James Surowiecki,
Opening Keynote
Wisdom of the
Crowds (PBS – Science Now) What was truly exciting
about this keynote was the fact I just recently watched a PBS special on the
exact same concept and examples Mr. Surowiecki used.
His main example was Sir Francis Galton who wanted to test his theory that
groups of common “folk” were in an essence incompetent when trying to guess the
weight of a cow. His results were shocking, because despite no one guessing the
actual weight of the cow, collectively they were remarkably accurate.
To put this into perspective for educators, it takes a
village to educate/raise a child. This is no new concept to education, but
rarely is it seen. Yes, we all “work” together to mold the minds of tomorrow,
but we lack one concept “collaboration”. No “one” teacher can educate every
student, however working together and utilizing each person’s individual talent
is crucial in this age of NCLB.
What makes true collaboration hard (ego, insecurity,
experience level, trust, views, pedagogy, time, funding, professionalism, etc..)?
At the top I created the link to a short video about Sir
Francis Galton and his experiment (check it out)