"Changing Education Paradigms" video by Sir Ken Robinson

I really enjoyed this short presentation on our current dominant educational model and its--in many ways--lack of relevance (and sense) at this time. Didn't hurt that the speaker moved quickly and seamlessly from topic to topic in a way that reminded me of Eddie Izzard:



via Stephen's Lighthouse

More and more across the web, I've been seeing the idea that real growth or solutions or invention comes from groups, not individuals, and it made me think about how I dreaded group assignments in school because of the way they usually turned out: not with the group working together, but with individuals taking a portion of the work and doing (or not doing) it, then the group rushing to slap it all together in a way that barely cohered before presenting the finished piece. The times I can remember groups working really creatively, the excitement of working together, was when we were given a problem to solve--as opposed to "Do a group report on art in Japan." The problem-solving type of group project was usually assigned in a science class, the "do a group report" in humanities classes. As a parent and someone interested in the future of education, I'd like to see more problem-solving-type group activities assigned in humanities classes. The first (not great) example that comes to mind: "You're a group of representational painters, making your living painting portraits and landscapes. Photography has just been invented. How do you respond? What should painting do now?" rather than "Do a group report on Cubism or Impressionism."