Comments for Punya Mishra's Web

Comment on Rainbows in your backyard, how scary by kelly

kelly — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:21:45 +0000

Rainbows in my backyard was brought to my attention this past school year. One of my students told me about it and was vehement that I show it because it related to light (which we were studying). Needless to say my students got a big laugh about it…I of course asked what was actually going on and the students were able to reply with correct answers (whew!).
I have done this before with my biology students when discussing matter cycling (cell respiration and photosynthesis). I use a very popular Harvard video which asks graduates how a seed became a log (where did all that mass come from?).I stop it after each clip and my students are all aghast at the graduates answers. My favorite quote

Interviewer: “what would you say if I told you the mass came from carbon dioxide?”

Student response: I would think that is strange since carbon is not a major part of what I remember of biochemistry.

It is sad to make fun of these people- but its such a great learning tool. Kids love laughing at others misconceptions. I also believe that it clears up some understanding for other students in the classroom.

For the record their are 4 primary elements involved in all life CHON…with C being the prinicple player in carbohydrates, fats and proteins (I should not leave out that we are all C based life forms).

Comment on Facebook Username by Sean Nash

Sean Nash — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:48:10 +0000

And I just realized when I re-read this… when I said “sharing” the framework, I meant to add with a stranger (no longer) who I was sharing laptop power with. Nice to have those real human connections interspersed throughout the year.

Comment on The story of Hari & freedom of speech by Free Speech is Sacred « Camels With Hammers

Free Speech is Sacred « Camels With Hammers — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:14:12 +0000

[...] Pollitt in The Nation, Index on Censorship, Shoayib Daniyal, The Daily Telegraph, Ophelia Benson, Stephen Poole, Andrew Sullivan, the Indian blogger Dance With Shadows, Salil Tripathi , the International [...]

Comment on Like to learn, but hate school by Bob Reuter

Bob Reuter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:44:54 +0000

sorry, I seem to be a bit tired today… many little mistakes and grammatical errors… hope you’ll be able to read me nevertheless…

Comment on Like to learn, but hate school by Bob Reuter

Bob Reuter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:43:07 +0000

Punya, I totally agree with you that parents always try to push the kids

I surely give my father some credits for the germ he put in my head… but on the other hand, I really think that human are complex cognitive “machines”, where it’s not that evident what causes what to happen…

But I do think it’s a nice story to tell me children and grand-children, than my dad has been putting ideas (and behaviours and values) into my mind/brain… even though I feel that there were many other “mental-virus-planters” in my life, who “gave” me -or contributed to- my love for postdictable cultural artefacts…

Comment on Facebook Username by Punya Mishra

Punya Mishra — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:04:04 +0000

I have an advantage over you in that Punya Mishra is not really a common name (even in India, where I come from).

Comment on Facebook Username by Sean Nash

Sean Nash — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:56:55 +0000

…sitting in the back of a TPACK talk at NECC before Judi Harris & Mark Hofer begin… as I was sharing my level of familiarity with the framework (no expert for certain) I mentioned your name (along with Matt). So that led me to check your blog… and that led me to your Facebook post… and that led me to search for mine… and that led me to try to get “seannash”… and since I failed at that, I added *nashworld* because, as always, it WAS available… and though I can multitask like a monkey, they’re starting to talk… i’ll shut up now but thanks for the reminder… at least i scored my goofy “brand”…

Cheers

Comment on TPACK (was TPCK) by | navreet

| navreet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:32:27 +0000

[...] Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between all three components. A teacher capable of negotiating these relationships represents a form of expertise different from, and greater than, the knowledge of a disciplinary expert (say a mathematician or a historian), a technology expert (a computer scientist) and a pedagogical expert (an experienced educator).(http://punya.educ.msu.edu/research/tpck/) [...]

Comment on Like to learn, but hate school by Punya Mishra

Punya Mishra — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:44:31 +0000

Bob, I agree that time and experience are needed to build these structures (be it for movies or music). As a parent though one is a bit eager to make it happen sooner rather than later Moreover, this is not a process with a distinct end.

I think your example (about your father) is an important one. It seems to me that you should give him some credit for putting the germ in your head that there were more complex things in the world. You have found it in jazz – not the music he was interested in… but the point is that you did make the “shift.” I think as a parent my purpose is to always point out the further horizon and prevent my kids from becoming complacent learners. As to how far I am successful, only time will tell (or again maybe it will not!).

Comment on Like to learn, but hate school by Bob Reuter

Bob Reuter — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:01:34 +0000

by the way, the point I was trying to convey was that, maybe, we need time and experience to build up some mental structures that help us “predict” the Disney plots, or the musical schemes, and only later do we become sensitive to less-predictable, but still postdictable ones…