I recently attended the Hawaii International Conference on Education in Waikiki. Upon my return, people commented on my tan and made lots of jabs about my island holiday. I must admit that it was convenient that the conference was in Hawaii. I had not been to Hawaii before and attendance at the conference provided an opportunity for Jody and I to take a winter vacation in a gorgeous location. We spent five days prior to the conference enjoying the sites and sounds of Waikiki Beach and Oahu in general.
Once the conference began, it was back to work. After five very nice days and a week and half of Christmas holidays, it was hard to get back into “education mode.” However, the sessions immediately sparked my interest. The first two presentations were from the Wing Institute in Oakland, California. The first, “Why science has not had a greater impact on education,” pitted the Constructivists against practitioners of explicit instruction. The presenter, Jack States, suggests that culture is key to our skepticism about science, which leads to our belief that constructivism is better. However, evidence indicates that teacher centered models have a bigger effect size. This all led States to suggest that there needs to be a balance in approaches. What I appreciated about his presentation was that he provided research to support his observations.
The second presentation during my first hours of the conference was “Culture Mapping: a cognitive analysis of the education culture landscape in America,” by Randy Keyworth of the Wing Institute. His main premise is that culture influences educational policy. He states that we all see education through different frames,
Individual frame
Blame frame
Visionary leader frame
Magic bullet frame
Local solutions frame
Private sector frame
Back to basics frame
More funding frame
Computers frame
Approaching education reform from any one of these frames will influence our own beliefs on what works and what does not work. The important lesson here is to be able to identify which frame someone is coming from.
All in all, the conference was a positive experience. I met a lot of interesting people from different parts of the world and I learned a lot too. I look forward to writing more about my new learning over the next few weeks.
Mike Readman
Once the conference began, it was back to work. After five very nice days and a week and half of Christmas holidays, it was hard to get back into “education mode.” However, the sessions immediately sparked my interest. The first two presentations were from the Wing Institute in Oakland, California. The first, “Why science has not had a greater impact on education,” pitted the Constructivists against practitioners of explicit instruction. The presenter, Jack States, suggests that culture is key to our skepticism about science, which leads to our belief that constructivism is better. However, evidence indicates that teacher centered models have a bigger effect size. This all led States to suggest that there needs to be a balance in approaches. What I appreciated about his presentation was that he provided research to support his observations.
The second presentation during my first hours of the conference was “Culture Mapping: a cognitive analysis of the education culture landscape in America,” by Randy Keyworth of the Wing Institute. His main premise is that culture influences educational policy. He states that we all see education through different frames,
Individual frame
Blame frame
Visionary leader frame
Magic bullet frame
Local solutions frame
Private sector frame
Back to basics frame
More funding frame
Computers frame
Approaching education reform from any one of these frames will influence our own beliefs on what works and what does not work. The important lesson here is to be able to identify which frame someone is coming from.
All in all, the conference was a positive experience. I met a lot of interesting people from different parts of the world and I learned a lot too. I look forward to writing more about my new learning over the next few weeks.
Mike Readman