Category Archives: Education

Welcome To The Brave New World Of Higher Education

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence is being offered online this fall, free of charge, to “students” around the world. The introductory class is historically one of the largest at Stanford University, with about 200 students. In a YouTube overview of the online class, professor Sebastian Thrun explains that his goal is to have about 200,000 online students and make it “the largest online AI class ever taught.”

As of this writing, almost 90,000 people have signed up. The Stanford campus is home to about 15,000 students.

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Can Online Games Make Politics and Economics Fun?

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill
sweatshop game

Sweatshop Game Screen Capture From Indie Games Ichiban

If you’re Britain’s Channel 4 Education, then you think the answer to that question is more than a resounding “yes”.

That’s because Channel 4 (owned by Espresso Education, not BBC4) recently launched a free online game designed to shine more than a wee of light on global fashion culture.

Game designers at Littleloud consulted the UK-based charity, Labour Behind The Label, for the facts and data underpinning the game. Players manage an offshore clothing manufacturer that feeds a ravenous and capricious fashion machine.

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America’s Rejection Of Evolution Reflected In Miss U.S.A. Pageant

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

gallup poll evolutionThe first live radio broadcast from a trial was the Scopes trial in 1925. John Scopes, a Tennessee high school biology teacher, was convicted of violating the Butler Act, which prohibited teaching evolution in schools. His trial highlighted the divide between science and fundamentalist (literalist) religion in the United States.

Flash forward to 2011: only one contestant in the 2011 Miss U.S.A. pageant (out of 51) said that she believed in evolution (“I’m a big science geek”) when asked if evolution should be taught in schools. That was Miss California, Alyssa Campanella, and she was crowned the winner on Sunday. Runner-up, Miss Tennessee, Ashley Elizabeth Durham, on evolution: “that’s not my belief” although she said evolution should be taught in schools. Most contestants said that evolution should be taught alongside other points of view, like creationism (or “Biblical stuff”).

It is almost a full century after Scopes and 202 years after Darwin’s birth, yet evolution remains controversial here, and Americans are scientifically illiterate. Read my complete analysis at The Moderate Voice.

Note: The two articles that tipped me to this story have incorrect headlines/information. Think Progress says two contestants “believe in evolution” — that’s not supported by the video clips on YouTube. USA Today (the primary source for Think Progress) is incorrect on several points.

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Education Boon Of The Day

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

If you are interested in science, math and engineering — or teach these subjects — have I got news for you.

The National Academies – National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council – is offering free PDFs of its catalog of more than 4,000 titles.

The National Academies Press produces about 200 titles a year and has made PDFs free to developing nations since 1994. From the press release:  Continue reading →