By Stephen Downes
August 6, 2004
Internet Time Blog
Jay Cross has
moved his blog to Blogger (so change your RSS feeds) because of the incessant spam
on this other site. By Jay Cross, Internet Time, August,
2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Democracy, Community, and Youth Activism in
K-12 Schooling
One of the major arguments for a public education
system is that society has a stake in instilling certain
values in its citizens, and in particular, citizenship and
democracy. But what does that mean? This page links to
articles by Joel Westheimer, mostly with Joseph Kahne, that
explore the subject. One issue that crops up repeatedly is
the lack of agreement on what constitutes a democractic
citizen; the authors, for example, identify three types -
personally responsible citizens, participatory citizens,
and justice oriented citizens - in Educating the "Good" Citizen: Political
Choices and Pedagogical Goals. And in Reconnecting Education To Democracy:
Democratic Dialogues the authors examine the role of
patriotism and political opinions in learning, looking at,
for example, how "Nebraska's State Board of Education did
jump on its own version of American Bandstand, specifying
that the high school social studies curriculum should
"include instruction in . . . the benefits and advantages
of our government, the dangers of . . . communism and
similar ideologies, the duties of citizenship, and
appropriate patriotic exercises." Democracy in education,
sure, but at what point does it become propaganda? These
essays are a great read; required for anyone working in
this area.
By Joel Westheimer, mostly with Joseph Kahne, Democratic
Dialogue, August, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Community Engagement Techniques and
Tools
What should be noted in this chart is the
big orange arrow designating "increasing level of public
impact" for the various collaboration tools described.
Below the arrow is a grid with many tools familiar to
educators: plain old content sits at the lowest level,
serving only to inform, while more interactive tools
engender greater empowerment, right up to the point where
citizens make decisions for themselves. Which is where - in
both government and learning - we want to be. By Unknown,
Government of New South Wales, February 23, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
NSDL At a Glance
The National
Science Distributed Library (NSDL) has made access to its
collection available through a nifty interactive graphic.
The visual view requires Java to be enabled in your web
browser. Though interesting to look at, though, it is
unlikely that anyone will use this display to actually
search for resources. Just my feeling. By Various Authors,
NSDL, August 6, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Nature
RSS Newsfeeds
The Nature Publishing group, which
produces top-flight scientific journals such as Nature, has
announced a raft of RSS feeds linking to journal articles.
Unfortunately, viewers will require a subscription or to
pay fees in order to read the articles. More information on
the RSS-DEV Yahoo news group (you may have to
sign up to view this item). By Announcement, Nature
Publishing Group, August 6, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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