Here is new research to challenge the notion that video games have to be mindless and sedentary.
A new study reveals how students can learn geometry through movement using the Kinect for Windows.
“Carmen Petrick Smith, assistant professor of mathematics education (second from left), works with undergraduate education majors on movements that are used to help elementary school children learn geometry (credit: Andy Duback)
University of Vermont assistant professor of mathematics education Carmen Petrick Smith has found in a study that elementary school students who interacted with a Kinect for Windows mathematics program while learning geometry showed significant gains in the understanding of angles and angle measurements…
Smith and her research team engaged 30 third- and fourth-grade students in a series of tasks that involved moving their arms to form angles projected on a large Kinect screen.
The screen changed colors when the students’ arms formed acute, right, obtuse and straight angles. A protractor helped students measure and refine their movements. Students were asked to figure out the hidden rules that made each of the four colors appear on the screen.”
- Carmen Petrick Smith, Barbara King, Jennifer Hoyte. Learning angles through movement: Critical actions for developing understanding in an embodied activity. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 2014; 36: 95 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmathb.2014.09.001
Learning angles through movement:
Critical actions for developing understanding in an embodied activity
Pre- and post-tests showed gains in understanding of angle and angle measurement.
Connections between physical and abstract representations can support learning.
Exploring a variety of physical representations is associated with learning.
Connections between movements and personal experiences can support learning.
Angle instruction often begins with familiar, real-world examples of angles, but the transition to more abstract ideas can be challenging. In this study, we examine 20 third and fourth grade students completing a body-based angle task in a motion-controlled learning environment using the Kinect for Windows. We present overall pre- and post-test results, showing that the task enhanced learners’ developing ideas about angles, and we describe two case studies of individual students, looking in detail at the role the body plays in the learning process. We found that the development of a strong connection between the body and the abstract representation of angle was instrumental to learning, as was exploring the space and making connections to personal experiences. The implications of these findings for developing body-based tasks are discussed.
- Embodied cognition;
- Motion-controlled technology”
Faculty Biography | Carmen Petrick Smith
Carmen Petrick Smith, Ph.D.
Carmen Petrick Smith is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Vermont. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied the effects of embodied actions on learning geometry. Her research interests center on embodied cognition, games for learning, and STEM education. She is also a former high school mathematics teacher, and in addition to her work in education, she can solve a Rubik’s cube, is a former Guinness World Record holder for dancing the Thriller, and won the 2008 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships.
Paul Howard-Jones, of Bristol University, addresses the topic of Learning Games and “…using uncertain reward within computer games to make learning engaging. There is a clear theoretical basis and laboratory-based evidence for a classroom-based approach and so me exploratory research in classrooms that may be helpful in informing pedagogy, but evidence of impact on improved engagement and enhanced academic achievement is limited to young adults” (p.5).
He goes on to write that;
“Mental rotation skills are strong predictors of achievement in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and results from a single study show that improving mental rotation does lead to improvement in attainment. However, this has only been tested with undergraduate students. Another way of improving these skills might be through video games” (p.6).
Howard-Jones adds that;
“Popular games provide rapid schedules of uncertain reward that stimulate the brain’s reward system. The brain’s reward response can positively influence the rate at which we learn. Beyond just the magnitude of the reward, a range of contextual factors influence this reward response” (p.11).
To read the full report by Paul Howard-Jones,
Neuroscience and Education: A Review of Educational Interventions and Approaches Informed by Neuroscience Full Report and Executive Summary,
Press Release from The Gates Foundation;
SEATTLE–The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a suite of investments, totaling more than $20 million, focused on identifying and expanding promising cutting-edge learning resources that support teachers and students and bring innovative new instructional approaches into America’s classrooms. These investments support the development of game-based learning applications; math, English language arts and science curricula built in to digital formats; learning through social networking platforms; and embedded assessments through a real-time and engaging environment of experiences and journeys. All these promising resources are aligned to the Common Core State Standards, which are college- and career-ready standards being implemented in more than 40 states.
The Pearson Foundation, one of the major partners in this work, today is also announcing the development of its complete digital curriculum to support the standards. The foundation is pleased to work with Pearson Foundation by providing research and $3 million in funding to help make these tools widely available. In addition to the Pearson Foundation, the foundation is also partnering with Educurious Partners, Florida Virtual School, Institute of Play, Reasoning Mind, Quest Atlantis, Digital Youth Network and EDUCAUSE to develop and promote new applications for learning and assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
“Teachers are telling us what they want, and we are listening,” said Vicki L. Phillips, Director of Education, College Ready, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We believe these exciting world-class tools have the potential to fundamentally change the way students and teachers interact in the classroom, and ultimately, how education works in America.”
A significant part of these investments announced today include supporting work to build a complete system of digital courses aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The Pearson Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Pearson, the leading learning company, is developing 24 online math and English language arts courses to help teachers and principals implement the standards. These courses will be delivered through a combination of technologies, including video, interactive software, games, social media, and print. Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support the development of this robust system of courses, including four— two in math and two in English language arts—to be available at no cost on an open platform for schools.
In addition, a $2 million grant to Educurious Partners will help develop high school courses in biology, freshman literature and Algebra I using a project-based learning design and incorporating a social network Internet application. These include two literacy-based and two math-based courses that are contextualized within disciplines, such as engineering or writing in the natural sciences.
The foundation’s $742,996 investment in Reasoning Mind which offers teacher professional development and online elementary math curricula that build algebraic thinking, will pilot a program that makes a single effective math teacher available across multiple classrooms. If successful, one Reasoning Mind-trained teacher can affect the math scores and proficiency of 250 students using the program in different grades at several schools. A Reasoning Mind classroom is a hybrid of online and face-to-face instruction, where the teacher gives each child individual help and attention.
“Technology has advanced how we do so many things today,” added Phillips. “Yet, instead of transforming our schools, technology has generally been placed on top of antiquated models. These new cutting-edge applications have the potential to inspire students and engage them in the way they naturally learn, while giving teachers the flexibility to be creative in their craft and customize tools to their students’ needs.”
The foundation is also investing in several game-based learning tools:
- $2.6 million for iRemix, which is being developed by Digital Youth Network. It will be a set of 20 literacy-based trajectories that allow students to earn badges and move from novice to expert in areas like creative writing.
- $2.5 million to Institute of Play will build a set of game-based pedagogical tools and game-design curricula that can be used within both formal and informal learning contexts.
- $2.6 million to Quest Atlantis is creating video games that build proficiency in math, literacy and science.
All these applications will support the Common Core State Standards.
In addition, a $2 million grant to Educurious Partners will help develop high school courses in biology, freshman literature, and Algebra I through a social network Internet application. The application will allow students and teachers to collaborate with a variety of experts who are working in professional fields that are relevant to what the students are learning in the courses. These courses will also support the Common Core State Standards.
Finally, in June, Next Generation Learning Challenges will award up to $10 million in competitive grants to support promising technology-enabled programs built around embedded assessments that can help students master 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade content and competencies aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Embedded assessments are a way of testing a student’s knowledge in real-time through program such as online math courses that help students self-pace their learning, game-based learning environments, and literacy instruction delivered through mobile phones. While learning in a digital environment that uses embedded assessments, students demonstrate mastery of a subject in order to progress to the next level of a game, course, or application. Next Generation Learning Challenges is a grant competition and community aimed at identifying and expanding promising technologies that can help improve education across the K-12 and postsecondary spectrum. It is led by EDUCAUSE and community partners with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
For more information about the foundation’s investments to advance promising technologies in education, please visit www.gatesfoundation.org\education.
Allie Bidwell, of US News, writes that;
“It seems like kids do everything online these days – and school is no exception. More and more, educators are taking advantage of digital advances to supplement their teaching in the classroom, and are seeing encouraging results. This is especially the case for certain subgroups of students that typically struggle academically, such as English language learners and special education students.
“The classroom you went to school in is almost the exact same classroom you’d walk into today, but the level of engagement our kids get outside of the classroom has changed dramatically,” says Jessica Lindl, general manager of the digital gaming company GlassLab and a spokesperson for the game SimCityEDU. “Teachers are almost the entertainers trying to find whatever tool they can to try to engage their kids.”
Lindl says the SimCityEDU game helps engage kids by helping them improve basic cognitive functions and critical thinking. In the game, students serve as the mayor of a city and are immediately faced with challenges – they must address environmental impacts on the city while maintaining employment needs and other relationships.
Although Lindl says it’s important to use games as a supplement to classroom-based learning, such digital outlets have added benefits.
“There is continuous positive feedback,” Lindl says. “Learners are way more likely to feel comfortable with a video game than taking a standardized test and that’s really powerful.”
Additionally, video games in the classroom provide teachers, administrators and parents with a plethora of data to give assessments on students’ performances that Lindl says is invaluable, not just because of the granularity of the data, but also because it shows student achievements in real time. Other times, parents and students may have to wait weeks or months, depending on the test, to see their results.
“When you think of learning games, engagement and game mechanics is exciting, but there’s a critical value proposition around game-based assessments that we’re seeing,” Lindl says. “Teachers, students and parents can have in the moment understanding of what the child is learning, how they arrived at that learning and accelerate what the learning is, as opposed to waiting weeks down the road.”
Another valuable aspect of using games in the classroom is the competition (and hence reward) mechanisms built into some games.
At Mario Umana Academy in Boston, students from kindergarten through eighth grade have been using a program called First in Math since 2010.”
To read the full article by Allie Bidwell, of US News, click here;
Jonathan Wai wrote a very compelling article on “Why We Need To Value Students’ Spatial Creativity”. He reminds us of the spatially creative inventors and geniuses who have contributed so much to to science and industry. Then he reveals how schools neglects the development of spacial creativity. He makes clear connections between the video games, the development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills and spacial creativity;
“The research is clear that spatial skill is important for STEM careers, and perhaps we can even enhance spatial skill to help more people join the STEM fields. What we need is research directed at understanding the best ways to develop the talent of students who are high spatial, but relatively lower math/verbal. Perhaps spatial video games and online learning coupled with hands on interventions might help these students.”
Wai also writes that;
“Spatial thinking “finds meaning in the shape, size, orientation, location, direction or trajectory, of objects,” and their relative positions, and “uses the properties of space as a vehicle for structuring problems, for finding answers, and for expressing solutions.” Spatial skill can be measured through reliable and valid paper-and-pencil tests—primarily ones that assess three dimensional mental visualization and rotation. Read more about examples of items that measure spatial skill here.
But despite the value of these kinds of skills, spatially talented students are, by and large, neglected. Nearly a century ago, a talent search conducted by Lewis Terman used the highly verbal Stanford-Binet in an attempt to discover the brightest kids in California. This test identified a boy named Richard Nixon who would eventually become the U.S. president, but two others would miss the cut likely because the Stanford-Binet did not include a spatial test: William Shockley and Luis Alvarez, who would go on to become famous physicists and win the Nobel Prize.
Today talent searches often use the SAT and ACT which include math, verbal, and writing sections, but do not include a spatial measure. All of the physicists described above (and Tesla who could do integral calculus in his head) would likely qualify today at least on the math section, and Edison would likely have qualified on the verbal section due to his early love of reading. However, there are many students who have high spatial talent but relatively lower math and verbal talent who are likely missed by modern talent searches and therefore fail to have their talent developed to the extent it could. Also, because colleges use the SAT and ACT for selecting students, many high spatial students likely do not make it onto college campuses.
Nearly every standardized test given to students today is heavily verbal and mathematical. Students who have the high spatial and lower math/verbal profile are therefore missed in nearly every school test and their talent likely goes missed, and thus under-developed. What’s more, spatially talented people are often less verbally fluent, and unlikely to be very vocal. Finally, teachers are unlikely to have a high spatial profile themselves (and typically have the inverted profile of high verbal and lower math/spatial), and although they probably do not intend to, they’re more likely to miss seeing talent in students who are not very much like themselves.”
One topic that Wai did not address is the effect of the gender imbalance, in teaching, on the neglect of spacial creativity in US. Schools. When one gender so dominates the teaching profession, we should expect that certain aspects of creativity will necessarily be neglected. Gender diversity is better for all professions. Gender diversity in the teaching profession would go a long way toward fostering the development of spacial creativity in students.
To read the full article by Jonathan Wai on Mind/Shift click here;
NDTV notes that;
Moreover, students’ interest and enjoyment in playing the math video game increased when they played with another student.
The findings point to new ways in which computer, console, or mobile educational games may yield learning benefits.
“We found support for claims that well-designed games can motivate students to learn less popular subjects, such as math, and that game-based learning can actually get students interested in the subject matter?and can broaden their focus beyond just collecting stars or points,” said Jan Plass, a professor in New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and one of the study’s lead authors.
“Educational games may be able to help circumvent major problems plaguing classrooms by placing students in a frame of mind that is conducive to learning rather than worrying about how smart they look,” added co-lead author Paul O’Keefe, an NYU postdoctoral fellow at the time of the study.
The researchers focused on how students’ motivation to learn, as well as their interest and performance in math, was affected by playing a math video game either individually, competitively, or collaboratively.
Researchers had middle-school students play the video game FactorReactor, which is designed to build math skills through problem solving and therefore serves as diagnostic for learning.”
To read the full article click here,
- Playing educational video games can boost kids’ motivation to learn (indiavision.com)
- Educational Video Games Help Students with Math Skills (scienceworldreport.com)
- Educational video games can boost motivation to learn, NYU, CUNY study shows (hispanicbusiness.com)
- Co-op gaming is a smart way to teach, says new research (polygon.com)
- Breaking Barriers: Video Games as Tools for Learning and Recovery (thetechscoop.net)
“Games have long been used to engage students. But as game-based learning becomes more prevalent in schools, researchers are interested in how game structure mirrors the learning process. In many games, students explore ideas and try out solutions. When they learn the skills required at one level, they move up. Failure to complete tasks is reframed as part of the path towards learning how to conquer a level.
Universities like Harvard, MIT and the University of Wisconsin’s Game and Learning Society are studying how game-playing helps student engagement and achievement, and well-known researchers in the field like James Paul Gee and University of Wisconsin professor Kurt Squire show are using their own studies to show that games help students learn.
Once the terrain of experimental classrooms, digital games are now becoming more common in classrooms. In a recent survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, half of 505 K-8 teachers said they use digital games with their students two or more days a week, and 18 percent use them daily. Educators are using commercial games like Minecraft, World of Warcraft and SimCity for education. The Institute of Play continues to study game-based learning and helps support two Quest to Learn schools, which are based around the idea of games and learning.”
To read the full article click here;
Neil Peirce finds that;
“Although there is a limited amount of academic research in this area, there is evidence of the benefits of specifically designed games, notably in the areas of phonological awareness, differentiating relationships, memory enhancement, coordinated motor skills, and mathematical development. However, these benefits have only been evaluated over several months in a structured preschool environment. The impact of such games being played intermittently in an informal setting is an area of
Download a copy of the report here [PDF].
In her article “Teachers, Students, Digital Games: What’s the Right Mix?” Holly Korbey interviewed a few educators who had some bad ideas about computer games;
“And learning is hard work. The tools children use to manipulate and
change the world and their own neural pathways should reflect the
profundity of that phenomenon; we should have some blisters, form
calluses, break a sweat. Computer games don’t demand that from
The better games are demanding. That is why they are the best games. There are educational games that are very challenging but they are challenging in the way that good play is challenging. It is counter productive to remind children that they learning not playing. The best learning happens when we are playing.
Practicing a skill leads to success, but if the practice is boring then students will be less motivated to engage in the requisite practice (James Gee, 2007). The best digital games provide practice that is very compelling, engaging, and challenging, but never boring. Gamers play not because games are easy but because they are hard. But, they are hard in the right way, to the right degree, and most importantly – they are hard in a fun way. The best games provide the balance of challenge and support. To describe learning as “hard work and not play” is one of the worst possible ways to describe it.
Gee, J.P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy (Rev. ed.). New York: Palgrave McMillian.
To read the full article by Holly Korbey click here;
This could be a great tool for teachers and others who are interested in making learning games.


Japanese music is extremely diverse: solo music, chamber music, court music, festival and folk music, different types of theatre music, percussion music, epic singing, and many more. This article presents a general overview of Japanese traditional solo and how it evolved into ensemble music.
I will start with describing the most important principles in Japanese aesthetic, principles which are used in all forms of art. It will be followed by a section on the traditional teaching of music. I will then move on to music itself; its historical beginnings, its evolution into solo music and then into ensemble music. The conclusion will briefly present today's situation. I also include a list of suggested CDs for those who want to investigate further into Japanese music.
The performance of Japanese music has traditionally been of a spiritual character, similarly to martial arts and other art forms of arts such as the tea ceremony and calligraphy, for example. The musician works on an inner strength in mastering of his or her instrument, more than simply perfecting a technique of some sort and providing entertainment. Audiences are looking for this self-mastery in musicians. For this reason, among many, this music has become highly ritualised. Musicians must show this spiritual self-mastery in their performance and composure.
Traditional Japanese music uses concrete elements which serve to represent natural sounds and the sounds of life. Contrary to Western music, the musician's self-expression is minimized through the ritualistic and contemplative use of these concrete sounds and effects. Many Westerners feel there is not much emotion in Japanese music. This important distinction in their aesthetic of music is important for Westerners to understand, and for the appreciation of Japanese traditional music.
Although composers were signing their works during the Nara period (553-794 AD), much earlier than the Europeans, composers and writers alike did not consider they had intellectual and individual rights over their work (though this has changed since the 20th century following Western influences). There are apparently two reasons for this. First, music, as well as theatre and poetry, are based on strict forms and patterns of composition, which are strictly followed. The concept of individual rights, thus, did not apply in this context. The second reason is that for the Japanese mind, the social and collective ego has precedence over the individual ego . So, when a musician writes a new musical work, it is done in the spirit of the school of which he or she belongs, and it is considered part of the repertoire of that school first and foremost. In this sense, tradition and the tradition of the school one belongs to have precedence over one's individuality. In this line of thought it is even accepted for another musician, member of a school or not, to adapt and modify a piece from another musician according to the style of their own school. Many pieces have different versions according to a musician's or a school's style.
For Japanese, the basic principle governing the universe is not God or man, but time - a time which is a primordial flowing energy, through which everything evolves and becomes . The concept of naru, meaning becoming, is very important in Japanese traditional music and all other Japanese forms of art. It is even considered a natural law. All art evolves through its own temporal movement and flow. This includes as well the movement of the painter or the sculptor in creating their works, the musician performing a piece of music, a poet reciting a poem or an actor performing in a play.
One of the most important aesthetic principle in Japanese music follows from this concept of naru. This principle is called jo-ha-kyû, which means roughly introduction, development and conclusion. It is a temporal aesthetic principle on which music is based, from a single note to entire pieces. It regulates the flow of time in a piece of music so that all notes, words and parts flow flawlessly between each other. Jo-ha-kyû manifests the flow of nature in temporal arts.
There is another principle which is very important in Japanese arts: the ma, which is generally translated as space ; but it is not a physical space but it is more a sensory space, which involves physical space as well as the space of time. In music, it is felt through the silences between musical phrases or single notes, or through the jo-ha-kyû while playing a single note or a phrase. In a flower arrangement, it is felt through the arrangement of the different flowers, branches or leafs. Or, in a Japanese tea room, one might see a beautiful kimono hung on a corner. The ma is felt not through its physical place in the room, but through what a kimono evokes in one's mind when notices it: the beauty of wearing such a beautiful kimono. The ma is sensory in relation to what is evoked in a person's mind when experiencing something.
The traditional teaching of music in Japan is considered intuitive, in the sense that the teacher does not say much; he goes straight into the music. In fact, it is not considered good for a student to ask too many questions, or the teacher to talk too much. In Japan, too many questions distract from the real goal of learning music. The student must observe and intuitively feel what the teacher wants him to learn. Most of the time the teacher plays with the student. The role of the student is to play while observing and intuitively feeling what and how the teacher is playing. It is this intuitive understanding that teachers want their students to learn.
Traditionally, a teacher would not make a specific schedule for his or her students. The teaching is traditionally done on a basis of first come, first served. Today, a time is given for each student, but some of the older teaching ideas are still kept. For example, it is common for the teacher to force his or her students to wait a certain period of time for his turn. The students are generally waiting in the room where the teaching is taking place. A good student is the one who is attentive to the lesson given to the other student; he can learn as much watching another student's lesson than during his or her own lesson. The learning process is thus a lengthy one; and the students must be patient. There are scores which differ from one instrument to the other (a shakuhachi player will not be able to play on his shakuhachi a koto or shamisen score, for example, because of how each score is is written). These scores are playing aids; most of the is learning is rote learning.
As a pupil, the student must respect and follow his teacher and the style of playing of his teacher. He is not allowed to study with a teacher from other schools. There is a strong sense of in-group and belonging. It is even the teacher who decides if and when a student is ready to play in a concert.
After years of study, a student can get his titles, such as the jun-shi-han, which allows the student to teach his instruments, the shi-han or master title, or great master title or dai-shi-han. All Japanese art forms follow pretty much this pattern. It can take years to receive one's shi-han. This is one among many reasons why there has been a decline in interest by young people in the study traditional art forms. Some teachers have been adapting their teaching to a more Western style, with a shorter time span of learning.
These monks also learned, brought and then taught different art forms, and in particular, musical instruments and styles of music unknown in Japan at the time. The main style of music brought is known by the Japanese name of Gagaku, meaning elegant or refined music. It entered Japan around 612 and quickly became the privileged music of the court. Besides being foremost a music of Chinese origin, during the then Tang Dynasty, Gagaku had important influences from Korean as well as Indian music. When in China, the monks were in fact taught by Chinese and Korean musicians. Up until around the 10th century the repertoire and the ensemble itself were adapted to suit Japanese taste; and new pieces were even composed. But since the 10th century, the repertoire as well as the way this music has been performed has remained almost exactly the same. It is believed that the sound of a Gagaku ensemble and its style of playing are almost the same today as it was a thousand years ago.
The instruments forming aGagakuensemble at its beginning in the 7th century were of three types: percussion, string and wind. Among the percussion instruments, we find different sized drums, such as the enormous da-daiko or the ninai-Daiko drums, the design of which is indicative of their Korean origins (a design still kept today). There are some smaller drums, gongs, cymbals and other smaller instruments. We find three stringed instruments: the wagon, a 7-stringed table zither1, the gaku-so, a 13-stringed table zither, the ancestor of the koto, and the gaku-biwa, a 4-stringed lute. Among the winds, we find the hichiriki, a short double-reed instrument, with a very distinctive sound, the sho, a mouth organ, as well as three different transverse flutes: the kagura-bue, the koma-bue and the ryuteki. At the start, the shakuhachi was also part of theGagakuorchestra, but was removed around the 9th century.
These instruments were among the first foreign musical instruments to reach the Japanese shores. Some of these instruments attracted more the attention and interest of music lovers and took a path distinct from the orchestra while still remaining part of it in one way or another (more specifically, the gaku-so, the gaku-biwa and many percussion instruments), while others have been used, up until today, only inGagakuorchestra (more specifically, the sho, the hichiriki and a few of the percussions). As for the shakuhachi; after having been removed from the orchestra, it did not attract anyone's attention for at least another 200 years.
Three of today's best-known Japanese traditional instruments were introduced in Japan at that time, i.e. thebiwa,thekotoand the shakuhachi. The other major Japanese instrument is theshamisen,a three-stringed lute, which came to Japan in the middle of the 16th century. These instruments went of course through changes and adaptations to suit Japanese musical tastes, evolving differently than their Chinese ancestors, as much in their fabrications, styles and techniques of playing as in their repertoires.2
We find biwa in different sizes, for different uses, and with different names depending on their uses. In Gagaku music, the gaku-biwa was used. It also developed as well as a solo instrument by the courtiers of the late-Nara (553-794) and Heian (794-1185) periods. Around that time, blind priests in the south of Japan started to use a smaller biwa, called the moso-biwa, of Indian origin, which felt suited to accompanying the singing of sutras. At least two other versions of biwa existed at that time.
In the 12th century, the blind-priest biwa players went through a decline, while, at the same time, a narrative tradition was created to recount a famous historical battle between the Heike and the Genji clans, called the Heike Monogatari or The Heike Story. The biwa created for this new narrative tradition has been called the Heike-biwa. But when the shamisen came to Japan in the 16th century, the biwa went into a decline. Yet, some musicians found ways to create new styles to keep the instrument alive up until today.
Overall, the biwa has been and is still used today to accompany narratives and storytelling. The patterns played by the singers on biwa are not always melodic, depending on the types of instrument used and the style. Patterns, melodic, rhythmic or otherwise, are used; in the 19th century, a more melodic accompaniment started to be used. Previously, the biwa was used as a kind of percussion instrument between the melodic phrases of the singers. In the 19th century, it came to accompany the singer. After World War II, some composers tried to modernize it, based on Western ideas, without much success.
Of Chinese origin, the koto is a table zither, approximately 2 meters long. It is one of the few musical instruments originally created in China. There, we find two main forms of this table zither: those with bridges and those without. The koto is developed from the one with bridges. Originally, the word koto meant all types of plucked instruments, which included at the beginning the biwa as well. Later it came to mean the Japanese table zithers. During the Nara period, there were two instruments of that family: the gaku-so with 12 or 13 strings, and the wagon with 6 strings. The gaku-so was used in theGagakuensemble and was plucked by three finger plectra, or tsume. There even existed a nigenkin with 2 strings and an ichigenkin, with one string. The latter is still played today by a few rare musicians. There exists today also a 17-stringed basskoto,and other versions with 20, 25 and even 30 strings.
No much is known about the early centuries of koto music, except for some legends that can not be confirmed and several mentions in The Tale of Genji and the Heike Monogatari . The first official records that have been kept on the koto are from a 16th century school, Tsukushi-goto, founded by a priest. But that music was considered vulgar , i.e. popular, and was not endorsed by the court. One student of that school, after being expelled from the school and created his own school which was then endorsed by the court, from which were created three of the best-known and most important pieces of the koto solo repertoire: Rokudan, Hachidan, and Midare.
In the 17th century, thekotostarted to be used to accompany dances and became part of ensembles. A new repertoire was created out of the shamisen repertoire. In fact, it was at that time that the music we call chamber music was created by a musician named Ikuta Kengyo. Up until then, the koto served as accompaniment for the singer - the same with the shamisen. The instrumental part became more important. At the end of 18th century, another musician, Yamada Kengyo, created a new style, also based on narrative shamisen forms, putting an emphasis back on the vocal part.
In the 20th century, attempts were made to modernize koto music based on Western principles. The most notable name is Michio Miyagi (1894-1956), who became blind at since the age of six. Another musician credited for modernizing koto music is Tadao Sawai (1937-1997). He brought to koto music a whole new perspective, especially a sense of rhythm never heard before.
During the Edo period (1615-1868), the shakuhachi went through major changes. Up until that time, it was a thin and long flute, similarly to the Chinese xiao. In the 17th century, makers started to use a thicker bamboo found in the mountains of Japan's southern island of Kyushu, maintaining its original 5 holes. Instead of having a straight flute, four rows of roots were used at the bottom of the flute. The embouchure also became larger. The name shakuhachi refers to a measure, the shaku, which is approximately a foot long, and hachi is the number 8. Shakuhachi literally means 'one shaku eight', which came to be used as the generic name for the flute. The standard 1.8 shakuhachi is in D. Different lengths are produced, from 1.4 to 3.4, each half a tone apart.
During the Edo period, the new shogun was able to unify the country and finally bring peace after centuries of wars. Samurai did not have much to do since they could not find any more fighting. Many became ronin, i.e. samurai without masters, and joined the ranks of the wandering monks of the Fuke sect. These monks, called komuso or monks of nothingness , were begging while playing shakuhachi. They were wearing a basket on their heads to signify their detachment from worldly matters. Disguised as komuso, the ronin became spies for the shogun, using their shakuhachi as fighting clubs. There is a rumour suggesting that the use of a thick bamboo and the four rows of roots to make the shakuhachi is due to these ronin to protect themselves because, as monks, they could not carry their katana (their sword).
The principal style of music that is played on the shakuhachi is called honkyoku, meaning original music . It is the name of the original style of playing of the Fuke sect monks. There are other styles as well. Originally, it was mainly a repertoire of solo pieces. Only a few pieces have been written for two shakuhachi, including some to which a second part was added to an originally solo piece. Another style of playing is the gaikyoku. This is the name of the shakuhachi part in Japanese chamber music.
In the 20th century, the shakuhachi went through some other changes. At the beginning of the century, a new style of playing was created, called Tozan, a style of playing greatly influenced by Western music. At the end of the 1950s a seven-hole shakuhachi was created in the hope it could be used to play in a more Western way. It did not catch on, except for playing folk songs. Shakuhachi players continue to maintain, up to this day, their preference for the traditional 5-hole instrument. But one event of importance of the second half of the 20th century is the growing interest by Westerners in learning to play the shakuhachi. It is estimated that somewhere around 2,000 Westerners are currently learning the shakuhachi and that there are around 300 who have got a master's title, or shi-han.
At the start, people did not find the instrument very interesting. But when biwa players started to pluck and play it with a biwa bachi (or plectrum), the sound and tone of the instrument were greatly improved, and even more so when once covered with cat skin. This gave the instrument a totally new sound, more pleasing for to the Japanese ears. Cat skin is more durable than snake skin; dog skin is used in cheaper models. A number of differentshamisenwere created for different occasions, with differences in sizes. This instrument quickly became the instrument of choice for the then new developing social life of a Japan without wars.
The shamisen has no frets. A number of different effects can be produced, but one most particular characteristic for the shamisen is what is called sawari, similar to the one produced on the biwa. It is a buzzing sound produced only on the first string. The first shamisen players were biwa players. So the first repertoire for the shamisen was narrative music. But later, because of its growing popularity, to the demise of the biwa, numerous styles and schools of playing were created. There are two majors styles: katarimono, which refers to narrative singing, while utaimono refers to songs and melodies. The shamisen came to be used for all types of occasions: theatres, geisha houses, festivals, folk music and much more. The shamisen quickly became the instrument of choice for many theatre forms, in particular the well-known Kabuki theatre and Bunraku, the Japanese puppet theatre, both of which were created during the Edo period (1615-1868), at the same time of which the shamisen appeared.
Another instrument closely related to the shamisen is the kokyu. It is an upright shamisen played with a bow and can have two, three or four strings. Some are suggesting that it is related to the Chinese kokin, a 2-stringed fiddle, but it construction is entirely different from this Chinese instrument. A theory suggests that it was created following the first encounters in Japan with Western instruments - at the time the Portuguese were visiting Japan, bringing along string quartets. Someone apparently had the idea to create a bowed instrument using an upright shamisen.3 This idea has not been confirmed and is not mentioned in the literature. The kokyu was popular mainly during the Edo period (1615-1868). Today, only very a few rare musicians play the instrument and will accompany koto ensembles.
This idea of creating this type of small ensemble music is credited to a koto player name Ikuta Kengyo. At that time, the koto started to be used to accompany dances and being used in special ensembles. It was toward the end of the century that a form of chamber music in the true sense of the term was established, of which the koto was the main instrument. This ensemble consisted of the koto, the shamisen and the kokyu. The ensemble was called sankyoku, which means music for three instruments. Gradually the kokyu was replaced by the shakuhachi and it was in the second half of the 19th century that the kokyu was entirely set aside. It appears that the biwa was not selected as a possible candidate to be part of this traditional Japanese chamber music.
Interestingly though, the repertoire that Ikuta Kengyo selected for his sankyoku ensemble was taken from the shamisen repertoires, in particular from the jiuta style. Originally, the jiuta style referred to the shamisen music played in Kyoto. But later on, the term jiuta, or more specifically jiuta-mai, came to refer to the new style of koto music played by the new sankyoku ensemble. As well, many pieces of the regular koto repertoire have also been arranged for the new trio. The main innovation in this new style was that the instrumental part came to have precedence over the vocal part. And for the first time, the koto could play a leading role.
From this time on, the development of Japanese ensemble music has been closely linked to the development of the koto. For example, at the end of the 18th century, a new koto school was created, called Yamada. Although the Yamada school brought an emphasis on the vocal part, the instrumental part remained on an equal footing with the vocal. And in some new pieces, no vocal part was written. Later on, at the beginning of the 19th century, a master of the Ikuta school added a second koto part to many pieces of the repertoire, which plays a melodic line different from the main koto part.
In the 20th century, sankyoku music took a modern direction, which has been greatly influenced by Western music and compositional techniques. For example, previously scores did not use what can be call measures. Each instrument has its own particular notations written from top-down, left-right. Composers started to use boxes to refer to measures, as well as lines to represent rhythms similarly to Western music.
Jiuta-mai music does not have much in common with Western chamber music. We do not hear three distinct parts, with different melodic lines and a harmony of some sort. On the contrary, the three instruments play almost exactly the same melodic line, with two exceptions, the vocal parts and the melodic line of the second koto, when a second koto joins the ensemble. The melodic lines of the shamisen and shakuhachi are based on the koto line and are arranged here and there according to the particularity of both instruments. Otherwise, it is the same. The only real ensemble effect that is used is what is called kake-ai, which is a short melodic response between two instruments.
For this reason, every part of a jiuta-mai piece can be played separately from the two other parts. For example, the well-known piece Rokudan No Shirabe, which has no vocal part, can be played individually by each of the three instruments, or in duet (e.g. koto and shakuhachi, the most commonly heard version, shamisen and shakuhachi, or koto and shamisen). And, of course, it can be performed with the three instruments, and with the second koto part.
The jiuta-mai pieces contains parts alternating between instrumental and vocal parts; sometimes three, sometimes up to six parts. When a piece is in three parts, there are:
In the 20th century, there appears to have been a decline in the writing of sankyoku pieces. There has also been a decline in the interest by Japanese themselves and musicians and composers alike regarding their traditional music and instruments. After World War II, up until the end of the 1960s, not many sankyoku pieces had been written. We have been seeing seen a renewed interest at the beginning of the 1970s. What stands out with these 20th century pieces is that the majority of them appear to have been written for koto and shakuhachi. Yet, some composers have been written pieces which include the shamisen as well as the biwa - as well as writing pieces which include Western instruments.
As already mentioned, there is also a strong movement of modernization of traditional arts based on Western music, in particular with the koto with such composers as Michio Miyagi and Tadao Sawai. Some composers are doing the same with the other instruments, performed solo or in chamber music ensemble.
There are a good number of new pieces written for koto and shakuhachi or for koto ensembles and that are available on CDs in the West. Some of them are avant-garde pieces, some others are semiclassical; that is to say, they are avant-garde or melodic in the Western sense of the terms. Yet many composers are able to maintain in their compositions a typical Japanese character.
Additionally, there is a growing interest by Westerners about in Japanese music. Also as mentioned earlier, many people are learning to play the shakuhachi and getting their shi-han. We find shakuhachi teachers in major cities all around the world. A much smaller number are learning the koto and shamisen. We find chamber music ensembles in many cities in Europe and North America. A few Japanese musicians have now moved to Western countries.
Bruno Deschênes - Montréal, Québec - 27.12 01
Bruno Deschênes (2001). The Music of Japan. Internet Site: The All Music Guide,
Hugh de Ferranti (2000). Japanese Musical Instruments. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
William P Malm (1959). Japanese Music & Musical Instruments. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
Reischauer, Edwin O (1997). Histoire du Japon et des Japonais, 1. Des origines à 1945. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
Akira Tamba (1988) La théorie et l esthétique musicale japonaise du 8e au 19e siècle. Paris: Publications orientalistes de France.
Trasher, Alan R (2000) Chinese Musical Instruments. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.
Etymologically, the word "education" is derived from the Latin ?duc?ti? ("A breeding, a bringing up, a rearing") from ?duc? ("I educate, I train") which is related to the homonym ?d?c? ("I lead forth, I take out; I raise up, I erect") from ?- ("from, out of") and d?c? ("I lead, I conduct").
Education began in prehistory, as adults trained the young in the knowledge and skills deemed necessary in their society. In pre-literate societies, this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be readily learned through imitation, formal education developed. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom.
Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in Europe. The city of Alexandria in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, became the successor to Athens as the intellectual cradle of Ancient Greece. There, the great Library of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE 476.
In China, Confucius (551-479 BCE), of the State of Lu, was the country's most influential ancient philosopher, whose educational outlook continues to influence the societies of China and neighbours like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucius gathered disciples and searched in vain for a ruler who would adopt his ideals for good governance, but his Analects were written down by followers and have continued to influence education in East Asia into the modern era.
The Aztecs also had a well-developed theory about education, which has an equivalent word in Nahuatl called tlacahuapahualiztli. It means "the art of raising or educating a person" or "the art of strengthening or bringing up men." This was a broad conceptualization of education, which prescribed that it begins at home, supported by formal schooling, and reinforced by community living. Historians cite that formal education was mandatory for everyone regardless of social class and gender. There was also the word neixtlamachiliztli, which is "the act of giving wisdom to the face." These concepts underscore a complex set of educational practices, which was oriented towards communicating to the next generation the experience and intellectual heritage of the past for the purpose of individual development and his integration into the community.
After the Fall of Rome, the Catholic Church became the sole preserver of literate scholarship in Western Europe. The church established cathedral schools in the Early Middle Ages as centres of advanced education. Some of these establishments ultimately evolved into medieval universities and forebears of many of Europe's modern universities. During the High Middle Ages, Chartres Cathedral operated the famous and influential Chartres Cathedral School. The medieval universities of Western Christendom were well-integrated across all of Western Europe, encouraged freedom of inquiry, and produced a great variety of fine scholars and natural philosophers, including Thomas Aquinas of the University of Naples, Robert Grosseteste of the University of Oxford, an early expositor of a systematic method of scientific experimentation, and Saint Albert the Great, a pioneer of biological field research. Founded in 1088, the University of Bologne is considered the first, and the oldest continually operating university.
Elsewhere during the Middle Ages, Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate which was established across the Middle East, extending from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Indus in the east and to the Almoravid Dynasty and Mali Empire in the south.
The Renaissance in Europe ushered in a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry and appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press, which allowed works of literature to spread more quickly. The European Age of Empires saw European ideas of education in philosophy, religion, arts and sciences spread out across the globe. Missionaries and scholars also brought back new ideas from other civilizations - as with the Jesuit China missions who played a significant role in the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and Europe, translating works from Europe like Euclid's Elements for Chinese scholars and the thoughts of Confucius for European audiences. The Enlightenment saw the emergence of a more secular educational outlook in Europe.
In most countries today, full-time education, whether at school or otherwise, is compulsory for all children up to a certain age. Due to this the proliferation of compulsory education, combined with population growth, UNESCO has calculated that in the next 30 years more people will receive formal education than in all of human history thus far.
Formal education occurs in a structured environment whose explicit purpose is teaching students. Usually, formal education takes place in a school environment with classrooms of multiple students learning together with a trained, certified teacher of the subject. Most school systems are designed around a set of values or ideals that govern all educational choices in that system. Such choices include curriculum, organizational models, design of the physical learning spaces (e.g. classrooms), student-teacher interactions, methods of assessment, class size, educational activities, and more.
Preschools provide education from ages approximately three to seven, depending on the country when children enter primary education. These are also known as nursery schools and as kindergarten, except in the US, where kindergarten is a term often used to describe the earliest levels of primary education. Kindergarten "provide[s] a child-centred, preschool curriculum for three- to seven-year-old children that aim[s] at unfolding the child's physical, intellectual, and moral nature with balanced emphasis on each of them."
Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first five to seven years of formal, structured education. In general, primary education consists of six to eight years of schooling starting at the age of five or six, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 89% of children aged six to twelve are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising. Under the Education For All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education, are mostly referred to as primary schools or elementary schools. Primary schools are often subdivided into infant schools and junior school.
In India, for example, compulsory education spans over twelve years, with eight years of elementary education, five years of primary schooling and three years of upper primary schooling. Various states in the republic of India provide 12 years of compulsory school education based on a national curriculum framework designed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training.
In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education comprises the formal education that occurs during adolescence. It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, "postsecondary", or "higher" education (e.g. university, vocational school) for adults. Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling.
Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education, or to train directly in a profession.
Secondary education in the United States did not emerge until 1910, with the rise of large corporations and advancing technology in factories, which required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created, with a curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved beneficial for both employers and employees, since the improved human capital lowered costs for the employer, while skilled employees received higher wages.
Secondary education has a longer history in Europe, where grammar schools or academies date from as early as the 16th century, in the form of public schools, fee-paying schools, or charitable educational foundations, which themselves date even further back.
Community colleges offer another option at this transitional stage of education. They provide nonresidential junior college courses to people living in a particular area.
Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or postsecondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school such as a high school or secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities mainly provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Individuals who complete tertiary education generally receive certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.
Higher education typically involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries, a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.
University education includes teaching, research, and social services activities, and it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Some universities are composed of several colleges.
One type of university education is a liberal arts education, which can be defined as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting broad general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum." Although what is known today as liberal arts education began in Europe, the term "liberal arts college" is more commonly associated with institutions in the United States such as Williams College or Barnard College.
Vocational education is a form of education focused on direct and practical training for a specific trade or craft. Vocational education may come in the form of an apprenticeship or internship as well as institutions teaching courses such as carpentry, agriculture, engineering, medicine, architecture and the arts.
In the past, those who were disabled were often not eligible for public education. Children with disabilities were repeatedly denied an education by physicians or special tutors. These early physicians (people like Itard, Seguin, Howe, Gallaudet) set the foundation for special education today. They focused on individualized instruction and functional skills. In its early years, special education was only provided to people with severe disabilities, but more recently it has been opened to anyone who has experienced difficulty learning.
While considered "alternative" today, most alternative systems have existed since ancient times. After the public school system was widely developed beginning in the 19th century, some parents found reasons to be discontented with the new system. Alternative education developed in part as a reaction to perceived limitations and failings of traditional education. A broad range of educational approaches emerged, including alternative schools, self learning, homeschooling, and unschooling. Example alternative schools include Montessori schools, Waldorf schools (or Steiner schools), Friends schools, Sands School, Summerhill School, Walden's Path, The Peepal Grove School, Sudbury Valley School, Krishnamurti schools, and open classroom schools. Charter schools are another example of alternative education, which have in the recent years grown in numbers in the US and gained greater importance in its public education system.
In time, some ideas from these experiments and paradigm challenges may be adopted as the norm in education, just as Friedrich Fröbel's approach to early childhood education in 19th-century Germany has been incorporated into contemporary kindergarten classrooms. Other influential writers and thinkers have included the Swiss humanitarian Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi; the American transcendentalists Amos Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau; the founders of progressive education, John Dewey and Francis Parker; and educational pioneers such as Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner, and more recently John Caldwell Holt, Paul Goodman, Frederick Mayer, George Dennison, and Ivan Illich.
Indigenous education refers to the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, models, methods, and content within formal and non-formal educational systems. Often in a post-colonial context, the growing recognition and use of indigenous education methods can be a response to the erosion and loss of indigenous knowledge and language through the processes of colonialism. Furthermore, it can enable indigenous communities to "reclaim and revalue their languages and cultures, and in so doing, improve the educational success of indigenous students."
Informal learning is one of three forms of learning defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Informal learning occurs in a variety of places, such as at home, work, and through daily interactions and shared relationships among members of society. For many learners, this includes language acquisition, cultural norms, and manners.
In informal learning, there is often a reference person, a peer or expert, to guide the learner. If learners have a personal interest in what they are informally being taught, learners tend to expand their existing knowledge and conceive new ideas about the topic being learned. For example, a museum is traditionally considered an informal learning environment, as there is room for free choice, a diverse and potentially non-standardized range of topics, flexible structures, socially rich interaction, and no externally imposed assessments.
While informal learning often takes place outside educational establishments and does not follow a specified curriculum, it can also occur within educational settings and even during formal learning situations. Educators can structure their lessons to directly utilize their students informal learning skills within the education setting.
In the late 19th century, education through play began to be recognized as making an important contribution to child development. In the early 20th century, the concept was broadened to include young adults but the emphasis was on physical activities.L.P. Jacks, also an early proponent of lifelong learning, described education through recreation: "A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always seems to be doing both. Enough for him that he does it well." Education through recreation is the opportunity to learn in a seamless fashion through all of life's activities. The concept has been revived by the University of Western Ontario to teach anatomy to medical students.
Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) is a term used to describe self-directed learning. One may become an autodidact at nearly any point in one's life. Notable autodidacts include Abraham Lincoln (U.S. president), Srinivasa Ramanujan (mathematician), Michael Faraday (chemist and physicist), Charles Darwin (naturalist), Thomas Alva Edison (inventor), Tadao Ando (architect), George Bernard Shaw (playwright), Frank Zappa (composer, recording engineer, film director), and Leonardo da Vinci (engineer, scientist, mathematician).
Many large university institutions are now starting to offer free or almost free full courses such as Harvard, MIT and Berkeley teaming up to form edX. Other universities offering open education are prestigious private universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Duke, Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennylvania, and Caltech, as well as notable public universities including Tsinghua, Peking, Edinburgh, University of Michigan, and University of Virginia.
Open education has been called the biggest change in the way people learn since the printing press. Despite favourable studies on effectiveness, many people may still desire to choose traditional campus education for social and cultural reasons.
Many open universities are working to have the ability to offer students standardized testing and traditional degrees and credentials.
The conventional merit-system degree is currently not as common in open education as it is in campus universities, although some open universities do already offer conventional degrees such as the Open University in the United Kingdom. Presently, many of the major open education sources offer their own form of certificate. Due to the popularity of open education, these new kind of academic certificates are gaining more respect and equal "academic value" to traditional degrees.
Out of 182 colleges surveyed in 2009 nearly half said tuition for online courses was higher than for campus-based ones.
A recent meta-analysis found that online and blended educational approaches had better outcomes than methods that used solely face-to-face interaction.
The education sector or education system is a group of institutions (ministries of education, local educational authorities, teacher training institutions, schools, universities, etc.) whose primary purpose is to provide education to children and young people in educational settings. It involves a wide range of people (curriculum developers, inspectors, school principals, teachers, school nurses, students, etc.). These institutions can vary according to different contexts.
Schools deliver education, with support from the rest of the education system through various elements such as education policies and guidelines - to which school policies can refer - curricula and learning materials, as well as pre- and in-service teacher training programmes. The school environment - both physical (infrastructures) and psychological (school climate) - is also guided by school policies that should ensure the well-being of students when they are in school. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found that schools tend to perform best when principals have full authority and responsibility for ensuring that students are proficient in core subjects upon graduation. They must also seek feedback from students for quality-assurance and improvement. Governments should limit themselves to monitoring student proficiency.
The education sector is fully integrated into society, through interactions with a large number of stakeholders and other sectors. These include parents, local communities, religious leaders, NGOs, stakeholders involved in health, child protection, justice and law enforcement (police), media and political leadership.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2015, calls for a new vision to address the environmental, social and economic concerns facing the world today. The Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 4 on education.
Since 1909, the ratio of children in the developing world attending school has increased. Before then, a small minority of boys attended school. By the start of the 21st century, the majority of all children in most regions of the world attended school.
Universal Primary Education is one of the eight international Millennium Development Goals, towards which progress has been made in the past decade, though barriers still remain. Securing charitable funding from prospective donors is one particularly persistent problem. Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute have indicated that the main obstacles to funding for education include conflicting donor priorities, an immature aid architecture, and a lack of evidence and advocacy for the issue. Additionally, Transparency International has identified corruption in the education sector as a major stumbling block to achieving Universal Primary Education in Africa. Furthermore, demand in the developing world for improved educational access is not as high as foreigners have expected. Indigenous governments are reluctant to take on the ongoing costs involved. There is also economic pressure from some parents, who prefer their children to earn money in the short term rather than work towards the long-term benefits of education.
A study conducted by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning indicates that stronger capacities in educational planning and management may have an important spill-over effect on the system as a whole. Sustainable capacity development requires complex interventions at the institutional, organizational and individual levels that could be based on some foundational principles:
Nearly every country now has Universal Primary Education.
Similarities - in systems or even in ideas - that schools share internationally have led to an increase in international student exchanges. The European Socrates-Erasmus Program facilitates exchanges across European universities. The Soros Foundation provides many opportunities for students from central Asia and eastern Europe. Programs such as the International Baccalaureate have contributed to the internationalization of education. The global campus online, led by American universities, allows free access to class materials and lecture files recorded during the actual classes.
The Programme for International Student Assessment and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement objectively monitor and compare the proficiency of students from a wide range of different nations.
Technology plays an increasingly significant role in improving access to education for people living in impoverished areas and developing countries. Charities like One Laptop per Child are dedicated to providing infrastructures through which the disadvantaged may access educational materials.
The OLPC foundation, a group out of MIT Media Lab and supported by several major corporations, has a stated mission to develop a $100 laptop for delivering educational software. The laptops were widely available as of 2008. They are sold at cost or given away based on donations.
In Africa, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has launched an "e-school program" to provide all 600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet access within 10 years. An International Development Agency project called nabuur.com, started with the support of former American President Bill Clinton, uses the Internet to allow co-operation by individuals on issues of social development.
India is developing technologies that will bypass land-based telephone and Internet infrastructure to deliver distance learning directly to its students. In 2004, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched EDUSAT, a communications satellite providing access to educational materials that can reach more of the country's population at a greatly reduced cost.
Research into LCPS (low-cost private schools) found that over 5 years to July 2013, debate around LCPSs to achieving Education for All (EFA) objectives was polarized and finding growing coverage in international policy. The polarization was due to disputes around whether the schools are affordable for the poor, reach disadvantaged groups, provide quality education, support or undermine equality, and are financially sustainable. The report examined the main challenges encountered by development organizations which support LCPSs. Surveys suggest these types of schools are expanding across Africa and Asia. This success is attributed to excess demand. These surveys found concern for:
The report showed some cases of successful voucher and subsidy programs; evaluations of international support to the sector are not widespread. Addressing regulatory ineffectiveness is a key challenge. Emerging approaches stress the importance of understanding the political economy of the market for LCPS, specifically how relationships of power and accountability between users, government, and private providers can produce better education outcomes for the poor.
Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to be identified as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists. Educational psychology is concerned with the processes of educational attainment in the general population and in sub-populations such as gifted children and those with specific disabilities.
Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology. Educational psychology, in turn, informs a wide range of specialties within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks (Lucas, Blazek, & Raley, 2006).
Intelligence is an important factor in how the individual responds to education. Those who have higher intelligence tend to perform better at school and go on to higher levels of education. This effect is also observable in the opposite direction, in that education increases measurable intelligence. Studies have shown that while educational attainment is important in predicting intelligence in later life, intelligence at 53 is more closely correlated to intelligence at 8 years old than to educational attainment.
There has been much interest in learning modalities and styles over the last two decades. The most commonly employed learning modalities are:
Dunn and Dunn focused on identifying relevant stimuli that may influence learning and manipulating the school environment, at about the same time as Joseph Renzulli recommended varying teaching strategies. Howard Gardner identified a wide range of modalities in his Multiple Intelligences theories. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter, based on the works of Jung, focus on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. The work of David Kolb and Anthony Gregorc's Type Delineator follows a similar but more simplified approach.
Some theories propose that all individuals benefit from a variety of learning modalities, while others suggest that individuals may have preferred learning styles, learning more easily through visual or kinesthetic experiences. A consequence of the latter theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of teaching methods which cover all three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them. Guy Claxton has questioned the extent that learning styles such as Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic(VAK) are helpful, particularly as they can have a tendency to label children and therefore restrict learning. Recent research has argued, "there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into general educational practice."
Educational neuroscience is an emerging scientific field that brings together researchers in cognitive neuroscience, developmental cognitive neuroscience, educational psychology, educational technology, education theory and other related disciplines to explore the interactions between biological processes and education. Researchers in educational neuroscience investigate the neural mechanisms of reading,numerical cognition,attention, and their attendant difficulties including dyslexia,dyscalculia, and ADHD as they relate to education. Several academic institutions around the world are beginning to devote resources to the establishment of educational neuroscience research.
As an academic field, philosophy of education is "the philosophical study of education and its problems (...) its central subject matter is education, and its methods are those of philosophy". "The philosophy of education may be either the philosophy of the process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of education. That is, it may be part of the discipline in the sense of being concerned with the aims, forms, methods, or results of the process of educating or being educated; or it may be metadisciplinary in the sense of being concerned with the concepts, aims, and methods of the discipline." As such, it is both part of the field of education and a field of applied philosophy, drawing from fields of metaphysics, epistemology, axiology and the philosophical approaches (speculative, prescriptive or analytic) to address questions in and about pedagogy, education policy, and curriculum, as well as the process of learning, to name a few. For example, it might study what constitutes upbringing and education, the values and norms revealed through upbringing and educational practices, the limits and legitimization of education as an academic discipline, and the relation between education theory and practice.
There is no broad consensus as to what education's chief aim or aims are or should be. Some authors stress its value to the individual, emphasizing its potential for positively influencing students' personal development, promoting autonomy, forming a cultural identity or establishing a career or occupation. Other authors emphasize education's contributions to societal purposes, including good citizenship, shaping students into productive members of society, thereby promoting society's general economic development, and preserving cultural values.
In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses and their content offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults. A curriculum is prescriptive and is based on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard.
An academic discipline is a branch of knowledge which is formally taught, either at the university-or via some other such method. Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences.
Educational institutions may incorporate fine arts as part of K-12 grade curricula or within majors at colleges and universities as electives. The various types of fine arts are music, dance, and theatre.
Instruction is the facilitation of another's learning. Instructors in primary and secondary institutions are often called teachers, and they direct the education of students and might draw on many subjects like reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. Instructors in post-secondary institutions might be called teachers, instructors, or professors, depending on the type of institution; and they primarily teach only their specific discipline. Studies from the United States suggest that the quality of teachers is the single most important factor affecting student performance, and that countries which score highly on international tests have multiple policies in place to ensure that the teachers they employ are as effective as possible. With the passing of NCLB in the United States (No Child Left Behind), teachers must be highly qualified. A popular way to gauge teaching performance is to use student evaluations of teachers (SETS), but these evaluations have been criticized for being counterproductive to learning and inaccurate due to student bias.
College basketball coach John Wooden the Wizard of Westwood would teach through quick "This not That" technique. He would show (a) the correct way to perform an action, (b) the incorrect way the player performed it, and again (c) the correct way to perform an action. This helped him to be a responsive teacher and fix errors on the fly. Also, less communication from him meant more time that the player could practice.
It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth. Empirical analyses tend to support the theoretical prediction that poor countries should grow faster than rich countries because they can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and tested by rich countries. However, technology transfer requires knowledgeable managers and engineers who are able to operate new machines or production practices borrowed from the leader in order to close the gap through imitation. Therefore, a country's ability to learn from the leader is a function of its stock of "human capital". Recent study of the determinants of aggregate economic growth have stressed the importance of fundamental economic institutions and the role of cognitive skills.
At the level of the individual, there is a large literature, generally related to the work of Jacob Mincer, on how earnings are related to the schooling and other human capital. This work has motivated a large number of studies, but is also controversial. The chief controversies revolve around how to interpret the impact of schooling. Some students who have indicated a high potential for learning, by testing with a high intelligence quotient, may not achieve their full academic potential, due to financial difficulties.
Economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis argued in 1976 that there was a fundamental conflict in American schooling between the egalitarian goal of democratic participation and the inequalities implied by the continued profitability of capitalist production.
Many countries are now drastically changing the way they educate their citizens. The world is changing at an ever quickening rate, which means that a lot of knowledge becomes obsolete and inaccurate more quickly. The emphasis is therefore shifting to teaching the skills of learning: to picking up new knowledge quickly and in as agile a way as possible. Finnish schools have even begun to move away from the regular subject-focused curricula, introducing instead developments like phenomenon-based learning, where students study concepts like climate change instead.
Education is also becoming a commodity no longer reserved for children. Adults need it too. Some governmental bodies, like the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra in Finland, have even proposed compulsory lifelong education.