There’s a new TED talk from Ken Robinson:

Also, check out Ken Robinson’s curated playlist of 10 TED talks on education: 

http://www.ted.com/playlists/124/ken_robinson_10_talks_on_educ.html

THNKR is hosting a panel event with The 92nd Street Y in New York City on May 21!

PANELISTS
Abigail Besdin, SKILLSHARE
Joe Hall, GHETTO FILM SCHOOL
Jake Schwartz, GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Joel Rose, NEW CLASSROOMS INNOVATION PARTNERS

Moderated by New York Times journalist LAURA PAPPANO.

Meet the other panelists: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

Abigail Besdin from the education team at Skillshare talks about Skillshare’s history, the future of education, and the role she sees Skillshare seeks to play in that future.

Learn a new skill at Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/

Joe Hall is the president and founder of Ghetto Film School, a non-profit organization that seeks to give a creative education to those who might otherwise not receive one through teaching film classes and establishing mentorships between kids and professionals in New York City.

Check-out Ghetto Film School here: http://ghettofilm.org/

Joel Rose is the co-founder and CEO of New Classrooms, a non-profit organization that is re-imagining and innovating the classroom experience to cater to and address the needs of each student.

Check-out New Classrooms here: http://www.newclassrooms.org/

ABOUT THE EVENT

What is the state of learning in the 21st Century? Virtual education, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and peer-to-peer learning communities have the potential to completely reinvent the classroom, and more importantly how we educate humanity across the globe. 

More and more, people are self directing their education, and empowering themselves beyond traditional educational institutions. The definition of education is in a state of flux and the capacity for transformation is limitless. Will “education” as we know it become obsolete? What will the future of learning look like? Finally, can a new model of education make for a more just world?

The FUTURE OF LEARNING will bring together thought-leaders and academic luminaries to talk about how our society should think about learning and education in our changing world. The panel will feature those innovators who are on the front lines of reinventing the ways we learn, as well as the great minds who can make sense of seismic changes and the implications they will have for the world at large.

Created and produced by @radical.media, THNKR gives you extraordinary access to the people, stories, and ideas that are transforming our world.

BUY TICKETS: http://goo.gl/1aYo

A great new video excerpted from David Foster Wallace’s brilliant 2005 Kenyon College commencement address. We miss him dearly:

“If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.

“Not that that mystical stuff is necessarily true. The only thing that’s capital-T True is that you get to decide how you’re gonna try to see it.

“This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.”

You can read the full speech here, or listen to the original speech here, courtesy of the wonderful Open Culture.  (Or, if you want to pay $10, Hachette Book Group has made the unscrupulous decision to make money off the virtually cost-free digital distribution of the public speech given by the now-deceased writer on their site here). 

“The practical solution for students lies in two key improvements that must take hold in today’s education system: relevant holistic curricula and freedom of choice…By doing this, students will be encouraged to self-direct their learning and develop a passion. If schools are doing their jobs, students will no longer be asking ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ and will instead ask ‘How can I learn more?’ A step away from standardization is the core.”

From Why Not Anything: 

The education system in America is outdated. It’s time for change.

Sign the petition to send a message to the US Dept. of Education: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-a…

Featured On The Washington Post:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a…

Speaker: Arooj Ahmad (@asquared121)
http://about.me/arooj.ahmad
http://aroojahmad.me
http://facebook.com/arooj.ahmad.16

Filmed and Edited: Jacob Phillips
Twitter & Instagram: @whynotanything
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wnanything
http://www.whynotanything.com

From the TED blog:

After more than 13 years of research convinced him that children have the ability to learn almost anything on their own, 2013 TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra aspires to shape the future of learning by building a School in the Cloud, helping kids “tap into their innate sense of wonder.”

In the spirit of Mitra’s invitation to the world to “ask kids big questions, and find big answers,” we asked four brilliant young people to tell us: What do you think is the future of learning?

Adora Svitak, 15-year-old writer, teacher and activist

“One of the most powerful shifts in the future of education will come from not only the tools at our disposal, but from an underutilized resource: the students whose voices have for too long been silent. We’re increasingly pushing for seats at the decision-making tables, empowering ourselves by shaping our own learning, and taking on activist roles both online and off. To me, this signals one of the most hopeful signs of the future of education — the shift from a top-down, learning-everything-from-the-authority-figure approach to an approach characterized by peer-to-peer learning, empowerment  and grassroots change.”

Kid President, 10-year-old inspiration machine

“My older brother and I believe kids and grown ups can change the world. We’re on a mission with our web series, Kid President, to do just that. If every classroom in the world could be full of grownups and kids working together, we’d live in a happier world. Kids want to know about the world and about how they can make an impact. Kids also have ideas. It’d be awesome if teachers and students could work together and put these ideas into action. There should be lessons in things like compassion and creativity. If those two things were taught more in schools we’d see some really cool things happen.”

Read the full post at the TED blog: http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/06/4-inspiring-kids-imagine-the-future-of-learning/

From www.schoolingtheworld.org/resources/educators:

1. Discussion Guide

4. HEADS UP

“A public school trying to help children learn and grow.” Somehow, it’s a revolutionary concept.

Watch this new web video series following a year in the life of Mission Hill School, a small public school in Boston founded in 1997 by author and educator Deborah Meier, which “emphasizes a project-based, collaborative curriculum, inclusive of all learning abilities…[and] is modeled on democratic principles.” The series was created by filmmakers Tom and Amy Valens, in collaboration with revolutionary educator Sam Chaltain, along with Ashoka, IDEA, the NoVo Foundation, and the Mission Hill School community, of course.

From A Year At Mission Hill: 

What goes into creating a powerful learning environment for children and adults? Meet the teachers, families and children of Mission Hill as they experience the highs and lows of a year of self-discovery, exploration, and frustration. And join us for a national conversation about the state of public education as it is – and as it ought to be.

A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made—all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
Since musicians are known to set down their ideas in the form of sheet music, these curious black dots and lines must constitute the “language of music.” It is imperative that students become fluent in this language if they are to attain any degree of musical competence; indeed, it would be ludicrous to expect a child to sing a song or play an instrument without having a thorough grounding in music notation and theory. Playing and  listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school.

So begins mathematician Paul Lockhart’s manifesto on the sorry state of math education, “A Mathematician’s Lament.” It’s clear where this dream is going: Lockhart develops the details of this nightmare about music education to their obviously absurd conclusions, but we all know he’s really talking about the teaching of mathematics. The bold and brilliant point of the metaphor, made explicit later in Lockhart’s essay, is that mathematics is an art, and to teach any of the arts with such a mechanical, “soul-crushing” approach is a crime against humanity. “In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making,” Lockhart writes, “I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done—I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education.”

“School boards do not understand what math is, neither do educators, textbook authors, publishing companies, and sadly, neither do most of our math teachers. The scope of the problem is so enormous, I hardly know where to begin.”

If you caught R&D’s post last summer, “An Ode to Math,” you’ll know we share Lockhart’s lament, and you’ll have already seen some of the great resources from bright spirits who have their minds and hearts fixed upon the beauty and joy of mathematics. Thankfully, Lockhart’s essay is not merely a lament. He also joyfully waxes poetic about the “subversive” art of mathematics:

The first thing to understand is that mathematics is an art. The difference between math and the other arts, such as music and painting, is that our culture does not recognize it as such…Part of the problem is that nobody has the faintest idea what it is that mathematicians do. The common perception seems to be that mathematicians are somehow connected with science—perhaps they help the scientists with their formulas, or feed big numbers into computers for some reason or other. 

Nevertheless, the fact is that there is nothing as dreamy and poetic, nothing as radical, subversive, and psychedelic, as mathematics.  It is every bit as mind blowing as cosmology or physics (mathematicians conceived of black holes long before astronomers actually found any), and allows more freedom of expression than poetry, art, or music (which depend heavily on properties of the physical universe)…I can hardly do better than to begin with G.H. Hardy’s excellent description:

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker
of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than
theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. 
 

If you still aren’t convinced after reading Lockhart’s Lament that mathematics is a creative art, watch some of great TED Talks on the beauty and power of mathematics provided below:

And there are even more where those came from:

1. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita predicts Iran’s future: Can math predict the future? While there is always an element of uncertainty, in this lecture you’ll see how math has been used to correctly predict events like war and political power shifts – and what it says for the future of Iran.
2. Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness: If you know a thing or two about fractals, you’re bound to know the name Mandelbrot. In this lecture, this legendary mathematician explains the essentials of fractal math and what these complex structures can tell us about nature and humankind.
3. Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers: Even if you loved math class, you probably agree that it could use a makeover to reflect modern technology and applications. Here, Conrad Wolfram explains why math is so boring to so many students and what can be done to change it.
4. Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic”: You’ll love watching mathemagician Arthur Benjamin race against calculators to figure out three-digit squares, solve massive equations and even guess audience member birthdays. Best of all, he’ll explain how you can do it too.
5. Sean Gourley on the mathematics of war: War may not be as random as one might think. In this lecture, you’ll see how analysis of wartime statistics reveals some interesting correlations between fatalities and frequency of attacks.
6. Steven Strogatz on Sync: Ever wonder how birds, fish and insects manage to work, move and survive together in such large groups? Take a look at this lecture where mathematician Steven Strogatz explains the phenomenon of sync and what it means for both the natural and unnatural worlds.
7. Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality’s riddle: There are many things both in the natural world and in the manmade one that rely on symmetry. It’s virtually everywhere you look, but we often don’t see all that’s really behind it. In this lecture, you’ll get a chance to understand the numbers that bring these symmetrical objects together.
8. Ron Eglash on African fractals: In this engaging lecture, you’ll learn about the research mathematician Ron Eglash has done on fractal patterns that show up in African villages and architecture.
9. Demo: Stunning data visualization in the AlloSphere: Numbers themselves can sometimes seem a bit boring, and it can be hard to understand what they really mean. This demonstration of the AlloSphere helps bring data to life in a stunning way.
10. Evan Grant: Making sound visible through cymatics: We can hear sounds well enough, but can rarely see them. This lecture turns that on its head, talking about cymatics, the process by which sound waves are made visible. You’ll not only find the math compelling but the designs these sound waves create beautiful.
11. Greg Lynn on calculus in architecture: Think calculus has no place in architecture? Architect Greg Lynn would beg to differ and shares how using calculus and digital tools lets architects create new building forms and amazing structures.
12. Peter Donnelly shows how stats fool juries: Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly explains how human beings are so often fooled by numbers, especially statistics. For example, these errors hold the potential to impact the lives of all those involved in a trial — perhaps for the worse.
13. Gary Wolf: The quantified self: Can’t get enough of numbers? This lecture from Gary Wolf shows how mobile apps and gadgets can help you track just about every number about yourself and your life in infinite detail.
14. Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything: The creator of Mathematica and the Wolfram behind Wolfram Alpha, Stephen Wolfram knows a thing or two about using computers for math. Here, he shows how the abilities of computers to analyze, collect and organize data can help us unravel the mysteries of our own world and the universe beyond.
15. Alan Kay shares a powerful idea about ideas: Learn how computers can be amazing tools when it comes to teaching kids about science and math, demonstrating concepts in ways that no other things can.
16. Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing: Physics and marketing may make strange bedfellows but that didn’t stop Google marketing director Dan Cobley from bringing them together. In this lecture, he shares how he applied what he learn in physics to his own ideas on branding.

There’s a new TED talk from Ken Robinson:

Also, check out Ken Robinson’s curated playlist of 10 TED talks on education: 

http://www.ted.com/playlists/124/ken_robinson_10_talks_on_educ.html

THNKR is hosting a panel event with The 92nd Street Y in New York City on May 21!

PANELISTS
Abigail Besdin, SKILLSHARE
Joe Hall, GHETTO FILM SCHOOL
Jake Schwartz, GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Joel Rose, NEW CLASSROOMS INNOVATION PARTNERS

Moderated by New York Times journalist LAURA PAPPANO.

Meet the other panelists: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

Abigail Besdin from the education team at Skillshare talks about Skillshare’s history, the future of education, and the role she sees Skillshare seeks to play in that future.

Learn a new skill at Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/

Joe Hall is the president and founder of Ghetto Film School, a non-profit organization that seeks to give a creative education to those who might otherwise not receive one through teaching film classes and establishing mentorships between kids and professionals in New York City.

Check-out Ghetto Film School here: http://ghettofilm.org/

Joel Rose is the co-founder and CEO of New Classrooms, a non-profit organization that is re-imagining and innovating the classroom experience to cater to and address the needs of each student.

Check-out New Classrooms here: http://www.newclassrooms.org/

ABOUT THE EVENT

What is the state of learning in the 21st Century? Virtual education, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and peer-to-peer learning communities have the potential to completely reinvent the classroom, and more importantly how we educate humanity across the globe. 

More and more, people are self directing their education, and empowering themselves beyond traditional educational institutions. The definition of education is in a state of flux and the capacity for transformation is limitless. Will “education” as we know it become obsolete? What will the future of learning look like? Finally, can a new model of education make for a more just world?

The FUTURE OF LEARNING will bring together thought-leaders and academic luminaries to talk about how our society should think about learning and education in our changing world. The panel will feature those innovators who are on the front lines of reinventing the ways we learn, as well as the great minds who can make sense of seismic changes and the implications they will have for the world at large.

Created and produced by @radical.media, THNKR gives you extraordinary access to the people, stories, and ideas that are transforming our world.

BUY TICKETS: http://goo.gl/1aYo

A great new video excerpted from David Foster Wallace’s brilliant 2005 Kenyon College commencement address. We miss him dearly:

“If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.

“Not that that mystical stuff is necessarily true. The only thing that’s capital-T True is that you get to decide how you’re gonna try to see it.

“This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.”

You can read the full speech here, or listen to the original speech here, courtesy of the wonderful Open Culture.  (Or, if you want to pay $10, Hachette Book Group has made the unscrupulous decision to make money off the virtually cost-free digital distribution of the public speech given by the now-deceased writer on their site here). 

“The practical solution for students lies in two key improvements that must take hold in today’s education system: relevant holistic curricula and freedom of choice…By doing this, students will be encouraged to self-direct their learning and develop a passion. If schools are doing their jobs, students will no longer be asking ‘When am I ever going to use this?’ and will instead ask ‘How can I learn more?’ A step away from standardization is the core.”

From Why Not Anything: 

The education system in America is outdated. It’s time for change.

Sign the petition to send a message to the US Dept. of Education: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-a…

Featured On The Washington Post:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/a…

Speaker: Arooj Ahmad (@asquared121)
http://about.me/arooj.ahmad
http://aroojahmad.me
http://facebook.com/arooj.ahmad.16

Filmed and Edited: Jacob Phillips
Twitter & Instagram: @whynotanything
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wnanything
http://www.whynotanything.com

From the TED blog:

After more than 13 years of research convinced him that children have the ability to learn almost anything on their own, 2013 TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra aspires to shape the future of learning by building a School in the Cloud, helping kids “tap into their innate sense of wonder.”

In the spirit of Mitra’s invitation to the world to “ask kids big questions, and find big answers,” we asked four brilliant young people to tell us: What do you think is the future of learning?

Adora Svitak, 15-year-old writer, teacher and activist

“One of the most powerful shifts in the future of education will come from not only the tools at our disposal, but from an underutilized resource: the students whose voices have for too long been silent. We’re increasingly pushing for seats at the decision-making tables, empowering ourselves by shaping our own learning, and taking on activist roles both online and off. To me, this signals one of the most hopeful signs of the future of education — the shift from a top-down, learning-everything-from-the-authority-figure approach to an approach characterized by peer-to-peer learning, empowerment  and grassroots change.”

Kid President, 10-year-old inspiration machine

“My older brother and I believe kids and grown ups can change the world. We’re on a mission with our web series, Kid President, to do just that. If every classroom in the world could be full of grownups and kids working together, we’d live in a happier world. Kids want to know about the world and about how they can make an impact. Kids also have ideas. It’d be awesome if teachers and students could work together and put these ideas into action. There should be lessons in things like compassion and creativity. If those two things were taught more in schools we’d see some really cool things happen.”

Read the full post at the TED blog: http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/06/4-inspiring-kids-imagine-the-future-of-learning/

From www.schoolingtheworld.org/resources/educators:

1. Discussion Guide

4. HEADS UP

“A public school trying to help children learn and grow.” Somehow, it’s a revolutionary concept.

Watch this new web video series following a year in the life of Mission Hill School, a small public school in Boston founded in 1997 by author and educator Deborah Meier, which “emphasizes a project-based, collaborative curriculum, inclusive of all learning abilities…[and] is modeled on democratic principles.” The series was created by filmmakers Tom and Amy Valens, in collaboration with revolutionary educator Sam Chaltain, along with Ashoka, IDEA, the NoVo Foundation, and the Mission Hill School community, of course.

From A Year At Mission Hill: 

What goes into creating a powerful learning environment for children and adults? Meet the teachers, families and children of Mission Hill as they experience the highs and lows of a year of self-discovery, exploration, and frustration. And join us for a national conversation about the state of public education as it is – and as it ought to be.

A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. “We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world.” Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made—all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
Since musicians are known to set down their ideas in the form of sheet music, these curious black dots and lines must constitute the “language of music.” It is imperative that students become fluent in this language if they are to attain any degree of musical competence; indeed, it would be ludicrous to expect a child to sing a song or play an instrument without having a thorough grounding in music notation and theory. Playing and  listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school.

So begins mathematician Paul Lockhart’s manifesto on the sorry state of math education, “A Mathematician’s Lament.” It’s clear where this dream is going: Lockhart develops the details of this nightmare about music education to their obviously absurd conclusions, but we all know he’s really talking about the teaching of mathematics. The bold and brilliant point of the metaphor, made explicit later in Lockhart’s essay, is that mathematics is an art, and to teach any of the arts with such a mechanical, “soul-crushing” approach is a crime against humanity. “In fact, if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making,” Lockhart writes, “I couldn’t possibly do as good a job as is currently being done—I simply wouldn’t have the imagination to come up with the kind of senseless, soul-crushing ideas that constitute contemporary mathematics education.”

“School boards do not understand what math is, neither do educators, textbook authors, publishing companies, and sadly, neither do most of our math teachers. The scope of the problem is so enormous, I hardly know where to begin.”

If you caught R&D’s post last summer, “An Ode to Math,” you’ll know we share Lockhart’s lament, and you’ll have already seen some of the great resources from bright spirits who have their minds and hearts fixed upon the beauty and joy of mathematics. Thankfully, Lockhart’s essay is not merely a lament. He also joyfully waxes poetic about the “subversive” art of mathematics:

The first thing to understand is that mathematics is an art. The difference between math and the other arts, such as music and painting, is that our culture does not recognize it as such…Part of the problem is that nobody has the faintest idea what it is that mathematicians do. The common perception seems to be that mathematicians are somehow connected with science—perhaps they help the scientists with their formulas, or feed big numbers into computers for some reason or other. 

Nevertheless, the fact is that there is nothing as dreamy and poetic, nothing as radical, subversive, and psychedelic, as mathematics.  It is every bit as mind blowing as cosmology or physics (mathematicians conceived of black holes long before astronomers actually found any), and allows more freedom of expression than poetry, art, or music (which depend heavily on properties of the physical universe)…I can hardly do better than to begin with G.H. Hardy’s excellent description:

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker
of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than
theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. 
 

If you still aren’t convinced after reading Lockhart’s Lament that mathematics is a creative art, watch some of great TED Talks on the beauty and power of mathematics provided below:

And there are even more where those came from:

1. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita predicts Iran’s future: Can math predict the future? While there is always an element of uncertainty, in this lecture you’ll see how math has been used to correctly predict events like war and political power shifts – and what it says for the future of Iran.
2. Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals and the art of roughness: If you know a thing or two about fractals, you’re bound to know the name Mandelbrot. In this lecture, this legendary mathematician explains the essentials of fractal math and what these complex structures can tell us about nature and humankind.
3. Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers: Even if you loved math class, you probably agree that it could use a makeover to reflect modern technology and applications. Here, Conrad Wolfram explains why math is so boring to so many students and what can be done to change it.
4. Arthur Benjamin does “Mathemagic”: You’ll love watching mathemagician Arthur Benjamin race against calculators to figure out three-digit squares, solve massive equations and even guess audience member birthdays. Best of all, he’ll explain how you can do it too.
5. Sean Gourley on the mathematics of war: War may not be as random as one might think. In this lecture, you’ll see how analysis of wartime statistics reveals some interesting correlations between fatalities and frequency of attacks.
6. Steven Strogatz on Sync: Ever wonder how birds, fish and insects manage to work, move and survive together in such large groups? Take a look at this lecture where mathematician Steven Strogatz explains the phenomenon of sync and what it means for both the natural and unnatural worlds.
7. Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality’s riddle: There are many things both in the natural world and in the manmade one that rely on symmetry. It’s virtually everywhere you look, but we often don’t see all that’s really behind it. In this lecture, you’ll get a chance to understand the numbers that bring these symmetrical objects together.
8. Ron Eglash on African fractals: In this engaging lecture, you’ll learn about the research mathematician Ron Eglash has done on fractal patterns that show up in African villages and architecture.
9. Demo: Stunning data visualization in the AlloSphere: Numbers themselves can sometimes seem a bit boring, and it can be hard to understand what they really mean. This demonstration of the AlloSphere helps bring data to life in a stunning way.
10. Evan Grant: Making sound visible through cymatics: We can hear sounds well enough, but can rarely see them. This lecture turns that on its head, talking about cymatics, the process by which sound waves are made visible. You’ll not only find the math compelling but the designs these sound waves create beautiful.
11. Greg Lynn on calculus in architecture: Think calculus has no place in architecture? Architect Greg Lynn would beg to differ and shares how using calculus and digital tools lets architects create new building forms and amazing structures.
12. Peter Donnelly shows how stats fool juries: Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly explains how human beings are so often fooled by numbers, especially statistics. For example, these errors hold the potential to impact the lives of all those involved in a trial — perhaps for the worse.
13. Gary Wolf: The quantified self: Can’t get enough of numbers? This lecture from Gary Wolf shows how mobile apps and gadgets can help you track just about every number about yourself and your life in infinite detail.
14. Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything: The creator of Mathematica and the Wolfram behind Wolfram Alpha, Stephen Wolfram knows a thing or two about using computers for math. Here, he shows how the abilities of computers to analyze, collect and organize data can help us unravel the mysteries of our own world and the universe beyond.
15. Alan Kay shares a powerful idea about ideas: Learn how computers can be amazing tools when it comes to teaching kids about science and math, demonstrating concepts in ways that no other things can.
16. Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing: Physics and marketing may make strange bedfellows but that didn’t stop Google marketing director Dan Cobley from bringing them together. In this lecture, he shares how he applied what he learn in physics to his own ideas on branding.