Tom Weaver Blog

Flywheel Blog

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In early 2009, I made the decision to stop blogging on tomweaver.co.uk and begin moving towards my new site, Flywheel. That platform has now launched, and I'd like to invite all readers of this blog to visit Flywheel instead at www.flywheel.org.uk

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Remembering, and Learning

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For several years I've been increasingly of the opinion that too much of learning is still focussed on memorization, despite the fact that pedagogy is increasingly moving towards understanding.

Yet a recent re-entry into the formal learning environment myself, learning French, has made me realize that remembering still has an important part to play.

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Exam reform: Seeing the big picture

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

An article in the Evening Standard by Headteacher Martin Stephens levies a call to action to ministers to look at the big picture of school reform, not just fiddling at the edges on some of the big topics such as exam reform. Yet, as much as I found myself in agreement, I also found myself asking whether Mr Stephens himself is too close to the words to see the page?

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Rethinking Teenagers

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Is there a scientific rational for the way teenagers act and behave? Apparently so, according to David Bainbridge of the University of Cambridge, writing in the Times today. So what implications for education?

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The Modern School

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

You would be forgiven for thinking the following description of a school was taken from mankind’s future, not its past:

[It] involved a shift from emphasis on instruction to emphasis on the process of learning, from teaching by rote and memorization to teaching by example and experience, from education as a preparation for life to education as life itself...

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The Next Generation of Augmented Reality for Learning

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For some time now, I have been patiently waiting for the next generation of augmented reality to become, well, a reality. In a nutshell, augmented reality is where graphics, audio and other enhancements are overlaid and superimposed over a real world environment, in real time. The possibilities for situated learning are endless. Now Researchers in Washington have invented a contact lens that contains an LED, opening the possibility up for in-eye displays within a decade.

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BSEC 2009 Roundup

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Building Schools Exhibition and Conference 2009 (BSEC) was, at least onstage, overwhelmingly positive about the Building Schools for the Future programme and its future. Stephen Heppell opened, looking at how what was radical two years ago was conservative today within the school design sector...

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The Size of Educational Reform

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Over the last few years in the UK, particularly with the introduction of the Building Schools for the Future programme, there has been increasing desire to couple the rebuilding or remodelling of a school with some degree of educational reform along the way. But should we be seeking to make only small changes to have a big impact?

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The Hierarchy of Economic Needs

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

When thinking about the transition between economies, from Agricultural to Industrial to Knowledge, a common misunderstanding is that 100% of any national economy is one of the three. In fact, national economies will encompass all three types in differing amounts, and it can be considered to be a hierarchy of economic evolution. The credit crunch is collapsing this pyramid from the top down. To fix it, do we need to work back up?

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Success, Intelligence, and Parenting

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If there is one question every parent-to-be would love the answer to, it is perhaps this: how do I give my child the best chance of having a successful life?

When we think about the ingredients that enable an individual to be successful, we often talk about intelligence, or competencies like adaptability, initiative, creativity and drive, or even personal skills like public speaking.

How do we, as parents, add those ingredients?

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