Learning by Making - Issue 2 by pi-top

ISSUE 2 / RE-THINKING EDUCATION

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LEARNING BY MAKING W E

M A K E

T H E

F U T U R E

A ROUND-THE-WORLD QUEST TO DISCOVER THE SECRET OF LEARNING WHAT IS LEARNING BY MAKING?

THE SURPRISING THING GOOGLE LEARNED ABOUT ITS EMPLOYEES

WHY DOESN’T THE EDUCATION SYSTEM REFLECT THE MODERN WORLD?

THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE pi-tops? THEY. ARE. AMAZING.

MAKE THE FUTURE IN YOUR CLASSROOM.

pi-top systems are used in over 2,000 schools, introducing a world of physical computing and project-based learning to Computer Science and STEAM classrooms.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153; Children who have access to STEAM learning will have a head-start, whereas children who have been neglected will be left behind without so much as a foot on the playing field. It is imperative that we engage more and teach critical thinking skills for tomorrow's world. â&#x20AC;? Amelia Archer, teacher, Purley C of E Primary School, U.K.

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F O R E W O R D If you’re reading this you are, like us here at pi-top, passionate about education and providing the best learning experiences for our current and future students. You may also believe, as we do, that current education systems the world over are failing these students, and will continue to do so unless we stand together and implement positive, real and lasting change. THAT’S pi-top's MISSION. To help bring the power of learning by making to the world of education, supporting you, our teachers, as you prepare your students for an exciting but uncertain future. We are proud to work closely with many outstanding educators and thought leaders, some of whom have kindly contributed their vast knowledge, expertise and experience to this issue. Their voices are calling for change and we stand with them in a collective quest for a better way of learning for all students, one that fits the world we live in today, and will enhance the world we’ll need for tomorrow. Jesse Lozano, CEO and co-founder, pi-top

C O N T E N T S 4

What is Learning by Making?

A round-the-world quest to discover the secret of learning

Designing for friction – a rationale for making

Pecos High School case study

The surprising thing Google learned about its employees

Why doesn’t the education system reflect the modern world?

From A to X – recognizing the need for creative learning

28 32

Renewing our idea of the purposes of education Q&A with Cornwall Hill College

Head, Hands & Heart – a balance that ensures students can thrive

pi-top Learning System

Corbridge Middle School case study

pi-top Innovation Challenge

pi-top’s ecosystem

pi-top’s unlimited support

WHAT IS LEARNING BY MAKING AND WHY DOES IT WORK? Most of us have been through an education system which taught us how to pass exams and regurgitate facts, while sitting in rows of desks facing a teacher. This system worked while standardized education was the objective. But as our world has grown in complexity, so we need to rethink our educational approach. At pi-top, we know that there’s a better way of teaching and learning, especially in STEAM subjects.

LEARNING BY MAKING IN STEAM SUBJECTS Before we standardized education, there was a different way of learning, and that involved making, doing or building something. Instead of being told how to solve a problem in theory and then completing some practice examples, students solve these problems for themselves. By getting hands-on, they directly observe and understand what is happening. There’s also achievement in discovery, a sense of “yes! I did that!” and ownership of their learning.

WHY DOES LEARNING BY MAKING WORK? Learning by making works on many levels. Firstly, students learn skills they need for the future. Taking STEAM beyond the textbook means focusing on collaborative problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. This type of learning also encourages students to discover and do things for themselves and learn both independently and with their peers.

WHAT IS LEARNING BY MAKING?

Hands-on learning engages and supports different types of learners because it gives everyone a place. Those with more experience can help those with less, those who want simple or more complex applications or scenarios can build a project that suits them, and all of them can take advantage of different kinds of memory — procedural, autobiographical, communicative — that neuroscience has shown to be more powerful than the semantic memory necessary for filling out a worksheet or taking a multiple-choice test. Students get meaningful feedback through trial and error, figuring out a new way of doing something, input from peers, testing, prototyping and improving (in addition to teacher feedback). All of this can happen within a lesson. Students learn more quickly, and crucially they will make mistakes or their tests won’t work first time, so they also learn more deeply. Learning by making helps students retain knowledge because of this depth of learning and engagement, and because they’re using their hands as well as their minds. There’s no point in forcing students to memorize something if they can’t apply what they’ve been taught, or use it outside the classroom. A lesson is most effective when it’s relevant to real life, because it’s easier for students to understand and relate to what they’re doing. It also empowers students to engage with their environment and take a sense of inspiration away with them. And finally…it’s fun! Learning by making engages students; there’s a buzz of creativity and joy in this type of learning. Nothing could be better than having a classroom full of engaged students who are learning to apply their knowledge in a meaningful way.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I have loved collaborating with others, doing and creating amazing and useful things that could be put in place in the real world!â&#x20AC;? Cecile, KS3 student, Corbridge Middle School, Corbridge, U.K.

A round-th to discover of learning. “ I wanted to find out how to reimagine our systems of education to fit the way kids really learn.”

DISCOVER THE SECRET OF LEARNING

he-world quest r the secret . Educationalist Alex Beard travelled through 20 countries, for two years, in search of the most promising learning approaches.

“Schooling is not the same as learning,” wrote the authors of the World Bank’s World Development Report for 2018, the first of its kind to be devoted entirely to education. I know what they mean. A decade ago I grabbed an English syllabus and headed off to teach at a south London state high school. My pupils spent half the time baffled and the rest bickering. They were in school, but they weren’t learning much.

Over time, I got the hang of it. The students went on to pass their exams, despite their inexperienced teacher and low starting grades. But, even so, after I left to work at a non-governmental organisation involved in global education reform, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that students all over the world could be learning better. If my students could succeed, all kids could. Today, 250 million children worldwide still don’t have access to school, while 330 million are in school but not learning, including one in five kids in developed countries who are not on track to develop essential skills. While the past hundred years have seen exponential scientific and technological progress, our school systems haven’t changed.

With these ideas in mind, I set out on a two-yearlong quest to discover what the future of learning should look like. I wanted to find out how we might reimagine our systems of education to fit the way children really learn. Silicon Valley was my starting point — I was convinced that a global learning revolution would be fuelled by the latest technologies. From there, I journeyed to schools in 20 countries and spoke to experts on every continent. I visited cutting-edge early childhood projects in Mumbai; South Korea’s hagwons, the cramming schools at the center of a $20 billion privatetutoring industry; education parks made for distance-learning in the remote Colombian Andes; and student revolutionaries in Hong Kong. I met Sugata Mitra, inventor of the School in the Cloud, and spent time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s renowned Media Lab. As I travelled, my assumptions about the future of education changed. While connectivity is indeed opening up access to knowledge, and artificial intelligence is enabling personalized learning, I realized that success does not depend on a specific technological innovation, but on making the most of our human capabilities. A visit to Shanghai convinced me that all children are able to learn much more than they currently do. Amid the gleaming towers of China’s financial centre, I visited Wanhangdu Road Primary School and watched an intensive 45-minute lesson, during which 30 eight-year-olds were drilled in comparative fractions using four distinct methodologies.

“ …igniting an early love of learning is crucial if we are to equip children to grow their own cognitive skills…” This article was first published on the Financial Times website, www.ft.com

DISCOVER THE SECRET OF LEARNING

This conceptual layering is key to Shanghai’s “mastery learning” approach, in which students build layers of knowledge over time, with teachers becoming both subject experts and age-group specialists. If we can get to grips with these types of learning techniques, our brains are capable of much more. I also learnt that we have to get started sooner. The Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman has shown that the highest rate of economic return across a lifetime comes from the earliest investment of resources in a child’s life. The number of words a child hears by the age of 18 months correlates closely with their lifetime earnings. In Philadelphia, I visited the educationalist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek’s Infant and Child Lab. It is one of several worldwide that are experimenting with blended approaches to early child development. Babies don’t learn well from screens, so researchers there are developing a smartphone app that instead prompts parents to play with their infants. Highly trained maternal care nurses are on hand to check in with them regularly. A growing body of evidence shows that our minds are not like computers to be programmed, or pails to be filled. Instead, we are born learners — “scientists in the crib” in the words of psychologist Alison Gopnik. We reach out into the world from day one and thrive on human interaction. Third, I found that igniting an early love of learning is crucial if we are to equip children to grow their own cognitive skills throughout their lives. As Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said recently, “The learn-it-all will always trump the know-it-all in the long run”. Globalization, automation and the prospect of a jobless future for young people mean it is more important that schools focus on developing students’ creativity, whether for life or work. At a futuristic coding school I visited in Paris, they were doing both. Housed in a chic concrete bunker adorned with Banksy prints and lined with hundreds of iMacs, 42 – which takes its name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – is leading 3,000 people, aged between 18 and 65,

through a self-directed three-year software programming course. It sets the students projects, puts them in teams, adds some nifty software and leaves them to it. There are no teachers. “It works,” says the founder, computer scientist Nicolas Sadirac. Every graduate has gone on to a wellpaid job in the tech sector.

“ We need to recruit the best teachers, train them well and give them the freedom to become better.”

Elsewhere, human teachers are vital. Forecasts about the future of work predict the explosive growth will be in professions that depend on our most human qualities. It is highly unlikely we will ever automate the work of psychologists, therapists or educators. In the future, there will be no more important work than helping other humans to flourish. In the north Helsinki suburb of Martinlaakson, I saw this in action. High school math teacher Pekka Peura put students in groups of four, posed a question on an interactive whiteboard, then left them to it. If the students needed help, they were to ask each other. His role was to coach them on habits of learning, resilience, self-motivation and teamwork. Today, Mr Peura is Finland’s most famous teacher – no mean feat in a country ranked number one in the World Economic Forum’s Human Development Index, and where only one in 10 applicants is accepted to primary teacher training courses. The genius of systems like the Finnish one is that they recognize that, in the era of machine learning, the future of intelligence is human. Yes, we should learn to use the latest gadgets, but schools and education systems are made up of people. We need to recruit the best teachers, train them well and give them the freedom to become better. Only then can we bring about a long-overdue learning revolution.

Alex Beard has worked in education for a decade. After starting out as an English teacher, he completed his MA at the Institute of Education before joining Teach For All, a growing network of independent organizations working to ensure that all children fulfill their potential. He is fortunate to spend his time traveling the world in search of the practices that will shape the future of learning and has written about his experiences for the Independent, Guardian, Financial Times and Wired. His new book Natural Born Learners is a user's guide to transforming learning in the 21st century, taking readers on a dazzling global tour into the future of education.

DESIGNING FOR FRICTION: A RATIONALE FOR MAKING BY WILLIA M RANKIN, P HD Back in 2012, Tom Scocca wrote a carefully researched article for Slate debunking the notion that one could caramelize onions “in five or 10 minutes,” as many modern recipes claimed. His article, supported by his own thorough experimentation and no less an authority than Julia Child, should have put a definitive end to the notion of speedy caramelized deliciousness. 1

However, Scocca’s culinary victory didn’t last. Writing recently for Gizmodo , Scocca notes that his article not only failed to dispel this erroneous notion, but paradoxically, had been used to enshrine speedy onion caramelization as Google’s ‘One True Answer.’ In fact, the text used to substantiate Google’s claim was Scocca’s own 2012 article, misprized by Google’s algorithm as supporting evidence. As Scocca writes, “A block of text from the Times that I had published as a quote, to illustrate how it was a lie, had been extracted by the algorithm as the authoritative truth on the subject.” 2

Under pressure from readers of Scocca’s exposé, Google has since fixed the error, but the story of his culinary and informational odyssey points to a valuable lesson for educators. Like Mr Scocca, we have to dispel a myth touted by many of our fellow educators because it leads to unsavoury results and all manner of unproductive practices. We have to dispel the myth that one of education’s chief aims should be to create a smooth, welcoming pathway for learning, epitomized by a frictionless transfer of information from teacher to student. Like five-minute caramelized onions, this idea doesn’t produce the results it promises.

DESIGNING FOR FRICTION – A RATIONALE FOR MAKING

To understand why – and how we arrived at such an idea in the first place – we first have to dig into the history of our craft. That history is inextricably bound with the movement of knowledge. While good teaching certainly comprises many goals and practices, at its core, it’s an information technology, tied to the creation, dissemination, processing, and expansion of information. Understanding how information works is thus essential for understanding the trajectory education has taken and for plotting the path it should take in the coming years. For most of human history, the movement of information was severely constrained. Prior to 1439, rather than information being able to travel freely, people had to travel – sometimes immense distances – to visit the information. Whether encountered in another person or via a book, the only way to contact information, and the only way to duplicate it, was by hand. Learners literally had to be within a hand’s reach of the informational source. If they weren’t, the information simply wasn’t accessible; the core challenge of the ‘Age of Hands.’ Teachers worked to minimize the impact of this lack of access by creating a particular educational practice: lecture. In the first version of this practice, (which gives it its English name), teachers performed lectura : reading a book out loud so students could make their own copies of it. This way, they could carry the information with them to use in their lives and professions. However, a new technology soon displaced this educational practice, solving the problem of the First Age. In 1439, goldsmith and tinkerer Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type printing to Europe, engendering an informational revolution. For the first time, information could move freely.

“ The best way to know whether something is real is to try it out.” POWERED BY

“ Only through making can they [students] develop the critical skills and discernment they’ll need to discover what’s real.” The ‘Age of Books’ introduced the world’s first information explosion, but it also introduced a new problem. Libraries restricted to a few hundred books in the Middle Ages now began growing to sizes hard to comprehend, and they started popping up all over the landscape. While a library of a million volumes represented an unprecedented opportunity for learning, as many 19th and early 20th century philanthropists recognized, it also created a complex and daunting new challenge: how do you find what you’re looking for amid that sea of books?

DESIGNING FOR FRICTION – A RATIONALE FOR MAKING

Finding became the core challenge of the ‘Age of Books.’ Teachers worked to minimize this problem’s impact by creating a range of new educational practices focused around smoothing the discovery and flow of information. They trained students scrupulously to decode (and incorporate in their own writing) complex citational procedures; they introduced informational tools like indices, bibliographies, and the ‘card catalogue’; and they adapted lecture into what most of us know: a crystallization and reporting of basic research, saving students hours of individual searching. Most of us grew up in this informational age (or were trained by teachers who did), and we’ve therefore internalized Second Age goals and educational practices. However, in the age we now inhabit, such practices are not only often obsolete; they can be counterproductive. Because to solve the problems of the Second Age, we invented digital search and transformed all of that information into data. You’ll note that in my descriptions of the first two Ages, I focused on informational transference rather than creation. I did so because that’s where the largest change occurred. If we looked instead at the production of information in these ages, the change was far less dramatic. In both periods, only an elite few had access to the creation process, and because of the complexities of production – even with a revolutionary process like movable-type printing – informational integrity had to be carefully guarded to preserve resources.

This meant there was considerable friction in producing information even as consumption became radically easier. And because of that friction, the quality of information was generally reliable; false or inferior information was weeded out by the processes surrounding publication. Today, it’s different. Even many preschool children have access to tools for producing a wide range of media – text, image, audio, and video – and to an extent previously available only to professionals, they also have access to any number of methods of global distribution. The resulting explosion of information in this ‘Age of Data’ makes the last informational revolution look minuscule by comparison. We thus face a new challenge, and its implications have been rippling around the world: how do we know what information is real and what’s fake? In the vast sea of data, how do we find solid ground? Unlike the last two challenges, this one doesn’t have a clear technological solution — at least not yet. To solve it, we need a return to that most human of enterprises: making.

The ease with which anyone can create information means we need to insert friction to weed out what’s false. As with Mr Scocca’s onions, the best way to know whether something is real is to try it out. This is where today’s teachers must step in. Rather than easing their path, we need to compel our students to test, try, evaluate, and make with everything they discover. Only through making can they develop the critical skills and discernment they’ll need to discover what’s real. We should take inspiration from recent research by people like Derek Muller, whose work evaluating media offers a helpful map for making and using it for learning. And we need to take advantage of the global network of fellow makers as a check on our students’ cultural and social biases. 3

This won’t be easy – and it goes against much Second Age teaching practice. However, having students do “what we’ve always done” – consume and replicate – without using the critical and creative skills they’ll need to survive the Third Age, makes a mess like 10-minute onions: either undercooked and unready, or charred into oblivion and only worth the bin.

A version of this article previously appeared as Building for Friction: How Obstructing the Path Can Help Learning in the ECIS periodical Global Insights 4: April 2017 (2–4).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR William Rankin PHD has helped schools, educational organizations, businesses, and governments in more than 30 countries as they refine their educational visions and initiatives. He worked as an academic in higher education for 24 years before joining the education team at Apple as Director of Learning. He is currently Director of Learning and Research at pi-top.

REFERENCES

1 http://www.slate.com/articles/life/scocca/2012/05/how_to_cook_onions_why_recipe_writers_lie_and_

lie_about_how_long_they_take_to_caramelize_.html 2 http://gizmodo.com/googles-algorithm-is-lying-to-you-about-onions-and-blam-1793057789 3 https://fnoschese.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/khan-academy-and-the-effectiveness-of-science-videos

ONE STEAM LESSON, 100% MORE CONFIDENCE – “pi-tops ARE A GAME-CHANGER” Jerald Jolito is an instructional technologist, science and robotics teacher at Pecos High School in Texas. The school’s mission is to provide excellence in education within a positive, creative atmosphere that empowers students with critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. Jerald has recently started to use the pi-top Learning System in his STEAM lessons.

WHAT WERE THE SCHOOL’S CHALLENGES IN DELIVERING STEAM LESSONS?

School size: approx. 646 (Years 9-12) Student teacher ratio: 22:1

Jerald told us that pi-tops are the perfect solution, because they come with an Inventor's Kit and the tutorials on how to use it. In his words, they make “the class more engaging for the students and easier for me to teach!”

In order to deliver outstanding STEAM lessons, Pecos High School wanted to find a product that would engage their students, enable them to get hands-on in their lessons and also spark creativity and originality in problem-solving. The school started using the pi-top Learning System to develop these areas within STEAM subjects. Since he started to use pi-tops with his students, Jerald says that at least 90% of his students are more engaged, 90% plus have learned to problem-solve their way through roadblocks in their projects, and a full 100% are more confident tinkering, making and reverse engineering.

“ The pi-top curriculum is also great for collaborative learning. My students also get to collaborate with professionals.” 14

CASE STUDY: pi-tops ARE A GAME-CHANGER

Pecos High wanted to deliver STEAM lessons that would engage students of all abilities, increase their understanding of design processes by having them experience those processes for themselves, and give students a thorough grounding in both electronics and programming. They also wanted to enable their students to be creative and come up with original ideas that they could then bring into the physical world by making and building their ideas.

SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM THAT MEETS THE SCHOOL’S NEEDS? Jerald says, “I love pi-top, the product, because it is plug and play. I purchased a few Raspberry Pis two years ago, but we weren't able to use them in class because the monitors that were available were industrial grade. We had to find the monitor driver and install it using the terminal, which is intimidating to students that are new to programming. We also had to install the operating system. With a class of 20 plus, the amount of questions that come up gets overwhelming. With the pi-tops, we did not have any of these issues. We took the pi-tops out, inserted the micro-SD card with the operating system already installed, and just started working on learning how to use them.

“Overall, the hardware and software feel very robust. I love the use of the magnetic strip, Hub and Proto-board. I think they are a very good way of modularizing the Raspberry Pi platform. The battery lasts a very long time and that is a big plus! I also love the interface. It's very appealing to the eye and does not scare beginners away. Including a set of tutorials in pi-topCODER was brilliant. It really helped streamline the process of learning the system. “The lessons are beginner-friendly and very fun even for people with experience working on the Raspberry Pi. My students didn't have any experience working with the Raspberry Pi prior to using the pi-tops and they quickly grasped the technology. “The pi-top curriculum is also great for collaborative learning. My students have had an opportunity not only to work with each other and try to solve programming or hardware issues, but they also get to collaborate with professionals who are willing to help them resolve the bugs in their projects. Just yesterday, our students teleconferenced with a software engineer in the U.K.” Jerald says that an added bonus is pi-top’s tech support. When he’s had trouble getting a project to run, they’ve been “easy to reach and are quick to respond with a solution. I think that is important, because it keeps the students moving forward with their projects and keeps them from giving up.”

HOW HAVE THE STUDENTS RESPONDED TO THE pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM? Jerald says that he has seen “at least 90% of my students being fully engaged when we are using the pi-tops. More than 90% of them learned not to get discouraged and keep going even when faced with roadblocks in their projects. The other less

than 10% get discouraged, but keep going anyway! I have observed that 100% of my students are now more confident tinkering, making and reverse engineering because of their experience with the pi-top Learning System.” Students of all abilities have responded well to using pi-tops because they are convenient to assemble and start playing with, but scalable enough to be challenging even for advanced Raspberry Pi and Python users. Jerald told us about a student who has had straight ‘A’s since freshman year. “He is obsessed about getting everything right the first time and was really frustrated when his group couldn't get their pi-top project to work. I could see how hard it was for him to go through the failure. He saw other groups failing and trying repeatedly until they completed their project. His attitude started to change and he has become more comfortable with not getting things perfect the first time. As a result, he does not burden himself with too much pressure, and now enjoys the making process more.”

FEEDBACK FROM PARENTS Parents who have seen or heard about the pi-tops are very excited as well. As Jerald says, “Many of us grew up in the pre-computer or closed system computer era, and for them to see their children hack a computer to make things is very awe-inspiring.” Overall, the pi-tops have been a great success in engaging students of all abilities, increasing understanding by getting hands-on, sparking creativity, and fostering resilience. Jerald’s final words: pi-tops are “Engaging, exciting – a game-changer.”

THE SURPRISING THING GOOGLE LEARNED ABOUT ITS EMPLOYEES — AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR TODAY’S STUDENTS. By Cathy N. Davidson

The conventional wisdom about 21st century skills holds that students need to master the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – and learn to code as well because that’s where the jobs are. It turns out that is a gross simplification of what students need to know and be able to do, and some proof for that comes from a surprising source: Google.

crunching every bit and byte of hiring, firing, and promotion data accumulated since the company’s incorporation in 1998. Project Oxygen shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others’ “ A recent survey… values and points ranks communication different of view); having empathy skills in the top three toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being most-sought after a good critical thinker and qualities by job problem-solver; and being able to make connections recruiters.” across complex ideas.

All across America, students are anxiously finishing their “What I Want To Be…” college application essays, advised to focus on STEM by pundits and parents who insist that’s the only way to become workforce ready. But two recent studies of workplace success contradict the conventional wisdom about “hard skills.” Surprisingly, this research comes from the company most identified with the STEM-only approach: Google.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both brilliant computer scientists, founded their company on the conviction that only technologists can understand technology. Google originally set its hiring algorithms to sort for computer science students with top grades from elite science universities. In 2013, Google decided to test its hiring hypothesis by

Those traits sound more like what one gains as an English or theater major than as a programmer. Could it be that top Google employees were succeeding despite their technical training, not because of it? After bringing in anthropologists and ethnographers to dive even deeper into the data, the company enlarged its previous hiring practices to include humanities majors, artists, and even the MBAs that, initially, Brin and Page viewed with disdain.

“ The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills.” Project Aristotle, a study released by Google in spring 2017, further supports the importance of soft skills even in high-tech environments. Project Aristotle analyzes data on inventive and productive teams. Google takes pride in its A-teams, assembled with top scientists, each with the most specialized knowledge and able to throw down one cutting-edge idea after another. Its data analysis revealed, however, that the company’s most important and productive new ideas come from B-teams comprised of employees who don’t always have to be the smartest people in the room. Project Aristotle shows that the best teams at Google exhibit a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy, and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. No bullying. To succeed, each and every team member must feel confident speaking up and making mistakes. They must know they are being heard. Google’s studies concur with others trying to understand the secret of a great future employee. A recent survey of 260 employers by the non-profit National Association of Colleges and Employers, which includes both small firms

and behemoths like Chevron and IBM, also ranks communication skills in the top three most-sought after qualities by job recruiters. They prize both an ability to communicate with one’s workers and an aptitude for conveying the company’s product and mission outside the organization. Or take billionaire venture capitalist and “Shark Tank” TV personality Mark Cuban: He looks for philosophy majors when he’s investing in sharks most likely to succeed. STEM skills are vital to the world we live in today, but technology alone, as Steve Jobs famously insisted, is not enough. We desperately need the expertise of those who are educated to the human, cultural, and social as well as the computational. No student should be prevented from majoring in an area they love based on a false idea of what they need to succeed. Broad learning skills are the key to long-term, satisfying, productive careers. What helps you thrive in a changing world isn’t rocket science. It may just well be social science, and, yes, even the humanities and the arts that contribute to making you not just workforce ready but world ready.

Cathy is an educational innovator and a distinguished scholar of the history of technology, and an avid proponent of active ways of learning that help students to understand and navigate the radically changed global world in which we now all live, work, and learn. She is Distinguished Professor of English and Founding Director of the Futures Initiative at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and the R. F. DeVarney Professor Emerita of Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University. Cathy has published some twenty books, and in 2002 co-founded HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), the world’s first academic social network.

This article first appeared on the Washington Post website, www.washingtonpost.com

THE SURPRISING THING GOOGLE LEARNED ABOUT ITS EMPLOYEES

equality generosity intelligence confidence empathy curiosity â&#x20AC;&#x153;Broad learning skills are the key to long-term, satisfying, productive careers.â&#x20AC;?

WHAT IS SCHOOL FOR? WHY DOESN’T THE EDUCATION SYSTEM REFLECT THE MODERN WORLD? By Graham Brown-Martin My 10 year-old daughter asked my 80 year-old mother what school had been like when she was little. My mother said, “Probably the same”, and while I don’t think she meant it in the way that it came out, I do think she was absolutely right. It had already struck me by that point that the education system hadn’t changed very much in a long time. We don’t really ask ourselves about the purpose of school or why we send our kids there, it’s just something we do. But every country should be asking themselves what schools are for. In order to have an idea about what our countries are going to be like in the future, we need to know what the purpose of our schools is. At the moment it appears to be content transmission and testing, and that isn’t going to produce the kind of innovators we need. The old answer was that you go to school, you work hard, you get good grades, you go to university, you get a good degree, and you get a job for life. Education as a passport to job security, a job for life and so forth may once have been true, especially in western countries, but not anymore. So the question then becomes ‘what is school for now?’ What do we need? There’s a constant tension within the education system, as there has been for hundreds of years. In 1902, John Dewey wrote a book called The Child and The Curriculum that had the same tension, the same argument about whether education is about subject and content knowledge or about self-realisation of the child, learning for the fun of

WHAT IS SCHOOL FOR?

learning as opposed to learning because you had to get through some tests. This constant tension is increasing now that we’re beginning to use technology in a way that reinforces that format, the idea that education is about mastery of content, of subject knowledge, and then regurgitating it in an exam. Ideally, we need both content and subject knowledge as well as competencies. The winner of the Nobel Prize isn’t the person who has read the most books, it’s about their competencies. When I hire a software engineer, I’m more interested in their ability to code than whether they’ve got a PhD from a big university. Rather than having an education system which has been industrialized around content and testing, why not have one that’s based around solving problems, working together, and collaborating? We talk about the future and the skills we’ll need, such as creativity and collaboration and critical thinking, but nothing in our school or examination systems work toward that goal, so we have to decide which one we value. When I was writing my book, Learning {Re} imagined, I researched and travelled extensively; from rural India and refugee camps in conflict zones to active crisis zones like the mountains in China after an earthquake, and also into schools in the U.S. and U.K. What I found in every school I visited was that the environment was important, and the engagement between teacher and student was important.

“ We’re using technology to maintain and industrialize 19th century practices. It’s as if we agreed that the purpose of education is simply content distribution and testing.”

If we look specifically at that environment, right now a lot of classrooms look very much as they did a hundred or more years ago, with children sitting in rows. It was the same when my mother was at school, and so it was for my daughter. This environment doesn’t actively promote preparation for the real world, so we are missing something extremely important. That was also reflected in teacher engagement. As a society, we’re beginning to believe that teaching is merely a content delivery system; that educators deliver content to their students and then test them on that content, so in effect we could get rid of or de-skill educators. Nothing could be further from the truth of course, because teaching isn’t simply about providing content. It’s about understanding the individual. We’re nurturing human beings. I’ve seen great practice pretty much everywhere I’ve been. The problem, the challenge for all of these great schools, regardless of where they were, was they come up against the 19th century examination system, which tests things that are less than valuable. As a result, we teach maths, for example, like it’s a dead language. In fact, maths is really fun. I only discovered after I left school that maths is really fun because it’s about discovery. But that’s not the way we teach it at school because of the way that we measure.

WHAT IS SCHOOL FOR?

I don’t think you can scale good practice by taking a great school, measuring why and how it’s great, and then rolling it out like a piece of software. That’s just not how it works. It would be a bit like trying to scale your favorite restaurant. It would become McDonald’s, and who wants their children to have the McDonald’s of education? It may not be as bad as some other forms of education, but the point remains the same. The best practices I have seen are the ones in which lessons are more project based and de-siloed. Rather than having subjects, these ‘silos’ are removed. The number of common areas is increased, as is the way in which students work together across age groups. Being streamed by your year of manufacture strikes me as bizarre. It doesn’t happen anywhere else at any other time, but in school the only thing you have in common with the other students in your class is that you were born in the same year. That is crazy.

“ Teaching isn’t simply about providing content. It’s about understanding the individual. We’re nurturing human beings.”

“Why do we suddenly pretend that the 21st century never happened when a child enters an examination room?”

I also think the technology debate in education has become very confused. Certainly thirty years ago when I first started getting involved in educational technology, I was almost of a Messianic belief in its ability to transform learning, to make it much more interesting, engaging, and dissolve those silos between subjects. But what’s happened in the intervening years, and certainly during the current phenomenal levels of investment in edtech, is that we’re using technology to maintain and industrialize 19th century practices. It’s as if we agreed that the purpose of education is simply content distribution and testing, and therefore we don’t really need skilled teachers. We could actually offload that to technology.

We should be able to use technology to amplify our ability to learn and our ability to teach rather than effectively imprison us. For example, why are students not allowed to take their Wi-Fi enabled computer into exams? Why are they not allowed to share their answers with their peers? Why are they not allowed to call a subject specialist? Why do we suddenly pretend that the 21st century never happened when a child enters an examination room? I’m still optimistic that technology can have a profound impact, a positive impact, on the way that we teach, the way that we learn, and the way that we solve problems. We’re just not doing that at the moment. We’re doing the reverse.

In my opinion, that’s very wrong. I think there’s much more to teaching and learning than that, and I think we should allow much more freedom in the way that technology is used in the classroom.

Graham Brown-Martin is a leader in the field of foresight and anticipatory research, bringing together social, political and technological trends to consider how we might prepare ourselves for the future. He is the author of Learning {Re}imagined, the best-selling book on global education published by Bloomsbury, and founder of Learning Without Frontiers (LWF), a global think tank that brought together renowned educators, technologists and creatives to share provocative and challenging ideas about the future of learning. He is currently Chief Education & Product Officer at pi-top.

AX TO

FROM A TO X

FROM A TO X By Mitchel Resnick

In the summer of 2013, I met with the president of Tsinghua University, the leading engineering university in China. Because I’m a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tsinghua is known as the ‘MIT of China’, it’s not so surprising that the two of us would meet. Perhaps more surprising is where we were meeting: at the LEGO toy company in Denmark. The president of Tsinghua, Chen Jining, had travelled to the LEGO Group in search of a new approach to education and learning. The Chinese government had selected Tsinghua to lead a nationwide initiative on comprehensive university reform. Chen recognized that the Chinese educational system faced a serious problem – not just at university level but throughout the whole system, starting with the youngest children. The Chinese education system, Chen said, wasn’t preparing students to meet the needs of an evolving society. The problem wasn’t visible by looking at students’ grades and exam scores. In fact, many Chinese students were performing well, according to traditional measures. At Tsinghua itself, almost all students had received excellent grades from elementary school through high school, and many continued to get ‘A’ grades at Tsinghua. Chen referred to them as ‘A students’.

“ Learning involves playful experimentation – trying new things, tinkering with materials, testing boundaries, taking risks.” But Chen knew that something else was needed. He felt that many of the A students, despite their high grades and test scores, didn’t have the creative, innovative spirit needed to succeed in today’s society. Chen argued that China needed a new breed of students, which he called ‘X students’. Chen explained that X students are willing to take risks and try new things. They’re eager to define their own problems rather than simply solve the ones in the textbook. It’s X students who come up with the most innovative ideas and creative new directions. Chen said that his top priority at Tsinghua was to produce more X students for Chinese society. He wanted to transform his university so that it would attract, encourage, and support X students. Chen came to visit the LEGO Group because he saw the company as a possible ally in his mission. When he watched children playfully building with LEGO bricks, he sensed that they were developing as X-style thinkers. They were constantly exploring, experimenting, and testing the boundaries – and developing as creative thinkers. He wanted to find more ways to cultivate that style of thinking at Tsinghua.

“ The best way to cultivate creativity is to support people working on projects based on their passions, in collaboration with peers and in a playful spirit.”

Although Chen was talking about students and schools in China, the situation is similar around the world. Most schools in most countries place a higher priority on teaching students to follow instructions and rules (becoming A students) than on helping students develop their own ideas, goals, and strategies (becoming X students). The goals and approaches of educational systems around the world have remained largely unchanged over the past century – but a growing number of people, like Chen, are beginning to recognize the need for change.

FROM A TO X

Part of the motivation for change is economic. Today’s workplace is undergoing a radical transformation. Many jobs are disappearing as computers and robots take over routine tasks (and even non-routine tasks). And many other jobs are changing dramatically as people and workplaces must continually adapt to a constant flow of new technologies, new sources of information, and new communication channels. According to some estimates, roughly two-thirds of today’s gradeschool students will end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet. For people to flourish in this rapidly changing landscape, the ability to think and act creatively is more important than ever before. Creative thinking is needed outside of the workplace, too. The pace of change continues to accelerate in all types of activities, in all aspects of our lives. Today’s children will be confronted with new and unexpected situations throughout their lives. They must learn to deal creatively with uncertainty and change – not only in their work lives, but also in their personal lives (how to develop and sustain friendships in an era of ever-changing social networks) and their civic lives (how to participate meaningfully in communities that have evershifting needs and boundaries). How can we help children develop as creative thinkers so that they’re prepared for life in this ever-changing world? In my research group at the MIT Media Lab, we’ve developed a set of four guiding principles: projects, passion, peers, and play. In short, we believe the best way to cultivate creativity is to support people working on projects based on their passions, in collaboration with peers and in a playful spirit.

P R O J E C T S . People learn best when they are actively working on meaningful projects – generating new ideas, designing prototypes, iteratively refining their creations.

P A S S I O N . When people work on projects they care about, they work longer and harder, persist in the face of challenges, and learn more in the process.

P E E R S . Learning flourishes as a social activity, with people sharing ideas, collaborating on projects, and building on one another’s work.

P L A Y . Learning involves playful experimentation – trying new things, tinkering with materials, testing boundaries, taking risks, iterating again and again. These four ‘P’s can serve as a useful framework for teachers, parents, and anyone else interested in supporting creative learning – and helping children develop as X students. Creative thinking has always been, and will always be, a central part of what makes life worth living. Life as a creative thinker can bring not only economic rewards, but also joy, fulfilment, purpose, and meaning. Children deserve nothing less. With apologies to John Lennon: all we are saying is give ‘P’s a chance. Adapted from the book Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play, MIT Press, 2017.

“ Creative thinking has always been, and will always be, a central part of what makes life worth living.”

Mitchel Resnick is the Professor of Learning Research at MIT Media Lab in Boston, Massachusetts. Amongst his group's many achievements is the programming language, called Scratch, that makes it easier for kids to create their own animated stories, video games, and interactive art.

RENEWING OUR IDEA OF THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION By Valerie Hannon

Our current education system, which emerged in the middle of the 19th century, designed to serve the needs of the Industrial Revolution, is under intense strain. There is a growing perception that the mass education system is failing the public.

WHAT ARE THESE FAILINGS?

+ Learner dissatisfaction or disengagement + The growing costs of the current system

with marginal (or flat-lining) gains on existing outcome metrics

+ Frustrated, unfulfilled education ‘professionals’ (who are not treated as professionals)

+ Little impact on inequality – indeed, often the reverse

+ Profound mismatch with the needs of societies and of economies

RENEWING OUR IDEA OF THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION

THE WRONG STORY The problem stems from the fact that we have not been prepared to ask the fundamental question of what, today, education should be for – what job we want the education system to do. There is an implicit assumption that the answer is too obvious to discuss. Usually it boils down to two ideas. The first is to promote ‘growth’ in the global competition: education will lead to bigger GDP. And second, individuals (if they work hard and are clever) will gain advantage in getting access to the better jobs. On close examination both these ideas are threadbare. Whilst there is some evidence that in developing countries, higher levels of education lead to improved economies, in the ‘developed’ nations that relationship is harder to show, since growth and prosperity depend on a wide and inter-related range of factors. But more significantly, what is growth? This is almost always equated with GDP – an indicator increasingly acknowledged to be misleading and insufficient, not least because of the impact of continued extractive on the environment.

“Today, education has to be about learning to thrive in a transforming world.”

There is no clear narrative for public education today that both connects with the realities people are experiencing and faces up to what can confidently be said to be on our horizon. And we have some good evidence about the direction and pace of change. It is unlike anything the human species has faced previously. Some of the challenges are existential. All of them will impact our children’s lifetimes, let alone our grandchildren. Reflecting on the scale and direction of these shifts, I argue in my new book, THRIVE: Schools Reinvented For The Real Challenges We Face, that “today, education has to be about learning to thrive in a transforming world.”

CHANGE? REALLY? The changes we face can be grouped into three categories. Our Planet’s Predicament. Humans can’t thrive if our planet does not. Our planet stands on the brink of profound and uncontrollable change.

The Supremacy of Technology. The power and penetration of technology to reshape the world have attained unprecedented levels. Technocratic solutions are assumed to be capable of resolving any and all problems. The idea that human beings are the source of meaning as well as power is about to be challenged. How can we ensure that humans can thrive, as this relationship unfolds and the balance shifts?

Designing our own evolution. The convergence of the life sciences with the digital explosion has created the capacity to reshape the very fabric of life: it is changing not just what we can do, but who we are. It is entirely possible that human beings are not an evolutionary end point, but that we are destined to evolve further, playing a major role in the design and direction of that process.

All of these are evidence-based shifts which are currently well underway. They are not fantasy or science fiction and our children will have to live with them – or, learn to shape them.

If we can agree that education has to be about learning to thrive in a transforming world, then we at least have some basis for the debate. The question then becomes: what might ‘thriving’ look like?

“ There is no clear narrative for public education today that both connects with the realities people are experiencing and faces up to what can confidently be said to be on our horizon.” LEARNING TO THRIVE When we examine what it means to thrive, we see that thriving must happen at four interdependent levels, none of which can be ignored:

+ Global – our place in the planet + Societal – place, communities, economies + Interpersonal – our relationships + Intrapersonal – the self

RENEWING OUR IDEA OF THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION

Planetary/global thriving: Collectively and individually, we have to learn to live within the earth’s renewable resources. National/local thriving: Learning how to reinvent democracy into some more participative process will be increasingly important if aspirations for equity and progress are to be realised. Learning to make a living increasingly entails STEM subjects but also learning to think and act ‘green, lean, and eco’. It will also mean learning to adapt to work with automation, and with co-workers who are robots. Interpersonal thriving: The evidence is clear-cut. Extensive research shows good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Though digital technologies in learning are a liberating force, they have also created the spectre of the ‘new Mowglis’ – brought up by screens, lacking empathy. In an age when immersion in digital environments has been responsible for the pornographication of sex, compounding grotesque sexism, it is a challenge for learning to enable people to acquire sexual identities which do no harm; but rather enhance and humanise life. Intrapersonal thriving: Learning about and within our own selves presents the ultimate frontier. In mechanised, technologyinfused, confusing modern life, the need for mindfulness, awareness, inner silence and balance will demand to be met. Taking early personal responsibility for health and fitness will be a precondition for later well-being.

What would bringing these imperatives into the centre of our learning goals, instead of at the periphery, look like? Something like this perhaps:

SOCIETAL INTERPERSONAL INTRAPERSONAL A secure sense of self Responsibility for personal health, fitness and well-being

Loving and respectful relationships in diverse, technologized societies Engage with, and learn from, other generations

PLANETARY/ GLOBAL

Navigate a disrupted and uncertain landscape of work

Live sustainably

Reinvent a participative, authentic and meaningful democracy

Acquire global competence

Protect the Earth's ecosystem

And there are, across the world, visionary educators who are doing just that. The problem is that they lack the supporting political narrative to bring real change at scale.

Valerie Hannon co-founded Innovation Unit (UK and Australia) and has supported education change programs in numerous systems, including the U.K., Europe, U.S.A., Australia and Africa. She is a founding member and Co-Chair of the Global Education Leaders Partnership, supporting jurisdictions globally to scale their innovation and transform their systems. She is an expert adviser on education to the OECD, and a frequent contributor to the World Summit on Innovation in Education. Her latest book is THRIVE: Schools Reinvented For The Real Challenges We Face (2017).

“ Students were very engaged throughout, and had the opportunity to learn from one another in a rich collaborative environment.”

Q&A WITH CORNWALL HILL COLLEGE

FILL THE GAP BETWEEN CURRICULUM AND LEARNING EXPERIENCE WITH pi-top Cornwall Hill College in Pretoria, South Africa, focuses on providing wide-ranging opportunities and exceptional facilities for students to excel in academic, sporting and cultural spheres, while still retaining traditional values of honesty, integrity, compassion and responsibility. We spoke to Deon Londt, a Computer Science teacher at Cornwall Hill, where they use pi-tops with students in grades six and seven, to see how they’re getting on.

HI, DEON. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL’S COMPUTER SCIENCE NEEDS PRIOR TO BRINGING IN pi-tops ? Deon: I led an exciting initiative to look into possible apps, robots and relevant activities for students in grades six and seven, to introduce them to the new STEAM component of our curriculum. I found a range of options, but when I saw pi-tops at the BETT show in the UK, I knew they weren’t like anything the school had used before. They encompassed the type of learning we desired within the classroom environment.

WHAT TYPE OF LEARNING IS THAT?

Deon: As a progressive school, we want to fill the gap between the curriculum and the learning experience we’re trying to create. One of the best features about the pi-tops is that they fill that gap. They allow for collaborative, creative and modern learning, which are teaching strategies we try to use in all subjects.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO GET STARTED WITH THE pi-tops ? Deon: The set-up of the pi-tops is simple and easy to explain to students. Once I went through the program once and built my own one, I felt comfortable to teach the projects to the kids. By the second or third class I felt like a pro!

AND WHAT DID YOUR STUDENTS THINK WHEN YOU BROUGHT THE pi-tops OUT? Deon: The learners loved the pi-tops. They were very engaged throughout, and had the opportunity to learn from one another in a rich collaborative environment. The user experience is something we as a school have never come across before, and the students loved the look and feel of the pi-tops. The bright green computers immediately grabbed their attention! It has been a wonderful experience and challenge for them.

YOU MENTION COLLABORATIVE LEARNING. CAN YOU EXPAND ON THAT? Deon: pi-tops are very effective when it comes to collaborative learning, because they allow students to learn and work together. For one project, students worked in groups of two, but when they got stuck along the way, they first tried to get help from other groups instead of asking the teacher. Working in groups of two allows the learners to learn from one another as well as correct mistakes, and it facilitates peer review while they work.

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE CURRICULUM CONTENT. HOW DID YOU FIND THAT? Deon: Teaching STEAM subjects is very important because we are training kids for jobs that don't exist yet, and STEAM equips them with some of the skills we as a school see as important for the future. The pi-top projects have had a positive impact on our curriculum as it opened a new world of possibilities for the kids and they saw a different side of computers. It also filled a void in our computer science curriculum as we did not have any physical computing activities available. The lessons had well-written instructions and allowed students to work at their own pace and this project-led way of working is an effective way to deliver computer science, and other aspects of the STEAM agenda.

“ [pi-tops] allow for collaborative, creative and modern learning.”

WHAT IMPROVEMENTS HAVE YOU SEEN SINCE USING pi-tops IN YOUR CLASSROOM? Deon: I noticed an improvement in computer science competency after using the pi-tops, and learners seem to be more meticulous while coding. The best response from the learners was always when they could see their code working, like the light bulb lighting up or the buzzer making sounds. The fact that the program gives feedback helps the learners to 'self-diagnose' and fix their own mistakes, which is a very important part of the learning experience.

YOUR FINAL QUESTION! HAS ANYTHING SURPRISED YOU ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH pi-top ? Deon: Yes – the fact that the girls excelled as opposed to the 'stigma' that coding is only for boys. I would definitely recommend pi-top to any other teachers, students or schools.

We also asked Deon’s students for their feedback, with some fascinating results. 73% of students said that pi-tops have had a positive impact on either their understanding or interest in computer science. When asked how using pi-tops has changed the way they feel about computing and coding, students responded with answers like, “we work together as a team,” “it has encouraged me to find out more about building programs and computers,” “it has given me more confidence in programming,” and “I have more interest in the topics.” Of the students who said that they had considered continuing to study computer science, 55% cited the reason as being directly because of pi-tops. We are hoping to reach more and more students across the world in this way, encouraging them and their teachers to become active STEAM advocates. As Deon says, “it opened a new world of possibilities.”

Q&A WITH CORNWALL HILL COLLEGE

HEAD, HANDS & HEART By David Price, O.B.E.

For at least six decades there’s been a damaging, and ultimately life-defining, separation between vocational and academic disciplines in education. I had personal experience of it growing up in the north-east of England. During the 1960s, students were separated at the age of 11 by a paper-based, timed, test. If you passed (as I surprisingly did) you were granted access to the local grammar school – considered the golden ticket to a successful life. If you failed, as most of my friends did, you were sent to a school where you learned to be ‘good with your hands’. Other countries had less overt hierarchies of skills, but, to the present day, such arbitrary and class-based social engineering persists. It was always a nonsense, but in a world where routine cognitive skills are being run out of town by robots and machine learning, and plumbers are driving Teslas, it is a stratification that has to be consigned to the 20th century.

“ A balance of head, hands and heart can ensure that students are ready to thrive in their working lives.” POWERED BY

“ …the entire assessment system is tilted in favour of students’ abilities to present their ideas in writing.” If the yin-yang of head and hands is good enough for M.I.T. (whose motto is Mens et Manus) it ought to be good enough for elementary and high schools the world over. However, the entire assessment system is tilted in favour of students’ abilities to present their ideas in writing. Victor Hugo once said, “Music expresses that which cannot be said,” but the student who demonstrates his or her creativity through song-making isn’t valued as highly as the student who can deploy a fronted adverbial correctly. Fortunately an increasing number of schools are refusing to sort children into either academic or vocational boxes. And the gradual curriculum shift we’re seeing in many countries – replacing ‘subjects’ with cross-disciplinary themes – will encourage more to do the same. Until then, however, some schools in the U.K. display a perverse reverse-snobbery by insisting that kids from disadvantaged communities are being unfairly treated if they’re not force-fed a knowledge-rich, recall-and-regurgitate diet, in comparison to kids who are privately educated. Meanwhile, employers like Google are saying that they’re not interested in what job applicants know, it’s what they can do with what they know that matters. And it’s

HEAD, HANDS & HEART

predominantly the independent schools who are installing maker spaces and running social innovation hackathons… I’ve been training teachers in project-based learning and STEM for social innovation for quite a few years, and increasingly the demand for such training is coming from international schools. I’ve noticed a kind of ‘attention blindness’ in the disparity of approaches. Policy makers are, rightly, concerned about social inequality, so they’re doubling down on literacy, numeracy and STEM in government schools – inevitably at the expense of creativity, collaboration, speaking and listening, and problem-solving. International schools, meanwhile, are turning out students who are globally and culturally aware, multi-lingual, powerful communicators who are adept at finding and solving problems. If it’s true that the earnings gap is going to widen sharply in the near future as non-routine cognitive and manual skills are at a premium, and those with good test scores, but no portfolio, are left to seek work in lowpay, temporary gigs – then it’s pretty clear that experiences like those available at international schools leave their students sitting pretty in the global auction for skills.

I recently visited Tri-County Early College (TCEC) High School in North Carolina. Early college high schools were a Gates Foundation initiative aimed at getting more minority and low-income students into college. Unusually, students take college classes alongside a project-based learning, highly personalized, high school program. TCEC is a shining example of the initiative’s success. Seventyfive per cent of their students leave high school with an associate degree from the nearby community college (nationally, 30% of Early College students

“ ...the gradual curriculum shift we’re seeing in many countries – replacing ‘subjects’ with crossdisciplinary themes – will encourage more to do the same.” achieve a college diploma while still at high school). The student experience is a skilfully curated mix of fairly conventional college lectures, and intensely practical collaborative projects. But it’s the addition of the third characteristic – the heart – that really prepares TCEC students for the world to come. Doing work that matters (socially, emotionally and culturally) not only builds empathy, but it also drives their sense of agency and purpose. At a project exhibition, I saw enterprises that were installing smoke detectors; ‘braille LEGO bricks’ (with permutations of missing studs to represent

braille lettering); chargers for multiple devices via solar power panels in natural disaster relief; and there were a reassuring number of low-tech studies designed to preserve Appalachian customs and traditions. In case you think this is an affluent school, think again. Median household income in the school’s catchment area is less than half the national average, and poverty levels are more than double the national average. Almost half of babies born here have opioid dependence. Despite the obvious challenges of rural Appalachian life, the school has fostered an impressive community engagement. Project teams usually have an external mentor: a community member with appropriate skills, binding the students' work to local needs. Critics of problem and project-based learning argue that it’s a luxury that can only be afforded to middle-class kids attending private schools. Working-class kids, on the other hand, are being robbed of their potential for academic success by ‘wasting’ time making things. This kind of binary thinking is easily confounded by a visit to schools like Tri-County Early College High School, where 9th grade students are setting up their own social enterprises whilst attending college lectures and completing four-year degree programs in half that time, due to the credits they earned in high school. We need to stop the harmful separation of the practical and theoretical, and we need to build our curricula more around frameworks like UNESCO’s 17 development goals, and less around subject silos, the offspring of a 19th century industrial age. A balance of head, hands and heart can ensure that students are ready to thrive in their working lives, and still develop a sense of agency and empathy in order to make the world a better place.

David Price O.B.E. is an international thought-leader in education. He is a sought-after public speaker, specializing in how to build open learning environments and a culture of project-based learning and innovation in schools. His 2013 book, ‘OPEN: How We'll Work Live and Learn In The Future’ has been an Amazon best-seller. David's work combines strategic consultation (in the corporate and education sectors) and hands-on training with teachers and school leaders. In 2009 he was awarded the Officer of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen for services to education.

MAKE THE FUTURE IN YOUR CLASSROOM WITH THE pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM pi-top takes learning beyond the textbook with a “Learning by Making” approach to STEAM education while building the skills students need to take on the future, such as problemsolving, teamwork, creativity and critical-thinking. The pi-top Learning System delivers a mobile makerspace to your school, inspiring learners, expanding the possibilities of STEAM, building digital skills and taking interdisciplinary learning to the next level through fun, easily accessible project-based learning.

MAKE THE FUTURE IN YOUR CLASSROOM

WHAT IS THE pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM? There is a real, tangible value in blending project-based learning by making with STEAM education. Both kids and teachers love building things together. That’s why we’ve created a classroom learning solution called the pi-top Learning System, which includes all the products, curriculum content, training and support needed to teach hands-on computer science.

+ pi-top INNOVATION CHALLENGE – Far from a bunch

+ TEACHER TRAINING – We provide lots

+ LEARNING SOFTWARE – Our learning portal is

+ UNLIMITED SUPPORT – Our dedicated

of standardized, meaningless assignments, the pi-top Innovation Challenge gives learners a chance to apply what they’re learning in their own schools and contexts to make a real difference that they – and their communities – can see. designed to facilitate self-guided learning so teachers can spend less time on the monotonous task of content delivery and instead focus on what they do best: helping their students learn and grow.

+ INTERACTIVE HARDWARE – Truly understand the

relationship between computers, code and the real world – powered by pi-top’s laptops and peripherals.

of resources to help teachers be familiar with pi-top’s ecosystem and to support them as they work with students in a projectbased learning environment. support team is on hand 24/7 to resolve issues rapidly and to ensure your pi-top experience is seamless.

+ LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY –

We quickly replace any damaged or faulty hardware, making sure all classrooms are fully equipped with working pi-top hardware, all of the time. Downtime is not an option!

Buying the pi-top Learning System also means you’ll be part of a community of schools who share ideas, knowledge and discoveries. It’s a supportive (and fun!) environment that provides real value to everyone involved. pi-top Learning System's three-year agreement covers your institution for the full “Learning by Making” experience and is powered by a suite of 30 devices, peripherals and more. For smaller groups or projects, a 15-device bundle is also available. In addition, our new Summer Camp concept can help you monetize your institution’s pi-top Learning System investment. This custom program provides all the content and activities your institution needs to build and run a revenue-generating summer camp. We look forward to partnering with you to jump-start your own STEAM revolution. Get in touch to learn more.

“ Because pi-tops are so hands on, they really help with student engagement in computing technology. I’ve definitely seen an increase in engagement across the board since we started using them and I’d say my students’ favorite thing about pi-tops is that it allows them to get physical.” Dean Johnston, Deputy Headteacher, Corbridge Middle School, U.K

Contact our team for more information at: pls@pi-top.com

pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM CASE STUDY

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THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE pi-tops

THEY. ARE. ” AMAZING. WHAT WERE THE SCHOOL’S COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS? Corbridge was looking for a product which would support them in developing the physical computing aspect of the curriculum. They wanted their students to get hands-on and work with physical devices.

Dean Johnston is the Deputy Headteacher at Corbridge Middle School in the north-east of England. Corbridge is a popular 9-13 middle school with high academic standards, and a focus on developing successful learners, confident individuals, and responsible citizens. As well as being deputy head, Dean teaches computing technology and runs a curriculum enrichment program.

School size: approx. 350 (Years 5-8) Students per class: approx. 25 In order to deliver a relevant and differentiated curriculum and as part of their enrichment program, Corbridge adopted the pi-top Learning System to develop the physical computing aspect of the curriculum. Dean is clearly passionate about using pi-tops and says that as a result, there has been a positive impact on both student progress and engagement in computing technology.

pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM CASE STUDY

They also wanted a product which would cater to all the ages at their school (9-13), as well as to students of all abilities within that age range. The product also had to provide the opportunity for extended learning, with increasingly challenging lessons for students as they progress and become more proficient. Finally, it had to be engaging, something that students would enjoy and want to use.

SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE pi-top LEARNING SYSTEM THAT MEETS THE SCHOOL’S COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS? Dean says that, “Because pi-tops are so hands-on, they really help with student engagement in computing technology. I’ve definitely seen an increase in engagement across the board since we started using them and I’d say my students’ favorite thing about pi-tops is that it allows them to get physical. Rather than just using a computer, they are the creators of that computer.” There’s also the relevant curriculum content, “It’s great that the content is linked to the real world because it means there’s a purpose to what the kids are doing. For example, the sonic sensor

links to how bats use sonar, or how architects use distance meters. It just makes more sense for our students – it’s not just connecting wires. It gives a sense of meaning.” One of Corbridge’s criteria was to find a product that supports students of all abilities, and pi-top meets that need. As Dean says, “Whether a student is a beginner or advanced in computing technology, they can work with pi-tops. The materials and resources are there for students of all abilities. For example, more advanced students can create their own code, while beginners can copy and build on examples of code already there. I was really pleased with the variety of components you get – they allow you to create advanced circuits and do lots of different things.” Dean goes on to say that pi-tops also cater for different learning styles. “pi-tops allow for both individual development and working in pairs or groups. I like the whole approach. My students learn, then they try, tinker, test, collaborate and finally share the knowledge they’ve developed. It really supports collaborative learning, and it also encourages creativity because kids are thinking of out-of-the-box ideas and can apply what they’ve learnt straightaway.

“ Rather than just using a computer, they [the students] are the creators of that computer.” room. That makes them so much more accessible and facilitates the lessons. Plus, they’re light and compact which makes them easy to move from classroom to classroom.” Dean has noticed that not only have pi-tops allowed all of his students, no matter their level of ability, to make progress, but their language and vocabulary has also improved. He told us with some amazement that his eleven-year-old students “understand what an analogue digital converter is and they know how to use it!” Overall, the pi-tops have been a big hit with teachers, students and parents. Dean’s final word: “Can I have three words? They. Are. Awesome…wait, no, I need three more! Inspirational. Motivational. Engaging.”

“It’s also a very straightforward system to use. You can open them up and get started straightaway. Everything slots together easily. Also, you don’t need a power supply for each unit so you can use them in any room, not just a specialist computer

“ It’s great that the content is linked to the real world because it means there’s a purpose to what the kids are doing... It just makes more sense for our students – it’s not just connecting wires. It gives a sense of meaning.”

INNOVATION CHALLENGE The pi-top Innovation Challenge is a multidisciplinary technology program with a difference. It’s a highly engaging, studentcentered approach for applying physical computing to develop coding skills and solve challenges centered around real-world topics. Open exclusively to pi-top Learning System (PLS) schools, the comprehensive three-phase curriculum offers the structure and resources that give students with no prior knowledge an array of relevant skills:

+ Learning by Making – Students learn and

relearn through hands-on experimentation and collaboration.

+ Electronics – Using the pi-top Inventor’s Kit,

students build interactive programmable circuits using a range of input and output devices.

+ Programming – Students use and gain an

understanding of the Python programming language by bringing their physical designs to life through coding.

+ Mechanical Design – Students further

their making and coding skills by using a host of additional components to power digital and robotic mechanisms and address real-world issues.

+ Project-Based Learning – Project-based

learning facilitates researching, brainstorming, collaborating, and creating, offering students opportunities to shape their learning and articulate their processes and visions to an audience.

+ 42

Contact our team for more information at: pls@pi-top.com

pi-top INNOVATION CHALLENGE

PHASE 1 DISCOVERY Learners face challenges that develop initial skills and enable discovery and exploration. Learners work on four basic projects, developing the skills that start them on their journey in programming and physical computing. Working through the Phase 1 “discovery” curriculum, learners do, try, play, and publish, exploring four projects that guide them from programming lights and sounds to building and coding their own security alarm.

+ Based on the pi-top Inventor's Kit + Constructed to introduce Python coding and basic electronics skills

+ Built with exploration, discovery, and personalization in mind

+ Designed for novices, but with room for

learners at every level to explore and create

PHASE 2 EXTENSION Learners develop critical thinking and creative skills that enable them to address greater challenges. The next step toward the Capstone Challenge, this phase expands learners’ coding and physical computing skills while also developing the research, evaluative, and iterative skills necessary to solve real-world problems. Working through the Phase 2 “extension” curriculum, learners research, iterate, extend, and publish, experiencing four projects that guide them through designing solutions for outdoor and indoor use, streamlining a process, and building an assistive technology solution.

+ Designed to leverage learner-conducted research and interview-based discovery

+ Scaffolded to offer opportunities for

developing digital citizenship, ethical considerations, and documentation skills

+ C reated to introduce “Internet of things” concepts, physical computing, and material design considerations

+ B uilt to emphasize the 21st-century skills of teamwork, problemsolving, and creative thinking

PHASE 3 CREATION Learners work together, combining their abilities to understand and solve real-world problems in their schools or communities. Having completed the first two phases, learners are ready to tackle the Capstone Challenge. Learners will once again research, iterate, extend, and publish, this time selecting, studying, and developing a solution for a problem in their own school or local community. To complete their projects successfully, learners will have to collaborate with others and combine all of the skills and fluencies they have developed in the first two phases. When complete, learners will submit their Capstone Challenge projects for the pi-top Innovation Challenge, where projects will be judged by peers, the pi-top team, and an international panel of design and technology experts. Winning projects will receive awards and national media recognition.

The pi-top Innovation Challenge curriculum is designed to fit any school’s calendar and needs, providing the framework for a computer science curriculum, the structure for an engaging afterschool club, or the core of a great community outreach program. You and your learners can work through the challenges at whatever pace and in whatever way makes most sense to you. And because you’ll be part of the PLS community, you’ll get:

+ Teacher resources + Limited lifetime warranty + Unlimited technical support

“ Children learn best when they are actively engaged in constructing something that has a personal meaning to them – be it a poem, a robot, a sandcastle or a computer program.” Seymour Papert, Computer Scientist, Educator and Constructionist Pioneer

CEED Modular laptop with sliding keyboard powered by the Raspberry Pi. Your pi-top now includes a free INVENTOR’S KIT. Slide back the keyboard to reveal an exciting new world of electronics, coding and science, you can enjoy, regardless of your age or computing ability. The new pi-top modular laptop makes experimenting, coding and building electronics, simple and fun.

8HR BATTERY LIFE

14" FULL HD 1080P SCREEN

INVENTOR'S KIT INCLUDED A canvas redesigned for your biggest ideas. Innovate and create with your own INVENTOR’S KIT.

180° HINGE

CUSTOM PASSIVE COOLING BRIDGE

MODULAR RAIL

20+

PROJECTS TO EXPLORE

It includes several components such as a pi-topPROTO+. There are three inventor’s journeys to get you started – Smart Robot, Music Maker and Space Race. The booklet details 20+ projects to complete with the step-by-step guide in the pi-topCODER app! Discover the exciting world of coding and building electronics.

pi-topCEED is a modular desktop kit with magnetic rails. The pi-topCEED is an engaging way to explore computer science and STEAM subjects. It’s a modular desktop powered by the Raspberry Pi that is simple to setup and use. You only need to add a keyboard and mouse! Designed for all ages and abilities, pi-topCEED provides anyone with an invaluable resource for teaching and learning programming, computing and electronics. 14" FULL HD 1080P SCREEN

MODULAR RAIL

ADJUSTABLE VIEWING ANGLES

pi-top ECOSYSTEM FOR LEARNING

ECOSYSTEM FOR LEARNING

MODULAR ACCESSORIES pi-topSPEAKER

These accessories allow you to enhance your pi-top or pi-topCEED to do more physical computing projects, experiment with LED arrays and giving your device sound. Most pi-top accessories (excl. pi-topPULSE) can be daisy-chained together. They are all fitted onto the magnetic Modular Rail.

A speaker which slides into the modular rail of the pi-top and pi-topCEED. You can play sounds, watch videos, code up music and create your own musical projects!

pi-topPULSE pi-topPULSE brings the arts into STEAM, integrating a speaker, 7x7 RGB LED matrix and microphone. You’ll be able to code your own games, create music and light-shows. With full Amazon Alexa compatibility.

pi-topPROTO A great prototyping board for physical computing projects. Build and connect projects with the pi-topCODER app. Slides into modular rail and is Raspberry Pi HAT compatible.

POLARIS – THE INTUITIVE OPERATING SYSTEM

Based on Raspbian, the OCR* endorsed pi-topOS platform comes pre-installed and ready to go on an SD card shipped with every pi-top computer. The pi-topOS software suite lets you do everything that you would expect from a modern laptop or desktop computer: browse the web, stream media, check emails, create and edit Microsoft Office compatible files.

It also comes with custom-designed software applications.

CUSTOM SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

pi-topCLASSROOM is the teacher’s classroom management suite for the pi-top curriculum. Link your pi-topCLASSROOM account to each student in to share worksheets and track student progress. Create your own new pi-topCODER worksheets or use your own existing content for your class.

pi-topCODER is a pi-top exclusive app that allows you to access dozens of resources and projects. It has step-by-step guides for computer science and physical electronics projects. It is a customized code editor with dynamically draggable-views for text input, application output and learning instructions in a single screen.

CEEDuniverse is a revolutionary educational game. You are a space explorer. You have just crash landed on a mysterious new planet. Exploring the planet you first encounter visual coding puzzles to train your computational thinking skills then progressing to editing text-based code.

W E M A KE T H E FUTURE

UNLIMITED SUPPORT

SIMPLE ON-BOARDING. UNLIMITED SUPPORT. We’ve developed an outstanding limited lifetime warranty and customer support program for everyone who joins the pi-top Learning System. That means if you experience an issue with your product, we’ll fix it or replace it right away. No worries. No hassles. For the life of the program. We can even work with you to have backup units and peripherals on-hand and available to avoid downtime so you can get back to teaching. In addition to an outstanding warranty, we’ve got you covered on technical support. As part of the pi-top Learning System, you’ll receive unlimited technical support – with support personnel from your region. We have dedicated customer service team members ready to handle your request, diagnose the problem and make things right.

“ pi-top has made lessons far more interactive in a very positive way and to that end lessons have become far more engaging… we have seen a dramatic improvement in both understanding and student grades.” Computer Science teacher Tim Harris, St. John’s College, U.K.

pi-top.com

pls@pi-top.com

@GetPiTop

GetPiTop

pi-topTEAM

Learning by Making - Issue 2

Articles inside

Three Words to Describe pi-top - Page 40

What Is School For? - Page 20

Designing For Friction: A Rationale For Making - Page 10

The Surprising Thing GOOGLE Learned About its Employees - Page 16

A round-the-world quest to discover the secret of learning - Page 6

What Is Learning by Making and Why Does it Work? - Page 4