The+Tame+&+the+Wild

=The Tame and the Wild=

//Introduction by Steve Seidel, Director of Project Zero//

[|Nelson Goodman] was the founder of Project Zero which began in 1967. In the beginning the focus of the Project was learning in and through the Arts. Goodman felt that not a lot was been done to foster understanding through the Arts. In fact there was 'zero' being done, hence the name Project Zero.

Across the course of the week we are interested in pursuing some big questions. These are questions that are worth coming back to, these kind of questions create a thread through the learning process and give a sense of shape and coherences to learning.

The Big Questions that we are interested in are: how do we know if understanding has occured?
 * //What is understanding and how does it develop?// (this needs to be a constant provocation to our work 'Are students understanding?'


 * What are the roles of reflection and assessment in student and teacher learning?


 * What are the components of an effective education for the world that students live in now and will live in 10, 20 or 50 years from now?


 * How can I share and pursue my understanding of Project Zero ideas with other after the Institute?

Opening Presentation by David Perkins

//David began by refering to something Howard Gardner had said earlier. Where he refered to F. Scott Fitzgerald's idea of 'First rate intelligence, that is, to be able to hold two opposing views in the mind and still be able to function'. He then presented two seemingly opposing concepts that we asked us to grapple with 'The Tame' & The Wild (he presented two striking images to do this) The Tame// //The Wild//
 * presents order that has been created, often a top down order that is imposed upon
 * has order but of a different kind, it has an emergent order, an organic synergy, it presents surprise and richness. Within the 'Wild' things find their places or make their places rather than being put in place

What and how does this idea matter to society and ways of living? How and why does this idea matter to education?

Education has become very tame! He challenged us to list the 10 tame topic of education (underlining topic sentences, essay - the knowledge telling style, the four causes of........

Taming however is not a bad idea. Good taming illuminates the wild, Bad taming eliminates the wild.

The Tame and the Wild - he challenged us to hold both of these ideas at once and to ask over the week How do we tame the wild? How do we wild the tame?