The brain of your child whom you entrust to standardized schools is the most complicated thing in the universe, with 100 billion brain cells none of which seem to be in charge. So explains Steven Strogatz (about the human brain) in the above video. He and Duncan Watts are introduced in this first of a five-part explanation of network theory. Strogatz and Watts discovered small world networks and are top tier scientists of their generation. The other videos are available on YouTube: two, three, four, and five.
What we are learning about networks make standardized schooling obsolete. The platform for the new education will be the interaction of four networks — each of which we are beginning to understand from the new network science introduced in the videos. The four networks are: the internet, the brain, what is known by humankind, and the network in which humankind is interconnect by six degrees or so of separation.
Although networks and education have yet to be heard much above the education din, GoldenSwamp will focus increasingly on this fundamental subject. For example: It is downright silly to impose watered down stand alone standards upon an eager brain that is a network of 100 billion cells from which thought seeks to emerge by connecting patterns.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:44 am
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Thanks
April 14th, 2009 at 4:59 am
THE NETWORK THAT NEEDS TO BE SEPARATE:
The focus and niche of GoldenSwamp is described 2 posts ago here with the picture from the Map of Science:
http://www.goldenswamp.com/2009/04/05/this-map-depicts-the-future-of-education-resources/
I think the network we see in the Map of Science must be considered separate from networks of schools and curricula for the network of what students actually learn (Map of Science) to not be restricted from connecting and emerging knowledge to learn. We need all the networks, but their value is greatest when they are kept separate.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:19 am
So if I read your above comment correctly, the school and course sites can remain separate entities with some boundaries. They are not obsolete in this new global learning network – but they will have will have to open their doors substantially and allow students free access and interaction with the wealth of resources out there. Another question is whether they can open up to outside traffic as well. According to your article: if they don’t, they will become irrelevant. Thanks
April 15th, 2009 at 9:44 am
This post of a few days ago gives a summary of how I think the future of learning sources will be:
http://www.goldenswamp.com/2009/04/05/this-map-depicts-the-future-of-education-resources/
A network like what we see in the “Map of Science” has been growing spontaneously among cognitively connected webpages since the WWW began. It is all open, and include many pages from within the academy. As you say, it has to be open to outside traffic.
A word that has helped me think about the opening of school and course sites is “unbundling” which I have written about several times on GoldenSwamp, as here:
http://www.goldenswamp.com/2008/10/28/the-cloud-will-unbundle-the-tower/
My hope is that educators will drop their defensiveness and embrace the cognitive networking of the internet offers.