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thank you steyn it's a pleasure to be here and to share some thoughts about a face transition in education we're going through phase transition like from ice to water
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to vapor your innovative education initiative is part of that and thus will contribute to more systemic thinking in society the eu stem coalition applauds this initiative and
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commends you for sharing it through this newton summit covet really hit his heart it has taken center stage in our lives we are mildly intelligent but highly social apes
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who like getting together so much remote teaching and learning is not the same as going to school in the past year we've been on a course exponentiality never before
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have graphs and statistics for so long been dominating the news talk about the r factor how it works indeed multiplication not mere addition
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and warnings to stay away from the steeper parts of exponential curves far from calling this a blessing in disguise it is worth noting that american mathematician alfred bartlett
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in his long teaching career repeatedly said the greatest weakness of the human race is its inability to understand the exponential function are we beginning to see and really
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understand exponentiality now a particular challenge is that a virus is too small to see reason for some to imagine it does not exist covet is not the only exponential development
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that is determining our lives climate change is another exponential development but the planetary scale this is happening at is too big to see reason for some to imagine it does not
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exist in this regard it is good to remember that izak newton said a man may imagine things that are false but he can only understand things that
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are true a fun fact is that a skippy ball is as many times bigger than the virus as the earth is bigger than the skippable so what are the lessons learned the
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analogies in the graphics about the effects of covet and climate change are striking we now understand that if there are more patients in need of icy beds than the health system's capacity there
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will be casualties we must stay within capacity in the same way if our economy exceeds the natural regenerative capacity of nature there
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will be casualties both at individual level as a result of climate change-induced migration famine or military conflict the lesson in both instances is we have to stay
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within capacity the most serious risk we face is damage to the framework conditions of the ecosystem that our species need to exist
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and thrive what do we do when a problem is either too small or too big to see with our eyes we have to look with our minds
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our intelligence and our consciousness this is not something that comes naturally this is where you in many ways involved in education come in because we are emotionally blind or
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reality blind for things too small or too big to see in a wonderful book by kevin kian there is the story about two young fish playing off a coral reef one morning
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where all the fish passes by and greets the youngsters morning fellows how's the temperature of the water this morning where upon the two young fish turn to each other and ask themselves
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what did he ask what is water this is very much the situation we're in now we are surrounded by exponential developments but we are blind to them the rio summit
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in 1992 the recent cop and davos meetings had young girls speaking given similar warnings it also had senior leaders repeating similar platitudes
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if there was progress it was linear reality however has followed an exponential pattern in essence it is a stock and flow issue a very important stem concept
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until about 200 years ago humanity lived on solar flows enabling photosynthesis for agriculture temperature pressure differences for wind to operate windmills
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and sailing boats and the evaporation cycle for irrigation and water power since about 200 years we have entered a unique era
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where humanity is living on solar stocks stored and compacted ancient sunlight in the form of fossil energy thus we get a huge subsidy from the past
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to do the things we're doing now we also found ways to get subsidies from the future in the form of credit thus we are burning the candle on two ends after the carbon peak is
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over we will go back again to solar flows we will need renewable really rebuildable energy to capture the various solar flows since this is in essence a metals
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business for the wind blades turbines batteries modus power grid this too will be limited by natural resource stocks moreover there will be the needs of seven billion
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more people to fulfill when we return to solar flows this reality is to us what water is to fish our life support system but too few people
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understand the relationship between energy and stuff so how does stem education fit with all this your work is essential to our future well-being
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how do we develop our most precious resource talent in the best possible way to meet our most pressing challenge how do we educate people to thrive in a new paradigm
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the dire situation we're in is proof that it cannot be done by the inessence still victorian education system we have today tuition by compartmentalized subjects a one-right answer culture
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and the use of a dumbed-down version of reality develops a divided brain which is then asked to solve integrated problems in open system problems nothing works
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independently anymore the current system itself admits to having a 20 to 25 percent fault rate particularly economic scientism that leaves out vast parts of
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reality has done tremendous damage to humanity and caused the reality blindness we are now suffering from the 20th century was the age of
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reductionist reality and specialization the human ecosystem however is a complex adaptive system in the 21st century we need to develop
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ecosystem thinking which includes physics chemistry and biology the system of pass or fail the culture of training people to give the right answer that's for quality control only should
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make way to teach them to ask the right questions to make them systemic thinkers capable of critical logical and holistic thinking
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thus education should develop the agency of thinking in pupils don't give them a problem to solve ask them to identify what the problem is and what the context is and what support
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is needed and what the priorities are this particularly applies to the sustainable development goals not only horizontally but also longitudinally taking into
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account the impact of future generations as indeed the iraqi indians already did with their seven generations principle although the human ecosystem is on fire
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we cannot change education overnight also because talent development is like pipeline management a pipeline not measured in distance but in time it takes 10 years
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to let a 13 year old girl become a 23 year old engineer teachers make all the difference not only at school my favorite nobel prize winner is ernest rutherford
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not for what he got the nobel prize for but for the fact that no other nobel prize winner had so many students who went on to become nobel prize winners themselves
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in covet times we talk a lot about essential jobs investment bankers are never mentioned doctors nurses are they look after our health now teachers are often mentioned as well now
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that so many of us are put in their role at home they look after our future health both individually and collectively what can we do to help teachers with
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their role as of such existential importance like a physical pipeline nothing comes out at the end that is not put in at the beginning but
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not everything that's put in at the beginning comes out at the end like a physical pipeline there are leaks and blockages thus we need input management throughput management
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and output management in other words and using them for stem at a young age avoiding frustration midstream and helping them with apprenticeships in the latter parts of the pipeline
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for a smooth transition into practice the old guild system offers lessons as well for lifelong learning in view of the declining number of teachers due to retirement
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fewer new entrants more mid-career burnout levers combined with the declared wish of ministers of education that they want to make classrooms smaller a systemic
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rethinking of education is required the use of hybrid teachers brings practice and reality into the classrooms fosters intergenerational understanding and brings into practice the old wisdom
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that it takes a village to raise a child you will not be surprised that i'll say what we need is exponential education exponential challenges necessitated
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we are now in a new phase transition the first education was highly individual with storytelling and unique books without central control forming a feudal or intellectual elite
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then the invention of printing and printed media enabled mass education in class format with a standard curriculum and standard school books less individual and century controlled
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enabling a society with geo-located citizens through hyper media exponential education can emerge with the help of artificial intelligence
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virtual guilds enabling personalization of education focusing on the neurosphere developing both the dopamine and serotonin pathways of our brains
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enabling a civilian of sentience conscious of the interdependencies between ourselves and our life support system in the form of this planet
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a particular initiative that fits this emerging transition is the lead level initiative that recently won a teacher award this was given to two young physics teachers one teacher of the year in the
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netherlands who developed this in essence this artificial intelligence application diagnoses the level of understanding of a pupil if it detects a hiatus in understanding
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it prescribes a very precise intervention before setting the next learn level goals it thus avoids frustration and preserves enthusiasm
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for the pupil it frees up time of the teacher and serves society by keeping more pupils longer into stem education this is perfect pipeline throughput management
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avoiding leaks providing boosts and improving both efficiency and effectiveness so what about the newton room well in this day and age where youngsters are spoiled with visuals and
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gamification i commend newton room not only for providing inspirational classrooms but also for the innovative ways of making this available to as many young people as possible it
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is appropriate that the norwegian entity should bring this as one of the few arctic nations europe has with regards to the arctic last year's heat record of
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38.8 degrees celsius was doubled the previous heat record of 20 degrees celsius in 2019 unfortunately we have set emotions some developments
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that will come to dominate our lives as much as covet is doing today the current conventions and processes in place to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are failing
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to bring about the necessary adaptation in time humanity has missed the exit of a smooth way out several times we are now taking the more
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challenging road two things can still ensure our reaching the other end of the century in a civilized and peaceful way hopefully projects like re-freezing the
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arctic and others can buy time by keeping the arctic in the arctic most important is education at all levels we need to brief leaders
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in business in politics we need to educate adult citizens but the biggest leverage for the future lies in altering the way we educate the young
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don't be frustrated that education has a slow growing effect it's like a tree that eventually will bear fruit provide shadow hydrological services and accommodation for animals
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you're feeding the roots as indispensable for our sustainable future i wish you fruitful deliberations and a successful conference
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and an even more successful future which will be very different from what most people realize higher levels of well-being however are a real possibility
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but we have to tackle reality blindness our insufficient understanding of our life support system the current framework conditions prevailing on planet earth i think
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isaac newton would have agreed with these comments after all he said we build too many walls and not enough bridges if the world's curriculum developers
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bear those wise words in mind we will go the right way you
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