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It is almost precisely eighteen years since Donald Rumsfeld uttered his now well-regarded commentary on the danger of "unknown unknowns". At the time his remarks brought more confusion than clarity and reinforced for many a belief that politicians use words to conceal the truth. Somehow though, Donald's words from 2002 seem to fit the world of today, and the challenges confronting educators all too well.

Machine learning is very good at prediction but correlation does not equal causation.

"It was October and I was standing on the roof of a high rise building in the middle of Shanghai. Flight after flight of stairs interspersed with several elevator journeys had brought me to the summit, and the rooftop on which I now stood served as a primary school playground for hundreds of pupils. As I made my way to the edge of the building I was amazed to find that the only barrier between me and the pavement - 16 stories down - was a small wall, waist height at most. I peered over the edge and can still recall that instant feeling of danger and dizziness washing over my entire body. I stepped back and turned to the Chinese headteacher whose school I was visiting."

"Colours promote such emotion and are attributed to everything we see every day. Children are taught from a very young age that the sky and the ocean are blue, the grass and leaves are green, that the sun, sand and sunflowers are yellow and the night is black. But I ask you, how often have you looked at the ocean and seen green, not blue or looked up into the branches and seen a selection of oranges, yellows, browns and reds not a blanket of green. I am not suggesting that we shouldn't teach children these colour clichés, at a young age they are their first experiences of colour and form the bases of many of their first art pieces."

"In a few years from now, students in schools all over the world will receive part of their education in virtual learning environments. Wearing VR-goggles the students will be able to enter 3-dimensional, simulated places and situations that they would normally not have access to because it would be too expensive, too dangerous or physically impossible. Teaching via VR-technology is spreading widely and international studies predict that this will revolutionise the way we learn."

The dangers of making learning so safe and so easy it lacks any real sense of challenge. When we do this we deny our learners the opportunities they need to learn from mistakes and grow their minds. 

Possibly the most dangerous place to spend too much time is inside your comfort zone. Only when we take a risk and step away from the safety of the familiar and the ways we have always done things do we expose ourselves to new ideas and become open to the possibility of learning and discovery. The trouble is having the confidence to take that first step, to embrace discomfort and become open to the risks that come with trying something new.

"Italian psychologist Geatano Kanizsa first described this optical illusion in 1955 as a subjective or illusory contour illusion. The study of such optical illusions has led to an understanding of how the brain and eyes perceive optical information and has been used considerably by artists and designers alike. They show the power of human imagination in filling in the gaps to make implied constructions in our own minds. Kanizsa figures and similar illusions are a really useful way to encourage learners to 'say what they see' and to explain how they see it. It offers a chance for others to become aware of the different views available in a diagram and share their own thoughts without the 'danger' of being wrong; many people see different things."

The maker movement and with it maker-centered learning brings new possibilities and challenges into the classroom. It has spawned makerspaces and students are busy designing and making products. The danger with all this frenzied making is that it is very easy to miss the point, to focus on the product and not the journey.  

I want my students to be sceptics. I believe that in the present age scepticism is more important than ever. Easy access to information, ease of publishing, scams and confidence tricksters combine to create a climate where blind trust is dangerous for our security, our finances and our knowledge bases. For students of all ages a healthy dose of scepticism is much needed not just so they may reveal falsehoods but to allow them to discover new truths.

Teaching is by nature a high energy profession that demands a lot and while their is much to celebrate there is arena danger of burnout. Taking some time to relax and de-stress is important as is noticing the signs that you are reaching your limit. For all teachers understanding that a break and a change of schedule benefits not just you but your students too can be the catalyst for granting yourself permission for a genuine break.

As a teacher, how do you react when one student (or a small minority) dominate discussion and class debate? Do you step in to include the rest of the group or just let the one-sided rhetoric run its natural course? If you intervene, what is the usua…

In a time where much of the debate around education is linked to performance on national and international assessments such as PISA, TIMMS, PIRLS and in Australia, NAPLAN combined with calls for market-driven reforms there is a danger that a climate of competition between schools and systems will grow.

A discussion of curriculum review and nationalisation reveals a messy field with no clear way of meeting the needs of all involved. What lessons might we learn from high-performing international systems and what are the dangers of borrowing ideas?

There is a danger in seeking finished perfection in all that we do. There is a risk that our students will focus solely on the attributes that define a finished piece and overlook the importance of the process that leads to it.

A lengthy but worthy read for all non-programmers on code.

Explains code