Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Chicks used to create nerve cells. Scientists have found a way to transform stem cells from human bone marrow into nerve cells. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 7:23:57 AM      Google It!.

Students Who Are Tested in a Context Differing Significantly from their Instructional Environment Do Worse. David Wiley hits on another news article describing that Woessmann-Fuchs study that suggests computers do not support learning and makes a good point about methodology: "Why would we be shocked or surprised to find that kids who spend more time with paper and pencil outperform their high tech peers on paper and pencil tests??? If the tests had been administered on computers, which group would have been the top performer?" The news report itself merely repeats without criticism the claims made by Woessmann-Fuchs and the editing is sloppy enough to leave some factual errors in the story. By David Wiley, Iterating Toward Openness, March 21, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 7:20:06 AM      Google It!.

One Of Us Is Smarter Than All Of Us. Why I talk so frequently about autonomy and diversity: "The wisdom of crowds comes not from the consensus decision of the group, but from the aggregation of the ideas/thoughts/decisions of each individual in the group." In other words, "Paradoxically, the best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently as possible." Via elearnspace. By Kathy Sierra, Creating Passionate Users, March 21, 2005 [Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily] 7:17:20 AM      Google It!.

Same face builds trust, not lust. Similar facial features make people trust - but not fancy- each other, research has suggests. [BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition] 7:13:08 AM      Google It!.

Classic Math Puzzle Cracked [Slashdot:] 7:10:19 AM      Google It!.