Meta-Mentoring

Having your ice cream and eating it too

2009-08-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

Aian and Marcky made Vanilla Ice Cream based on these recipe. The experiment demonstrated the ability of ice when mixed with salt to absorb the heat from the mixture (of milk, cream, milk and vanilla flavor) faster and thus turn it into ice cream! (Dated: November 7, 2008)

For good "measure"

Getting the mixture right.

Squeezin the more icey ice cream.

Aian and Marcky enjoying vanilla ice cream.

-2 deg Centigrade.

HSG on Multiply.com

2009-04-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

You may wish to visit Headway School for Giftedness' Official Website too. Click here.

Just thought I'd share Twitter updates @headwayschool

2009-04-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

by SayTweet • view this

An 8-year old boy solves an algebraic equation

2009-04-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

Seen this before. Still makes me wonder.

Boy's name is Eric. So does that mean Algebra can be taught in Grade 2?

Now this is innovative

2009-04-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

... don't you think so?

This serves as an announcement

2009-04-16T16:01:00.001-07:00

Headway School for Giftedness has an online education portal in edu20.org. (Click on above image to get there.)

"What big plans we have!", one might ask. "The better to involve kids in 21st century learning with", we might respond.

May we find a deeper meaning in this ...

2009-04-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

towards more fortitude, resourcefulness, originality, loyalty, initiative and compassion.

Happy Passover and Easter, World!

This casual game could be useful for education

2009-04-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

Type the letters and numbers as they appear on the screen. Use the spacebar as panic button.

Are you a helicopter parent?

2009-04-03T16:22:00.001-07:00

Quiz: Are You a Helicopter Parent?

"Perhaps it's time to mind the rotor?"

Helicopter Parenting describes parents who hover over their children and become too involved in their lives, including interfering in college or career decisions later in life. Are you headed in this direction with your child? Take our quiz to find out if you're hovering too much already.

View >>

Bright Child | Gifted Learner | Creative Learner

2009-03-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Perhaps for most of us, a bright child and a gifted learner are one and the same. But there are some subtle differences.

Thus between a bright child and a gifted learner, the former is a good memorizer, the latter a good guesser. One is attentive, the other is mentally and physically involved.

More from Janice Szabos here.

Now as to creative learners, perhaps they may not even be on the same page.

Image credits: http://www.bertiekingore.com/

I think that's called "asynchronous learning"?

On Motivation and Creativity

2009-03-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

Twyla Tharp weighs in.

As one commenter puts it: "Just create for the sake of creating, not for those other things, success, dollars etc."

No excuse for "teachers"

2009-03-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

... to make authentic learning happen. Take it from Alan November.

What's the antonym of love?

2009-03-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

Image credits: via Chiqui M. (flowgram.com)

But isn't it indifference?

NASA Channel

2009-03-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

NASA TV

free TV online on INNER-LIVE.COM

Perhaps you'll understand why we don't watch TV like we used to.

What is giftedness?

2009-03-03T04:24:00.000-08:00

Image credits: http://www.shulamit.info/

Linda Silverman, Ph.d. weighs in:

"There is so much confusion about the meaning of this term, and so much denial, that the most gifted people reject the notion of being gifted."

Self-awarenes seems to be a good place to start. More here.

By the way, in case you are curious about the funnel and cylinder metaphor, please follow Shulamit Widawsky's article.

Kids in the Philippines

2009-02-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

Elsewhere, I posted an entry to see how a search of the word combination: kids Philippines would appear on Google.

As it stands, one would get results (on the first page) of items about kids living in places reserved for land transportation - plus some other nicer sounding articles. I hope this post gets a better mix of results.

Disclosure: I'm promoting a kid-friendly portal for and about global Filipino children.

Sigh.

2009-02-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

Is it any surprise that the global economy is on a tailspin?

Longer version is here.

On IQ test and literary intelligence

2009-02-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a quote from an interview with Adora Svitak, 11 year-old child prodigy:

IQ test - she hasn't taken one - is "not necessarily the best way to determine one's literary intelligence..." "But I was thrilled to be able to read at three. I just thought everyone loved reading as much as I did." More from Kate Corr's article here.

Yes, Nintendo DS can "teach" Reading Comprehension

2009-02-15T03:56:00.000-08:00

Image credits: stus.com

And your DS fanboy/girl can even pick up a thing or two about cross-examination techniques.

Check out Phoenix Write: Ace Attorney. Here's an interesting game review.

On peer groups of prodigies

2009-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

I didn't think of posting a blog on Valentine's Day. But what the heck, a serendipitous discovery forced me to not skip this one.

Just follow the links on Valentine Cawley's entry on extremely gifted children, particularly his own.

How do you empower learners?

2009-02-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

Image credits: carla.umn.edu

... by involving them in their learning. Not just in learning per se but in the context of assessment.

This is not about telling them that cheating is prohibited or bad and such but about the need for children

"to be proactive partners in the learning process. They need to be taught how to take responsibility for the progress they make as independent learners able to work effectively with the teacher and with each other."

More here.

In this context, it pays to see the value of rubrics.

QOTD

2009-01-25T12:26:00.000-08:00

Image credits: educationbusinessblog

"It is simply not in the interest of government and big business to raise a generation of critical thinkers." - Massimo Pigliucci

Good thing there's the Internet. Just don't be contented with the first item that appears on the search result page.

More about Pigliucci's review of Neil Postman's "Teaching as a subversive activity".

A Networked Student

2009-01-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

... is not afraid to ask.

I like that part about Learning Architects. Now who said that "Those who can't do, teach"?

Looks like kids as young as 8 years old can program

2009-01-20T02:03:00.000-08:00

Learn more about this project

... and Scratch can make it happen.

MIT's Scratch About Page says:

"Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively."

Remind me to use the above project for a Prep topic on "My Feelings."

10 things to know about the IEP

2009-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

Image credits: topnews.in

... or something like that.

Chelo Banal-Formoso of Inquirer.net wrote a practical first-person account of things she did with her child with special needs. Now, doesn't everyone have special needs? After all, no one wants to be called by a serial number right? But I digress.

So she talked about "prescriptions" to ensure that learning really become individualized/custom-made as the acronym IEP indicates. Read more here.

Two things come to mind. It has to be a multi-disciplinary effort and everyone concerned need to approach the exercise with a big heart. Just my thoughts for Autism Week.

Career Guide Lesson No. 1 - There is no plan

2009-01-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

... but focus on a fundamental reason.

"What drives you?" Let's go beyond cars.

I knew we needed to run to the garden supply store

2009-01-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

Image credits: NRCS

... to buy "topsoil" since our plants showed some sort of mineral erosion and could perhaps use a fresh load of enriched pot soil. Yet it wasn't "top priority" in my to-do list. Not until a Science lesson suggested an activity about soil profile. So I ordered a sack of soil and asked for samples of green slate, volcanic rock, and two types of pebbles to "top" it all. Now where is that empty PET bottle?

Playing cards are prohibited in schools... (redux)

2009-01-13T00:26:00.000-08:00

Image credit: mgcpuzzles.com

... because they are prima facie evidence of gambling. Solomonic. Or is it? Not in my deck!
In my version of Black Jack, "players" learn to put down cards that add to 21, 20, 19 , etc. Player who ends up with least number of cards wins. More card games here.

Are gifted children born or made?

2009-01-01T17:43:00.004-08:00

Image Credits: Who are the gifted?

Reminds me of a final examination question in Human Resource Management: "Are leaders born or made? Discuss."

Of course a good score depended not so much on the amount of references made in the answers but on the uniqueness of the essay response.

But I return to the blog entry title. One can imagine that "many parents would wonder, are gifted children born or nurtured?"

I'm a big believer in not reinventing the wheel, so just follow this other article about Gifted Children. You can even get an answer to the basic question "Is My Child Gifted?"

Have a Happy and Gifted New Year!

Death of the classroom?

2008-12-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

Photo credits: http://www.psfk.com/

Well, almost. Not if parents build schools like the above. As Dan Roddy describes what could perhaps be a model school for 21st century learners:

The very fabric of the building itself is part of the children's education: there are no classrooms, only an open plan interior that extends around the playground; the playground spreads onto the roof, with a slide into the yard and rope ladders from the class areas through skylights set into it; a tap in the yard spills water out across the wooden floor so the children can watch and observe how it runs away.

More about the Fuji Kindergarten here and here.

We can dream, can't we? Happy Christmas World!

What's with teaching to the test?

2008-12-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

Somehow I get the feeling that the more important lessons to teach are about survival. It's a bit ironic though but those who survive are sometimes good at cheating. Then again, if students learn about compassion, there could be no reason to cheat.

So perhaps Harvard's Tony Wagner was spot on when he identified seven skills students desperately need in the 21st century.

Here they are:

1. Problem-solving and critical thinking;
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence;
3. Agility and adaptability;
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship;
5. Effective written and oral communication;
6. Accessing and analyzing information; and
7. Curiosity and imagination.

Thanks to Sharon Bett for sharing.

Urinary system in the classroom

2008-12-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

... well almost. Of course models are limited representations of the real thing, but just to demonstrate the filtering function of kidneys, I just thought the following could be useful.

Google Insights on home school

2008-12-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

Out of curiosity, I ran a Google Trends search about "home school". Set it to Philippines in 2008 and guess what I found? Interest peaked in August. I'd like to test a hypothesis but perhaps will have to wait until about August next year.

School of Giftedness in the Philippines?

2008-12-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

We don't pretend to have a monopoly of answers to that question. But just to see what's available online, we can imagine someone would probably be searching with the following keywords: school giftedness Philippines

Then again, we could perhaps be shamelessly promoting Headway School for Giftedness and its allied services at HSG Mentoring. If the shoe fits.

Did Plato have a crystal ball?

2008-11-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

Image credits: atarimagazines.com

“Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren's grandchildren will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge.”

- Plato 427-347 B.C.

Indeed!

How do you extend a lesson on simple machines

2008-11-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

... and go beyond load, fulcrum, resistance etc.?

Get the learner to try compound machines.

Legislating giftedness

2008-11-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

I got an email from my sister pointing to an online resource on Intellectual Giftedness. Here's the link.

Now I've seen this and that about giftedness but I was intrigued by a "legal definition" from Texas, to wit, (legalese momentarily used here):

[The phrase] "gifted and talented student" means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who

(snipped)

excels in a specific academic field." (74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)

Nice to know that government extends formal recognition to children who could perhaps contribute immensely to human development and the national economy. And I'd like to believe that the giftedness label could be useful for allocating educational budgets to congressional districts. But I wonder if this would really promote meritocracy. For example, how would students with both giftedness and learning disabilities fit in. Perhaps insights from this book could help?

Used any interesting flashcard utility lately?

2008-11-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

... try Quizlet.

Useful for collaborative reviewing of subject matter glossary. Don't overdo it though, or your kids will resent it.

If you do not embrace your past...

2008-11-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

... how do you expect to control your future?

Here's a quick trip back to one episode in Obama's life as a third grade boy, via todayonline.com.

Halloween Trivia

2008-10-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

In line with the meme du jour, did you know that (?):

"Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday celebrated on October 31.

Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.

Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

According to folklore, the jack-o-lantern got his name from a man named Jack.

Turnips and beets served as the original jack-o-lanterns.

Jack o lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Mexico celebrates 'The Day of the Dead' instead of Halloween. "

Now for a side note. Perhaps the last item is a part of the cultural dimension largely overlooked in understanding the Manila and Acapulco Galleon? Could be a good place to start when revisiting Philippine History. Trik or Trit! Hapi Halowin!

Multimedia Answers to the S-word

2008-10-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

We routinely get the socialization question when conversations take the route of Homeschooling, Unschooling, Deschooling. So here are some audio-visual responses.

Learning about metamorphosis at a butterfly garden

Pottery activity at kidsahoyshop.com

Trip to Manila Ocean Park

And violin recitalist guesting at a brick and mortar school (Will insert YouTube video here.)

Disclaimer: Homeschooling is not for everyone (yet.)

This could change your view of physical change ...

2008-10-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Image credits: boingboing.net

... vs. chemical change. I don't know about you but it made stop and wonder ... *hmm*

David Pescovitz says that: "UCLA physicists demonstrated that if you pull off a piece of Scotch tape inside a vacuum chamber, the tape releases enough X-rays to image bones through skin." More here.

While we are at it, the word of the day is: triboluminescence

Testing a test

2008-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Just trying this out from BBC. It's about Science: Physical Processes: Earth, Sun and Moon.

How would you start counting this?

2008-10-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Got this photo via e-mail. Thanks to Al Leonidas. Not sure about its ultimate provenance, but if I got a chance to see it "live", I'd set up a class with a topic about Addition, Multiplication, etc. Sounds like "Carpe Diem!"

Now it makes more sense to have 5 fingers on each hand. That's how fruit vendors count a "buwig" of bananas! Suddenly I feel like throwing a banana cue party.

This tells a story of ...

2008-10-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

... a tricycle ride,

a mobile phone,

and a 100-peso bill.

There's a compelling lesson here. There are still a few good men. I'm still unsure about the story's title.

Images courtesy of titantalk.com, mobilejazz.co.uk and wikimedia.org.

Making a "lava lamp"

2008-10-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

This requires the use of Alka-seltzer but we couldn't get hold of that interesting "candy", so we used Mentos and soda.

... and the word of the day is "effervescence."

Ordinary Things, Extraordinary Learning

2008-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Just discovered a teachable moment from these objects. Shades of 4th Grade Maths, right?

"Start focusing on skills ...

2008-10-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

... of wonder, discovery and exploration."

You've got to like Steve Spangler.

"A great teacher kind of gives us unforgettable learning experiences."

Care to play darts?

Connecting and Co-Creating Elderhood

2008-10-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

Life is journey. And a learning one at that. The key is to find real meaning in that stage that a journeyman is in.

Inner self-discovery is also important. When the outward self loses its former glory (of physical beauty and strength), then it's time to look inside.

One huge lesson could be "Find your true voice instead of simply complying with external forces."

As Richard Leider wrote in his blog post on 16th August 2008:

"Midway through our lives, many of us find ourselves living as if our fundamental growth is behind us. We have, perhaps, accepted our society's dated view of adulthood--that the person we have become at midlife is done becoming.”

Wrong. Grown ups grow too.

Sometimes, mysteriously, we enter what the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung called "the second half of life." Jung wrote:

"Wholly unprepared, we embark upon the second half of life. . .
we take the step into the afternoon of life;
worse still we take the step with the false assumption
that our truths and ideals will serve us as before.
But we cannot live in the afternoon of life
according to life's morning--
for what was great in the morning
will be little at evening, and
what in the morning was true
will at evening have become a lie."

How do we grow in the second half? What exactly is growth? Does it happen to everyone?

We cannon (sic) tell if we have entered the "afternoon of life" by counting the number of candles on our birthday cake. We do not enter the second half just because we reach a magical age. To know where we are in our life's journey, we must learn to look inside. When we look within, we often discover that the second half is a new quest with new questions like:

* My passion is draining away. I'm losing my edge. Where do I find the spark?

* I chose my life's work years ago and brushed aside certain "gifts" that I had. Why are they coming back demanding to be expressed?

* I feel like I look old. I cannot hide the signs of aging anymore. Why does it bother me so much?"

But we should go beyond the past by crafting a present that leads into the future.

For that purpose, here are some guide questions from p. 233 of Eugene Bianchi's book "Elder Wisdom".

1. What do you feel have been the important successes in your life? The frustrations or failures?
2. What were the important turning points in your life? Describe.
3. What have been the most influential experiences of your life? Most influential people?
4. Are there periods of your life that you remember more vividly than others? Which ones? Why?
5. If you were writing the story of your life, how would you divide it into chapters?
6. What sorts of things frighten you now? When you were in your 60? 40s? 20s? In childhood?
7. What kinds of things give you the most pleasure now? When you were in your 60? 40s? 20s? In childhood?
8. If you could live you whole life over, what would you do differently?
9. Do you feel differently about yourself now from how you felt when you were younger?
10. If a young person came to you asking what's the most important thing in living a good life, what would you say?
11. What do you think has stayed the same about you throughout life? What do you think has changed?
12. How can one prepare for old age?
13. How do you feel about growing old now?
14. If you were going to live 5, 10, 20 more years, what would you do?
15. What is the hardest thing about growing older? The best thing?
16. What do you look forward to now?
17. Do you think about death?

Adapted from Ageless Self by Sharon Kaufman.

Now, to make better sense of the above questions and as a matter of personal legacy, I'd like to be able to set up my own pathway home for creative elderhood.

Here's a Pathway home model where I can enjoy my creative elderhood -

"While providing needed clinical care, the Pathway Home and lifestyle also attend to Elders’ quality of life by providing privacy, honoring autonomy and choice, creating a sense of safety, security and order, fostering enjoyment, providing meaningful activities, promoting functional competence, and conveying the importance of the individual’s dignity. "

Here are some typical goals of the daily program of my own pathway home:

To conduct exciting and fulfilling activities that sustain dignity and self esteem, confidence, social support, and stimulation
To enrich the lives of the elderly sharing their typical days with the home by creating a special time and place to enjoy warm, individualized and group attention in a safe, nurturing, creative, yet structured setting
To provide a comfortable environment for elders to maintain interdependence, re-discover friendships, and remain productive

Granted that the physical and social environment are set, crafting and developing one's creative elderhood would typically entail providing assistance to other elders in keeping a personal journal. The pervasive availability of Information and Communication Technology tools could take the form of a digital scrapbook or slambook. (That sounds like "the medium is the message.") But the services of a Digital Historian could also come in handy.

Blogging is a good place to start. The textual form can then be enhanced by multimedia contents of photographs, audio and video.

Part of my involvement would be delivering online training via video -- as a natural extension of face-to-face training/teaching which has been a major part of my earlier productive life. After all, my passion has always been to leave a meaningful mark on other people's lives through education and in the process become a lifelong learner myself. Who knows, that can be my way of co-creating a collective spiritual legacy.

Tessa Yuvienco's Concept Paper on Late Adulthood Program

References:

Berk, Laura E. Development Through the Lifespan http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_berk_lifespan_3/0,8180,981256-,00.html

Bernstein, Arn. September 2007. Spirituality and Aging: Looking at the Big Picture. Online. http://www.agingwellmag.com/septstory1.shtml

Biancchi, Eugene (1994). Elder Wisdom: "Crafting Your Own Elderhood".

Leider, Richard. Claiming your Place at the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose - http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1576752976/ref=sib_dp_bod_toc?ie=UTF8&p=S007#reader-link

This could be a useful resource on Philippine Animals

2008-10-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Photo credits: Wikipedia

A Webquest can be done here. How? Look for the corresponding animal names in the Wikipedia article.

Neck Exercise

2008-10-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Got this via email, but instead of simply forwarding it, thought I might as well post it here.

Could be good to do each morning. Or when you feel the need to loosen up your neck muscles.

Teacher at 9 years old?

2008-10-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's what Adora Svitak is. She's got good press via CNN and of course the Internet, without which her tremendous feat would have been hardly possible.

Check out Adora's blog here.

Passion is key ...

2008-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Image credit: savagechickens.com

Perhaps this Inquirer.net blog entry by Ruel S. De Vera resonates with familiarity for some of us. It does for me.

He speaks of not liking school from Kindergarten to College. Then he sort of liked postgraduate school. But not after realizing the value of work and the role of blending learning and teaching in life's journey outside the classroom. Take it from him:

"It’s true. Grad school takes a completely different sense of organization and cerebral work ethic. The biggest element is that nobody will bug you to do it. You have to figure it out or just fall away altogether. The fact that I was part of the start of something really big (Ateneo’s MA Journalism program) really pushed me."

And the lesson seems to be: "You have to love what you are doing. So the choices are: sink or swim. Now who wants to achieve 'learned helplessness'?"

Comparing Numbers

2008-10-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

Some schools ban playing cards to keep the kids away from gambling. This is understandable as a measure administrative control. But it seems like school management just don't realize that with a little imagination, kids find all sorts of ways to gamble. A friend of mine told me that back in grade school they'd mark the sides of pencils with numbers and forthwith have a dice equivalent. But I digress.

Playing cards could be useful for teaching comparative values of numbers. The video below could be instructive. Now whether this would lead to gambling skills is a matter of values education (Do you sense a pun here?).

How To Teach Number Comparisons -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Ice Mint

2008-09-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here's something a homeschooling parent shared with us. Thought that was innovative enough. And the learning continues.

Nice to have everywhere in the Philippines

2008-09-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

If only Vicente Labro's article titled "Village school goes high tech" could scream and get enough attention.

... then perhaps the idea won't remain a pipe dream.

Now if you ask me, I'm more inspired by Sugata Mitra's Hole-in-the-Wall project.

Photo credit: jeffooi.com

Story - the shortest distance between truth and a human being

2008-09-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: britishcouncil.org

You may consider this is an apology for rediscovering the value of story-telling. Elisa Pearmain echoes Anthony de Mello and writes: "(h)earing stories from many spiritual traditions reminds us that as human beings we share a common longing for connection, and often find that in how we treat each other." And this is something that moms would naturally be able to provide their children -- the Holy Scriptures and even the Book of Virtues could come in handy -- during family time before the lights are off for the night.

But apart from personal and spiritual growth, Pearmain states that stories are doorways into Learning, Social skills, Peace, and Relaxation and fun. More here.

Small wonder that "Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang" has become memetic.

Dartboards and Math

2008-09-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: Sydney Western Suburbs Darts League

I'm not your usual bar or pub denizen. Nor have I ever been especially in my college years. So you can't expect me to like playing darts. But the idea of blending dartboards and Math is now a tad irresistible.

You might argue that it's not something one would imagine as useful in the classroom for learning about addition or multiplication. Think again. This flash-based game could help demonstrate the point. But then again, wouldn't it be nice to use real dartboards?

Now if you ask me why the dartboard numbers are in the order they are, this could probably hit the bull's eye. As to going to pubs, perhaps on St. Patrick's Day? Green beer would be interesting.

The world around us follows an orderly pattern

2008-09-23T03:12:00.000-07:00

... despite the chaos that is regular fare in news media.

And Leonardo Fibonacci of 13th century Pisa took extraordinary pains to understand this. Yet from my experience with traditionally-schooled kids doing mundane Math, it makes me wonder why Fibonacci sequence is not introduced after a child knows about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. So I get a non-plussed look when I declare that 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, is followed by 5.

Good thing I got this activity to explain the concept via tangible patterns. I call it Math + Arts and Crafts.

Could be a springboard when introducing Fractals and Financial Markets later in his career. Who knows maybe the world would be in less turmoil by then.

Creativity is the mother of genius

2008-09-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

You must have seen this before.

Photo credit: metro.co.uk

Yes they call it a zorse. And no that wasn't a handiwork of a Photoshop genius.

But I digress. What makes for a great story-teller's ability to conjure mythical images of basilisks, dragons, griffins, or unicorns that capture the imagination of their rapt audience? Sorry for the rhetorical question.

Point here is that young learners now have the benefit of online tools for unleashing their inner Homer or Rowling.

Perhaps Switcheroo Zoo can come in handy. Better yet, more advanced writers could lay their hands on ficlets.com.

So what's with the creative writing thing again? Go figure below.

How do you test for Intellectual Giftedness?

2008-09-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: news.bcc.co.uk

Susan Hyde offers some answers. She identifies some typical traits:

Intense Sensitivity
Intensity of Interest
Rapid Learning
Advanced Vocabulary and Sense of Humor
Early Reading
Perfectionism

She then describes a variety of assessment approaches that may reveal specific areas of strength and weakness, twice exceptionality, and learning styles.

The bottomline seems to make sense, if you consider that traditional practices may be inadequate for a gifted child's appetite for "self-actualization":

"[G]ifted testing should be used to create individualized academic plans for students who need daily intellectual challenges in order to reach their potential.

Read more about Hyde's article here.

As to the traits, I'm a bit curious about "Sense of Humor". Marcel Marceau comes to mind. Perhaps being a comic artist could be a sensible career for some gifted children? Seriously.

Let me call this education beyond Eureka

2008-09-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

I thought I could stick closely to the structure of the lesson on Scientific Method, control, variables, etc. with this activity (pdf)on fuselage, wing size and flight of the O-wing glider.

But education should be fun right? So they played and enjoyed it they did. I'd like to think they also learned a thing or two about making a hypothesis.

Dont Know What - Simone

Digital Animation: Start them young ?

2008-09-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

You must have heard of the following (in no particular order and by no means exhaustive):

W.OW., FPS, MMORPG, Ragnarok (ca. 2006), online casual games, Wii games, etc.

Mostly they involve digital learners as consumers. Now wouldn't it be nice if involvement were in the form of "gamers-as-producers"? Machinima or Spore comes to mind (No intention to provoke debate between religion and science with the latter).

But great things come from small beginnings. So why not consider starting with stick figures?

Pivot Stickfigure Animator come could in handy.

"Pivot Stickfigure Animator is a unique software, that allows you to create stick figure animations easily and without any artistic skills. You can move the sections of the sick figure and easily create a chain of animation frames that can be previewed as you go. You can use more than one stick-figure in the animation, and even create your own stick figures using an easy to use visual editor that lets you assemble objects out of lines and circles. In addition, you can optionally set animation size, speed and more. The result can be saved as animated GIF file. Fun and easy to use, surprisingly well featured."

Take a look at this sample. You might need to click on the figure to see it move. I hope it's good enough for a young learner's first crack at animation.

In teaching you will learn

2008-09-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

aka multitasking in a social network environment.

So Marcky was working through the topic "plant classification". I am told he was to read through dicots, monocots, and spores.

Meanwhile, I was scanning Li and Bernoff's "groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies". Next, I began juggling e-mails, facebook updates, and Google searches.

Then I took a trip to the garden patch that we call our very own "fern gully", and clipped samples of, erm, ferns.

After a quick slide prep of a spore specimen, this is what Marcky discovered under the microscope:

Interesting, heh! Now for the bonus part. I just learned that dried fern fibers can be woven into bracelets and cellphone cases.

Photo credit: smallislander

One good argument for homeschooling?

2008-09-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

This shirt never fails to get people's attention. It's a tongue-in-cheek list of excuses for not doing a homework.

What is less than, equal or greater than for?

2008-09-15T16:26:00.001-07:00

Or for that matter, the symbols: < , = , >

Perhaps the following can offer some clues? Better yet, could even make Maths more reality-based?

YouTube - Mongo Seeds Time Lapse

2008-09-11T18:53:00.001-07:00

Is too much reading bad for the brain?

2008-09-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: artfiles.art.com

I did some Google search (as usual). Here's the link to the search results. (Nothing conclusive) -- You don't have to click on it. And I wouldn't even quote any of those.

But I'd much rather quote (with apologies) the following post from a friend in a homeschool group:

"Dr. Elkind, has the opinion that free play and unstructured learning will give kids under 6 the best start. This was because their cognitive capacities should dictate what they should be taught. In other words, if a three year old is eager to learn to read, then by all means teach him, but he should not be forced to tell the difference between confusing lower case letters (d, b, p, q) unless he wants to know."

Sauce for the goose ... I guess the point here is moderation. Golden mean. Rule of thirds. Informal balance, perhaps?

How do you teach factoring differently?

2008-09-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

Use a board game.

It doesn't have to be a win-lose kind of game because it can be cooperative. Both players win if they maximize or minimize their combined points.

The Factor Game - Upload a Document to Scribd

Here's an online version of the factor game.

90 minutes

2008-09-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

That's how long a child ought to be physically active daily -- not just with their fingers on keyboards but in the gym sense.

And that's what Jill reports when she wrote "Make Sure Your Child Learns Sports Skills".

Seems like a good benchmark for us adults too? Remind me to reconfigure my workstation.

Photo credit: Christian Science Monitor

Want your child to be a pilot? Perhaps Wii can help

2008-09-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Now I'm beginning to sympathize with Jason Rybca's point.

He says:

"Someone told me once that a child that plays video games more often would have a better chance at becoming a successful pilot than someone who seldom picked up a controller. I'm not too sure how much truth there is to that statement, but it would make sense to me, as piloting a large aircraft is much like playing a video game simulator."

Then again I may be wrong. Incidentally that point was a subtext of Rybca's article about Physical Fitness and the Wii here.

The timeless treasure that is a tangram!

2008-09-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children makes a home. — Irish Proverb

So the Tangram-a-gram site starts with that quote. But I'd like to think that the greater value is the kind of ideas one can generate out of tangrams.

Image via: http://getconfused.net/2008/06/01/play-your-house-lago/

While you are at it, you may want to take a look at a "casual tangram game" too.

Is your child a math genius?

2008-09-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you might as well ask yourself the same question. You could be one.

To help you make sense of that question, here's a psycho-geometric test developed by Dr. Susan E. Dellinger. Phil Beadle, describes it " (as) a system which classifies everyone into one of five personality types according to a preference for one shape over another."

Beadle continues:

"Where this is of use for children is in terms of developing their own self-knowledge: being analytical about their own personality type so that they can be reflective about their reactions in certain situations. Anything that can help a child reach a higher level of self-awareness can only be of benefit for his development and for his performance when it comes to learning other things."

More here. Click the image below to take the test:

Would be nice to get your response in the comments below.

Violin + Handheld Game Console

2008-09-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

... goes a long way.

I think "too much" Nintendo games using those tiny buttons can enhance finger vibrato skills?

Prime Factorization and Bill of Rights

2008-09-02T00:56:00.001-07:00

Ok, so my 5th Grade kid got into serious talk with me about how he used to enjoy Math especially that part about place values and stuff . Now he's on prime factorization and complains about the headache it gives him (In Manila it's called nose-bleed)! [insert emergency sound clip here]

Instinctively, I knew it's about breaking down a concept into its most basic level and that good prime factorization skill offers solid preparation for Algebra. I was ready to argue that it's about learning to drill down to the core of something, like what's inside a fruit. But he wouldn't budge.

So I launched good ol' reliable Google and found this: "Why learn prime factorization? How does it apply to the real world?". I like that part that says "Sorting numbers is great lesson in sorting reality." The article ends with:

"Math is about seeing how things fit it. It is the science of (among other things) patterns and order. If you learn to accept math as a way to describe and think about certain parts of reality, you will get "the big picture" - the picture of math as something beyond just a boring subject in school."

Now what's with the Bill of Rights? You'd have to read the rest of the article to see what I mean.

As to the factorization drills, perhaps this exercise from Quia could help take away the headache?

Ho to use big brain academy

2008-08-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

... in learning. Seriously, so long as you correlate the task to a specific subject or skill area, it can be done for 21st century digital learners.

Nintendo DS > Big Brain Academy > Think > Bone Yard Activity >Helps in Mapping Skills or even Space and sense of Geometry

For what that was worth. Will work on other DS games, time permitting.

Of Virtues and Reading and Rudyard Kipling

2008-08-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

Ever a strong believer in the value of reading to a child, Tessa took half an hour off her " busy 25-hour day" and pulled an old copy of William J. Bennett's Book of Virtues (one of our family's prized possessions) to read to our son.

Together they opened the book and began soaking up "How the Camel Got His Hump" by Rudyard Kipling. It starts:

"NOW this is the next tale, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.

In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he lived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work; and besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and tamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most 'scruciating idle; and when anybody spoke to him he said 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more."

Read the rest of the tale here.

As to why this tale was classified under Work initially escaped me. If I had my way, I would have classified that under Foresight and Resourcefulness. I'm a visual learner, so perhaps this could explain it.

Photo credits: Emilyd

But I'm just one voice, so Work it is about.

Now one take-away for Tessa was: "It seems like Kipling was one very involved father." Then again, whether you agree with his brand of fatherhood or not, this other article might give a broader context.

I don't know about you but I felt some validation. For what that was worth.

On Intensity, Perfectionism and Stress

2008-08-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

In a book titled, "A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children", James T. Webb et al note that:

"Sometimes, situations arise that are more than a gifted child -- or any child -- can reasonably be expected to handle. Illness, family hardships, bullying, and unfair expectations from others, are examples. Children sometimes find themselves in situations where there are no easy answers."

Don't know if you can relate to that, but I'm inclined to concede "unfair expectations from others", as one trigger in this episode. My son, inspired by art submissions of other kids in the show icarly.com attempted a drawing which in the ordinary course of creative production should just wait for the final touches en route to scanning and uploading to the celebrity's website.

As "luck" would have it, his idea of a good piece of work clashed with mine. He wanted a fine black marker to highlight the initial pencil outlines of the cast of characters. Having found none, he tried to make do with a cheap ballpoint pen which true to form skipped at certain points and curves of his masterpiece. I offered a different approach and out of routine enthusiasm took matters into my hands by using my "fountain pen". Guess what happened?So his mom intervened by processing his thoughts about management of frustration. I guess it helps to have a motherly touch on tap.

To whom much is given...

2008-08-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

I guess it's a matter of responsibility and that being gifted is more a challenge than a badge to be shown around. Now for a lighthearted way of dealing with a child's giftedness, let's take a look at the following list of games that Carol Bainbridge identified for a more enjoyable pursuit of learning with the family. (Items marked with asterisk are those we've tried so far.) Details of the games are here.

1. Set: The Family Game of Visual Perception
2. Cranium Cadoo for Kids *
3. Apples to Apples
4. Mad Gab Game *
5. Spy Alley Board Game
6. DaVinci's Challenge Game
7. The Game of Coda
8. Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game
9. Dinosaurs & Things Board Game
10.Risk Godstorm Game

Perhaps you can share some of your game ideas which could be useful for mental calisthenics?

After All, she's still a kid

2008-08-26T01:04:00.000-07:00

Oppositional children

2008-08-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

In an article "Guide to body language cues in oppositional children" C. Davison writes that "Oppositional behavior is a normal part of children's growth. All children go through the stage where they like to try you on for size. They spread their wings and attempt to win arguements (sic). No becomes the most common word in their vocabulary. When this stage arrives, don't panic. It won't last, especially if you don't play into it."

I like this part: "Control of your temper is the most important thing. Humor is the second most important. If you approach an oppositional child with humor, chances are good you can cajole them out of their funk. I had a seven year old boy here two days ago and he was determined to keep his mother from having a conversation with me. He hung on her, and hugged her and draped himself around her on the chair until she started to get claustrophobic. I could see the change coming. Finally, she started asking him to stop. It was easy to see that he wasn't getting what he needed, because he was not letting up. I finally leaned over and said conspiratorily to his mother, "I think someone needs a smoochie attack!" She clued in right away, pinned him down and smothered him with kisses until he squealed for mercy.

More here.

I hope you learned something from this as much as I did.

Mentoring is a two-way process

2008-08-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

... and perhaps posting my thoughts here will make that happen. Watch this space for learning episodes of Mentoring beyond Eureka.