Web Stuff Friday: Scat and Underground

S&*t You Should Know is hilarious. The language is quite colorful, but the posts are informative and hilarious.

• .9 repeating equals 1 is the post that got me there. A couple colleagues and I were having a discussion about this topic and I went looking for other thoughts on the topic.
• Reader Submission: The Immaculate Mis-Conception taught me something.
• Learn how to use a fucking semicolon. Fuck. is hilarious.
• I know you think “myself” sounds fancy is another funny gem.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Everyone should read every entry, either to learn something or to learn how to teach others the idea.

Urban Explorations is incredible. Check out the photo gallery and the videos. Undercity New York is cool and reminded me of Man on Wire, which was an impressive documentary.

New Math Education Wars: The Wrath of Khan

With their tutorial videos, Khan Academy has made a big splash in the education world. Having Bill Gates sing your praises in a TED Talk is a sure way to get a lot of attention.

Over at Action-Reaction, Frank Noschese has an article Khan Academy: My Final Remarks. I agree with many of his points. Here is a quote from near the end of the post:

Khan Academy is just one tool in a teacher’s arsenal. (If it’s the only tool, that is a HUGE problem.) Khan Academy can be useful for some kids as vehicle (build skills) to help them get to better places (solving complex problems).

On his Quantum Progress blog, John Burk also chimed in with Project Euler vs Khan Academy: The Future of Online Learning. I agree that Project Euler is really, really good, but that is a topic for another post.

Back in 2007 (before I ever heard of Khan Academy), I started developing instructional videos that are somewhat similar to Khan’s work. I think they are great tools, but they are not the be-all and end-all of online education. When placed in the context of a complete course, they can be helpful tools. We need to continue to innovate, but just shouldn't get too carried away by the latest educational fad and think it will solve all our problems. Good teaching isn't about amazing lectures. It's about feedback and engagement and connections.

At their best, instructional videos are pretty sentences. Quality education is a set of engrossing interactive stories.

Brain Calisthenics: Using Perceptual Learning

A friend sent me a link to a New York Times article Brain Calisthenics for Abstract Ideas. The idea is that "playing" with a concept can yield big educational gains. A strictly top-down approach to education (here's the formula, now apply it) is not necessarily the best way to work. This perceptual approach seeks to leverage our ability to build intuition through experience.

Here are some of the games the article references.

Basic Math

Measurements and Graphing: Match the equation to the graph and learn to perceive basic measurement concepts.

Positive and Negative Feedback

Extreme Ball: Time a fan to blow and push a ball attached to rubber bands.

Extreme Population: Help your city reach a population of one million citizens.

Stabilize Ball: Time a fan to blow and stabilize a ball attached to rubber bands.

Stabilize Population: Help your city's population stabilize at 500,000 citizens.

DaVinci's Resume

Back in 1482, a job-hunting Leonardo DaVinci sent a letter to the Duke of Milan. This letter got into the hands of a guy at The Ladders (a job search site) and it made the rounds recently as DaVinci's resume.

DaVinci's resume is interesting, but I prefer a geek's take on the DaVinci resume.

Music Monday: Emily Wells

Emily Wells is pretty amazing. She seems to be using the same type of technology as tUnE yArDs (Real Live Flesh), but the feel is very different.

solo: Symphony 1

a trio with Joey Reina and Sam Halterman: Symphony 6 and Symphony 9

Web Stuff Friday: Larry Miller

Larry Miller's The Five Levels of Drinking is one of the greatest comedy bits of all time. It always brings back memories of my 20's. My friends were such drunks! One of my favorite lines from the bit:

If you're nineteen and you stay up all night, it's a victory. It's like you beat the night.... If you're over thirty, man, that sun is like God's flashlight.

It's from him that I got the expression "It's like the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it." Larry Miller is so great.

Amazing Time-Lapse Videos of the Sky

A couple time-lapse videos of the sky have taken my breath away.

The Mountain was filmed at El Teide, Spain´s highest mountain.

The mountain and the sky are amazing.

Chile's Very Large Telescope

In this video, the sky plays opposite the telescopes. As in the other video, the sky is incredible, but I like watching the telescopes do their things.