OLDaily

Is Scientific American a Trustworthy Periodical?
Justin Weinberg, Daily Nous, 2018/09/14

If Scientific American is publishing really low-quality articles on things we know about, asks the author, how trustworthy is its reporting on other subjects. And 'low-quality' isn't really a judgement call here: " imagine an article on football in which the author uses “touchdown” to refer to a kind of tackle, or wonders how a “field goal” is possible since the crossbar of the goal is not on the field but 10 feet above it, and you’ll get the idea of what has been going on." I don't tknow how (or whether it's even relevant) to judge Scientific American as a whole. Each article anywhere has to be taken on its own merits, and while it's a lot more difficult than just trusting a name brand, it's also safer.

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The Future of Podcasting Is Educational
James McWilliams, Pacific Standard, 2018/09/14

Now we need to understand that the headline does not mean that 'the future of education is podcasts'. Though really valuable, podcasts play a niche role in the wider educational ecosystem. Having said that, education is definitely a primary application for podcasts. I use them pretty much every day to advance my own learning. And I provide them in the form of course and lecture recordings. This article plugs Zachary Davis's podcast Ministry of Ideas. I haven't listed to it (I will) but I like the idea that it is trying to empower "responsible citizens to develop skills we need to make wise judgments."

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Applying diSessa’s Knowledge in Pieces Framework to Understanding the Notional Machine
Mark Guzdial, Computing Education Research Blog, 2018/09/14

A few days ago I discussed the idea that you don't know something unless you have a conceptual understanding of it. This post caught my eye because it captures in some important ways the idea of knowledge as recognition and the role of relevant similarity. The process for conceptual understanding is described by Lauren Margulieux as follows: "P-prims are only activated when the learner recognizes similarities between a p-prim and the current phenomena. Recognition is impacted by many different features, such as cuing, frequency of activation, suppression, salience, and reinforcement. Because activation of p-prims depends on contextual features of phenomena, novices often fail to recognize relevant p-prims unless the contextual features align." For more see Andy diSessa’s 1993 paper Toward an epistemology of physics (122 page PDF).

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'It's Like Amazon, But for Preschool'
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2018/09/14

The reason why we prefer government support rather than charity for critical infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools is to ensure stability, access and public benefit. That's the opposite of what Jeff Bezos is proposing. As Audrey Watters writes, "There is no community, no public responsibility, no larger civic impulse for early childhood education here. It’s all about private schools offering private, individual benefits." I appreciate that Jeff Bezos wants to do good with the money he has accumulated. Watters has two suggestions, both of which I heartily endorse: first, pay the workers more, so they don't need to depend on government assistance to survive. Second, pay your taxes. All of them.

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