Transcript Profile…

Team Teaching
A Global Education Consortium
Collaboration in Teaching
Virtual Classrooms
Immersive Game Platforms
Informal Learning Projects & Exhibits
Media Projects for Public Awareness
Advisors, Overviews, Consulting
Team Teaching requires cross
disciplinary discussions
 Integration of subjects requires
collaboration and team teaching
 In the current era of converging
technologies, students are being
faced with decisions concerning
integration of courses that were once
single focus fields of study.
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Major issues for students
 Guidance counselors in high schools have
not been informed about the nano-bio-infocogno converging technologies.
 Therefore, teachers and counselors are still
following outdated state and federal
requirements for course selection.
 Student achievement is still based on
individual testing assessments resulting in
competitive barriers that do not foster the
type of individual who works well in
collaborations or team learning.
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The art of listening in groups
 Courses in communication and collaboration
need to be offered to teachers and
professors of K-20. The art of listening and
sharing knowledge between disciplines has
not been taught, nor encouraged.
 To achieve the training of good scientists
and teachers who have the capacity to
work well in multidisciplinary groups, there
are several new kinds of traits necessary.
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Most difficult for teachers
 The first and perhaps most difficult is to
learn new ways to communicate across the
disciplines. Professors have been required
to use the technical language of their
respective disciplines to convey their
thoughts in a lecture as clearly and
precisely as possible.
 However, researchers and teachers in other
disciplines are usually unfamiliar with their
technical language of preference.
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Teach/learn is a sharing process
Simplify the language whenever possible.
• When talking across the bridges we seek to
build, we must learn to translate accurately
but clearly to an audience who will not
necessarily be familiar with our respective
languages and begin to train our students
to learn the skill of communicating across
the disciplinary divides.
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How do we accomplish this?
 New programs where students are
systematically called upon to explain their
work or the work of others to their peers in
other areas of study.
 Since Mathematics is the foundation of all
sciences and engineering, a common
language might surface from math, that
can be extended to explore commonalities
of integrated subjects to open discussions
among peer groups.
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Physics should be taught first…
According to
Leon Lederman PhD,
Nobel Prize Laureate in
Physics, our education
Biology
in the basic sciences
Chemistry
has been taught
backwards for the past
PHYSICS
100 years.
First Science
His project states that
To be studied
Students who learn
PHYSICS FIRST
will gain a better
Mathematics
understanding of
Base for all Sciences
Chemistry as the
second science and
Biology as the third.
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Engineering needs
to be introduced to
students in all the
major areas of
science
Cross-disciplinary
communication
between students
will expand the
knowledge base for
research excellence
in the next decade.
Starting in primary grades
 Physics First concepts are now being taught
in 1000 of our 15,000 school districts
across the nation.
 By introducing the concepts for physics in
grades 7-9, along with Algebra I and II, we
will be able to encourage students to take
more math and science courses in high
school.
 Our current proficiency requirements for
grades K-12 are the lowest of all nations.
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Attend lectures on all subjects
 In order to solidify these changes, we need to
pose challenges to our university students to
work in teams of mixed skills which include
engineers, physicists, mathematicians,
biologists, chemists, and cognitive scientists.
 Team members should attend lectures in each
of the cross-disciplinary subjects and develop
presentations for their peers as part of their
course work for communication skills.
 The resulting papers could then be developed
into textbooks for teachers/students in primary
grades.
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A Broad range of fields
 Since we cannot train our students to be
experts in this broad range of fields, we must
encourage them to communicate across the
complete range and to seek out speakers who
offer this expertise.
 Attending cross-discipline lectures expands
their focus and knowledge base while
challenging their minds to grasp the complexity
of the interwoven subjects to introduce a
holistic approach to science.
 The resulting balance complements the singlefocus reductionist method of inquiry necessary
for research.
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Diverse team research
 Thus, the best programs will be those
that throw the students from diverse
disciplines together.
 The next generation of researcher will
need to successfully form multi-team
collaborative efforts between all the
diverse disciplines to develop the new
converging technologies.
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Full integration programs
 Summer workshops can provide
incentives by exposing individuals to
the potentials of the union, but only
through full-fledged educational
programs can the efforts move
forward effectively and evolve the
integration of physics, chemistry and
biology with engineering.
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Integrated subject device
 Example: Nanobiosyms Inc.,
developed by Anita Goel, PhD
Physics, MD from Harvard/MIT
combines biology and physics at the
nanoscale.
 Her company developed a hand-held
detector for bio-warfare, which also
detects diseases for the medical field.
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Nanodevices require unity of focus
 It is likely that the full potential for
nanodevices will only be reached by uniting
engineers with biologists, chemists,
physicists, and cognitive scientists.
 To actually understand what will emerge
when nanotubes are directly contacting
neurons, stimulating them, and recording
from them will require considerable
research, and multi focus-team expertise.
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Collaborative global advantage
 Collaborative versus competitive
projects in education
 A collaborative effort among nations would
initiate team learning and integrated
courses while introducing real-time multicultural experiences. All courses would be
offered in multiple languages increasing the
desire of U.S. students to become multilingual at an earlier age.
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An Example from Taiwan
 A large textbook with
instructions for
experiments was
developed by teachers
from the lectures they
attended for one year.
 The textbook (451
pgs.) was printed in
Chinese, but the
diagrams and photos
included with the text
clearly showed the
quality of the teachers
understanding.
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Multi-discipline training for teachers
from the textbook lessons
 The next step in Taiwan was the
development of teacher workshops as the
primary method of knowledge transfer
where experts, professors and experienced
“seed” teachers gave the talks and led
hands-on activities based on the textbook
development to primary grade teachers.
 Topics included carbon nanocapsules,
carbon nanotube models, and making nano
solar cells. Laboratory tours were then
arranged for all the teachers
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Taiwan K-12 edu project initiated
by the engineering faculty
 In just two years of operation, engineering
faculty from 17 universities and 193
teachers from 169 K-12 schools
participated in programs at the regional
centers.
 Even though the teachers knew very little
about the science or technology when they
entered the program, they were able to
develop 224 lesson plans, write one set of
textbooks, a comic book, and create one
animated film for K-12 students.
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Unifying the subjects as a 3-part
Symphony in Nanotechnology
To assemble the instructional materials, the lessons,
pictures, and text created by the teachers were
collected and published as a three-part set of books
titled: Nanotechnology Symphony: Physics,
Chemistry and Biology, which encouraged the early
integration of these three important subjects in the
primary grades of 7-12.
 As introductory material about nanotechnology, the
books contain concepts such as nano-size, nanomaterial, nano-catalyst, photonic crystal, and various
applications, along with 6 experiments designed to
give students hands-on experiences in a regular highschool laboratory.
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Videos and comic books prevail
 For the younger
students, The 15 min.
animated film titled: A
Fantastic Journey
for Nana and Nono
introducing the basic
theory of nano
technology and
applications for daily
life from a child’s
perspective, along with
a Super Hero Comic
Book adventure titled:
Nano Blasterman
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Science fiction to science lesson


A high school lesson was also developed from the best-selling
science fiction book PREY by Michael Crichton, where the
teachers took advantage of the story line to show the real
science of bio-nanotechnology and to discuss the social
implications with high school students.
By addressing the story in class, it gave the teachers an
opportunity to teach discernment between real science and
science fiction and created a more informed student.
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Encourage teachers to investigate options
 We need to encourage teachers to
investigate creative ways of sharing
knowledge with their students so that they
are not just “teaching to the test”.
 Changing our methods of teach/learn
knowledge sharing in the classrooms is
necessary and the teachers can make the
difference if they are encouraged to work
as teams and collaborate with their
colleagues at the local school level.
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K-12 students rate an equal priority
in Asian countries for education.
 Teaching Nanotechnology in Grades 16 in China
 A perfect example of this type of
teach/learn activity was shown to us by
China, who introduced Nano Science and
Nanotechnology to grades 1-6 in January
2005.
 Balestier Hill Primary School introduced a
nanotechnology program for all its pupils from Primary grades 1 to 6, and I believe it
to be the first primary school to do so.
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Ideas implemented quickly in China
 The school set up a $25,000 air-conditioned
nano lab for 'hands-on' experience lessons.
Associate Professor Belal Baaquie, whose
daughter Tazkiah, 11, attends the school,
came up with the idea. “Nanotechnology is
an emerging area in science and
technology,” he said. “Students should be
exposed to it from young - when they are
open to new ideas.”
 The first meeting was in December, 2004.
It only took one month to build the lab and
open the doors.
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Nano Room in China School has the
youngest students using lab tools
 There are eight electron
microscopes - with
X1600 resolution.
 This means the
students can see
objects the size of a
micron - which is about
the size of a dust
particle. Each
microscope costs about
$3,000.
 Lab is for grades 1- 6.
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How do they teach children so
young?
 All the children go to the lab two or three
times a week. Lessons are made fun and
simple, especially for the younger ones.
 Grade 1 & 2 are allowed to fiddle around with
the microscopes under supervision.
 They are then encouraged to talk or write
stories about their experience. So as they
familiarize themselves with a science lab and
the objects found there, they are also
improving their speaking, reading and
composition skills.
 Grade 3 & 4 learn how to construct models of
atomic structures, using golf balls and Lego
sets.
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Things get a little more in-depth in
Grades 5 & 6.
 Grade 5 pupils are able
to peer down
microscopes to
examine a strand of
hair. They are then
required to record their
findings on worksheets
which instills good
research skills at an
early age..
 The Grade 6 pupils also
have to do a project on
nanotechnology.
 Photo shows skin on
hand at 1 nano meter
under an STM.
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Cornell University “It’s a Nano World”
No exams or tests.
Instead, it becomes a part of their
syllabus by being integrated with
other subjects. This is a key factor
in the success of integration of
subjects.
TNTG Inc would like to expand this
wonderful idea with a Virtual
Classroom online reaching children in
Grades 1-6 globally.
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Educational Game Platform
 Our next project is the development of an
education platform of a role playing game
for grades 7-12 integrating math, science,
chemistry, biology, and nano technology for
space applications designed for global
online access.
 Students are multi-digital oriented and
recent research points to a new level of
exciting learning experiences in the next
few decades.
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What Kids Learn from Video
Games by Marc Prensky
 Whenever one plays a game – video, computer
or otherwise – and whatever game one plays,
learning, not just about that game but "about
life," happens constantly, whether the players
want it to and are aware of it, or not.
 In fact, learning "about life" is one of the great
pleasures and positive consequences of all
game playing. And it happens every time, in
every game, continuously and simultaneously,
on several levels.
 But most adults are ignorant of the games
their kids are playing – not because they want
to be, but because they are "Digital
Immigrants" from a very different culture than
their "Digital Native" children.
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Interactive learning
 The most explicit level of learning
that takes place as you play a video
or computer game is that you are
learning how to do something. As
you play you learn, gradually or
quickly, the moves of the game.
 You have control of what goes on in
the game and on the screen, unlike
when you are watching movies or TV.
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Complex strategy and tactics
 Just as in the other levels, there are deeper "Why"
lessons that get learned from video and computer
games as well. Among these important and valuable
"real-life" lessons are:
 Cause and effect.
 Long term winning versus short term gains.
 Order from seeming chaos.
 Second-order consequences.
 Complex system behaviors
 Counter-intuitive results.
 The value of persistence.
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Immersive learning environments
 One of the great games techniques for
transmitting knowledge is through
immersion. It seem that the more one feels
one is actually "in" a culture or a new
environment, the more one learns from it –
especially non-consciously.
 Language teachers especially are aware of
how much learning goes on in immersive
situations, along with science experiments
and microscopy immersion in on-line labs.
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Setting policy for games
 In a time when the skills and
interests of today’s "Digital Natives"
are fundamentally different from
those of their "Digital Immigrant"
parents and teachers, it makes little
sense to even try to make public
policy about things like video and
computer games without seriously
including the “Digital Natives” point of
view.
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What do kids want?
 Kids – especially today’s kids – really do want
to have fun – it’s an important part of being a
kid. That is why they play thousands of hours
of videogames – just ask any of them!.
 So whatever policies we decide to make about
video and computer games for education, and
whatever educational or social messages we
try to put into them and communicate to the
kids who play them…
 none of it will matter unless their games
remain really, really fun
 – not from our perspective, but from theirs!
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Life long learning is our future
Instructional materials
that teach the nano scale
of science must be
introduced to the primary
and secondary grades to
properly develop the skill
sets and patterns for life
long learning so we all
know ‘how the world
works in real-time’ from
the bottom up and the
nano to the macro!
University
K-12
Colleges
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Technical
Schools
Thank you for your participation…
Support a Project to Create a Future.
The NanoTechnology Group Inc.
A Global Education Consortium
www.TNTG.org [email protected]
Judith Light Feather, President
PO Box 456, Wells, Texas 75976 Cell Ph: 830-660-0054
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