Information Age Education Blog

 As you know, I read a lot. Recently I read the short book:

Wolcott, H.F. (2010). Ethnography Lessons: A Primer. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Quoting Marshall McLuhan well-known statement:

The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. (Marshall McLuhan; Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar; 1911–1980.)

Recently my close friend and co-author Bob Albrecht shared with me examples of a category of math problem used in some elementary school math classes. We are currently co-authoring a book on the use of games to enhance math education for K-8 students. (Note added 12/2/2012: See Moursund & Albrecht in Reference at the end of this entry for the title and a link to download the book.)

Add to 15: List as many ways as you can to use the numbers 1 through 9 to add up to 15, without repeating any of the numbers in a single equation. If you can, try to list all possible ways.

When I was finishing high school, I took the State of Oregon vocational test. I remember doing quite poorly on the spatial reasoning and manual dexterity parts of the test. I recall that I received a report that suggested I should not plan to take more advanced math courses due to my spatial reasoning level of performance on these tests.

It is interesting to note that I had little trouble in completing a doctorate in math. However, throughout my life I have had considerable trouble finding my way around cities I visit and buildings I enter. In addition, I certainly am “klutzy” when it comes to manual dexterity.

I am a slow reader because I spend too much time and effort thinking about what I am reading.

Today I did some reading and thinking about creativity. It was a pleasure to find that several of the authors seem to see at least some of the world as I see it.