How long tail learning ends the underclass trap
So often when one argues for using online content in learning the argument is raised: Oh, but you have to have nurture and teaching. Of course. This 7-week old Pallas’ Cat kittens make the point that youngsters of all sorts need the skill and patience of faithful adults.
Thanks to ZooBorns, where you can see lots more of the kittens.
An AP article in Yahoo! describes a return of kinder (kids) to the garden of nature for their school setting. An outdoor school in Oregon is described — where little ones get their hands on the real natural world.
Why not carry this idea in various forms to essentially all student/teaching situations? Since the invention of writing (think scrolls) and then printing a few centuries ago, the need for written educational resource materials — textbooks, library access, pencils and paper — has driven students into boxes called classrooms.
It is time to think outside of the classroom box. Students can have nature, work place tools (if they study some in real labs and workplaces) in one hand and everything known by humankind in their other hand (with an iPad sort of device).
This video shows a young colt learning to use his springy feet pretty much on his own. The video also illustrates the watchful eyes of Mom and a human mentor.
The colt doing the learning belongs to a friend of an old friend of mine in Texas who received an email sending the video saying:
Howdy,
Our son Ron and the new Grand-colt. The mare is the horse that lays down so Kirsty can mount.
Clearly, this colt has an exceptional parent and Grand-human – yet we see him discovering on his own, then learning and drilling himself. Education is about nurture, teaching, and mentoring, of course.
The video illustrates the aspect of education that is the matter of taking one’s learning into one’s own hooves. For 21st century human colts, a mobile internet browser is the new hoofschooling.
