Day 6: Skinner Horror Files “Please do not forget for one moment that OBE is mastery learning/direct instruction. The only difference between OBE and Direct Instruction is that OBE had very bad, outrageous… outcomes, and direct instruction has… those peanut butter-and-jelly-sounding phonics outcomes.” – Charlotte Iserbyt, circa 1998, p. A‑156 the deliberate dumbing down of america
Archives for October 2014
Parallel Reconstruction
Posted on October 9, 2014 Written by
While the political commentators in the nation’s capital are wrapped up in the debate over what to do about ISIS, and as one third of the Senate and nearly all members of the House campaign for re-election, the president’s spies continue to capture massive amounts of personal information about hundreds of millions of us and […]
A Deliberate Math Dumb Down?
Posted on October 9, 2014 Written by
DAY 7: The Skinner Horror Files The Influence of Thorndike Lives On.… Beware! When the media mouthpiece for the neoconservative education agenda (The Wall Street Journal) uses words “true mastery” and “practice,” parents MUST understand that “they” are recommending use of the Skinnerian Direct Instruction although “they” obviously aren’t going to tell parents that! This kind of education, […]
Teachers reprimanded for speaking out against Common Core
Posted on October 8, 2014 Written by
Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal blasted reports Tuesday that teachers are being reprimanded for speaking out against Common Core standards on social media. A teacher in Rapides Parish, in Alexandria, La., was “written up” for writing a negative post on Facebook about the controversial standards, according to Town Talk.
What Is Direct Instruction?
Posted on October 8, 2014 Written by
Day 5: Skinner Horror Files Skinner Troubles with Direct Instruction/Mastery Learning The following blog post is an excerpt from Appendix XXV of my book the deliberate dumbing down of america. It is the second of a two-part alert series in the late 1990s that comprised this particular appendix. This is the best summary of what exactly […]
Why Constructivism and Direct Instruction will Damage Your Child’s Brain – Part 3
Posted on October 8, 2014 Written by
A Couple Loose Analogies Picture totalitarianism on one end of a scale and anarchy on the other. Both have issues but for different reasons. Totalitarianism is like Capital “D.I.” Direct Instruction where they attempt Prussian style education of forcing knowledge into heads. Here’s your task, repeat it. Constructivism is akin to anarchy. Anarchy always always […]
Who’s Who and What’s What
Posted on October 8, 2014 Written by
Day 4: Skinner Horror Files The Next Generations of Programmed Instruction This post is a history lesson taken directly out of my book the deliberate dumbing down of america, Appendix XXV. This appendix has two alerts that were sent out in the late 1990s that warned about how Skinner’s form of operant conditioning education (the original […]
Why Constructivism and Direct Instruction will Damage Your Child’s Brain – Part 2
Posted on October 8, 2014 Written by
In the Schools Today 2004 was my pivotal year. My oldest was in 3rd grade and I discovered that Alpine School District was no longer teaching the times tables or long division to children and hadn’t for at least 3 straight years. What in the world was happening? Alpine and several other districts had partnered […]
