Sarah Chauncey's Public Library

GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Utah — Todd Braver emerges from a tent nestled against the canyon wall. He has a slight tan, except for a slim pale band around his wrist.

Before the hiking and rafting trip, Art Kramer was concerned about a big grant. “Time is slowing down,” he says on Day 3.

For the first time in three days in the wilderness, Mr. Braver is not wearing his watch. “I forgot,” he says.

It is a small thing, the kind of change many vacationers notice in themselves as they unwind and lose track of time. But for Mr. Braver and his companions, these moments lead to a question: What is happening to our brains?

Brain

"Articles on Thinking Dispositions"

VisualThinking

"Purpose and Goals
Visible Thinking is a flexible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students' thinking with content learning across subject matters. An extensive and adaptable collection of practices, Visible Thinking has a double goal: on the one hand, to cultivate students' thinking skills and dispositions, and, on the other, to deepen content learning. By thinking dispositions, we mean curiosity, concern for truth and understanding, a creative mindset, not just being skilled but also alert to thinking and learning opportunities and eager to take them

Who is it for?
Visible Thinking is for teachers, school leaders and administrators in K - 12 schools who want to encourage the development of a culture of thinking in their classrooms and schools."

VisualThinking

"There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years . ." 
The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast -- How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" 
Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path." "

In the world of the past where access was limited, information was treated as a scarce resource, and educators had the task of imparting this information for the benefit of learners. We used to live in a world where content was king. That world no longer exists. Content is abundant, and is, therefore, a poor basis on which to base an educational system. What is scarce today is context and meaning. It used to be 3 the mark of an educated person to have a vast reservoir of facts on which to rely. Today this skill is of much less value. The educational system of today needs to impart to all learners three new foundational
skills:
1. How to find information.
2. How to determine if what is found is relevant to the task at hand.
3. How to determine if the relevant information is accurate. (pp. 2-3)

Technology Integration

Theory of Engagement
The Theory of Engagement focuses attention on student motivation and the strategies needed to increase the prospect that schools and teachers will be positioned to increase the presence of engaging tasks and activities in the routine life of the school.

Engagement Theory

"Engagement theory has emerged from the authors' experiences teaching in electronic and distance education environments (see Shneiderman, 1994,1998; Shneiderman et al, 1995; Kearsley, 1997). The fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. While in principle, such engagement could occur without the use of technology, we believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise. So engagement theory is intended to be a conceptual framework for technology-based learning and teaching."

Engagement Theory

To close my attendance at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association this year, I attended presentations by two of the best researchers on human motivation in the world. I’ll conclude by flurry of posts from the past two days by reflecting on these presentations.

The first presentation I attended this afternoon was by Maarten Vansteenkiste, from the University of Gent in Belgium. Vansteenkiste has done some really fascinating research comparing the effects of different kinds of goals on students’ enjoyment and performance. In general, he compares extrinsic goals that involve impression management with intrinsic goals that he and others who subscribe to self-determination theory believe meet universal needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In several studies, Vansteenkiste finds that intrinsic goals (for example, personal growth, community contribution, health) yield higher enjoyment and performance than extrinsic goals (for example, making more money, saving money, looking good). Furthermore, he finds that intrinsic goals by themselve

motivation

Smart Tech Love of Learning Interface

design