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This is a book by Geoff Colvin which talks about the importance of deliberate practice. Mr. Colvin's primary message in this book is that people are not born with all the natural talent and abilities that will make them great it life. He asserts that, aside from some physical atributes that may give an athlete an advantage in a particular sport, everyone can achieve world-class performance through "deliberate practice" in his or her chosen field - business, music, sports, etc.

Thank you for the link, I am curious in finding more sources on the effect of deliberate practice and its effects. As I have searched Geoff Colvin is from the field of economics so it can be interesting to hear from people of different fields.

Neil Charness is also a scholar on psychology from Florida State University. He has some thoughts on expert performance. You can also check his works. :)

"John D. Bransford holds the Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences at the University of Washington College of Education in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Bransford is also Founding Director of The Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center, an National Science Foundation (NSF) Science of Learning Center" Here is a chapter from a book published by National Academy of Education: " Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and Be Able to Do" (Edited by John Bransford and Linda Darling Hammond.) The chapter focuses on how to design teachers' learning experiences in a trainig program: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/teri/Chapter%2011.pdf

David Perkins has conducted long-term programs of research and development in the areas of teaching and learning for understanding, creativity, problem-solving and reasoning in the arts, sciences, and everyday life. He has also studied the role of educational technologies in teaching and learning and has designed learning structures and strategies in organizations to facilitate personal and organizational understanding and intelligence. His inquiries reflect a conception of mind that emphasizes the interlocking relationships among thinking, learning, and understanding. The three depend deeply on one another. Meaningful learning aims at understanding and depends on thinking with and about what one is learning. Effective thinking in the subject matters and in general involves understanding the resources of the mind and learning to deploy them sensitively and systematically

I had chance to visit some Montessori early education centers and got impressed by the way children learn. I am really looking forward to hearing your comments on this method.

Whatever they are named, there are many nice ideas-theories of edcation. Montessori method is one of the contemporary ones which seems to present many potentials for the teachers. One point which looks problematic about Montessori in our education sysytem is motivating students to be actively engaged in activities. The question is "Is there a way to connect activities and heavy academic knowledge?". In other words, Can we help our students to get ready for the exams by engaging them in daily activities? My answer is "not really" :(

I liked the school environment too much. As far as I can see from the video, Montessori method engages ownership in learning, self-management and authenticity which I most appreciate in a learning process. The students have the chance to relate what they learn with life with willingness and curiosity. But as İbrahim said, my question is "Can we apply this to our education system?". Our children are in a race from the beginning for a endless examination world. Unfortunately, this is a bit utopia for us. However, I think in kindergarten or pre-school period we can apply this. But for high-school or even primary school I am not sure.

gives some insights for etcher collaboration..

Thanks for sharing this Hatice. As Afranur, I am in need of such useful sources. These really help for the design of lessons.

Beyond textbooks:) Actually if teachers are left alone in finding out brilliant applications and applying it would be no use. Now, we can register online platforms and share. Here, what is unique is that teachers search, gather to discuss, practice and discuss again. This is collaboration in real terms!

Here I share a report on informal science learning. The report synthesizes research on science learning across three primary venues--everyday/family life, designed experiences in informal institutions, and out-of-school programs. The evidence presented suggests that learners' informal experiences with science, from museum visits to television shows to observations in nature, contribute strongly scientific knowledge and engagement. I agree with the fact that such informal experiences boost learning, especially science and additionally language learning.

The website describes how Professor Paul Harris advises the interactive learning company Mindshapes on incorporating educational principles into the development of websites and apps for young children.

I think games always work and the company seems really successful at locating the points children may find interesting and enjoyable. After reading your post, I watched a video at youtube, Hickory-Dickory Dock and it was very enjoyable. It teaches not only vocabulary but also how to tell time. It seems a really effective tool. Like the company, I also think that students should be exposed to the changes in the technology. There is always a world outside the classroom and they should keep themselves up-to-date. And our job is to provide them with such opportunities.

Actually your point is really important, changes in the technology should be followed and used as a tool in the classroom, the tools that are significant in terms educational value for sure. Or the other end would include only games on stealing or killing as mentioned. I have checked out Hickory-Dickory Dock now and it seems effective to me as well. The website "mindshapes.com", provides us with detailed information on the games.

This news is talking about the importance of oral language and vocabulary introduced to a child at a very early age, and differences between children from wealthier families and children from low-income families in terms of vocabulary knowledge and reading skill.

It is really sad to see this unjust difference between children and the fact that the gap gets bigger. It is mentioned that later reading comprehension success is related to this difference which can influence people in a variety of situations in life such as reading a newspaper, reading the instructions of usage of a mechanic device etc.

* Provide authentic context that reflect the way the knowledge will be used in real-life; * Provide authentic activities; * Provide access to expert performances and the modelling of processes; * Provide multiple roles and perspectives; * Support collaborative construction of knowledge; * Provide coaching and scaffolding at critical times; * Promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed; * Promote articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit; * Provide for integrated assessment of learning within the tasks.

For those interested in the science of babies.

Hocam I cannot believe the results of the study. It is really amazing. The babies are smarter that adults and knows statistics. The saying of lean mean machine to adult brain is interesting. Now I am looking for the study is about babies and statistics, I really wonder this one. Thanks for your sharing. And I found another video of Dr. Alison Gopnik about baby thinking as a scientists..:) http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html

This video made me question the role of education in children's life again.I think formal education is the biggest barrier for children who have natural abilities to learn. The education system is limiting children's potential and killing their imagination and curiostiy which make them excellent learners indeed. Do you think the school provides them proper opportunities to explore and to learn? I don't think students can learn in our "boring" classes where they are grouped on their ages rather than their abilities.

This product uses the signals to interpret player facial expressions in real-time. It provides a natural enhancement to interaction by allowing characters to come to life. When a user smiles, their avatar can mimic the expression even before they are aware of their own feelings. You can also examine folowing link: http://www.emotiv.com/insight.php

This is really impressive. They have used brain signals to control computer. First Computer learns brain signals (pulling a cube in the screen) when person thinks it, then, a person can use that signal to control anything.

This is amazing. I cannot imagine all the gaming possibilities. Such a system should change the whole human computer interaction in a gaming platform.

This is a nice little newsletter that mentions some characteristics of situated learning. Some resources on situated learning and its usage in learning environments are offered !

Firstly, it was a nice source to read, thanks for sharing it. I agree with you time concerns, teacher and student charateristics are prominent to implement the principles of situated learning in practice. It is really difficult to create authentic learning environment in our classes under the stess of keeping up with the curriculum which is based on traditional theories of learning. Thus, it is the work of the curriculum specialists to revise the curricula to be more in line with the improvements in the field of learning sciences.

There is a case study which I really advise you to look at it. It is about a political course in which they took a government's problem about content and design of websites. He says "given all the considerations at work in municipal government, the students will decide how the power of the web can best be brought to bear on making government work better."

2300 years ago, Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness..." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) In the last 30 years, as a form of entertainment, video games have evolved from confined arcade activities into a mature media.Video games have deeply infiltrated our daily life and our society. As if toys expanded every child's imagination, modern videogames take advantage of a player's active involvement to open more possibilities than any other existing mediums. [Wright 2006] More and more people grow up playing video games, treating them not only as an art form but also as serious media.

Good application of flow theory to games

In the video, learning experiences are claimed to be the similar to roller coaster ride. Learners have control over their own learning process. In the very first place, they begin with participating in the learning experience to reach the ultimate goals. Before accomplishing the ultimate ones, they have short term goals as well. Then, their power to learn is directly related to their own motivation to learn. They need initial motivation to go further. But, how much motivation they need to accomplish reaching the ultimate goals is the question to be asked at this point. While learning process, learners use their motivation and at some point, they lose some of their motivation. So, they need to increase the amount of effort put into their learning. As they put more effort into learning, they are more likely to reach the ultimate goals. As they exert enough effort to reach them, they experience satisfaction and they feel that high achieving something by their own motivation and effort. Then, the results can be satisfactory and increase their motivation to learn again. After they accomplish one of the sub-goals, they can use their experiences and awareness to prepare themselves to reach the next one. For the next one, they need more motivation and effort to learn, and they repeat the learning motivation cycle as described in the video with roller coaster ride.

I loved this video. I remembered my first year of master as I was watching the first loop of roller coaster. I felt that last semester was the most challenging period of my life. I had too much to do. Even I felt like I would fail sometime, I never gave up and at the end of the semester I was very proud of me. Now I say if I overcame last semester's challenge, I can overcome everything. That first loop is really important to carry you to the future goals. Thanks a lot for sharing the video :))

This video is a good example of the importance of having learning goals to be motivated as you also emphasized in the forum. I also liked the phrase "Your future self depends on your present self"

Although not very insightful, this link shows one of the early findings of an ongoing research. Amy Shelton suggests building blocks use spatial reasoning skills, and found some distinctive behaviours with kids who are more competent with blocks than those who are not. Shelton believes training the braing early with such toys would impact children's adult life.

Curiosity is an app that gives you detailed random facts in a daily feed on any topic (literally any topic: from the life of Pablo Escobar to what backfire effect is). It also has a great interface and visuals. This may not make you an expert, but definitely a jack of all trades.

plus it may give you a diffirent ideas for creativity and find your interests. looks great!