Comments on: It’s the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves

By: a few more good links « Stop Usage Based Billing

a few more good links « Stop Usage Based Billing — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:03:13 +0000

[...] philosophy: here be dragons: It’s the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate [...]

By: Shuttleworth ve Egitim | 3G Cep Telefonları

Shuttleworth ve Egitim | 3G Cep Telefonları — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:47:49 +0000

[...] (Devami..) [...]

By: Mis 10 centimos de BsF … / My 10 Cents of BsF… » Blog Archive » Expotecnología Talks: I faced propietary software

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:04:47 +0000

[...] technologies in Pia Waugh’s presidential message for Software Freedom International , the Importance of Free and Open Source Software in education in Mark Shuttleworth’s post , and a very interesting keynote talk from Jeff Waugh in Ubuntu live [...]

By: Nelson Castillo

Nelson Castillo — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 19:16:45 +0000

Nice article. Learning new tools is crucial, and discarding them too.

By: pintant… » Arxiu » Preparant-me per a l’esdeveniment

pintant… » Arxiu » Preparant-me per a l’esdeveniment — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 19:23:25 +0000

[...] He escrit aquest article per a reflexionar en com una decisió d’adquisició d’un aparell pot fer variar tant la manera com et relaciones tecnològicament amb el món que t’envolta (aparell complementari, canvi de correu, canvi de procediment de lectura de blocs, canvi de forma de conduir, canvi de manera de parlar pel carrer…), i també per a constatar que degut a que la tecnologia està sempre canviant, cal tenir una actitud de continuu aprenentatge per al seu ús i personalització, cosa que em reforça en la idea d’ensenyar a les persones a aprendre diferents entorns des de petits, i no classes de Word i Power Point des de primària. “The idea is not that kids learn tools they use for the rest of their lives. That’s not realistic. I don’t use any specific theorems or other mathematics constructs from school today. They should learn tools which they use AT SCHOOL to develop a general ability to learn tools.” (Mark ShuttleWorth, disponible a: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/28 ). [...]

By: Rhonda Herle

Rhonda Herle — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:27:18 +0000

Mark, I came across this website searching for thoughts and comments re: curriculum design. Wow, what a great site I’ve found.

Not all of it relevant, but most of it beautifully written and thought provoking. I would like to quote your comment, “the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves”. May I please. I am half way through a teaching qualification and am completing an assignment (well overdue). This has not been a topic yet raised and I believe it deserves many hours of classroom discussion.

I tried to investigate the details of your copyright but to no avail. Please advise if this is ok with you.

Many thanks for a pleasurable evenings read.

Rhonda Herle
Key Skills and Basic Skills Tutor for Guildford College, Surrey.

By: Tim Clair

Tim Clair — Sun, 07 May 2006 09:12:27 +0000

Your article reminded me of my long-standing argument that science education, from the very start, should be about teaching the scientific method (how science differs from other ways of thinking and acting) rather than about any of the specific results of the application of that method. These conditions may produce a population with a higher fraction of folks capable of understanding such things as 1. theory is more powerful than fact, 2. the value assigned to parsimony, and 3. theory is NOT the starting point of the method (that would be hypothesis) but rather it is the FINAL PRODUCT. This approach may eventually curtail the use of that most objectionable phrase, “just a theory”. That would be a giant step for improving the public understanding of science.

Tim Clair
Columbia, MD
410-997-3131

By: » It’s the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves « marksdigital

Sun, 07 May 2006 01:08:32 +0000

[...] Mark Shuttleworth has an interesting rant on why it’s the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves that really matters. From the blog post: The real skills that serve us are the ability to adapt, learn, apply the products of that learning, and participate in the discussions and challenges of the day. [...]

By: Akkam’s Razor

Akkam’s Razor — Fri, 05 May 2006 16:13:45 +0000

[...] Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » It’s the ability to learn tools, not the tools themselves The difference between educating and training… (tags: education tools article economics) [...]

By: DougHolton

DougHolton — Fri, 05 May 2006 13:35:07 +0000

You may not realize it but you are talking about transfer.

Before you decide on having all students learn python for example, you might look at the decades of research on logo. Teaching programming like it is some form of latin that students need to know is going to fail. See an article by Koschmann for example:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Flcs.www.media.mit.edu%2Fgroups%2Fel%2Fevents%2Ffiles%2FKoschmann.doc&ei=gFNbRJ7ACKeusAHFtJXICg&sig2=w6kuZb48VmHvZB8NcGI4wA
Python isn’t even designed with students or beginners in mind, unlike Squeak or Scratch.

It doesn’t matter what toolset you choose for students, if you treat it as some canon to be memorized and internalized, it won’t work, it won’t transfer to other contexts and toolsets.