did ELENIN make a left turn?

[ArcaneMagik (Craig)]

I can't wait for the day that someone on Youtube notices that the planets appear to go backwards in their motion across the sky. Obviously it will be due to ancient aliens.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by bojan

Only wandering, who will do this ???

The teachers are going to have to do this, for the most part. Most parents aren't equipped to be able to teach this. So, they're going to have to revamp the way teachers are taught, as well.

[bojan]

And who will educate teachers ? There are not enough teachers for the job

More and more often "Idiocracy" is coming to my mind in recent days.

[Poita (Peter)]

I'm nearly finished my teaching degree and a big change is the massive push to create creative and lateral thinking with students. We are now also meant to be teaching algebraic thinking from kindergarten onwards, across all strands, not just mathematics. So there is a focus on it. I still have to deal with that once a week interruption were creationism and many other topics are being taughts as facts though, which doesn't help.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Peter, it's not about creative thinking. Give kids the encouragement they need and they'll be as creative as their individual abilities will take them. It's the ability to be able to think critically and clearly about a subject which is seriously lacking in students (and in the general population as a whole). Being able to look at a subject, no matter how outrageous it might seem and to judge the strength of that subject based on its merits (value of the data, internal consistency etc etc), rather than on opinion and subjective reasoning. This is also where lateral thinking comes in handy because sometimes seeing the merits of a subject requires that you think outside of the box, taking a tack you wouldn't ordinarily otherwise consider. Being able to see the connections even if they appear obscure and not necessarily linear in function.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by bojan

And who will educate teachers ? There are not enough teachers for the job

More and more often "Idiocracy" is coming to my mind in recent days.

It's not that there aren't enough teachers for the job. There's plenty. It's a case of those teachers not being equipped themselves to teach in such a manner. Mainly because they were never taught this way, themselves. It's more a matter of curriculum policy and implementation of the proper teaching strategy that will enable the instruction of teachers into how to think critically and clearly. It's also the same approach where teaching students as well, is concerned.