Knowledge & Information

I just discovered this from a piece I wrote about 10 years ago. It seems timely given today’s fascination with generative AI. As has been established, the instructionism of the 20th century was designed to transfer information into student’s brains. Educative experiences necessitate a more sophisticated purpose for teaching. Data and information, which are the Read More

The Environment and Brain Function

The brain functions that are associated with learning depend on communication with between neurons, which is mediated by neurotransmitters. Many chemicals are known to function as neurotransmitters, and also many chemicals are known to influence the functioning of neurotransmitters. Further, cognitive scientists have identified several environmental factors that are associated with the production and function Read More

Challenges to Instructionism

The dominant educational paradigm in the 20th century was based on easily recognizable ideas about how the human brain works and how to design classrooms to help human brains learn. R. Keith Sawyer (2006), a scholar from the University of Washington, articulated five assumptions in which curriculum and instruction has been grounded: Those assumptions appear Read More

On Data Quality

Education demands data. This isn’t just about lively debate; it requires educators to act as educational researchers, asking clear questions, designing robust data collection methods, and analyzing findings to draw reasonable conclusions. At the heart of this process lies the critical twin pillars of ethical data gathering and rigorous data validation. Only through these can Read More

Introduction to Access Databases

Many of us start organizing information using simple lists in word-processing programs or spreadsheet. This works fine when the amount of data is small, but as these lists grow, managing them becomes challenging. You might start noticing repetitions or inconsistencies in the data, making it hard to understand or find what you need. When these Read More