive argument are believed to support the conclusion, but do not ensure it. Thus, the conclusion of an induction is regarded as a hypothesis. In the Inductive method, also called the scientific method, observation of nature is the authority.
In contrast, deductive reasoning typically moves from general truths to specific conclusions.
—Nice article on data and journalism. This would be a good resource not only for techniques and data sets but a solid real world opportunity to have students interacting with and reporting using these skills.
This is a much undervalued skill – with many journalists simply outsourcing it to research departments and work experience students. You can’t imagine doing that with key interviews for a crucial piece, yet key facts are often treated appallingly. You can do worse than start with http://www.guardian.co.uk/data – we’ve already done the work of identifying and cleaning up hundreds of datasets from carbon emissions, via crime rates to Bafta winners. Alternatively, I have a Delicious feed where I link to datasets – you can find that at http://www.delicious.com/smfrogers
Albemarle student media blog- worth checking out.
–some good simple stuff here on “thinking routines” which is similar to the “habits of mind” referenced in some of our TIPC stuff
Another way to make thinking visible is to surface the many opportunities for thinking during subject matter learning. Thinking routines are helpful tools in this process. Thinking routines are simple patterns of thinking that can be used over and over again and folded easily into learning in the subject areas. They have a public nature, so that they make thinking visible, and students quickly get used to them (Ritchhart, 2002).
If anyone is looking to build for mobile platforms this looks pretty solid—-
PhoneGap is an open source implementation of open standards. That means developers and companies can use PhoneGap for mobile applications that are free, commercial, open source, or any combination of these. The PhoneGap project will always remain free and open source under an MIT license.
I’m thinking this would make for a nice entry into a discussion of planets. It forces the point that revolving around the sun isn’t the only defining factor involved in determining if something is a planet etc. etc.
It’s worth listening to Gardner’s talk on the personal cyberinfrastructure. If you’d prefer the audio only, let me know.