I’m in Washington DC, at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Education. This morning’s final session brought together four famous scholars to discuss a critical question: How to cultivate creativity? The first to speak was Shirley Brice Heath (Stanford) who is famous for her 30-year study tracking several working class white and black… Read More Cultivating Creativity
Do computers help children learn? Should schools invest in technology, or spend the same money on other things–like smaller class size or higher teacher salaries? For several decades, in the U.S. and most other countries, the answer to these questions seemed obvious: Of course we absolutely must have computers in schools. Why? Because everyone knows… Read More Computers and Learning
Today’s WSJ (Monday October 17, 2011) has a special section reporting their 2011 annual Technology Innovation Awards. From 605 applications, a panel of judges chose 35 winners and runners-up in 16 categories. Award winners that impressed me included: IBM’s Watson computer winning at Jeopardy against two world champions (Watson won the bronze award) E Ink, the company… Read More Wall Street Journal Innovation Awards
I love this recent New Yorker article by surgeon Atul Gawande. It’s called “Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?” He tells his own personal story about how, at the peak of a long career as a successful surgeon, he decided to invite Robert Osteen, one of his old medical school professors… Read More Do You Need a Coach? (Yes)
The Creativity Guru 