From Dr de Bono's presentation of teaching thinking as a distinct skill to the workshop on exploring the conditions of creativity, I was struck by the extent to which Dr de Bono's ideas have penetrated so many aspects of new curriculum measures and ICT tools... without necessarily changing anything in the teaching practices we still find in most classrooms.
The winners of the eTwinning prizes were announced in a ceremony at the end of the first day of the eTwinning conference yesterday. The full list of finalists is available on the eTwinning portal.
To kick off the ceremony, a presentation was given by Sylvia Binger (eTwinning CSS, European Schoolnet).
Read more to find out who the winners are!
I did not have the opportunity to post a comment on Mr de Bono`s contribution yesterday. I have to say I was really impressed. When he started his speech in this kind of 'oldschool' type of presentation I thought: "Well, knowing 'how to think' does not seem to be related to a legible handwriting..." but after a few minutes I was really caught by what he had to say and how he communicated it. I haven't read any of his books but this is definitely something I will do quite soon! It's a pity I don't have any of them yet, so I could get a signature ;o)...
I found his ideas really helpful, not only as far as my daily work is concerned but also with regard to everyday life and dealing with people (e. g. in difficult situations). I wondered why we did not involve him in finding solutions to the problems of 'eTwinning', which were e. g. mentioned during the first plenary session on Saturday {how to motivate colleagues to take part, how to get recognition by official bodies in our municipal area etc). What a waste, having such an expert here and not asking him for help... See what I mean ( I need a question mark but this keyboard is a bit strange...).!
St. Feldhaus
For me there are too many important people in this congress,but the main one is Anne, my partner. So i decide to interview her.
Tiina Sarisalmi, a teacher from Finland, and a member of the eTwinning pedagogical team gave a great presentation about eTwinning as part of the plenary sessions.
Young singers, before and after eTwinning prizes were amazing. I would like more singing! Congratulations to them, the musicians and teachers.
Posted by Catherine Johannes, teacher from Hilaire de Chardonnet High School, France
A thought left with us by Tiina Sarsalmi in her presentation - eTwinning- a teacher's dream?
Posted by Lisa Stevens, eTwinning Ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School, UK
Edward de Bono is an eminent thinker originally from Malta. He has been working for many years on the issue of thinking skills. As De Bono didn't give a Powerpoint presentation, I'm recording his thoughts as a summary, although many of his metaphors and explanations can only really be appreciated by seeing his live speech.
These days, education and ICT encourage access to more and more information. All of this information is rather like a roadmap: but a roadmap is no use if you can't drive. Thinking is like driving: it helps you to get where you want to go, and to decide on your own directions rather than "following the crowd".
Thinking skills are now being taught based on De Bono's work in a number of countries in the world: in the UK, China and Venezuela. In the UK, thinking was taught as a separate subject - the impact on achievement between 30-100% improvement in results in all other subjects. Similarly, young people with a history of serious violence taught thinking skills displayed a significant reduction in violent behaviour in later life.
Hélène Clark is Director at the European Commission's Directorate General of Education and Culture, and gave the next speech, entitled 'eTwinning in the Lifelong Learning context'. eTwinning is part of the wider Comenius action.
"How can we exploit the massive potential [of ICT] in the classroom?" she asked.
She pointed out that many ICT in education programmes have focused on equipping schools with technology, and stopped there - while eTwinning has gone much further, and enables ongoing use of ICT tools in the classroom.
Continue reading "Plenary session: Hélène Clark, European Commission" »
Ondrej Liska, the Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sport gave the second opening speech. He emphasised how important school collaboration is, and how 'everyday' it has become in the last years.
"eTwinning is a new educational approach: they fulfill the tasks of the national education frameworks [but also...] improve ICT skills and foreign languages," he said, "I am very glad that Czech schools have contributed actively".
Continue reading "Opening speech: Ondrej Liska, Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sport" »
Jan Figel', European Commissioner responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism opened the eTwinning conference, for the fifth time. Since the launch of eTwinning, he has been one of the most staunch supporters of the initiative.
"The eTwinning conference, and especially the eTwinning network, make us all more European," he said.
Continue reading "Opening speech: Commissioner Jan Figel'" »