I like to collect inspiring and insightful quotations. See my collection at http://iae-pedia.org/Quotations_Collected_by_David_Moursund. Here is one of my favorites:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. (Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi; led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights, and freedom across the world; 1869–1948.)

Ghandi’s philosophy of life and action inspired and changed the world. Each of us has a personal philosophy that provides some overall guidance to our everyday lives and actions. Personally, when I look back over a day that is just ending, I feel best about myself if I have learned some new things and have shared my new insights with other people. If these two things have not occurred at a sufficient level, my day feels empty.

I realize that I cannot learn everything about everything. Indeed, I can only hope to gain what I consider to be a useful level of knowledge in a relatively modest number of areas. Currently my major areas of interest include math and math education, computers and computers in education, brain science and brain science in education, science and science education, and teacher education. I enjoy dabbling in each of these areas.

Information

I have many different resources that provide me with new things to learn. There are, of course, many different information sources such as: people I communicate with face-to-face, on the phone, and via email; hardcopy books, newspapers, magazines, and journals; and broadcast media and the Web. Email and the Web have proven to be marvelous additions to my life.

I also learn a great deal by mentally integrating information from multiple sources with information already stored in my brain. Such analysis and reflection is an important aspect of my daily learning.

Like all of you, I am overwhelmed by the amount of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom that is readily available. I am troubled by the problems of the world, of individual countries, and of various groups of people. I am often disappointed by the lack of foresight that our leaders display in dealing with large-scale issues. Personally, I often feel powerless because of the magnitude of these huge and continuing problems.

Sharing

I have many different avenues through which to share my learning. I view each personal or small group conversation (face-to-face, on the phone, or via email) as an opportunity to help educate people and to learn from others.

However, it is my ability to do Web publication that has greatly enriched my life and brought great joy. I routinely add to the IAE-pedia (http://iae-pedia.org/Main_Page), run the IAE Blog (http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog.html), co-author the IAE Newsletter (http://i-a-e.org/iae-newsletter.html), and write books (http://i-a-e.org/free-iae-books.html). These outlets allow me to reach a broad and varied audience of preservice and inservice teachers, parents, and others who are interested in improving our educational system. It adds to my own joy to make all of the IAE books, newsletters, books, and other materials free for anyone to read online and/or download.

What You Can Do

Think about your personal philosophy of life. How does it compare with that of Ghandi? Spend a few minutes at the end of each day reflecting on your day.

Suggested Readings from IAE and Other Publications

You can use Google to search all of the IAE publications. Click here to begin. Then click in the IAE Search box that is provided, insert your search terms, and click on the Search button.

Click here to search the entire collection of IAE Blog entries.

Here are some examples of publications that might interest you.

About being a prolific writer. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/about-being-a-prolific-writer.html.

Developing suitable levels of expertise in multiple areas. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/developing-suitable-levels-of-expertise-in-multiple-areas.html.

Grand challenge problems in education. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/grand-challenge-problems-in-education.html.

More grand global challenges. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/some-grand-global-challenges.html.

Self-publication of books. See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/self-publication-of-books.html.

IAE