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Page ! / ! 1 78 Open Badge Network Discussion Paper on Open Badges at Policy Levels OBN-O5-A1-Policy Discussion Paper 31 July 2016 - OBN-O5-A1-Policy-Discussion-Paper-31-July-2016.pdf

"Contents:Notebook of Leonardo da Vinci ('The Codex Arundel'). A collection of papers written in Italian by Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452, d. 1519), in his characteristic left-handed mirror-writing (reading from right to left), including diagrams, drawings and brief texts, covering a broad range of topics in science and art, as well as personal notes. The core of the notebook is a collection of materials that Leonardo describes as 'a collection without order, drawn from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place according to the subjects of which they treat' (f. 1r), a collection he began in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli in Florence, in 1508. To this notebook has subsequently been added a number of other loose papers containing writing and diagrams produced by Leonardo throughout his career. Decoration: Numerous diagrams. "

"A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions, video tutorials and printable folding plans. Find the best paper airplanes that fly the furthest and stay aloft the longest."

"Abstract Many people believe renewable energy sources to be capable of substituting fossil or nuclear energy. However there exist very few scientifically sound studies, which apply due diligence to substantiating this impression. In the present paper, the case of photovoltaic power sources in regions of moderate insolation is analysed critically by using the concept of Energy Return on Energy Invested (ERoEI, also called EROI). But the methodology for calculating the ERoEI differs greatly from author-to-author. The main differences between solar PV Systems are between the current ERoEI and what is called the extended ERoEI (ERoEI EXT). The current methodology recommended by the International Energy Agency is not strictly applicable for comparing photovoltaic (PV) power generation with other systems. The main reasons are due to the fact that on one hand, solar electricity is very material-intensive, labour-intensive and capital-intensive and on the other hand the solar radiation exhibits a rather low power density."

"Generating electricity is not only inefficient, it also makes pedal power less sustainable, less robust and more costly. To begin with, batteries have to be manufactured, and they have to be replaced regularly. This requires energy, which can completely negate the ecological advantage of pedal power. According to this research paper (pdf), the embodied energy of a 150Wh lead-acid battery (like the one offered with the Windstream pedal power generator) is at least 37,500 Wh, which equals 250 full charges of the battery (more sources: 1/2). In other words: if you can deliver 75 watts of power to the battery, you have to pedal for 500 hours in order to generate the energy that was needed to manufacture the battery. Because the life expectancy of a lead-acid battery can be as low as 300 discharge/charge cycles (sources: 1/2), you are basically pedalling to produce the energy required to manufacture the battery. If you also factor in the embodied energy of other electronics and parts, the ecological advantage of a pedal powered generator connected to a battery becomes rather doubtful. It might costs more energy than it delivers."

"This article analyzes teacher strikes in Argentina during 2006-2012. It stands out how teacher strikes prevail over claims from other unions, and are shown to be relevant events for education policy just for some provinces and only for public schools. We found that none of the policy measures implemented over the last decade has proven to be effective in reducing conflict. Analyzing a dataset on labour unrest, this study builds an index of teacher labour conflict to better understand the evolution of teacher strikes over time and under the various provincial governments that integrate the Argentinian federal education system. The article shows no correlation between teacher labour unrest and the growth of private enrolment. However, we note that despite the lack of statistical correlation, teacher strikes should not be ruled out as an explanatory variable of the increase in private education in Argentina."

Using the technology of today in the classroom of today: digital games, social networking and simulations

Ver At School "France in the Year 2000 (XXI century) - a series of futuristic pictures by Jean-Marc Côté and other artists issued in France in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. Originally in the form of paper cards enclosed in cigarette/cigar boxes and, later, as postcards, the images depicted the world as it was imagined to be like in the year 2000. There are at least 87 cards known that were authored by various French artists, the first series being produced for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris."

"... La tendencia en este sentido es clara, y poco a poco comienzan a extenderse métodos alternativos al examen tradicional. La División de Educación Pregrado de la Universidad Berkeley de California destaca: El presentación de un artículo académico (paper) al final del curso. El docente debe asegurarse de que este trabajo es parte integral del curso y no un complemento. Una forma de fomentar su desarrollo durante el año es pedir que se entreguen partes del trabajo en plazos previamente establecidos, para que el profesor pueda controlar cómo está evolucionando el proyecto y además tenga la oportunidad de ayudar a los alumnos a enfocarlo. Esto también ayudará a los estudiantes "a escribir mejor y fomentar la integridad académica". Preparar cuestionarios o exámenes por capítulos en lugar de pruebas con una gran cantidad de materia. Este tipo de pruebas parciales empuja a los alumnos a estudiar más frecuentemente durante el curso y, por lo tanto, a tener que mantener más frescos los conocimientos de la materia. Presentación de un memorándum o informe de una o dos páginas en el que, por ejemplo, deben exponer antecedentes, problemas, posibles soluciones (con pros y contras) y una recomendación final respecto a un tema. Según indican, "además de ser un buen ejercicio para sintetizar material, es una excelente manera para que los estudiantes practiquen ser concisos y directos". No obstante, existen otras alternativas que se alejan tanto de los exámenes como de los trabajos, tales como el 'Diario de aprendizaje' en el que los alumnos anotarán diariamente sus impresiones respecto al contenido impartido en clase y sobre lo que desea seguir aprendiendo, o las conocidas como 'Dianas de evaluación', una metodología muy rápida y visual que permite al docente conocer la opinión de los alumnos, haciéndoles de dibujar una diana con tantos círculos como niveles de valoración se deseen, para dividirla posteriormente en var

"... Romper las cadenas del colonialismo científico Sara habla de la democratización del conocimiento con pasión. Como si estuviera esbozando la idea por primera vez, aunque en realidad ha bregado por ello toda su vida. Sus preocupaciones por la construcción de una ciencia y una tecnología soberanas siempre se dividieron en dos aspectos clave. Uno es la necesidad de un "diálogo" permanente con la sociedad para conocer sus problemas y definir la investigación en base a ellos. El otro aspecto también tiene que ver con la comunicación, pero, en este caso, interna al mundo académico: la publicación en revistas científicas. ¿Cómo construir un pensamiento latinoamericano en ciencia y tecnología, que atienda los problemas de la región, cuando los parámetros de calidad de un paper son establecidos por países como Estados Unidos, Gran Bretaña o Alemania? Publish or perish. Publicar o perecer. La consigna es clara. Sara también. Para ella, el sistema es una gran cadena de subjetividades disfrazadas de criterios objetivos para disimular los intereses hegemónicos de los países que ponen las reglas del juego. Los eslabones son varios y difíciles de romper. Los científicos necesitan publicar sus trabajos en revistas con alto "Factor de Impacto" (un parámetro de calidad impuesto por las grandes potencias, claro) para obtener mayor puntaje al ser evaluados en su carrera de investigador. Pero las de mayor impacto son extranjeras. Por ende, el jurado que acepta o rechaza la publicación de un artículo proviene de los países centrales. Esto condiciona la elección del tema, ya que una investigación que trate enfermedades endémicas de la región, como el Chagas, va a despertar menor interés. Además, el idioma de la ciencia es el inglés, lo que provoca que a veces los científicos directamente escriban los resultados de sus trabajos en ese idioma, sin pasar siquiera por el español. ..."

"The Minute Paper comes in many variations, but the simplest one involves wrapping up the formal class period a few minutes early and posing two questions to your students: What was the most important thing you learned today? What question still remains in your mind? Taken together, those two questions accomplish multiple objectives. The first one not only requires students to remember something from class and articulate it in their own words (more about that in a moment), but it also requires them to do some quick thinking. They have to reflect on the material and make a judgment about the main point of that day's class. The second question encourages them to probe their own minds and consider what they haven't truly understood. Most of us are infected by what learning theorists sometimes call "illusions of fluency," which means that we believe we have obtained mastery over something when we truly have not. To answer the second question, students have to decide where confusion or weaknesses remain in their own comprehension of the day's material. Closing connections. If we want students to obtain mastery and expertise in our subjects, they need to be capable of making their own connections between what they are learning and the world around them - current events, campus debates, personal experiences. The last five minutes of class represent an ideal opportunity for students to use the course material from that day and brainstorm some new connections.The metacognitive five. We have increasing evidence from the learning sciences that students engage in poor study strategies. Likewise, research shows that most people are plagued by the illusions of fluency. The solution on both fronts is better metacognition - that is, a clearer understanding of our own learning. What if all of us worked together deliberately to achieve that?Close the loop. Finally, go back to any of the strategies I introduced in my recent column on the first five minutes of clas

"Open with a question or two. Another favorite education writer of mine, the cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham, argues that teachers should focus more on the use of questions. "The material I want students to learn," he writes in his book Why Don't Students Like School?, "is actually the answer to a question. On its own, the answer is almost never interesting. But if you know the question, the answer may be quite interesting." My colleague Greg Weiner, an associate professor of political science, puts those ideas into practice. At the beginning of class, he shows four or five questions on a slide for students to consider. Class then proceeds in the usual fashion. At the end, he returns to the questions so that students can both see some potential answers and understand that they have learned something that day. What did we learn last time? A favorite activity of many instructors is to spend a few minutes at the opening of class reviewing what happened in the previous session. That makes perfect sense, and is supported by the idea that we don't learn from single exposure to material - we need to return frequently to whatever we are attempting to master.But instead of offering a capsule review to students, why not ask them to offer one back to you?Reactivate what they learned in previous courses. Plenty of excellent evidence suggests that whatever knowledge students bring into a course has a major influence on what they take away from it. So a sure-fire technique to improve student learning is to begin class by revisiting, not just what they learned in the previous session, but what they already knew about the subject matter.Write it down. All three of the previous activities would benefit from having students spend a few minutes writing down their responses. That way, every student has the opportunity to answer the question, practice memory retrieval from the previous session, or surface their prior knowledge - and not just the students most likely to

Diario de #REDucacion

Empower Mobile Learning in the Classroom Play Video Key Features for Education The proliferation of mobile devices and tablets across educational institutions is transforming classroom learning. Traditional paper textbooks are being replaced with digital books on tablets, and students are reaping the benefits of always having the latest information at their fingertips.

"Burden of Poverty Lacking money or time can lead one to make poorer decisions, possibly because poverty imposes a cognitive load that saps attention and reduces effort. Mani et al. (p. 976; see the Perspective by Vohs) gathered evidence from shoppers in a New Jersey mall and from farmers in Tamil Nadu, India. They found that considering a projected financial decision, such as how to pay for a car repair, affects people's performance on unrelated spatial and reasoning tasks. Lower-income individuals performed poorly if the repairs were expensive but did fine if the cost was low, whereas higher-income individuals performed well in both conditions, as if the projected financial burden imposed no cognitive pressure. Similarly, the sugarcane farmers from Tamil Nadu performed these tasks better after harvest than before. Abstract The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances and found that this reduces cognitive performance among poor but not in well-off participants. Second, we examined the cognitive function of farmers over the planting cycle. We found that the same farmer shows diminished cognitive performance before harvest, when poor, as compared with after harvest, when rich. This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition, or work effort. Nor can it be explained with stress: Although farmers do show more stress before harvest, that does not account for diminished cognitive performance. Instead, it appears that poverty itself reduces cognitive capacity. We suggest that this is because poverty-related concerns consume mental resources, leaving less for other tasks. These data provide a previously unexamined perspective and help explain a spectrum of behaviors among the poor. We discuss some implications for poverty policy."

"Besides focusing on production, sustainable food systems need to address waste, crop-grass-livestock interdependencies and human consumption. None of the corresponding strategies needs full implementation and their combined partial implementation delivers a more sustainable food future."

"Our smartphones enable-and encourage-constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devices have immense potential to improve welfare, their persistent presence may come at a cognitive cost. In this research, we test the "brain drain" hypothesis that the mere presence of one's own smartphone may occupy limited-capacity cognitive resources, thereby leaving fewer resources available for other tasks and undercutting cognitive performance. Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention-as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones-the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence. We conclude by discussing the practical implications of this smartphone-induced brain drain for consumer decision-making and consumer welfare."

"The transition from unicellular to multicellular life was one of a few major events in the history of life that created new opportunities for more complex biological systems to evolve. Predation is hypothesized as one selective pressure that may have driven the evolution of multicellularity. Here we show that de novo origins of simple multicellularity can evolve in response to predation. We subjected outcrossed populations of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to selection by the filter-feeding predator Paramecium tetraurelia. Two of five experimental populations evolved multicellular structures not observed in unselected control populations within ~750 asexual generations. Considerable variation exists in the evolved multicellular life cycles, with both cell number and propagule size varying among isolates. Survival assays show that evolved multicellular traits provide effective protection against predation. These results support the hypothesis that selection imposed by predators may have played a role in some origins of multicellularity."