I spent an hour yesterday working with one student. She was scared of the soldering iron. "Do your parents let you use the stove at home? It could burn you too, right? But we understand how to be safe and it's not a problem."

She did a beautiful job on her project and learned the names of many parts and learned that she can be scared to do something but still be extremely successful.

This is only really possible because my classes are small. If I need to work with a student I can do it.

I spent an hour yesterday working with one student. She was scared of the soldering iron. "Do your parents let you use the stove at home? It could burn you too, right? But we understand how to be safe and it's not a problem."

She did a beautiful job on her project and learned the names of many parts and learned that she can be scared to do something but still be extremely successful.

This is only really possible because my classes are small. If I need to work with a student I can do it.

"HoW dO We IMprOVe EdUcaTIoN??"

People act like it's a big mystery but it's not?

1. Better educated teachers.
2. More experienced teachers. (as in a ratio to new teachers)
3. Limit class size to 20 students aim for an average of 14.
4. Equip schools with sufficient materials eg: buildings that are safe and functional, internet that works, computers for students, you know the materials.

Most "education innovations" are trying to skip this stuff and use something else instead to save money.

And it might work if you, say, cheat. If you, for example, select a population of students with parents who can buy materials for them, and only let in students who have already learned how to do self-guided instruction you can have a class of 90 students and lecture them on calculus and they will learn a lot.

But at some point SOMEONE had to put in the real time to get them ready to do that.

@futurebird It would help also if we (a) didn't rate students against each other (VERY difficult to achieve in our society), and (b) taught a lot less nonsense.

Our current society VERY often promotes to the top those who rate highest in repeating complete nonsense. This is a big reason why we are headed towards things like climate disaster.

BTW I was soldering when I was like 8 years old but that was the 1960s. Parents had me using plastic solvent to make a model battleship when I was 6.

@futurebird I am not saying my parents gave me educational support BTW. They were downright neglectful. I'm just saying back then things were different. I was allowed my pocketknife at school when I had a Cub Scout den meeting after, for instance.

"HoW dO We IMprOVe EdUcaTIoN??"

People act like it's a big mystery but it's not?

1. Better educated teachers.
2. More experienced teachers. (as in a ratio to new teachers)
3. Limit class size to 20 students aim for an average of 14.
4. Equip schools with sufficient materials eg: buildings that are safe and functional, internet that works, computers for students, you know the materials.

Most "education innovations" are trying to skip this stuff and use something else instead to save money.

@futurebird ok, so we use chatGPT

I spent an hour yesterday working with one student. She was scared of the soldering iron. "Do your parents let you use the stove at home? It could burn you too, right? But we understand how to be safe and it's not a problem."

She did a beautiful job on her project and learned the names of many parts and learned that she can be scared to do something but still be extremely successful.

This is only really possible because my classes are small. If I need to work with a student I can do it.

@chemoelectric @futurebird

I'm about that age too. On other social media, it's hilarious how young(er) people mythologize the past we actually lived in.

Kids riding bikes without helmets and disappearing all day? 🤯

Making your own fireworks in the back yard?

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth in the 80s! Dude, I'm from the 70s.

There's a lot of right-wing nostalgia for that epoch by people who know nothing about it. Someone on Twitter said 'The past is white people's Wakanda'.

@Phosphenes @chemoelectric @futurebird There's a lot of right-wing nostalgia for the version of a world that never was. Their own worlds didn't live up to the televised landscape of the ideal, and now they want to return to the framework they want to believe will create that world now. To admit that it was never real would mean admitting they were used by others and that they lied to themselves.

I spent an hour yesterday working with one student. She was scared of the soldering iron. "Do your parents let you use the stove at home? It could burn you too, right? But we understand how to be safe and it's not a problem."

She did a beautiful job on her project and learned the names of many parts and learned that she can be scared to do something but still be extremely successful.

This is only really possible because my classes are small. If I need to work with a student I can do it.

"HoW dO We IMprOVe EdUcaTIoN??"

People act like it's a big mystery but it's not?

1. Better educated teachers.
2. More experienced teachers. (as in a ratio to new teachers)
3. Limit class size to 20 students aim for an average of 14.
4. Equip schools with sufficient materials eg: buildings that are safe and functional, internet that works, computers for students, you know the materials.

Most "education innovations" are trying to skip this stuff and use something else instead to save money.