From eSchoolNews, a report from a Harvard professor that students in our schools are being taught “to the test” too much and lack the necessary survival skills for higher education or the workplace. While this is a north American report, it rings true for Australia and the UK and elsewhere, I’m sure. The article by Tony Wagner highlights 7 skills that students need and while there are the usual suspects of problem solving and adaptability, the list does include critical thinking and “accessing and analysing information”. It would have been better if it had read “effectively accessing and analysing information” or “accessing and analysing information for a purpose” but it is good to see some recognition of information literacy skills in such a list.
As it’s winter here in Dunbar, we get some wonderful changes in the light over the sea when it’s cloudy but partly sunny. Sometimes you think there’s a storm about to come and then the sky clears and often, the late afternoon sun catches the cloud edges to give some dramatic colours. OK, it’s not the Aurora Borealis - we’re too far south for that, but it catches the eye. The picture below is an example taken from my back door.
Winter sky in Dunbar
