Do schools kill creativity?

This talk by Ken Robinson is very entertaining and argues for more creativity in educating children. He's a wonderful speaker. No earth shattering ideas here, but definitely not boring.

A higher resolution video is availble from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design).

FreeRice.com: An Internet Site That Feeds the Hungry

Free Rice (http://www.freerice.com/) is a casual game using a multiple-choice format to drill a variety of general related knowledge and physical concept areas including language vocabulary (English, French, Spanish, Italian and German), mathematics, chemistry, geography, and art. Simple correct answer feedback is given for each response and levels of difficulty are based on the number of available items in the existing content pool. A few introductory questions set the player's initial level. Questions are repeated on a scheduled basis only if the player responds to them incorrectly.

What sets Free Rice apart from a zillion other similar edu-drill games is that by playing this game and acquiring general related knowledge, the player is contributing food to the hungry. Here's how it works. Every time the player answers a question correctly sponsors donate 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. The rice appears virtually in a simple wooden bowl on the right side the screen as the game progresses, which along with periodic "wow!" comments, provides players with immediate and tangible positive reinforcement.

The "feel-good" socially-beneficial aspect of this game has contributed to its status as a "viral" Internet casual game. The site began in October, 2007. In the following year, 2008, freerice.com reports donating 43,942,622,700 grains of rice. That is sensationally successful for any kind of educational activity! Think of the amount of related knowledge players acquire on a spaced learning schedule. At the same time, learners are reminded on an interval schedule of the importance of ending world hunger.

Web 3.0

One of the clearest explanations I've come in contact with regarding the whole Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 preoccupation comes from Jonathan Strickland at HowStuffWorks.com (See http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-306.htm).

Before you do that take the Web 3.0 Quiz (See http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30-quiz.htm) and see if you can "ceiling out" on the pretest.