<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 2:27 PM, Stephen Van Sickle <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sjv2006@gmail.com" target="_blank">sjv2006@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><span class=""><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><span><br>
</span>I wonder if your 14 year old can mentor one of the similarly gifted 10<br>
year olds.<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>This was once a popular method of education:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitorial_System" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitorial_System</a></div><div><br></div><div>if for no other reason that it was extremely economical. But it also has other advantages. In my experience, I've found i never truly master material until i try to teach it to someone. And giving older students some (supervised) responsibility for the younger ones can instill positive values and help with the "maturing process" that Spike mentions.</div><div><br></div><div>I've often thought that the worst feature of "modern" education is that everyone almost exclusively spends time in the company of others the same age. Ideally, one should spend most of their time caring for the younger to learn responsibility and in the company of the older who teach by example. With the decline of large extended families, this is getting harder to find. Schools just stunt social and emotional growth. And barely manage to teach. </div><div><br></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">What I have wondered about is the impersonal nature of watching a video, however well executed. So I have these questions, probably for Spike:</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">When the Khan Academy videos are used in schools, what happens after the video? Is the video watched by a group which then discusses it? Or maybe the teacher gives more examples or problems? How can or do they incorporate peer mentoring into this? </div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">When my chairman approached me about buying videos for a statistics class, which I taught, I told him that they might be useful if I were ill for a substantial period of time, but otherwise I'd prefer to teach the class myself. No, I did not even consider being replaced by videos because that wasn't going to happen in the 90s and maybe not now. Perhaps I should have had him buy them to study the teaching techniques. Since the Khan Academy videos are so popular, I assume math and other teachers are watching them for tips on how to teach. </div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">But anyway you sift it, the burden of the sheer transmission of information has to be taken out of the hands of teachers. It can really be a mind-numbing experience for the teacher.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">Have any of you experienced something like this? You are assigned reading material, which might be a text, or several papers, given time to absorb them, and go to a class where they are discussed and the teacher is just a team leader responsible for keeping the class on track and providing expert advice.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">For all I know this might be standard procedure in some graduate school classes.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">bill w</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"></div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>
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