#38 with Global Teacher Prize Nominee Kazuya Takahashi – on creating independent learners in Japan
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What’s in this episode? Takahashi was recently nominated for the prestigious Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, often referred as the Nobel Prize in education, for his work in the classroom and contributions to society. Takahashi, the first candidate from Japan, is among 50 nominees selected from 8,000 candidates representing 148 countries
Content:
Interview with Takahashi and his students at Kogakuin University Junior High-School, Senior High-school in order to get some insights in his work and teaching methods.
Subjects covered:
Takahashi’s journey from PHD studies to teacher and his aspiration to ‘pay it forward’
Thoughts on creating more independent learners in a system devoted to ‘cramming’
Which theorists in cognitive science and learning design does Takahashi follow
The difference in conditions and opportunities for teachers in independent and state schools in Japan
Working with Lego to promote project based learning and launching his own edtech incubator
Challenging a system of education built on teacher sacrifice to create something more sustainable
An inspirational message to all educators at the end of his interview
Sample Quotations: My life has been blessed with good teachers. So I wanted to pay a reward toward the next generation.
I learned how to teach based on science.
In Japanese schools the test score is everything. Learning should be tangible.
Students can express their heart, their thoughts making LEGOs.
You can learn project management with LEGO.
Students started to work independently, that’s wonderful!
I.C.T. means I can be connected with students 24 hours.
Old teaching style is just lecturing students. Sit down, be quiet. I’m teaching you have to be still. But like that it’s not fun.
You should have fun in class.
Japanese students are very dependent on some things like repetitions, companies’ names. They have to follow some kind of specific track.
Students are always evaluated within the school, but this world is very wide!
References:
Firefly Learning Conference Registration
http://go.fireflylearning.com/Firefly_Conference_2016_Registration.html
Kazuya Takahashi
http://www.globalteacherprize.org/top-10-finalist/kazuya-takahashi/
Global Teacher Prize
https://twitter.com/TeacherPrize?lang=en
Varkey Foundation
https://twitter.com/VarkeyFdn
Kogakuin University Junior High-School, Senior High-school
http://www.kogakuin.ac.jp/english/
Edmodo
https://twitter.com/edmodo
Blackboard
http://uki.blackboard.com/
Google Docs
https://www.google.co.uk/docs/about/
Seymour Papert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Papert
Jean Piaget
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
Joe Fatheree
https://twitter.com/josephfatheree
Maarit Rossi
https://twitter.com/pathstomath
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Rob Eastment, Firefly Learning and an ex-assistant headteacher, discusses the findings from a new Govnet survey on what senior leaders in education really want from their data.
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