Inquiry is a dynamic process of being open to wonder and puzzlement and coming to know and understand the world. As such, it is a stance that pervades all aspects of life and is essential to the way in which knowledge is created. Inquiry is based on the belief that understanding is constructed in the process of people working and conversing together as they pose and solve the problems, make discoveries…
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As children, anything sparks our curiosity. The box intrigues as much as the gift, and the scenery outside a car window can enchant for hours. We seek to know, and we engage in the essential activity for finding out. We question. And yet, as we grow older, curiosity tends to be wrung out of us. Parents, schools, and workplaces impose rules and discourage risk. Rather than provoking with inquiry, they…
Read More...HopeLab is a curious place. The California-based nonprofit researches and designs video games and other technology products for kids. But they don’t create ones that involve sitting on a couch, staring at a screen, zapping warriors or aliens. Instead, HopeLab’s games help motivate players to take on healthy habits, to be more physically active (Zamzee) and even help fight cancer (Re-Mission 2). The…
Read More...There seems to be wide support for the idea that we are living in an “age of complexity”, which implies that the world has never been more intricate. This idea is based on the rapid pace of technological changes, and the vast amount of information that we are generating (the two are related). Yet consider that philosophers like Leibniz (17th century) and Diderot (18th century) were already complaining…
Read More...Instagrok instaGrok is an educational (re)search engine that lets students (any anyone else) research any topic in an engaging, visual way. instaGrok finds the best information on the topic and presents it as interactive concept map ("grok"), showing key facts, concepts and relationships, videos, images and more. Users can pin their favorite materials to their grok and take notes in the built-in journals.…
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