WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're digging 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:06.179 into something really quite eye -opening. It 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:09.140 comes from a blog post by a veteran science and 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.039 math teacher, Gary Ackerman. Right, the one called 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:14.859 Distributing Observation. That's the one. It's 00:00:14.859 --> 00:00:17.899 all about what he saw happening in a classroom 00:00:17.899 --> 00:00:20.550 during two, well, very different activities, 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:23.129 and what it might tell us about how students 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:25.890 see learning itself. Yeah, it's fascinating. 00:00:26.190 --> 00:00:29.350 So Ackerman describes walking in and seeing students 00:00:29.350 --> 00:00:32.250 doing basically two things back to back. First, 00:00:32.469 --> 00:00:34.350 there's this hands -on thing, measuring data 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:37.189 for a question, something like, is anyone average? 00:00:37.469 --> 00:00:39.729 OK, sounds engaging enough, getting them moving, 00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:42.289 collecting data. You'd think so. Yeah. And then 00:00:42.289 --> 00:00:45.030 almost right after, they pivot completely. Chromebooks 00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:47.869 out, standardized math tests. And that's where 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.250 the puzzle comes in, right? Because the difference 00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:52.829 in how the students acted between those two tasks, 00:00:53.070 --> 00:00:55.810 it was apparently immediate and really stark. 00:00:56.149 --> 00:00:57.770 Exactly. You'd imagine the hands -on part would 00:00:57.770 --> 00:00:59.789 capture their interest, maybe get them buzzing. 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:03.929 But what Ackerman saw was, well, activity, yes, 00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:06.609 but not much focus. On a focus house, like just 00:01:06.609 --> 00:01:10.430 chatting or... More like a real nonchalance about 00:01:10.430 --> 00:01:12.730 the task itself. He heard kids saying things 00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:15.599 like, whatever, it is close enough. with your 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:17.239 measurements, even though, you know, precision 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:19.900 was kind of the point. Hmm. Close enough math. 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:22.540 Not ideal. Not at all. And they're apparently 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:24.560 struggling with metric units. Papers were getting 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:27.700 messy. Some lost. It just sounded, well, pretty 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:31.040 lackadaisical. Lots of movement, but not like 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.560 purposeful or precise work. OK, so maybe a challenging 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.480 group or an off day. But you said this observation 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.420 felt significant to Ackerman. What set it apart? 00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:42.739 It was the contrast, mainly. And also, he... 00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:45.390 noted this isn't entirely new. He'd seen similar 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:47.790 patterns even like 30 years ago. His teacher 00:01:47.790 --> 00:01:50.829 tried to bring them back, connecting the measuring 00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:53.129 to big ideas like that book, The End of Average, 00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:56.290 or Why Accuracy Matters for, say, designing fighter 00:01:56.290 --> 00:01:58.109 jets. Real world stakes. Yeah, trying to give 00:01:58.109 --> 00:02:01.250 it context. But still, that sort of unfocused 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:03.750 vibe just persisted through the activity. OK, 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:06.599 so then comes part two, the Chromebooks. Standardized 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:08.319 math tests. You mentioned these were part of 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:12.340 the school's data plan. Right. Though, interestingly, 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:14.939 the teacher apparently admitted the data wasn't 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:17.159 really used much. It was more about, you know, 00:02:17.379 --> 00:02:21.199 compliance. Got it. So, given the scene with 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.780 the measuring task, you might expect more of 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:27.280 the same, right? Maybe quiet sighing, clicking 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.680 through. That's what makes it disturbing, I think. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.139 It's the complete opposite. Ackerman said the 00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:35.780 shift was immediate, dramatic even. The students 00:02:35.780 --> 00:02:38.659 just became laser focused, working in a total 00:02:38.659 --> 00:02:41.719 silence for the whole time, just locked in on 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:45.259 those screens. Wow. Okay, so from whatever, close 00:02:45.259 --> 00:02:48.520 enough. to silent, intense focus. Exactly. And 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:50.759 this huge change made him talk to some students 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.979 afterward. He wanted to understand why the difference. 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:55.879 And what did they say? What was their perception? 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.180 Their message was incredibly clear, and apparently 00:02:58.180 --> 00:02:59.960 is something they've picked up over their whole 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:02.479 school careers. They basically said, the tests. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.460 That's the real work. The real work, as opposed 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:07.120 to? As opposed to the other stuff, like the hands 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.680 -on measuring that was seen as just for fun, 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.460 or maybe like a break from the serious stuff. 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:16.379 Wow. Just for fun. Yeah. Yeah. That's a powerful 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:18.699 framing, isn't it? Almost like, OK, playtime's 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:21.240 over and now let's do the important thing. Precisely. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:23.979 And Ackerman found that deeply concerning. This 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:26.280 idea that decontextualized problems on a screen 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:29.360 are real while trying to apply math in a messy, 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:33.460 hands -on way is somehow less valuable. So how 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:36.060 did we even get here? How did this sort of... 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:39.599 screen -based assessment become the symbol of 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:41.719 real work, especially in math? Well, that's a 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:44.099 big question. Ackerman touches on it. These computer 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:46.419 -delivered math programs really boomed maybe, 00:03:46.419 --> 00:03:49.280 what, a decade ago. Schools were under huge pressure 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.740 then. Remember, acceptable yearly progress. Standardized 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:54.819 scores were everything. Right. No child left 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:57.120 behind error pressures and similar initiatives. 00:03:57.340 --> 00:04:00.340 Exactly. So these programs offered a way to theoretically 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.319 drill skills and track progress easily. And once 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:05.669 they were in place, Inertia kind of took over. 00:04:05.969 --> 00:04:07.710 Many teachers just kept using them. But it's 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:09.569 not just the tool, is it? It's the philosophy 00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:12.409 behind it. That's the crucial part. It often 00:04:12.409 --> 00:04:15.469 reinforces this implicit idea that math is just 00:04:15.469 --> 00:04:18.009 a bunch of separate procedures you memorize. 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:20.670 You execute them on command. It's less about 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:23.649 math as a language for making sense of the world. 00:04:23.769 --> 00:04:26.930 It taps into this older idea of efficiency and 00:04:26.930 --> 00:04:29.670 education over depth. And for someone like Ackerman, 00:04:29.930 --> 00:04:32.290 who clearly believes math needs context, like 00:04:32.290 --> 00:04:34.689 you need to know why you're finding the roots 00:04:34.689 --> 00:04:36.730 of a quadratic equation, where it shows up in 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:39.189 the world, this must be really jarring. Absolutely. 00:04:39.649 --> 00:04:42.250 He argues pretty strongly that knowledge, math, 00:04:42.910 --> 00:04:45.629 science, anything really, it's only truly powerful 00:04:45.629 --> 00:04:47.529 when you see how it connects, how it fits into 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.000 other systems, other knowledge. when you can 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.240 use it. So this leads to a fundamental question 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.560 he raises, right? Yeah. If you can ace calculations 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.839 on a screen, get all the answers right, but have 00:04:56.839 --> 00:04:59.680 zero context, is that actually useful? He calls 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.220 it a useless skill, straight up. His point is 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:04.339 that real mathematical competence isn't just 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:06.480 about doing the calculation. It's about knowing 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.180 when and why to do it, using math purposefully, 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:13.019 connecting it. So competence needs attentiveness. 00:05:13.259 --> 00:05:16.160 It needs purpose. But here's the paradox Ackerman 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:19.389 saw. Right. The students were inattentive and, 00:05:19.389 --> 00:05:22.029 frankly, kind of unpurposeful when they were 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:24.050 supposed to be doing contextual math, the measuring 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:26.290 stuff. But then they became incredibly attentive, 00:05:26.569 --> 00:05:29.949 super purposeful when faced with problems completely 00:05:29.949 --> 00:05:32.250 stripped of context on a screen. It's backwards, 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:34.470 isn't it? Yeah. He basically concludes that the 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:37.029 whole culture that created this situation that 00:05:37.029 --> 00:05:39.790 signals what's really important has been, in 00:05:39.790 --> 00:05:43.170 his words, profoundly destructive. And it needs 00:05:43.170 --> 00:05:46.730 to change urgently. So just to sort of recap 00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:49.470 the core insight here from Gary Ackerman's observation. 00:05:49.649 --> 00:05:51.709 Yeah, it's this conditioning, isn't it? Students 00:05:51.709 --> 00:05:54.269 have somehow learned to see the abstract screen 00:05:54.269 --> 00:05:57.730 -based test as the real work. While the messy, 00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:00.029 hands -on contextual stuff gets labeled just 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:03.589 for fun, almost dismissed. And his big concern, 00:06:03.810 --> 00:06:05.990 as a longtime educator, is that we're losing 00:06:05.990 --> 00:06:09.019 something vital. True knowledge, especially in 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:11.620 math, needs that context. It needs to be applied, 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.779 connected to other things, to be truly powerful. 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:17.579 Just crunching numbers on a screen without understanding 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.040 the why or where. He argues that's not building 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:22.180 real competence. It's something else entirely. 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:24.579 Which really brings us to a question for, well, 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:27.480 for all of us listening, I think. If real competence 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:31.019 needs focus, it needs purpose, it needs context. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.759 How do we flip that script? Yeah, how do we or 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:37.220 how do the systems we work in encourage that 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:40.459 same kind of intense focus for the contextual 00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:43.060 applied learning? The kind of focus students 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:46.120 currently seem to reserve for those tests? It's 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.839 a challenge. How do we make the real world stuff 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:50.839 feel like the real work? Maybe think about that 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:52.560 in your own context, your own learning, your 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.720 job. If deep competence means focused engagement 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:58.139 and practical application, what could you maybe 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:00.139 do differently? Right. How can you prioritize 00:07:00.139 --> 00:07:02.420 getting that true understanding, that ability 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:05.600 to apply knowledge, rather than just performing 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.199 tasks or acing the test, so to speak? Something 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:10.339 to definitely mull over. How do we value and 00:07:10.339 --> 00:07:12.560 cultivate competence in its truest sense?