How MIT students are trying to change education

How MIT students are trying to change education It’s summertime @ MIT! Im relaxing at home after graduating last week (more on that soon) and am here to spotlight an incredible project a few of my friends are participating in Spokes: Biking Across America. Who: 9 students from MIT and UC Berkeley What: Biking across the country from San Francisco to Washington D.C., stopping at high schools to hold “learning festivals”, teaching students subjects the cyclists are passionate about. What it might look like: Biking! Fixing bikes when necessary! Science! (a sample of classes: “The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants” and “Eyewire: A Game to Map the Brain”) Images from the Spokes blog   *** I first found out about Spokes after seeing the tweet below from Turner, a fellow resident of my floor Burton 1, and the one who cooked up the idea for this adventure. In the following QA conducted over email, Turner indeed describes Spokes in more detail. The conversation has been slightly edited for length. How did the idea come about? The idea had a long history. I had always noted, largely thanks to my parents deep interest in education, a number of trends in education that I disliked. I also noticed that many, many people dont have the ability to hold a proper discussion and learn from anothers opinions. Most simply argue their own opinion without shifting or learning. A number of my friends didnt have the confidence to pursue a topic they loved, and that both saddened and frustrated me. Finally, it seemed learning had become a sad or painful experience for many of my friends. How terrible! Learning should be fun and positive. The idea of biking popped into being while my family and I were climbing Mount Everest in February of 2012 with an alumni travel group. I was having a hard semester and wanted to change directions. Biking across the country, an endeavor one of the other people on the trip mentioned, seemed like a phenomenally fun thing to do, and also a great way to get out into the world, see some new things, meet some new people, and take a break from MIT and the physics I had been studying. That trip failed to come together in the summer of 2012, and I headed out to San Francisco for the summer. After talking to a number of groups working on ed tech startups I noticed that many of them were basing their solutions to education on just a couple of schools or just a couple of conversations without properly exploring the incredible breadth of educational experiences available in the United States. Additionally, they considered their product a success when it sold to the teachers or to the schools. What about the kids? Too few of them were looking directly at the students using their products to determine if they were successful. It struck me that, in order to truly improve the education of the millions of students in the United States, one had to do something differently. So I started putting together a team of friends to travel across the US by bike, see what education was really like in a variety of circumstances, and try out a solution of our own. We figured out that what all of us, with our many varied interests, had in common was a love of something, a passion, and we began to ask each other, Why doesnt everyone have the opportunity to pursue a passion? Why hasnt everyone found a topic they love to learn about? It became our goal to inspire students to learn what the love and to pursue a passion. What was the process for involving partner high schools? The original partner schools were found through Teach for America, and therefore were all Teach for America partner schools. We have been contacting a variety of additional schools and groups, including a homeschooling group in St. Louis and an experimental education group in Loveland, Colorado. How did the mentors decide what classes they will teach? First, a clarification. The teachers are not the same as the mentors. Mentors are being selected from all around the world through a variety of networks. Pretty much anyone can offer to mentor, but theyll have to go through an interview and background check before approval. The cyclists are teaching the classes, but most will not be mentors. To answer to question directly, the teachers chose topics that they found especially fascinating and were very knowledgable about. Inspiring a student is hard, but we thought that the first step was having a truly passionate teacher. What part of the journey are you most looking forward to? What do you think will be the biggest challenge? Im looking forward to every inch of it! Everyday! Im incredibly excited to be in the middle of the country seeing a part of the US that I have never seen before. Im also incredibly excited to sit down with kids who have just discovered something new in the world neuroscience, say and watch them form an amazing project over the course of our project workshop. Im excited to see other people find excitement, I guess. The biggest challenge will be the teaching. LIke I said, our goal is not just to impart information, but to inspire curiosity. Thats a hard task. Every day we will be modifying our teaching style to accomplish that goal. It will also be difficult, as it is for any teacher, to keep the whole class engaged. Were designing engaging classes, but it will still be a tough task, especially considering that we will only have a couple hours, or, at most, a day, with each group of students. Gosh everything will be the biggest challenge, haha! Everything has been. For example, we had a donor worth $10k to the trip drop out a couple weeks ago. Its been an incredible challenge filling that gap. *** Best of luck to Spokes America, which kicks off TOMORROW, JUNE 11. Follow their journey on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Vimeo. I know I will be!

Neolithic Revolution Essay - 1158 Words

Neolithic Revolution Essay Neolithic Revolution Introduction The beauty of the world lies in the fact that t experiences constant changes. Nothing is in its original from today, as it was in ancient times. There are numerous factors, which have played a pivotal role in enabling the world retain its beauty, in the form of experiencing the changes; and amongst those factors is the major factor of constant progress and development by the mankind. Mankind has always been in constant endeavour of improving his life standards, and discovering new ways of enabling his survival and enhancing the processes that he customarily employs. History of Agricultural Revolution of the Neolithic Ever since, the world came into†¦show more content†¦Gradually they were on their way of devising the new and improved gadgets and tools, and their skills advanced accordingly, these improvements and advancements guided them through their transformation from the older and less civilized form to more of community and societal living. The Neolithic Revolution is undoubtedly the corner stone or the initial step that guided or paved way for the mankind for all their future developments to occur. Argument In Favour Of the Change This is an interesting phenomenon of the nature of mankind; seldom does it happen that the inhabitants of the world have similar favourable consent over a subject. Now a vital revolution, such as the Neolithic Revolution, which played a pivotal role in introducing civilizations in our lives, is not free from arguments and debates, as well. Where there are people who believe that if it were not for this revolution, we would still be living that uncivilized and undeveloped lifestyle; there still exists a group of individuals, who believe that it would be better for us had we not moved forward from that hunting-gathering lifestyle. They believe that neither would our lifestyle become so complicated, nor we would have to strive to survive in this modern era by finding the appropriate means of survival and trying hard to fit in the society which is not fit for everyone[2]. IShow MoreRelatedNeolithic Revolution Essay1756 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction: The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago,Read MoreNeolithic Revolution Essay910 Words   |  4 Pagesfollowed their food source around and were hunters and gathers. Although it took many years, from 8000B.C. to 3000B.C. for humans to go from hunters and gathers to a more common day life as we now know it, the result is referred to as the Neolithic Revolution the begins of human civilization. As the people of this time began to settle down and they began to both farm the land and domesticate animals for the better of the community. Along with the development of these communities as for the firstRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of the Neolithic Revolution Essay933 Words   |  4 PagesBut the shift from hunting and gathering to food production was not as advantageous to humanity as Childe believed. Although there were benefits, there were also serious drawbacks, and humans paid a price for the advantages of agriculture. The Neolithic, the period in history in which food production became widespread, began around 10,200 B.C, first appearing in Southwest Asia, and lasted until 4000 to 2200 B.C. The cultivation of vegetables and domestication was becoming common in Southwest AsiaRead MoreNeolithic Revolution Essay759 Words   |  4 PagesThe Neolithic Revolution took place from around 10,000 B.C.E. to 4000 B.C.E. and was thought to be one of the largest transformations in human culture. The transition in lifestyle centered around the shift from a life of hunting and gathering as the main source of food to a life of agriculture through the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants, and fungi as the main source of food. The planting and growing of crops allowed for a dependable and steady source of food and income for many individualsRead MoreEssay The Mark of Agriculture in Neolithic Revolution1064 Words   |  5 PagesThere have been several major revolutions throughout human history. V. Gordon Ch ilde explains them as; The Neolithic Revolution, The Urban Revolution and The Industrial Revolution. (Harris 1994) These revolutions mark monumental periods in human history. Each thought to be a tremendous benefit to the survival of humankind. However, when all of the evidence is taken into account, especially regarding the Neolithic revolution, it would appear that there is significant detriment to the survival of theRead MoreThe Origin of Food Production Essay2417 Words   |  10 Pagesgrasses, edible root plants, and animal domestication† (Fagan 2007: 126). The pronounced change from hunting and gathering to agriculture and domestication can be simplistically designated the Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution (Pringle 1998). The catalytic developments of the Neolithic Revolution mark a major turning point in the history of humankind. The resulting animal and plant domestication established the foundation on which modern civilization was built. Archaeologists commonly offer differingRead MoreEssay1115 Words   |  5 Pages(kingdoms) and the Chinese people’s way of life. However, the most interesting thing I learned about china was contribution from ancient Chinese science and technological inventions to the world. Since there are a lot of ancient Chinese inventions, in this essay I would like to give information about some of the very interesting and useful ten ancient Chinese inventions that I believe we cannot imagine without them today. 1. Toilet Paper Toilet paper was one of the very important Chinese inventions thatRead MoreIslam and Continuities1628 Words   |  7 PagesChange Over Time Essay Prompts    8000 BCE to 600 CE †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Analyze the changes and continuities in major trading patterns within and among Classical civilizations; include their contacts, including religious, with adjacent regions. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discuss the changes and continuities in the Silk Road trading network from 600 BCE – 1450 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discuss the changes and continuities that occurred in the roles and functions of cities in major societies from the Neolithic Revolution to 1450. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trace andRead MoreEssay about What Can Be Learned From the Study of The Prehistoric Era?1011 Words   |  5 Pagesearth for over tens of thousands of years as hunters and gatherers exploiting their surroundings. Their mere existence involved the participation of male and female, which hunting considered to be the male role and gathering the female role. In an essay written by Karl Marx, Why are Women Oppressed, he states â€Å"the earliest societies are usually referred to as hunter-gatherer societies. Their name expresses the division of labor which was a feature of these societies where women would gather plantRead MoreComparative Review Of Uruk The First City 1318 Words   |  6 Pagesend of the fourth Millennium BCE and is considered to be the first city. The first book, â€Å"Uruk: the First City† by Mario Liverani, provides a comprehensive study of the development of Uruk from a chiefdom to a state and its role in the ‘urban revolution’ as referred to by prehistoric archeologist V. Gordon Childe. â€Å"The creation of an urban society was a fundamental innovation that has affected the entirety of world history† (Liverani, Translator’s Prefix, x) Liverani recognizes revolutionary changes

Argumentative Response to “the Singer Solution to World...

In Peter Singer’s article â€Å"The Singer Solution to World Poverty,† Singer suggests that Americans should donate all of the money they are spending on luxuries, not necessities, to the world’s poor. His argument seems simple and straight forward, but there are several unanswered questions. What is the cause of world poverty? What would this do to the American economy? America’s economy must be a priority to Americans when it comes to solving the issues of world poverty. Utilitarian philosophers, like Peter Singer, judge whether acts are right or wrong by their consequences. Singer’s solution did not seem to take into account the long term consequences this would have on the American economy. According to Bussinessweek.com, consumer†¦show more content†¦dollars a year. The factory contributed to the local economy by creating employment. These jobs have made it possible for many people to pull themselves out of poverty. With all of these facts, Peter Singer may still argue that the negative effects on the US economy would not compare with the benefits that everyone overseas would receive that are suffering with poverty. The current economic recession Americans are experiencing makes it even more difficult for us to feed our own children. A New York Times article stated that â€Å"With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance.† We, as Americans, need to deal with our own hunger and poverty issues before we can even begin to think about everyone overseas. Singer’s solution brought up a strong argument on morals, but not a realistic solution to world poverty. The long-term consequences of his solution would have been devastating to the global economy because to make money, you have to spend money. Every time I think of his solution, one famous quote comes to mind-â€Å"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.† The cause of povertyShow MoreRelatedNon Technical Topic6523 Words   |  27 Pagesmay be representative of a niche class. Say, books about bored or repressed housewives: about an individual who can be seen as a symbol for group of people in similar conditions. But there would be few novels dealing with, say, the masses below the poverty line. If at all, the protagonist would be looking at the situation from the outside in. A story seen and told by a person belonging to that strata, facing the problems and concerns that people in that strata face, would be a rarity (I would be gladRead MoreMedia Violence9754 Words   |  40 Pagesessay describes how the depiction of violence is evolving in a number of media formats. It analyzes how, and why, violence is used by entertainment and information industries. It offers an overview of research findings, an outline of government responses to the issue and a look at some of the key arguments in the debate. It also explores the role of media education can play in helping young people put media violence into perspective. So lets start with this basic argument; violent media isRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesown conclusion, then its your responsibility to give them reasons they can appreciate. Lets examine that last remark. A conclusion backed up by one or more reasons in any order is called an argument, even when the reasoner is not being argumentative or disagreeable. The word â€Å"argument† is a technical term we will be using frequently in this course. Being logical means, among other things, that you should give an argument to support your conclusion if you expect other people to accept itRead MoreIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 PagesMessrs. C.N. and E.I. Madunagu; without their co-operation and courage during a very difficult period this dictionary could not have appeared when it did. No one is better aware than myself of the many shortcomings of this work; it is offered to the world as a beginning rather than an achievement, a stimulus rather than an authority 3. Onitsha Igbo The dialect of both Mr Pearman’s MS and of the present form of the dictionary may be described as a generalized form of Onitsha. My own decision to work

Increasing Number of Overweight Children Free Essays

Nowadays, the number of children in the obese range is increasing in developed countries. This has led to a rise in the medical fees paid by the government to treat these children. Such medical expenses have reached an alarming rate that a solution is necessary to mitigate this problem. We will write a custom essay sample on Increasing Number of Overweight Children or any similar topic only for you Order Now Who should we blame for the children’s health? What some people are maintaining is that the number of fast food outlets has risen dramatically. They argue that food rich in fat is usually prepared in these restaurants such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King. Customers could save their time by eating in these outlets. Instant cooked meals are served within a short time. Furthermore, the food which is high in salt and calories tastes good to most of the children. Finally, they will be addicted to this food. The fast food advertisements shown on the television seem to enhance the appetite of the children. They would eventually persuade to their parents to bring them to the outlets. While the above example may be true to some extent, some people claim that the role of the parents is the main factor. The quality of people’s lives is improving. To achieve a higher standard of living, the parents have to work from day to night. Therefore, less time is accounted for the health of the children. They may even bring the children to fast food outlets for their staple meals. Some parents may not prepare a balanced meal just because their children reject vegetables. Ultimately, it is a pity that the children have to carry their extra body mass around. In my opinion, if all the fast food outlets could be closed, our younger generation would not suffer from being overweight. How to cite Increasing Number of Overweight Children, Papers

Man Is Born Free but Everywhere in Chains free essay sample

Born free merely means not born into slavery. But it is arguable whether anyone is born free. We are all enslaved by society to some degree. As a child we are at the mercy of our parents and teachers. Our parents can screw us up so easily with wrong food , wrong support, wrong advice, etc. Our teachers can fill our minds with the wrong ideas and knowledge. But we have to do what they say. Later we may have to serve in the army, whether we want to or not. When they say jump you say Yessir. How high, sir? As an adult we have to work 9 to 5 five days a week for a boss to earn money to live. This means doing what were told by the boss. At all times we are expected to obey thousands of laws, most of which we dont even know exist. If we dont we can lose our liberty. We will write a custom essay sample on Man Is Born Free but Everywhere in Chains or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To travel we are searched and have to carry a passport. At one time it was even compulsory to go to church. So freedom is not as easily come by as all that. All the above are chains of one sort or another. Perhaps Rousseaus most important work is The Social Contract, which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order.Published in 1762, it became one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition. It developed some of the ideas mentioned in an earlier work, the article Economie Politique, featured in Diderots Encyclopedie. The treatise begins with the dramatic opening lines, Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they. Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality, which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation.As society developed, division of labour and private property required the human race to adopt institutions of law. In the degenerate phase of society, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on them. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom. According to Rousseau, by joining together through the social contract and abandoning their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the general will of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law. While Rousseau argues that sovereignty should be in the hands of the people, he also makes a sharp distinction between sovereignty and government. The government is charged with implementing and enforcing the general will and is composed of a smaller group of citizens, known as magistrates.Rousseau was bitterly opposed to the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a representative assembly. Rather, they should make the laws directly. It was argued that this would prevent Rousseaus ideal state from being realized in a large society, such as France was at the time. Much of the subsequent controversy about Rousseaus work has hinged on disagreements concerning his claims that citizens constrained to obey the g eneral will are thereby rendered free.

Exporting Democracy essays

Exporting Democracy essays Since its inception, America has been steeped into the view that it is an extraordinary nation, a city on a hill, a beacon of hope and continues to this day to bask in the glory. What began as Puritan declaration and Jeffersonian thought aimed at promoting a societal reconstruction has now been coupled with economic and militaristic superiority to represent a much more complicated ideology. At the forefront of this consciousness stands the American democracy, and after Alexis DeTocqueville published Democracy in America in the 1800s, America became the envy of the world, or at least thats what the high school history teachers said. The close of World War II marked the end of global imperialism and ushered in a policy that called for systemic decolonization of some of the heftiest land-grabs in history. America never prided itself as an empire, at least not publicly. Post-Cold War politics, however, left the United States as the worlds only remaining superpower- an unchecked force that regularly exercises imperial privileges, all in the name of democracy. Between 1989 and 1999, we invaded Panama, smashed Iraq, intervened in Somalia, invaded Haiti, launched air strikes on Bosnia, fired missiles at Baghdad, Sudan, and Afghanistan and destroyed Serbia. We also imposed embargoes on Libya, Iran, Iraq, and dozens of other states. In every single conflict, America portrayed itself as the protector of the free world...a protector of democracy. In a speech to his constituency, Martin Luther King, Jr. said in 1963: Dont let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be, a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, Youre too arrogant. And if you dont change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power. ...Forty years la...

Gun Rights Under President Bill Clinton

Gun Rights Under President Bill Clinton The administration of President Bill Clinton represented a significant shift in Democratic presidential politics in the United States. Clinton, an Arkansas governor who defeated Republican George H.W. Bush in the 1992 election, became the first Democratic presidential candidate to campaign on promises of stricter gun laws. With the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson, who made gun control a focal point of his administration upon assuming the presidency after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, gun politics had not been a central part of any presidential administration. In what might have been gun control advocates’ brightest hour on the federal stage, Clinton lobbied for two major pieces of gun control legislation and used his executive authority to usher in additional gun control measures in what was viewed as a major setback for gun rights. The Brady Bill The Brady Bill, which made it more difficult to purchase a handgun, was a hallmark of the Clinton presidency. First introduced in 1987, the Brady Bill was named for President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, John Brady, who was wounded in an attempt to assassinate Reagan in 1981. Brady’s wife, Sarah Brady, became a major proponent of gun control legislation following the assassination attempt, which left her husband partially but permanently paralyzed. Despite the backing of Reagan, various versions of the Brady Bill did not come seriously close to passing until the Bush administration, when Bush vetoed a version of the legislation passed by Congress. After defeating Bush in 1992, Clinton lobbied the House and Senate to send the bill back to the White House again. Congress obliged, and Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law on Nov. 30, 1993, less than one year into his presidency. The bill created a mandatory five-day waiting period after handgun purchases and required local law enforcement to run background checks on purchasers. Assault Weapons Ban Emboldened by the success of the Brady Bill, Clinton next turned his sights on an assault weapons ban, another gun control battle that had been simmering since the mid-1980s. By late summer in 1994, legislation enacting such a ban was making serious headway in Congress. On Sept. 13, 1994, Clinton signed the Assault Weapons Ban into law as part of the 1994 Crime Bill. Targeting semi-automatic weapons bearing characteristics of military guns, the AWB banned a wide range of weapons, such as the AK-47 and the AR series of rifles. Among guns outlawed by the AWB were any that included two or more of a list of characteristics ranging from telescoping stocks to bayonet mounts. Executive Measures While a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the 1994 midterm election hampered efforts by the Clinton White House to usher in more gun control measures, Clinton turned to his executive powers several times during his second term to tighten down on gun ownership. One such measure was an order banning the importation of more than four dozen makes of assault weapons, such as variations of the AK-47. The order, signed in 1998, targeted the importation of guns that were not subjected to the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. Another measure was an order in the eleventh hour of Clinton’s presidency banning the importation of certain makes of so-called â€Å"assault pistols,† such as Uzis, and requiring firearms dealers to submit to fingerprinting and background checks. Finally, the White House reached a deal with firearms giant Smith Wesson in which Clinton promised an end to civil lawsuits against the gun manufacturer in exchange for Smith Wesson outfitting its guns with trigger locks and agreeing to implement â€Å"smart gun† technology within two years. Gun Crackdowns Rendered Toothless While the National Rifle Association and most American gun owners lamented the gun policies of the Clinton administration, time and the courts have rendered most of those stricter gun measures ineffective. Parts of the Brady Bill were struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 (although the five-day wait would have been rendered a moot point with the establishment of a national instant background check system, which soon followed). The Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to expire in 2004 when Congress failed to take up legislation that would have extended the ban or made it permanent, and Clinton’s predecessor, George W. Bush, did not lobby for the extension. And a combination of new ownership at Smith Wesson and a Bush administration crackdown on lawsuits aimed at gun manufacturers ultimately crippled the Clinton administration’s agreement with Smith Wesson, as the gun-maker backed out of most of the agreement’s provisions, including a pledge to invest in smart gun technology. The Clinton administration’s only lasting impact on gun rights are the lack of certain imports of foreign semiautomatic rifles and background checks for handgun purchases. Ironically, it was those early victories that had lost much of their effectiveness within 10 years that prevented Clinton from pushing through what might have been longer-lasting gun control measures during his second term. The Brady Bill and Assault Weapons Ban were blamed for the defeat of several Democrats who voted for them as Republicans took control of the House in 1994. As a result, Clinton’s gun control priorities in the latter years of his presidency were never able to meet the muster of Republican opposition. Among them were requirements for child trigger locks, a three-day waiting period for gun show purchases and high capacity magazine bans.