A radio 4 show about cyber-bullying this week

Bullying.com is a three part show on radio 4 this week:
Penny Marshall investigates the rise in cyber bullying - a new manifestation of bullying, where victims are targeted online and via their mobile phones. She looks at the impact it has on those affected by it, speaks to key industry figures about what is being done - and asks, is it enough?

The third episode looks at what schools are doing and what they should be doing.

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Some Thoughts about Skills-Based Curricula

I hear a lot of talk about skills-based curricula in Scotland these days, with the general vibe being that skills-based curricula are a Good Thing™. I'm not entirely clear what people mean by a skills-based curriculum, because it is one of those phrases which has slipped into the common parlance of educators without any clear definition (see also "learner conversations"). Try searching on the Education Scotland website for "skill based curriculum" and you'll draw a blank. I guess it means a curriculum defined in terms of the competencies being developed by our learners: a curriculum defined in terms of the things we want our learners to be able to do, rather than what they know.

I can see the appeal of this, but I am wary. Here are a couple of things which would worry me if they were true:

1.  Is this curriculum seeking to develop generic, transferable skills?

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Learning styles are a myth and I am not an auditory learner

Image
I switched on Radio 6 this morning, and the track they were playing had a drum sound which caught my ear. It reminded me of a rototom - a tuned drum which was quite popular in the 80s. I had a set of three in my drum kit.



I doubt many listeners would have made that connection. I suspect many listeners would not even have particularly distinguished that drum sound. I think many people just hear songs in a much less differentiated way, unless they make a real effort. I, like most musicians, tend to hear the guitar, the drums, the bass, the keyboard and the vocals separately.

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Knowing and Understanding in Mathematics

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One way to approach this is to teach a formula:

The position vector of P, where P divides AB in the ratio m:n, is given by p=(na+mb)/(m+n)

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Given that the point P divides S(3,4,-1) and T(5,8,11) in the ratio 3:1, find P.

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