Suppose knowledge is not the goal of education

I’ve been waist deep lately in the revision process of our state standards. Some days it feels like neck deep. We’re trying to do things a bit differently with this round of standards – the hope being that specific social studies and historical content is no longer the focus. What becomes important in the revised [...]

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Open source history, Wikipedia, and Encyclopedia Britannica

It’s the end of an era. The print version of Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer. And just when I was getting psyched up to pay $1,395 for the 32 volume set. It’s not really a surprise, is it? Owning a four figure set of books that are out-of-date as soon as you crack them open [...]

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Social Studies really is about stories. And iPads.

It’s a bit of a whirlwind week. A couple of meetings Monday and Tuesday in Kansas, fly to Washington for the National Social Studies Supervisors Association conference then quick jet out to Colorado for the Association of Educational Service Agencies conference this Friday and Saturday. Not a big fan of the whole cattle car airplane [...]

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It’s the learning, stupid

In 1992, Bill Clinton was running for president against George H.W. Bush. Just months before, Bush had a 90% approval rating. And to help keep Clinton’s campaign on message, his political strategist, James Carville,  hung a sign in the Little Rock headquarters that read: Change vs. more of the same The economy, stupid Don’t forget [...]

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Transparent Kansas State History / Government Standards

It’s the first meeting of the Kansas state history/government writing committee today. Lots of history geekiness, lots of great conversation and lots of confusion all at the same time. And because we’re confused, the more help you can provide the better. So here’s the transparency. I mentioned earlier, during the first two days of the [...]

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