MacGyver your Classroom: How to make a 50 dollar smart board

With analog methods emphasized less and less in teacher ed programs, the pressure to use high tech methods in the classroom is increasing every day. The Smartboard program and hardware can run school districts' budgets dry very quickly. I created a stellar Jeopardy program that would work incredibly well with the a high tech white board. The only problem was that the school either couldn't afford it, or I didn't have the seniority to get the school's one board for longer than a period. I always thought I could "MacGyver" one, but always lacked the knowledge (although i did once repair an overhead projector with a paper clip). Now someone has out geeked me, and made a system that will only set you or your school back 50 bucks, that is if you don't already have these common items.


.What.would.MacGyver.do.?

Nice Guys Finish First: Does evolutionary theory and psychology belong in the classroom?

One of my favorite reads of the past few years has be The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. This book is very well known, but it has been misinterpreted as social Darwinist dogma. Like any evolutionist, Dawkins stridently opposes a Darwinistic society. However like Michael Shermer's recent The Mind of the Market, Dawkins attempts to explain human action through Tit for Tat game theory which he sees as similar to reciprocal altruism. Many have used this work as credence for the phrase "nice guys finish last," Where as Dawkins believes evolutionary theory and the selfish gene more strongly supports the mantra "nice guys finish FIRST."
Using this Mantra as the title for his pop science documentary, Dawkins uses evolutionary theory to explain many important human events and actions such as the trench Warfare of WWI. With Michael Shermer's work as well as Dawkins many works around The Selfish Gene, I expect these theories to hold some ground in high school curriculum in the near future.

Parts 1-5 of Nice Guys Finish First. (good for teaching game theory, and certain aspects of Trench Warfare.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Biology.and.social.studies.aren't.that.different.

His Excellency Carl Sagan.

For years this man has fascinated me. No one has ever made complicated astronomy, physics, and science in general more accessible to the public. Many people try to compare Richard Dawkins to the great Sagan, to which I see the argument. However, Sagan carried the ability to make people question their beliefs and accept the scientific method into everyday life almost conflict free. His Cosmos series was groundbreaking in terms of public accessibility, and has contributions that will exceed many generations from now. One of which was a set of core beliefs in the scientific method that can be bridged into core subjects such as social studies and English. (taken from his website)

1. Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts.
2. Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
3. Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.
4. If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.
5. Quantify wherever possible

He also went on the 'debunking' trend within cosmos. I once postulated a curriculum based upon debunking pseudo science, but quickly realized i was in the social sciences. Later I'll devote an entire post to debunking astrology, but for now here is Carl Sagan doing what he did best.



Finally for anyone seeking to find a clip describing the national morale towards the end of the cold war, Sagan says it better than anyone else could.


As Sagan says,
"By.studying.other.worlds.we.learn.about.ours."

Happiness.

If you haven't guessed, I am a young teacher seeking to better the education system, and therefore better the world. Although I normally strive to avoid saying blatantly idealistic statements such as the prior one, all young teachers carry this goal. We just have varying degrees of scale on which we hope to achieve this goal.
One of my chief principles in my educational theory is placing high value on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. (http://www.businessballs.com/images/maslow's_hierarchy_businessballs.jpg original model if you are unfamiliar) Most cognitive problem solving that we ask students to achieve occurs at the highest level, yet very little is in the formal curriculum to aid students to get there. One curriculum I am currently designing (available for free years from now) is a course on the varying definitions of happiness. In this course badly needed comparative religion will be taught, and students will be encouraged to examine happiness through a sociological, anthropological, and self-introspective way.
Today's first link goes to Sam Harris. After i spent about three hours trying to create an all encompassing definition of happiness, i discovered he already gave a definition almost exactly like mine.

The second link goes to my friend Alan Watts. Teachers beware, he takes a shot at the fundamental premise of our educational system. However being as its a common critique, lets keep and open mind.


How.do.you.define.happiness?

Consumerism.

One of the many things i include in my curriculum is the various ways consumerism can impact critical thinking. Many people blame the educational system for the growth of apathy and lack of free thinking, but do not question the systems of subliminal and manipulative advertising that hit a human being at the point of their self awareness. Gender Identification, Class Hierarchy, and general consumer habits are bolstered by media inundation at childhood, and continue through adulthood. Any attempt to question this system and teach ways to break out of it, is labeled as unAmerican brain washing.
Although I often disagree with the message and methods used by Penn and Teller on their show Bullshit, their expose on bottled water demonstrates corporations ability to manipulate the free market, and teaches the viewer to be more critical of the everyday messages they see. If more people thought like this, perhaps I wouldn't need to consistently debunk intelligent design and that 'Natural cures they don't want you to know guy.' Anyway here's a fun but short clip for you.


See.critical.thinking.is.fun.and.empowering.

Love just got more complicated.

We all have tasted it at some point in our lives. This little thing we call love is quite an innundating thing at times nothing else causes a faster abandonment of logic. Yet how do we create our idea of what love is? I argue that love's social construction is primarily top down through rehatched representations of love.
Many simply look towards the media for ideas for expressing and understanding of this thing we call love. A represitation of love goes through the process of transliteration. Think of reading a literal translation of a Beowulf. Words, phrases and ideas are completely different in this sense. Instead of trying to figure out love and passions based on our own experiences, many resort to the movies to interpret their feelings and desires. How do we express our feelings? Well what did John Cusack do (I'm just as guilty as anyone else in this crime)?
The most common example of these tragedies of media misuse, is the guy's often all to lame attempt at 'breaking out of the friend zone' with that good friend of his. Instead of looking at the situation from a sociological or scientific lens, movies such as When Harry Met Sally are consulted.
So without further ado, I give you Harvard's world renowned professor in metacognition, Steven Pinker. A fun 10 minute lecture on love just for you, my heroes.



I.guess.it.should.be.mentioned.that.it.is.more.fun.to.follow.your.heart.over.logic.

The Genesis of Freethought

As you read this, I ask you to think about your thought processes. As technology grows we gain access to new information, and new methods for finding and comprehending those pieces of information. Spin is a tool that has been used by groups to maintain power over their subservients in every civilization.
Fundamentalists are now using spin and pseudo science to go ahead and manipulate what enters the curriculum of American schools. Creationism was banned as valid curriculum by the Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987 and yet it gets repackaged and put back on the table.
Intelligent Design is far and away the most ludicrous sham placed against evolutionary education yet. Honestly, its pure humor to me at this point. The fundamentalist rationalization for this type of science (look up irreducible complexity) is beyond hilarious until I realized how powerful it is to the developing mind.
With the onset of Expelled breaking the top 10 at the box office, I realized how in danger we are of a snowballing juggernaut that is going to corrupt the youth before they ever set foot in my classroom. What was seen as isolated child abuse in the film Jesus Camp, is soon to be a movement against my profession of teaching critical thought to American adolescents.
Without further ado, I give you one of America's leading evolutionary theorists Ken Miller. As a Roman Catholic, he believes in a creator, just not a 'deceptive' creator. He also is the one that publicly destroyed Intelligent Design's strongest debate points. If evolutionary theory is ever put in question in your school district, spread this video.


As Mr. Christopher Hitchens says "Mr. Jefferson, Build up that wall!"