Just for the Weekend....
"The foundation of every state is the
education of its youth." Diogenes, Greek philosopher, 4th C., BC.
Indeed it is...
So our schools and education institutions are much more that just assembly lines...
Recently there is talk that the Principals of middle schools and the presidents of universities should be treated like the CEO's of for profit companies... If they do not produce success, they should be sacked... and if the teachers-professors do not bring success they should be given the pink slip...
But educational institutions are not like for profit companies... For profit companies fire and hire as they see fit for a more buck or two... But high schools should be for all and not for the "entitled" few... Universities must be open to all interested in learning and not to few with money...
Money and education... profit and success...should not be equated...
Check Diogenes again... and look for an honest person ... Can we trust Principal-President-CEO's... ?
We can not trust Big Brothers and their double talk is annoying and sounds like cheating and not telling the truth...
I have not met an honest Principal... I have not met an honest President of higher education...
May be I should have a lamp too...like Diogenes...
Walking around Athens with his lantern ... Asked why he has the lantern during the day... and he responded that he is looking for an honest man...
They ask...Did you find any... and he replies...NO...
I have no king... and... Don't block my sun....
Alexander the Great met Diogenes...Reportedly he told Alexander that...
"I have no king on me" ...and ..."Don't block my sun"
Following Diogenes... we may continue in our search for honest humans beings... in our cities... may be one of us will be lucky... But do not look in Wall Street or in the capitals of the world... May be you will be luckier... among the common people...
The education system is in need of innovations...
I am sure making Maths and Sciences more fun will benefit everyone...
Introduce new approaches...
1. Make Chess an essential part of the curriculum...
2. Start all classes in high schools and universities with an intriguing question for current issues to be discussed and resolved... Just to make all of us to THINK and REASON and use LOGIC...
Puzzles and social issues... Discuss for 10-15 minutes... Let ALL be engaged in the solutions...
Teach logic and not just numbers... Teach math WITHOUT numbers... Teach science with vision and not regurgitating Newton's Apple...
Teach History with the instructors biases... let the learner be engaged and find the truth... do not force feed the truth to them...
3. Introduce Robotics and direct the group o the future...
Books published my Martin Gardner...
They are intiguing and will definitely engage ALL... will make learning FUN and will make teaching fun...
After all, teaching = Leading the group to discoveries....
They are intiguing and will definitely engage ALL... will make learning FUN and will make teaching fun...
After all, teaching = Leading the group to discoveries....
Martin Gardner had fun with puzzles...may be we can
have fun while teaching-learning...
Martin Gardner The Puzzle Master
Martin Gardner was an American popular mathematics and science
writer, but with interests encompassing micromagic, scientific skepticism,
philosophy, religion, and literature—especially the writings of Lewis Carroll
and G.K. Chesterton.
1914-2010 …Graduated from U. of Chicago
Popularized math and science puzzles…
Samples of his puzzles...
1. Crazy cut
You are to make one cut (or draw one line) – of course it needn’t be straight – that will divide the figure into two identical parts.
2. The coloured socks
Ten red socks and ten blue socks are all mixed up in a dresser drawer. The 20 socks are exactly alike except for their colour. The room is in pitch darkness and you want two matching socks. What is the smallest number of socks you must take out of the drawer in order to be certain that you have a pair that match?
3. Twiddled bolts
Two identical bolts are placed together so that their helical grooves intermesh as shown below. If you move the bolts around each other as you would twiddle your thumbs, holding each bolt firmly by the head so that it does not rotate and twiddling them in the direction shown, will the heads
(a) move inward,
(b) move outward, or
(c) remain the same distance from each other?
(b) move outward, or
(c) remain the same distance from each other?
4. The fork in the road
A logician vacationing in the South Seas finds himself on an island inhabited by two proverbial tribes of liars and truth-tellers. Members of one tribe always tell the truth, members of the other always lie. He comes to a fork in a road and has to ask a native bystander which branch he should take to reach a village. He has no way of telling whether the native is a truth-teller or a liar. The logician thinks a moment, then asks one question only. From the reply he knows which road to take. What question does he ask?
5. Three squares
Using only elementary geometry (not even trigonometry), prove that angle C equals the sum of angles A and B.
6. Cutting the pie
With one straight cut you can slice a pie into two pieces. A second cut that crosses the first one will produce four pieces, and a third cut can produce as many as seven pieces. What is the largest number of pieces that you can get with six straight cuts?
7. The mutilated chessboard
The props for this problem are a chessboard and 32 dominoes. Each domino is of such size that it exactly covers two adjacent squares on the board. The 32 dominoes therefore can cover all 64 of the chessboard squares. But now suppose we cut off two squares at diagonally opposite corners of the board and discard one of the dominoes.
Is it possible to place the 31 dominoes on the board so that all the remaining 62 squares are covered? If so, show how it can be done. If not, prove it impossible.
8. The two spirals
One of these spirals is formed with a single piece of rope that has its ends joined. The other spiral is formed with two separate pieces of rope, each with joined ends.
Can you tell which is which by using only your eyes? No fair tracing the lines with a pencil.
Thanks to thinkfun.com for all the images.
Overweight
Brits may soon find that shedding extra pounds would benefit their wallets as
well as their waistlines.
And of course...
4. Make Physical Education for HEALTH and not for competition...where some will excel and the rest will evade...where some will lead and the rest will be abused...
I personally did not want to go to the gym...because of the abuse from the "teachers"...that I could not do as good as this other guy... and bullying from the students... laughing and mocking that I could not do it...
Physical education for HEALTHY life style and not for competition...
Here the British have come up with a very bright initiative...
Overweight
Brits may soon find that shedding extra pounds would benefit their wallets as
well as their waistlines.
The UK public health
service, the NHS, wants to encourage companies to reward employees who lose
excess weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Dubbed the 'pounds for
pounds' program by Britain's biggest-selling newspaper The Sun, the initiative is part of a
plan to tackle an NHS funding shortfall that is forecast to hit £30 billion
($48 billion) by 2020.
NHS executives plan to
ask the cash-strapped government for £8 billion, but the rest will have to come
from savings, including reducing spending on weight-related illness.
Excellent idea... let us introduce incentives in the schools for healthy lifestyle... and encourage physical education to promote health for ALL...not competition for the few...
Research suggests...that...
Research suggests...that...
Cash incentives make obese people lose weight.
Give the kids the incentive at school and at work...and they will exercise...
North America...should introduce fun in schooling... and revamp the
curriculum...
In fact, the Global Village...should introduce fun in learning and
schooling... It should not be a punishment where people long for the weekend...
it should be fun and include the weekend...
Diogenes is correct …educating the youth is the basis of any society...
Martin Gardner is correct… have fun with puzzles for all…
Introducing chess in the curriculum is an excellent idea…
Introducing robotics and digital technology is forward looking and
visionary…
The British are correct...Make physical education FUN... and introduce it in the work place too... (Indeed imaginative...!)
The Big Brothers…should stop the playing politics with our educational
systems… and establish a society of life-long-learners…
That will benefit the economy too and increase the profits too…
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