Can Building Robots Reboot Education? #

An article in Atlantic (online) caught our eye regarding a different way to go in education. Instead of test ’em till they drop, the piece advocates “making things”" as a driver of curriculum. Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine, laid out a recipe for redesigning education through what he calls the “hands-on imperative” at a recent conference in the Bay Area. When you build something to solve a problem, knowledge and skill from multiple disciplines must come into play. Dougherty believes this provides a more authentic entry into curriculum development for the 21st Century world than the current test-based, basic academic skill driven programs now in vogue. Interestingly, Jim Hendricks, former Desert Hills and Southridge teacher now working at Delta High, has been doing this with Kennewick kids for twenty years! To read the article click here.