4 ms·

This is so cliche, and so utterly passe. I wasn't a K-12 student all that long ago, and if I saw this, I would view it as another thinly veiled attempt at the t

by bmer 10y ago

This is so cliche, and so utterly passe. I wasn't a K-12 student all that long ago, and if I saw this, I would view it as another thinly veiled attempt at the teacher trying to feel good about how good a teacher they are, while being utterly boring. That might be because I totally drink this flavour of kool-aid: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD1036.html https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD103...

danso 10y ago
Why is it cliche and passe? (asking as someone who was K-12 a long long time ago)
- bmer 10y ago
  It's difficult for me to put a finger on it, and that's exactly why I stoop to using words that signify subjective feelings like "cliche" or worse yet, "passe". The long story would be that it doesn't actually teach you how to grok things (like Barb Oakley's "A Mind for Numbers" https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471415187&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/... and the related Coursera "Learning how to learn"). If I am taught metacognitive skills, I can pick up new ways of thinking, and heck, even create them. On the other hand, if I rabbits are just pulled out of hats in front of my eyes, with said rabbits being sexually appealing with some buzzwords, then it all comes off like this: "hey fellow kids[I highly recommend https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/top/?sort=top&t=all https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/top/?sort=top&t=all], check out this cutting edge new algorithm called Eratosthenes' Sieve, presented by Big Data specialist Google; also, did I already say big data? Maybe I should say deep learning too then! Oh yeah, all the buzzwords! Over 9000 of them!", my eyes glaze over... I know this is going to be great for those one or two random kids in my class who seem to get it "right away" (i.e. have seen it before), while I am probably just going to feel dumb: "Hey mister, how can I too pull out rabbits from hats?", and their only answer for me will be "Well, it's easy! Let me pull out another rabbit from a hat, and you'll totally get it!". A few tries later, they'll just be disappointed with me and then we'll all realize that I am not the next Tony Stark, and I definitely won't be getting a job at Google. EDIT: thinking about it a bit further (especially by considering why I got a "hey fellow kids!" vibe from it), I now come to realize that I had warning bells ringing in my head that this is basically a way for Google to raise brand awareness amongst youth, which is especially off-putting because of how easy it is to see-through, since no effort is made to hide it: "Our videos illustrate real-world examples of the application of computational thinking in Google’s products and services..."

by bmer 10y ago

danso 10y ago

Why is it cliche and passe? (asking as someone who was K-12 a long long time ago)

bmer 10y ago
It's difficult for me to put a finger on it, and that's exactly why I stoop to using words that signify subjective feelings like "cliche" or worse yet, "passe". The long story would be that it doesn't actually teach you how to grok things (like Barb Oakley's "A Mind for Numbers" https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471415187&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/... and the related Coursera "Learning how to learn"). If I am taught metacognitive skills, I can pick up new ways of thinking, and heck, even create them. On the other hand, if I rabbits are just pulled out of hats in front of my eyes, with said rabbits being sexually appealing with some buzzwords, then it all comes off like this: "hey fellow kids[I highly recommend https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/top/?sort=top&t=all https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/top/?sort=top&t=all], check out this cutting edge new algorithm called Eratosthenes' Sieve, presented by Big Data specialist Google; also, did I already say big data? Maybe I should say deep learning too then! Oh yeah, all the buzzwords! Over 9000 of them!", my eyes glaze over... I know this is going to be great for those one or two random kids in my class who seem to get it "right away" (i.e. have seen it before), while I am probably just going to feel dumb: "Hey mister, how can I too pull out rabbits from hats?", and their only answer for me will be "Well, it's easy! Let me pull out another rabbit from a hat, and you'll totally get it!". A few tries later, they'll just be disappointed with me and then we'll all realize that I am not the next Tony Stark, and I definitely won't be getting a job at Google. EDIT: thinking about it a bit further (especially by considering why I got a "hey fellow kids!" vibe from it), I now come to realize that I had warning bells ringing in my head that this is basically a way for Google to raise brand awareness amongst youth, which is especially off-putting because of how easy it is to see-through, since no effort is made to hide it: "Our videos illustrate real-world examples of the application of computational thinking in Google’s products and services..."