Ideas
George Washington Carver was born as a slave in 1864. He was the first black student to graduate from Iowa State College where he studied botany. He then went on to teach and research at the Tuskegee Institute where he made many discoveries which revolutionized the economy of the Deep South. For instance, he discovered 300 products that could be made from a trash crop known as peanuts. Before long, thousands of acres of former cotton fields were being planted with peanuts.
We mention Carver on this site because of his approach to science and to research. He was an inveterate scrounger who used to scour rubbish dumps to find things that he could use in his laboratory. At schools, on farms, and county fairs, Carver urged others to recognize their own potential, and that of their surroundings. He was committed to learning by doing. Students were encouraged to "figure it out for themselves." They need a thorough preparation to "do all common things uncommonly well." Carver's talks and writings were direct, practical, and engaging. His warmth and charm allowed him to develop and maintain close personal relationships with students, farmers and powerful philanthropists over the years. Long before there were computers, George Washington Carver was already practicing constructionist education.
Anyone interested in developing software to support the teaching of science would do well to read a biography of George Washington Carver before starting development.
Hidden curriculum
Every educational system is pervaded with unstated assumptions about culture, morality, and other factors that do not show up in the formal curriculum. If we are not aware of these assumptions, we risk colliding with them and having our offerings rejected or coopted to serve ends that we may not approve of. This is a large and difficult question with a growing literature and several quite disparate communities of interest with quite different views on what is appropriate or desirable.
See also
- Mentoring
- Wikipedia article on hidden curriculum
