Dot Learnt

About a month ago, I talked TED – with the advent of TED-Ed, I was super pumped to hear the voices of brilliant educators around the world.

I decided to check back in on the site a few days ago, and to my delight, the site was up, running and transforming education as I have come to know it.

I clicked on the first lecture that caught my eye: The Power of Simple Words.

The 2-minute micro lesson starts off with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz chanting, “No coordinates exist like one’s domicile,” (get it?) to drive home the point that, bigger words does not necessarily mean, better.

We are currently in a day and age where we are competing with a whole world of distractions, “constantly fighting for space in an attention span that’s continuing to shrink across generations,” as the animated film points out. It got me thinking … are educators getting the message, that short is sweet?

Upon completing the lecture, viewers are guided through an online mini-curriculum.  A “Quick Quiz” tests you on the material in the video, “Think” issues a critical thinking question, while “Dig Deeper” provides a community project and additional resources that expand on the subject matter.

It is important for educators to know their audience. In a world where students are increasingly teched-out, teachers should speak to students in the language that they know. It was only last week that our Literacy Research Resident, Nelly Elzayat introduced us to a teacher’s assignment that had students summarizing Shakespearian passages into a text message. Check out the full post, Trading a Tweet for your GPA.

For more on our thoughts on TED, check out Bon Education’s Co-Founder and CEO – Anna Batchelder’s piece on educators and mass marketing in Coke is it! Why all Educators should be Mass Marketers.

So I guess I am here to say two things, keep it simple and

Keep Calm and Learn On,

Nora

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072048

Does that number have any significance to you? Come on. Think a bit!

Still no clue?!

In his book Predictably Irrational, behavioral economist Dan Ariely points out, “Let me start with a fundamental observation, most people don’t know what they want unless they see it in context”. The same applies to numbers—most people don’t know what they mean unless they see them in context. The $1200 sale on iPads seemed like a great deal in Dubai until I realized that I could get one with more memory in the USA for two-thirds the price during a recent trip back home!

As we can see, numbers alone don’t mean much. But, the second they are compared or put in context, a story starts to emerge and that, my friends, is when things get interesting!

So, given we need context and stories to make numbers make sense and come alive. Why do math and statistic classrooms for the most part remain so darn dull? How powerful would it be if math teachers took cues from writers and literature teachers so that their white boards (filled with numbers and formulas) actually told gripping stories with unforgettable plots?

Luckily the Internet is filled with tools to help kids and adults start telling stories with data (e.g., WolphramAlpha, Google Forms, Google Analytics, Hootsuite, etc.). Start playing with these tools and you’ll begin to see the numbers around you in a whole new light.

For inspiration, take a look at Global Health Professor Hans Rosling’s TED talk above as he uses numbers and data visualizations (via the tool Gapminder World) to tell a story of global development that will captivate your mind and leave you itching to learn more.

Because numbers can be beautiful when a story is involved…

Anna Batchelder

@bon_education

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P.S. Still not sure about the significance of 072048?! Watch the video above to find out!

Recently I attended a live webcast of TEDxChange in Dubai. Broadcast from New York City and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the event hosted a series of famous speakers that reflected on the world’s progress towards achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (i.e., end poverty and hunger, universal education, global partnership, combat HIV/AIDS, etc.). After mentally chewing on the event for a couple of weeks, what keeps coming back to me is Melinda Gates’ praise of Coke:

“Coke is everywhere. In fact, when I travel in the developing world, Coke is ubiquitous! … We’re trying to deliver condoms to people or vaccinations… Coke’s success makes you stop and wonder—How is it that they can get Coke to these far flung places? If they can do that, why can’t governments and NGOs do the same thing? … They sell 1.5 billion servings every single day. That is like every man, woman and child have a serving of Coke every week”.

Melinda then went on to point out that much of Coke’s success is due to its use of real time data, ability to tap into local entrepreneurs and incredible marketing. First two success factors aside, for this post I want to think about marketing because when it comes to using marketing and helping kids understand the power of marketing, most schools and educational content companies completely miss the mark.

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During a recent lunch with my friend Sid, we started talking about our first encounters with computers. While I never had much exposure to computers in grade school, I remember vividly the day my father proudly unwrapped our first Mac Classic. Many a suburban afternoons after that were spent playing Brickles, the Oregon Trail and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego.

Sid, on the other hand, grew up in a small town in North Africa. While he didn’t have a computer at home, he longed for Thursday afternoons when he could go to the library for three hours of unfettered access to his community computers. “When I was a kid, I loved building things, but I couldn’t afford the bits and parts required to do things like make an engine. What was so great about the computer is that I could create things like games (with code) and didn’t need any extra money or parts… I didn’t have a diskette or memory card. So, each week I had to start from scratch! I memorized lines of code and worked things out on paper in-between sessions”. His eyes lit up with excitement recounting the experience—the look of a true amateur (one that does things for the love of it, rather than for compensation).

His story reminded me of the wonderful research done by Sugata Mitra:

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