jameswang.net » TED

TED Thursdays: Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education

James Wang — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:05:51 +0000

I’m on an education kick. Here’s another TED video about education. Children were built to learn and absorb. I think it is really powerful what he talks about regarding how kids love teaching things to each other and working in groups. He also talks about the power of retention when kids discuss things together. The concepts that I thought were fascinating were the granny method and the SOUL pods that he made that let you communicate between pods and with the “Granny Cloud”.

If you can’t see the video, then check it out here:

http://jameswang.net/2011/10/06/tt-mitra-child-driven-education/

TED Thursdays: Cameron Herold: Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs

James Wang — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:12:38 +0000

I watched this the other night and thought to myself while watching it, ok, ok, keep rubbing it in about the awesome experiences you had in your training growing up. I loved the graphic of traits to teach kids that was on the chalkboard.

If you can’t see the video, then check it out here:

http://jameswang.net/2011/10/06/tt-cameron-kidpreneurs/

As an adult, you might also want to check out his book on being an entrepreneur.

TED Thursdays: Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

James Wang — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:25:04 +0000

This one starts off funny but not filling, but once he gets into the meat of this probably 5 minutes in or so, he has some fantastic thoughts on education to note. He points out some key things about how educational models need to move from modeling after the industrial model(factories and fast food) to the agricultural model(farming and individualized localized menus). He points out that there are so many people who are good at things they are not passionate about. We need to help kids find their passions. Great talk. Check it out:

TED Thursdays: Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book

James Wang — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:31:47 +0000

It is absolutely mind blowing what education could be like 5 years from now. The concept is a user interface for books that make it easy to flip chapter to chapter, page to page, and also have interactive objects within its pages, from expandable pictures and video to little apps within the pages, like a fun windpower game like app that shows how wind power might flow through a house structure. I can’t wait to see these in action.

http://pushpoppress.com/ourchoice/

TED Thursdays: Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong

James Wang — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:25:38 +0000

Kathryn Schulz gives an interesting talk. When I first started watching this, I thought, hmm, I’m not sure I’m going to dig her speaking style, but that quickly changed. She brings up some key points about what it means to be wrong.

She asks a question of “What does it feel like to be wrong”. People give all kinds of answers like “sad. embarrassed. etc”. Then she explains, “that’s what it feels like when you realize you are wrong, but what does it feel like when you are wrong, before you know you are wrong?”. Her answer is that it feels a lot like it feels when you are right. The likens this to the coyote and road runner and how the road runner and coyote would run through the sky, but it was realization of the situation that would make the coyote fall. Though not reality, it shows how it feels. I took from it that truth and lies often feel similar when unexamined, but that truth is precious and needs to be carefully sought after because its so easy to live in “wrongness”.

It was interesting. Check it out:

Thought it was interesting. You can get her book here:

TED Thursdays: Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning

James Wang — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:12:43 +0000

I really enjoyed this talk. She dives into the educational experience of boys in our world today and how there’s a big disconnect. Some of the things she points out are at

1) Zero tolerance policies on things that are just boy things – Examples being limiting writing topics a boy can write about to the point where they hate writing, not because they wouldn’t be good at it but because of the topics they are allowed to pursue.
2) The percentage of male teachers in schools has gone down from 14% to 7% in the last 10 years. Lack of male role models and male thinking in classrooms has really made boys feel like the classroom is not really a place for them. It sends a message that the classroom is a place for girls, not a place for boys.
3) Kindergarten is the old second grade – She states that we are expecting a lot from kids now in kindergarten. There’s a lot of pressure on teachers, many of them female, with compressed curriculum, to get all the kids through the class. The message is, “Focus, manage your time, pay attention, don’t talk. Act more like a girl.”

What can be done?
Change teacher attitudes about boy culture and speaking more their language.
Invest and innovate in ways to bring game theory into classrooms

This is a very very light summary of what she says, but check it out for yourself.

Check it out.

If you aren’t on jameswang.net, check out the original post here for the video:
http://jameswang.net/2011/04/22/ted-thursdays-ali-carr-chellman-gaming-to-re-engage-boys-in-learning/

TED Thursdays: Eric Giler – demos wireless electricity

James Wang — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:05:14 +0000

Seriously, I love TED. I could watch this stuff all day if I could. Here’s another awesome one. I’ve always been fascinated by how far ahead of his time Nikola Tesla was. In this video, Eric Giler shows wireless electricity that he dubs as wi-tricity. It’s pretty neat. I feel proud to see that the first and most easily modified phone to use witricity was the T-Mobile Google Android G1. Yeah, the iphone could too and so could the nokia, but with silly plastic backpack looking sleeves. Weak. Well, check it out. He actually wirelessly powers a television first before he even gets to the phones.

TED Thursdays: PW Singer – on military robots and the future of war

James Wang — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:13:10 +0000

Wow, I would be so mad being someone having to fight America in a war. He has a good point though about some of the ramifications of robotic arms races. He talks about globalization and how that effects things. So an american soldier is using a robot to fight a war with hardware from China and software from India? Opensource warfare? Al Queda 2.0? Very interesting talk. He doesn’t talk about it but, frankly war has always had some commercialized aspects such as mercenaries in ancient times, but that’s at a whole new level these days with Black water, and the like. Some recent games and media highlighted the moral issues of mercenary life and loyalties or lack there of. Along that line, war is becoming more and more like a game. Makes me think of Ender’s Game. Great book. If you don’t have it and want it . . . feel free to buy it at the link below. It might actually give me a small kick back enough for 1/20th a coffee. hook me up.

TED Thursdays: Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds

James Wang — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:42:07 +0000

I really liked this video. Basically, she asks the question of what biologically helps us with judging other people’s actions. It is really amusing the experiment she runs with the pirate finger puppets and the children to show how child development of moral judgements of others develops over time. I think you’ll really like this, even if neuroscience is not your thing:

TED Thursdays: Tim Ferriss – Smash fear, learn anything

James Wang — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:35:16 +0000

I thought overall he has some very motivational things to say. A lot of what I got from him is, if you are scared, ask yourself why and what’s the worst that could happen. Learn from the best. Reading some other people’s comments, he might over simplify some things in the sense that they may not be exactly reproducible. Specifically, he learns japanese, buuuuut he says it was because he had a kanji poster that helped him narrow his problem space. Having a poster on my wall of stuff might help but the fact that he was also living IN Japan AND living WITH a japanese family probably helped a little too. I do agree with narrowing and breaking down your problem space though and also that attitude is a huge part of achievement and success. He’s got a great amount of attitude, achievement and success.

Like his talk? Check out his book: