Lincoln's schooling was so slight
as to be almost nil. He did not grow up in a literary atmosphere. But in the
matter of his official utterances he must be compared with the ablest geniuses
and most cultured scholars that have preceded him, and not merely with his
early associates.
Henry Ketcham, The
Life of Abraham Lincoln
How does someone become a genius without ‘schooling’? And do
we have a word that describes the kind of education Lincoln went through that made him as great
as he was?
Through close
observation and student interviews, we found that students failed to engage in
the coursework and spent little to no time studying. Students were disengaged
from their learning responsibilities and the derailing of their studying began
as early as elementary school.
David Castillo and Peter McIntosh, Khan Academy: Learning Habits vs. Content Delivery in STEM Education
How do students become disengaged at school? And how is
society changing this trend?
According to Castillo and McIntosh, “Improving content delivery helped, but not enough” and “Poor learning habits revealed the core problem”. “When we stopped worrying about whether Khan Academy videos were better than our own lectures or whether the exercises had the appropriate mix of concept vs. drill, we recognized that we had found a powerful tool that reached students and changed their habits in ways we had never even considered possible.”
It sounds like they have found principles that will help Learners Drive their Education. So, how are Khan Academy videos changing learning habits? The authors list the following aspects of Khan videos that influenced this change:
- “Most exercises are not multiple-choice, which eliminates guessing.
- Questions are randomly generated, which eliminates copying
- The short video clips engaged students and allowed them to replay the material until they understood it; and
- The online environment and Khan Academy’s overall design appeals to the students, resulting in significant engagement time.”
~vbb
