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I find articles about research and development endlessly interesting. Recently I read an article about research on developing a new rechargeable battery to power electronic products and vehicles (Kelion, 4/17/2013).
The Kelion article reports on progress in making batteries that will have the energy storage capacity of current batteries, but will be only 1/10 the size. If the new batteries are made the same size as current batteries, they can hold ten times the energy. The new batteries also can be recharged much faster than conventional rechargeable batteries. This research and development work is being done by a research team at the University of Illinois. The article indicates that the research team expects to have the technology ready to try out by the end of 2013.
In my early career i wrote some research articles. I was truly surprised when research journals presented me with a “page charge” to publish my research articles.
Then I coauthored my first academic book. The intricacies of the writing and publishing process were certainty interesting and a challenge. The publishing company certainly contributed to my education. The company even offered me a modest advance against royalties.
Various disciplines create lists of Grand Challenge problems and tasks that are core to their area of research and practice. See Moursund (11/1/2011) for an example of Grand Challenges in Education. See http://the-scientist.com/2012/06/18/opinion-the-precarious-earth/ for examples of Grand Global Challenges such as sustainability. Also see DARPA (2012.)
Successsfully dealing with Grand Global Challenges requires the international cooperation of a significant portion of the world's population. That in itself is a grand global challenge. It is very difficult to get a number of nations to work cooperatively on anything!
I believe all educators should be familiar with the Science of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). In recent years this field has been renamed the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Students preparing to become precollege teachers get a healthy dose of SoTL in their various education courses. However, many college and university teachers have had very little formal education in SoTL.
