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There is a debate taking place in the world of education. It is not a new debate but recently it has gathered new energy and the boundary between polite discussion of opposing views and hostility has been stretched. The debate is that between those who are advocates of inquiry based learning and those who believe direct instruction produces the best outcomes. - This article explore how the debate has gone wrong and fails to serve the needs of learners.

Create debate is an online space to browse a debates on an ever expanding range of topics, create your own debate or popularity contest, participate in a debate amongst other activities.

Great database of debate or argument topics for middle school or above

The debate over the most effective method of instruction continues as ever and where one stands on the topic is largely influenced by the purposes one attaches to education. Analysing a series of research articles reveals the nature of the debate between advocates of direct instruction compared to those who support a problem based learning methodology.

This is by far the best-educated cohort in our history - on paper, anyway - but apparently lacking in courage, judgment, capacity to analyse or even simple curiosity, except about immediate personal needs.

After two days of talking about curriculum, integration, STEM, STEAM and HASS I am left with more questions than I started with. In some respects, the concept of curriculum integration is simple. It is after all something that Primary teachers almost take for granted. But for Senior and Tertiary educators the question of curriculum integration is inherently complex. At all levels questions emerge of what curriculum integration might achieve, what purposes it serves, what it could and should look like and how it should be supported by curriculum planners. In the current climate, with its debate around the role of education within an innovation economy, shaped by technology and confronting demands for a STEAM enabled workforce the shape of our curriculum is under pressure. 

The Creativity Post is a non-profit web platform committed to sharing the very best content on creativity, in all of its forms: from scientific discovery to philosophical debate, from entrepreneurial ventures to educational reform, from artistic expression to technological innovation - in short, to all the varieties of the human experience that creativity brings to life.

ACE was founded to provide an independent voice for educators and advance the education profession. Now, half a century later and in an increasingly complex educational environment, it is even more important that the voices of those who educate our nation are heard and that they have a forum in which to inform themselves; discuss and debate issues; and seek to find shared solutions to current educational questions.

The ABC's Four Corners program last night 'A Revolution in the Classroom', was a genuine attempt to re-focus public attention away from the old public vs private school debate and on to the core challenges of schooling.  I don't believe quality learning and teaching in public, private or independent schools is a revolution but rather a necessary requirement in today's world. 

The twelve first-person films that make up this series explore three related themes, each in its own way at the center of current debate about what works, and what's needed, to help students succeed during school and in life.

These films look specifically at the ways that the latest digital and mobile technologies can potentially transform the ways that young people communicate, collaborate, and learn. "The twelve first-person films that make up this series explore three related themes, each in its own way at the center of current debate about what works, and what's needed, to help students succeed during school and in life."

A free internet TV channel delivering interviews, debates, conversations and public lectures about Australia's key political, social and cultural issues

What is FlockPod? FlockPod is the world's first social interaction pod - a small place on any Web page where people get together and interact on-the-spot, while staying on the page. The central idea of FlockPod is to provide a space on any web page to collaborate and interact right on-the-spot, to share ideas, opinions, experiences, anecdotes or sometimes even to question, reason or debate. Want to know more?

There is increasing discussion about whether Twitter's "real time search" could pose a threat to Google. While Twitter may or may not pose a threat to Google, it is clear that real-time search such as leveraging Twitter is becoming increasingly important. Mark Carye at MTHacks decided to get realtime twitter search results on Google so he created a Greasemonkey user script that does exactly this. It displays the most recent 5 tweets for the query that you are search for, giving both real-time Twitter search results and Google results on the same page. This entry also has some interesting links to the Google/Twitter search debate as well as other ideas related to searching via Twitter.

It's been an amazing week for Australia in terms of the debate on filtering, censorship and internet safety. Our country is now on an international surveillance list of repressive regimes. Ouch.

A better download site than the ACARA site for the new Australian draft curriculum guides is the Herald-Sun. Just scroll down and you will find the links on the left hand side near the end of the story.

Barry McGaw, the chairman of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the agency responsible for the site, said it could spark debate about how resources were divided between the education bureaucracy and schools. ''It's not only going to be parents who might be surprised, some principals of government schools might be surprised about how much is being spent on their behalf centrally

This just killed the keyboard, mouse and all the debate about what we need to do with them. OMG. How rich is this guy about to be, when that algorithm goes into commercial development. Is this not kick ass, meaningful research? Stunned.

"It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything. The apparent reason for the discrepancy is misconceptions. Students have existing ideas about scientific phenomena before viewing a video. If the video presents scientific concepts in a clear, well illustrated way, students believe they are learning but they do not engage with the media on a deep enough level to realize that what was is presented differs from their prior knowledge. There is hope, however. Presenting students' common misconceptions in a video alongside the scientific concepts has been shown to increase learning by increasing the amount of mental effort students expend while watching it."