In many countries, Christmas season goes until the 6th of April. That’s the day when we kick out our Christmas tree and end it too. In the meantime, we usher in a new year… and with the new year come new topics – and some old favorites, all in preparation for January.
In my post on everything digital, I mentioned Jaron Lanier and his Ted talk on the history of the internet in which he describes how the internet was developed and conceptualized from the beginning as something that should be available for free to all. This leftist, socialist ideal, he explains, led to the internet having become a huge behaviour modification manipulator and he warns that we should change this.
Jaron Lanier: How we need to remake the internet | TED Talk
In an article Jaron Lanier published April 2023 for The New Yorker magazine, he warns about the dangers of calling digital machines ‘artificial intelligence’ (A.I.). There Is No A.I. | The New Yorker
Continue readingA summary with frequently shared links
If I browse through all the topics that have dominated throughout the last years, i.e. topics that come up again and again, everything around digitalization definitely qualifies. The range is wide: from the internet in general, to smartphone related topics, and – the newest since ChatGPT abruptly entered the market – A.I.
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The following is the prologue to a very successful book series, and more I do not want to say …
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In a time, when autocratic leadership seems to be mushrooming throughout the world, even in the country many used to consider a reliable torch bearer of democracy, the topic of leadership has become one of utmost importance.
Continue readingMy posts on this traditional new year’s topic build up on each other. The one from 2022 provides the most background information to the topic; 2023’s post lists four sources I focussed on last year.
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As much as I would like to say ‘good riddance’, there were some things I enjoyed in 2024. (And those developments I consider less positive are most likely here to stay for a while, I’m afraid.) So let’s take a little look back…
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It’s time I stick something new to the top of my posts. You find everything about ‘sporcles’ up in the page section. I will continue to add new sporcles quizzes there.
Ted Ed videos are short educational videos explaining a various number of different topics in a few minutes. Here I will share a list of those I have already watched or find interesting for future reference.
Continue readingUpdate November 2024
The losers of the election are probably still stunned, shocked and busy analyzing what went wrong.
It was indeed one of the most exiting elections ever. Considering the outcome, the ostrich feeling has recurred a little. However, following how things develop is the better choice.
This is an evergreen topic: Misunderstood song lyrics, also know as ‘mondegreens’. There are some classic ones everybody knows, and some where you wonder if they are truly mondegreens or not really attempts at humor. Why they are called ‘mondegreens’ and more of them ….
Continue readingI have written about this question in other posts that you find under Reflections and Recommendations on Learning and Teaching
Here I just wanted to share a link to an eight minute video on the subject.
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This year, 2024, Earth Overshoot Day has been calculated for August 1.
Earth Overshoot Day is the day on which we humans have used up all ‘the sustainable amount of biological resources generated on earth’ (wikipedia):
Continue reading(Sequel to the Gapminder post)
Triggered by the gapminder question tile ‘Plastics in Oceans’, I created a lesson around the topic of plastics based on the text below.
History and Future of Plastics | Science History Institute
Continue readingUpdate 2025
Anna Rosling Rönnlund: See how the rest of the world lives, organized by income | TED Talk
Some years ago, I watched a TED talk given by the Swedish statistician and physician Hans Rosling and his son. Hans and Ola Rosling: How not to be ignorant about the world | TED Talk.
I also started reading his book ‘Factfulness’.
Continue readingThe Case of Soccer and Football
The European Championchip is in its last week, the English team is still playing and it is high time that I write my football/soccer related post before the tournament is over and football talk will rest for two years before it resumes with the World Cup 2026. Taking place in North America and Mexico, there will probably then be more soccer talk than football talk, at least among the hosts.
Why DO Americans call what (almost) everyone else calls football ‘soccer’? And why do they call a game pretty obviously hardly played with any feet ‘football’. American football comes across as a (rougher) version of rugby, so why wasn’t it called American Rugby?
Continue readingMuch of what I believe about learning – through experience and studies – I have already written about elsewhere (for instance in my post: ‘The Best Curriculum in the World’). But the topic regularly pops up in classes, often in connection with questions concerning memory – memorizing and forgetting – or when talking about ‘grammar’, where I still hear things like: “I hate grammar, I’m bad at grammar etc.”. Even from course members whose English is on an advanced level.
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The topic of schools, schooling, and education is one that frequently comes up. The reason is simple: education is of the utmost importance and many agree that our school systems do not always provide the best environment for learning. The whole structure is unnatural (large same age groups with one adult) and forces kids and adults (the teachers) into a strait jacket that might fit some, but many it doesn’t.
There have been educators who try to fight for better educational concepts, better schools, for approaches to education that consider the psychological and cognitive nature of humans. For concepts that cater better to our minds: our brain’s fascinating capability to figure things out, to recognize patterns, to be curious about our surroundings – and enjoy the whole process.
Continue readingThis topic has become a traditional choice at the beginning of the year. Last year’s post provides a little background to the topic.
Continue readingIn the podcast below from National Public Radio, Gregory Warner describes how he went from being obsessed with New Year’s resolutions to letting go of them. ‘Goal disengagement’ is the term; liberating yourself from old and repeatedly newly set goals, especially when, year after year, they remain unfulfilled.
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