Rethinking Education to Prepare Children for Success

in the Knowledge Age

Glenn Ellis Picker Engineering Program

Smith College

Why hire a U.S. engineer at 5x the cost?

$$$$$ $$

Why hire a U.S. engineer at 5x the cost?

$$$$$ $$

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Grand Challenges (NAE)

Develop carbon sequestration methods

Improve urban infrastructure

Reverse-engineer

the brain

Enhance virtual reality

Make solar energy economical

Manage the

nitrogen cycle

Advance

health informatics

Prevent

nuclear terror

Advance

personalized learning

Provide energy

from fusion

Provide access

to clean water

Engineer better

medicines

Secure cyberspace

Engineer tools

of scientific discovery

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Futuristic Business

Learning Sciences

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Minimize content mastery

Emphasize content mastery

Futuristic Business

Learning Sciences

Futuristic Business

Learning Sciences

Learning with understanding leads to

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Direct Learning

Indirect Learning

1. People learn what they process.

2. The skills most likely to be learned are the minimal ones necessary to accomplish the range of tasks presented.

Futuristic Business

Learning Sciences

Learning with understanding leads to

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Futuristic Business

Learning Sciences

Learning with understanding leads to

CreativityGroup work

CommunicationInformation-finding

Problem solvingTechnological literacy

Continual learning

Knowledge Building

February 14, 2008Smith College Offers Model for Attracting Women…

…Today’s Christian Science Monitor profiles Glenn Ellis, a professor who helped develop Smith’s innovative engineering curriculum, which emphasizes context, ethics, and communication as much as formulas and equations…

Comments

11. So, there is a push to remove calculus and calculus-based pedagogy because women don’t make as much as men? …It’s kind of embarrassing actually.

— e buzz miller Feb #15, 01:51 PM #

16. …Strangely enough, my employer expects me to know math and all that icky stuff.

— Jordan Feb 15, 04:15 PM #

Thursday, February 14, 2008Breaking: Equations Not All That Important In Engineering

…Well, a Smith College professor found a way around that for getting women into engineering: Ignore the math…I'm no expert, but I'm not clear on what you can engineer with "context, ethics, and communication.”

Tuesday, February 19, 2008Defending Smith College on Engineering

…Engineering isn't the same as science, and you can't be a good engineer unless you understand the economic, political, historical, and ethical context of what you're trying to do, as well as being able to communicate the wisdom of your design to a broader audience.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008Defending Smith College on Engineering

About a week ago I wrote a pretty sarcastic post about the Smith College engineering program — a Chronicle of Higher Education piece…said the curriculum "emphasizes context, ethics, and communication as much as formulas and equations." …these are in fact important facets to engineering, so the college might just be exploiting a more female-friendly niche, not creating bad engineers.

How are plants and animals different?

How are plants and animals different?

Authentic problems

Discourse for sustained idea improvement

Use authoritative sources

Community knowledge, collective responsibility

Students create higher level concepts

Students find own way and monitor progress

What is consciousness and can a machine have it?

Offers theory opposing machine consciousnessOffers theory opposing machine consciousness

Brings in DescartesBrings in Descartes

Offers theory opposing machine consciousnessOffers theory opposing machine consciousness

Brings in DescartesBrings in Descartes

Brings in Carl JungBrings in Carl Jung

Offers theory opposing machine consciousnessOffers theory opposing machine consciousness

Brings in DescartesBrings in Descartes

Contrasts Descartes with Buddhism Contrasts Descartes with Buddhism

Brings in Carl JungBrings in Carl Jung

Offers theory opposing machine consciousnessOffers theory opposing machine consciousness

Brings in DescartesBrings in Descartes

Contrasts Descartes with Buddhism Contrasts Descartes with Buddhism

Brings in Carl JungBrings in Carl Jung

Acknowledges new way of thinking Acknowledges new way of thinking

Offers theory opposing machine consciousnessOffers theory opposing machine consciousness

5th Graders

College Students

Create a statewide recovery plan to increase the number of bald eagles in your state.

5th Graders

College Students

Generate questions that you would like to have answered to help you learn more about eagle recovery plans.

5th Graders

College Students

5th Graders

Principals

Create a statewide recovery plan to increase the number of bald eagles in your state.

5th Graders

Principals

What would you do to learn to solve this problem?

5th Graders

Principals

Sequestered Problem Solving Efficiency…Replicate, Apply

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Preparation for Future Learning Innovation…Interpret