Jugyokenkyu...

Mom's book of "me"

Education

What does research reveal about how people learn and which educational methods and policies are most effective? An evidence-based approach can provide valuable input into often-controversial debates about educational methods and policy. Our reports have examined and synthesized the evidence on a broad range of questions, from how to accurately measure high-school dropout rates, to the effects of incentives on student learning, to how adults learn to read. Given our affiliation with the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, one area of emphasis is studying how children most effectively learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. [1]

OK, that's the official tag line. Coming up with the "most effective" method, as if the previous methods were moribund or ineffective. We got to the moon with slide rules, trig and memorized time tables; not on-board computers, laptops or calculators. Also from personal experience, it helps when your parents think it's important that you learn the material, and help or get help for you when you have struggles. It also helps that adults have an appreciation for lifelong learning and respect the preparation and training STEM fields requires, and how to integrate that into the administration of a democratic republic.

The title of this post is obviously Japanese, and it literally translates to "lesson study," a set of practices that Japanese teachers use to hone their craft. [2] This is not a "bash American Education" post, nor does it attempt to elevate Japanese pedagogy. We can however, learn from other successful models (Finland comes to mind).

The National Academy of Sciences speaks on this concern (see "official tag line" paragraph). One of the links at the article "Climate Change Education Roundtable" (this is the actual link) has by its title, an uphill battle with a well-heeled fossil fuels industry that finances obfuscation to keep the status quo (and, thus the money flow upward *). The tobacco industry exemplī grātiā.

I would just like to do something different than our current flirtation with pseudoscience for political expediency. A false science produces false results. Faux results - assertions not based in reality - are typically in the long run for the wealth of nation states neither sustainable nor profitable.

1. National Academy of Sciences: Topics>Education
2. New York Times: Why Do Americans Stink at Math?

* Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. Job 5:7