Information Age Education is now publishing some books for the Kindle and Kindle-format readers that are available for computers, iPad, and other machines. See http://iae-pedia.org/IAE_Kindle_Books.

The most recent of these books is:

Moursund, David (2011). Introduction to Problem Solving in the Information Age.

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David Perkins is one of my favorite educational writers.  I found the following book to be outstanding.

Perkins, David (2010). Making learning whole. How seven principles of teaching can transform education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.  

The basic idea he discusses is that much of what students learn in school can be described as  “learning elements of” and “learning about.” He uses the words elementitus and aboutitis while describing these illnesses in our educational system.

Perkins contrasts elementitus and aboutitis with learning a compete game or a scaled down version (a junior version) of a game. While he repeatedly illustrates his ideas using baseball and other "traditional" games, his focus is on the various games of education.

For example, think of what a writer does. A writer plays the game of effective communicating in writing. Now, contrast this with having a student learning spelling, punctuation, grammar, and penmanship. Even at the first grade level a child can be playing the whole game of writing to produce content. Of course, we don't expect first graders to write a great novel. However, they can play "junior games" of writing such as writing a paragraph describing something they know or that interests them.

Or, consider what a historian does as being a game called history. Sure, the historian has memorized some "facts." But the historian's game is mainly one of studying things like causality, legacy, correctness of the so-called "facts," and so on.

What does an artist do? Can a first grader do a whole junior version of the game of art? What does a dancer do? Can a first grader do a whole junior version of various games of performance arts?

Perkins uses examples from many different disciplines throughout his book.  His own college and graduate school education focused on mathematics and computer science, so it is not surprising that he uses some examples from math.

If you have a limited background in math, ask yourself about when was the last time you needed to solve a quadratic equation? The great majority of people never do such a thing once they get out of school.

Most students learn various elements of math—here is something called a quadratic equation and here is a formula for solving it. They learn that one of the things about math is that it includes the study of equations that can be solved, and that formulas exist for solving some types of equations.

These are isolated aspects of math and most students quickly forget them. Students gain little insight into the big and relatively complete (whole) game of math. When they are learning algebra they do not study a junior game of modeling and simulation using algebra.  They do not come to understand how one communicates in the oral, written, and gesture language of math.

Perkins has developed seven principles of learning by wholes. A chapter is devoted to each, along with a lot of examples from different disciplines. Here are his seven principles.

1. Make use of whole games or junior versions of the games throughout all of education. Move education away from the relatively easily assessed elementitus and aboutitis, and move it toward students being able to actually do things with what they are learning.
2. Make the game worthwhile. Place considerable emphasis on intrinsic motivation. Develop curriculum content that students willingly engage in and can learn to enjoy.
3. Provide as much formative feedback as possible, and stress students focusing their learning on the parts of the “game” that they are finding to be most difficult.
4. Emphasize transfer of learning—learning to apply one’s knowledge and skills in unfamiliar settings. In whatever one is studying and whatever level one is studying it,  learn to play the transfer of learning game at a level appropriate to the new learning.
5. Learn the important underlying principles and purposes that are often hidden from students. For example, in the real world most math problem situations are represented in words and diagrams. Learning to pose (make up, represent) math word problems (story problems) problems is a very important component of the game of math that is frequently ignored in math education. Learning to solve word problems is more important than memorizing formulas and how to do things that computers are really good at.
6. Learn to collaborate with others and learn from other. Learn to give and accept well intentioned formative constructive criticism.
7. Learn to learn. Education should emphasize helping students get better at the game of learning. Contrast this, for example, with getting better at playing the game of getting better at obtaining good scores on tests.

Perkins presents a wide range of arguments about why and how use of his seven principles will greatly improve education. I believe all teachers, curriculum developers, and developers of assessment instruments should familiarize themselves with Perkin's book.

References

Information Age Education Wiki (n.d). David Perkins. Retrieved 4/26/2011 from http://iae-pedia.org/David_Perkins.

Perkins, David (2010). Making learning whole. How seven principles of teaching can transform education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.