OUR CHOICES DEFINE US … Deciding which path to take … NOT ABILITIES

2021 still feeling restless caring …  shared: “The little things that have made a big difference in scaling STEM Project Based Learning.  Advocates to add Science and Engineering Fair projects to accountability so equitable time is allotted during the school day. ”  Caroline Myss said decision should be part of all school curriculum. My 6th grade grandson when I asked about what projects he is creating in his tech class said only what the teacher assigns.  Once learn something they jump to the next when he wants time to create and expand his knowledge.

 

2020 post in age of COVID19: Poorly informed decision makers and the pigs – C7 Pandemic by Sonia Shah

2015 post: Choosing the Truth vs Fiction online – Humans are not binary – Algorithms are rules…. This is the answer to the question below. I decided to leave the Tech for Tots Conference in Galveston yesterday (June 2015). So much for my plan to give the award to the winner of the Estimate the number of beads and money in the Code Jar game today. The answer is 826 beads and $8.26. The winner is Michele; she estimated 826 beads and $9.27. Note 2020 – feedback on presentation nil and wondering impact. 

Part of decision making is using the best resource to solve a problem. So, have learned that I should use a Google Form to collect the data. That way I can easily use the spreadsheet to calculate the winner. This connects to Big Data and Crowd Sourcing, a Code Studio unplugged lesson. The more data, the better the decision.

Thinking like a computer helps decision making. Computer Science teaches data analysis and using that data to solve a problem. And since the computer is more accurate and faster than a human, coding the solution to the problem is more effective. CEOs make the big bucks because they are responsible for the big decisions, and includes the cost of software. So, they need to learn, “What is Code?“

So, how do students learn to make decisions if the teacher decides what kids are supposed to do? And how do teachers allot time to this if administrators are deciding the allocation of their teaching time? It is an equity issue, allocate the same amount of time to coding and PBL that goes to testing. And TIME, not money is the most needed resource in the classroom.  Note 2020 in this new world of online education, do kids have freedom to decide pathways for learning?

One cannot make a decision without data.  The more questions the more information. So …

Teach questioning!
Teach the process of finding the best solution, not the right answer.
Teach Computational Thinking.

CT = Critical Thinking + Computing.

New title:  How Ted Talks and computer science can help decision making.  Ted Talks has stopped my procrastination as I do my breathing exercises first thing as I can do watch a talk at the same time. So is decision making is more about procrastination and too much information?  Watch this – what do you think now?