My Lady and I went to see the movie Avatar in 3-D at an I Max theatre yesterday. The movies ability to portray and use digital technology as a vehicle for self reflection, was masterful and portrayed an inter-dimensional quality between the humans, their Avatars, the Alien world, all it's inhabitants AND the audience.
One of the many striking scenes from the movie was when the Scientist was describing the inhabitants belief that their forest was somehow alive in it's ability to connect with the rest of life on the planet and the natives were an intricate part of this also. While most moviegoers probably didn't realize this interconnectedness is a basic tenet of the natural laws upon which ALL life exists.
This might be a good time to interject the origins of the word Avatar, in Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for "descent" [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth, and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation", but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation".
Perhaps beings from a society such as ours which has removed sentient appreciation of Nature and the connectedness of all life deeming it foreign and alien must have a religious transformative experience in order to make it real, perhaps for their first time.
The movie at first only slightly removes from the viewer the responsibility of the way the earth is being plundered as though life itself were only some inert resources here for the commercial taking. However few could imagine being self directed learners of just how wondrous life's connections can be given the nurturing it commands to build life.
This very notion of becoming connected to the harmonics of life in the forest were one of the original notions of use for marrying digital tools to place based learning communities such as at camp Gordonwood. Knowing one could make movies of such things is only a plus.
Avatar masterfully showed that One could always better utilize these digital tools to encourage consciousness amongst humans. This writer stresses encourage, for this conciousness comes from internalizing what it is you have viewed through digital assists and perceived through the inner voice that brought you here. The mastery of these digital tools now is truly required for the realization of any measurable success in turning this ship around before it is far too late.
Creating a nurturing learning environment where each learner believes they can play a significant part in creating change comes from human interaction, these are Natural laws which cannot be ignored or sidestepped.
It does make for one hellofa dance though...
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Informs our Understanding!
News
Turbine offers educational opportunity
Sunday, January 24, 2010
By MIKE SCOTT
Special to The Oakland Press
Special to The Oakland Press
Milford High School soon will be able to use a 50-foot tall wind turbine to help offset some of its electrical costs. More importantly, district officials said the turbine also will offer some educational rewards.
The vertical turbine was donated by ENERGYCHEK President Dave Hollens, who has two children attending school in the Huron Valley School District and had a daughter graduate from Milford High School last summer. The turbine is onsite at Milford High School, but the district must receive approval from the state before it is connected, Hollens said.
The turbine will have Wi-Fi capabilities, which would allow individuals to go online and see how it is working once it goes live, Hollens said.
ENERGYCHEK is a Milford-based full-service energy reduction consultant for commercial clients and renewable energy and design consultant for both residential and commercial clients.
Hollens’ connection not just to the Huron Valley School District, but education in general, is extensive. His mother was a longtime teacher in the Lake Orion School District.
“I guess you can say I have a little bit of teaching in my blood,” Hollens said. “We think that Milford High School can see if the energy production generated from the wind turbine can make a classroom sustainable, so there are some great learning opportunities here.”
The real value of this onsite turbine will be for educational purposes, said Milford High School Principal Mike Krystiniak.
“One turbine isn’t really enough to make a big impact on our utility bills, but it will feed back into our grid,” Krystiniak said. “We really see some significant educational benefits from this though.”
One Milford High School class that may see a significant benefit is the advanced placement environmental science course, one that covers topics relating to alternative energy sources, Krystiniak said. Other advanced placement courses, such as mechanical and electrical physics and the general physics classes, also will benefit from the existence of the turbine.
“We will have more than 300 students be able to study the effects of this turbine on our school and their classroom, and having it onsite and available (to view online) will only make it easier for them to envision the benefits,” Krystiniak said.
“They can understand how it works and crunch numbers to measure the impact of electricity and energy. There will be level of hands-on experience because they can monitor the turbine.”
The Milford High principal credited Hollens with “extraordinary patience” as the district has gone through getting county, township and school board approval to use the turbine onsite. He said Hollens also donated a significant number of resource books covering such topics as environmentally sustainable and green energy to the high school’s library.
“There are a lot of hoops we have had to go through to get approval for this turbine to be installed and we hope we are close,” Krystiniak said.
Hollens will be involved with the future assembly of the wind turbine once the state approves the installation, a step he largely considers to be a formality.
“The students won’t be involved in the installation, but once we get it in there it’s going to be their baby,” Hollens said.
The vertical turbine was donated by ENERGYCHEK President Dave Hollens, who has two children attending school in the Huron Valley School District and had a daughter graduate from Milford High School last summer. The turbine is onsite at Milford High School, but the district must receive approval from the state before it is connected, Hollens said.
The turbine will have Wi-Fi capabilities, which would allow individuals to go online and see how it is working once it goes live, Hollens said.
ENERGYCHEK is a Milford-based full-service energy reduction consultant for commercial clients and renewable energy and design consultant for both residential and commercial clients.
Hollens’ connection not just to the Huron Valley School District, but education in general, is extensive. His mother was a longtime teacher in the Lake Orion School District.
“I guess you can say I have a little bit of teaching in my blood,” Hollens said. “We think that Milford High School can see if the energy production generated from the wind turbine can make a classroom sustainable, so there are some great learning opportunities here.”
The real value of this onsite turbine will be for educational purposes, said Milford High School Principal Mike Krystiniak.
“One turbine isn’t really enough to make a big impact on our utility bills, but it will feed back into our grid,” Krystiniak said. “We really see some significant educational benefits from this though.”
One Milford High School class that may see a significant benefit is the advanced placement environmental science course, one that covers topics relating to alternative energy sources, Krystiniak said. Other advanced placement courses, such as mechanical and electrical physics and the general physics classes, also will benefit from the existence of the turbine.
“We will have more than 300 students be able to study the effects of this turbine on our school and their classroom, and having it onsite and available (to view online) will only make it easier for them to envision the benefits,” Krystiniak said.
“They can understand how it works and crunch numbers to measure the impact of electricity and energy. There will be level of hands-on experience because they can monitor the turbine.”
The Milford High principal credited Hollens with “extraordinary patience” as the district has gone through getting county, township and school board approval to use the turbine onsite. He said Hollens also donated a significant number of resource books covering such topics as environmentally sustainable and green energy to the high school’s library.
“There are a lot of hoops we have had to go through to get approval for this turbine to be installed and we hope we are close,” Krystiniak said.
Hollens will be involved with the future assembly of the wind turbine once the state approves the installation, a step he largely considers to be a formality.
“The students won’t be involved in the installation, but once we get it in there it’s going to be their baby,” Hollens said.
Monday, January 11, 2010
ECOTEK brings DEPSA GIFTS! (Congratulations to Mr. Young and his Students)
Photos by WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press
Mosheh Williams, 13, of Detroit inspects freshwater slime algae at the Eco Tek lab near Wayne State Univer sity in Detroit. Keith Young, who founded the Eco Tek program for 100 metro Detroit students, watches.
LESSONS IN POSSIBILITY
BMW to expand labs to turn metro Detroit kids into scientists
By TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
As the North American In ternational Auto Show opens for the international automo tive news media today, a single gathering could change the lives of hundreds of metro Detroit schoolchildren.
That’s where BMW is to an nounce a grant to expand a successful science program from 100 to 1,000 students.
The $165,000 grant by the German automaker, including donations by metro Detroit’s Eitel Dahm Motor Group and Erhard BMW, is designed to ex pand the Eco Tek program to give students — especially in Detroit — a leap in science, en gineering and research.
Dahm Motor Group owner Eitel Dahm said he went through a similar youth pro gram as a teen in Germany before he immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s and built the multi million- dollar dealership.
“It (the program) opens the door for kids — inner-city kids or any kids — to live the American dream, as long as they’re dedicated, follow through and are ambitious,” he said.
The program now allows about 100 students hand-picked for their drive and academic skills to spend time exploring in the Eco Tek lab, near Wayne State University.
Mosheh Williams, 13, an eighth-grader at Detroit Edison Public School Academy, a charter school in Detroit, spends Sunday afternoons testing the viscosity and combustion of different biofuels he creates from things like soybeans and grape seed oil.
Through the program, he visited the United Nations in New York, tested water in South Africa and is to study sharks in Florida in April.
“It’s worth it because of the experience and how it’s helped me progress in my schoolwork, and how it’s helped me become a bigger person thinking-wise,” he said.
The program’s founder, Keith Young, said BMW’s dona tion will help him recreate the Eco Tek lab at Spain Middle School on Detroit’s west side, at University Prep Science and Math School and at Edison Academy.
“I look at it from a perspective, either you’re going to lead Detroit or leave Detroit,” Young said. “Either one you choose, you need to have these skills.”
| CONTACT TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA: 313-223-4456 OR TBATTAGLIA@FREEPRESS .COM
“IT’ S WORTH IT BECAUSE OF THE EXPERIENCE AND HOW IT’ S HELPED ME PROGRESS IN MY SCHOOLWORK.”
MOSHEH WILLIAMS, 13, an eighth grader at Detroit Edison Public School Academy. Through the Eco Tek program, he has tested water in South Africa.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
TROUBLED WATERS: NOT SO FAST THERE, Partner! (And do these folks NOT read the newspapers, watch the news, etc?)
Districts shun federal money
Leaders say Race to the Top goal unclear
By LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Some metro-area school leaders are refusing to sign agreements that would assure they could share in up to $400 million in federal stimulus funds — money that will be awarded to states with innovative plans to reform schools.
It is unclear whether the lack of signatures will affect the state’s application for the grant from the Race to the Top program. Federal officials have said it is imperative tohave support from local dis tricts — school boards, admin istrators and union officials. But a consistent concern school leaders raise is the lack of clarity in what Michigan’s plan will include. Districts had to submit the agreements by the close of business Friday, before the Michigan Depart ment of Education posted a fi nal summary of its plan..
And for many school officials opting not to sign, the uncertainty isn’t worth the little money they would receive. Birmingham Public Schools, for instance, stood to receive only $60,000. The amount depends on how many low-income students a district educates.
“They didn’t feel it would be responsible to sign something that lacked clarity. It committed us to adopt a plan that isn’t yet finalized,” said district spokeswoman Marcia Wilkinson.
School boards in Bloomfield Hills, Eastpointe, Lake Orion, Novi, Richmond, South Lyon and Walled Lake also opted not to sign. The board in Berkley took no action.
Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the education department, said the refusal to sign “is troubling” at a time when “education is paramount and every penny counts.”
In Bloomfield Hills Schools, where the Board of Education decided Thursday night not to sign the agreement, there were broader issues than the lack of clarity. In a letter sent to parents and staff, Superintendent Steven Gaynor said he’s concerned that the Race to the Top grant ties teacher evaluations to student achievement.
Gaynor said there is no evidence that linking the two is effective, and he said he’s concerned that teachers fearful for their jobs will be forced to teach to the state exams “to the exclusion of all other worth while instruction now going on in Bloomfield Hills Schools.”
But Ellis responded that “it no longer matters” now that the governor has signed legislation that requires districts to use student achievement growth to evaluate teachers.
“It’s now state law,” she said.
Leaders say Race to the Top goal unclear
By LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Some metro-area school leaders are refusing to sign agreements that would assure they could share in up to $400 million in federal stimulus funds — money that will be awarded to states with innovative plans to reform schools.
It is unclear whether the lack of signatures will affect the state’s application for the grant from the Race to the Top program. Federal officials have said it is imperative tohave support from local dis tricts — school boards, admin istrators and union officials. But a consistent concern school leaders raise is the lack of clarity in what Michigan’s plan will include. Districts had to submit the agreements by the close of business Friday, before the Michigan Depart ment of Education posted a fi nal summary of its plan..
And for many school officials opting not to sign, the uncertainty isn’t worth the little money they would receive. Birmingham Public Schools, for instance, stood to receive only $60,000. The amount depends on how many low-income students a district educates.
“They didn’t feel it would be responsible to sign something that lacked clarity. It committed us to adopt a plan that isn’t yet finalized,” said district spokeswoman Marcia Wilkinson.
School boards in Bloomfield Hills, Eastpointe, Lake Orion, Novi, Richmond, South Lyon and Walled Lake also opted not to sign. The board in Berkley took no action.
Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the education department, said the refusal to sign “is troubling” at a time when “education is paramount and every penny counts.”
In Bloomfield Hills Schools, where the Board of Education decided Thursday night not to sign the agreement, there were broader issues than the lack of clarity. In a letter sent to parents and staff, Superintendent Steven Gaynor said he’s concerned that the Race to the Top grant ties teacher evaluations to student achievement.
Gaynor said there is no evidence that linking the two is effective, and he said he’s concerned that teachers fearful for their jobs will be forced to teach to the state exams “to the exclusion of all other worth while instruction now going on in Bloomfield Hills Schools.”
But Ellis responded that “it no longer matters” now that the governor has signed legislation that requires districts to use student achievement growth to evaluate teachers.
“It’s now state law,” she said.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
RACE to the FUDGE-FACTORS!
Extra school funds in jeopardy?
Some local union leaders say they won’t support state’s proposal
By LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Michigan’s quest to receive up to $400 million in federal education aid could be jeopar dized because some local union leaders are refusing to support the state’s plans.
The Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-Mich igan issued a letter this week urging their local leaders not to sign a memoranda of un derstanding that is necessary for districts to receive the money.
They say union leaders are being asked to sign an agree ment for a plan they haven’t seen, and they say draft ver sions of the plan in some cases includes controversial issues that were not part of bills Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed Monday to improve public schools.
Among the items at issue: the MEA says the state is in cluding a proposed new li censing system for teachers and a formula that would be used to determine how stu dent academic growth would be factored into a teacher’s evaluation, something the MEA says the Legislature in tended to leave up to local dis tricts to decide.
Their refusal could leave the state without the neces sary union buy-in to compete for $4.3 billion available through the federal Race to the Top, a stimulus-funded program designed to spur in novation in schools.
Michigan is estimated to receive between $200 million and $400 million.
But Granholm may have brokered a tentative compro mise during a meeting she held Tuesday afternoon with state Superintendent Mike Flanagan and representatives of the two state unions.
Union leaders received an e-mail from the MEA after the meeting that expressed opti mism that they would have more time to view the state’s final application before having to sign the agreement.
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd was not specific, but said she expected a positive outcome.
For now, though, union leaders like Ted Peters, presi dent of the Southfield Educa tion Association, are refusing to sign.
“There are too many unex plained items out there right now,” Peters said.
States must submit appli cations by mid-January, but the Michigan Department of Education has set a Thursday deadline for local school dis tricts to submit paperwork of support.
Flanagan added a wrinkle Tuesday saying districts can submit agreements without the union signature.
Some local union leaders say they won’t support state’s proposal
By LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Michigan’s quest to receive up to $400 million in federal education aid could be jeopar dized because some local union leaders are refusing to support the state’s plans.
The Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-Mich igan issued a letter this week urging their local leaders not to sign a memoranda of un derstanding that is necessary for districts to receive the money.
They say union leaders are being asked to sign an agree ment for a plan they haven’t seen, and they say draft ver sions of the plan in some cases includes controversial issues that were not part of bills Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed Monday to improve public schools.
Among the items at issue: the MEA says the state is in cluding a proposed new li censing system for teachers and a formula that would be used to determine how stu dent academic growth would be factored into a teacher’s evaluation, something the MEA says the Legislature in tended to leave up to local dis tricts to decide.
Their refusal could leave the state without the neces sary union buy-in to compete for $4.3 billion available through the federal Race to the Top, a stimulus-funded program designed to spur in novation in schools.
Michigan is estimated to receive between $200 million and $400 million.
But Granholm may have brokered a tentative compro mise during a meeting she held Tuesday afternoon with state Superintendent Mike Flanagan and representatives of the two state unions.
Union leaders received an e-mail from the MEA after the meeting that expressed opti mism that they would have more time to view the state’s final application before having to sign the agreement.
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd was not specific, but said she expected a positive outcome.
For now, though, union leaders like Ted Peters, presi dent of the Southfield Educa tion Association, are refusing to sign.
“There are too many unex plained items out there right now,” Peters said.
States must submit appli cations by mid-January, but the Michigan Department of Education has set a Thursday deadline for local school dis tricts to submit paperwork of support.
Flanagan added a wrinkle Tuesday saying districts can submit agreements without the union signature.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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