FACTS and FEELINGS: from what I read in today’s paper, there seems to be little public will to distinguish between these two when firmly asserting knowledge claims. And from what I hear in science-based podcasts, our biased brains make it hard to do so even when we try. As Theory of Knowledge teachers, aiming for […]
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A numbers expert declares he’ll sum up everything he knows about analyzing statistics on the back of a postcard. Could any TOK teacher NOT instantly spring to the alert? He’s inspired me to attempt my own lean summary: a single page mini-guide on (dis)trusting statistics, useful in our own educational context of Theory of Knowledge. […]
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Psychology is an amazing subject to teach. Whether you are teaching GCSE or supervising a PhD, we are lucky enough to spend our days understanding how people think, feel and behave. Psychology is a popular subject with students, and it is easy to engage them in understanding how mental health conditions are treated, or how […]
Read more Hans Rosling, who passed away earlier this month, made numbers tell significant stories about the world. A self-proclaimed “edutainer” — educator and entertainer — Professor Rosling championed a worldview based on facts. He had a genius for revealing large patterns in human development by making people see the data on population, inequality, and global education and health. He […]
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Here are some ideas for getting your students thinking about definitions of abnormality. Getting students thinking Ask students to draw and label a ‘normal’ student. After students have shared their images with each other as a class discuss the following questions: Were there any common features in the drawings? If so, why? Where does our […]
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A select few of us gathered for a double session at the latest Mathematical Association conference. Attention was drawn to two actions involving squares. Action 1 Start with two or more squares drawn side by side in a line (on the left below). Now use the long edge to form a square adjacent […]
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One of my Y13 students intends to resit Statistics 1 and Core 2 in summer this year, alongside Core 3, Core 4, and Mechanics 1. I devised a 5 week plan to cover the entire course in an hour per week. This centred on 5 one-page summary sheets for five broad areas. For some reason […]
Read more “Scientific truth is a moving target,” wrote the editors of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) a decade ago. “But is it inevitable, as John Ioannidis argues …that the majority of findings are actually false?” In the decade since the editors posed this question, the psychological sciences have been shaken by further challenges to their credibility, including some widely reported controversies. It was August of this […]
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In 2016, children will sit the new national tests for the first time. We’ve taken a look at the sample tests and frameworks to see what’s in store for them (and for you). Arithmetic Paper The introduction of the arithmetic paper is a key change for the Key Stage 1 National Tests. It is not strictly timed, but […]
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(Originally posted on Activating TOK) The statistics are horrifying. Every minute, a child dies from malaria. In 2013, 90% of the world’s malaria deaths occurred in Africa and over 430,000 African children died before their fifth birthdays. And there are plenty more statistics where these came from : In 2013, there were about 198 million malaria cases (with an uncertainty […]
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