Science and education are both forms of exploration. The same tools that are used for scientific exploration should be in the hands of students in schools, so that they can explore the world around them from the earliest age. We're seeing that today with four-year-olds playing on their Macs and interacting with visual and auditory environments. And that exploratory environment is a form of education, which is truly lifelong.
http://onesearch.sun.com/search/onesearch/index.jsp?qt=sketchpad&charset=UTF-8
Scientific visualisation and computer gaming are pretty much the same thing. The best games play with aspects of science. Civilization...Political Science and History. Marble Madness...Physics. The whole of it wraps right into one of my favorite sciences, art. Both create computer generated user interacted with art. Teaching is an art. Art is a science. Teaching art is a science, teaching science is an art.
We need to get computer programs more complicated than the current round of teachers understands into the classrooms at early ages. The students need to be playing games that they can modify. Put their picture on the character, change gravity. The montessori counting blocks of the 21st century. Blender
is the tool for the job. Children will learn it quickly. I've taught a 13 year old for one hour and he started making school projects that blew his teacher's minds. My son is nine and he watches me model and plays the games I make. Rather the games we make. He is artistic oversight, and gameplay advisor. My three year old son loves to play my driving game. As time permits I'm gonna put in the letters of the alphabet with sounds when you bash them.
1 comment:
Oh yeah! John Gage is a hero of mine. Read this:
Learning how to explore is a core component of education, far more long-lasting than simply learning a specific body of knowledge. And, we must be able to explore the world as it changes. Development and innovation come about through interplay between what we think we understand, and the changes happening in our environment.
Today what is often called "industrial-age education" partitions pieces of information into 50-minute segments delivered at a specific time and place. As a more exploratory approach to education evolves, the network of knowledge will expand, creating a digital library of the world, available to all children. The Web symbolizes this.
check out the rest of the story...
http://www.sun.com/2003-0612/feature/index.html
Shane, Great work on the blog and enlightening conversations this afternoon. A stellar day all around.
NSL
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