Tech in Ed, Beards, Water, Saudi King

Tech in Ed, Beards, Water, Saudi King

The Morning Show - Season 1, Episode 421

  • Jan 26, 2015 2:00 pm
  • 1:43:33 mins

TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT REVOLUTIONIZE EDUCATION  Chances are your kids have high-tech devices in their classrooms that you never dreamed of when you were in school: personal computers, tablets, interactive games and learning exercises. Technology has long promised to revolutionize education.  Science educator Derek Muller says he’s heard it all before and that it’s not true. “Throughout history people from Edison on down have promised technology will revolutionize education and it hasn’t happened,” says Muller, creator of science education video series on YouTube called “Veritasium.”  Edison predicted the motion picture would change education. Similar promises have been made about radio and TV and now the internet and tablet computers.  “Those technologies have brought education along an evolutionary path, as teachers have adopted new tools and worked them into their lessons, but to characterize it as a revolution is the wrong idea,” says Muller. “Everyone needs to realize education is a really, really challenging field that changes incrementally.”  “Sometimes we are given to a lot of hyperbole in this area,” acknowledges Rick West, BYU professor of instructional psychology and technology.  “We teach teachers to use technology to do things technology is good at so the teacher can do other things.”   “If I’m just standing up and lecturing with a Power Point presentation, you could play a video that’s a lot more engaging and exciting,” says West.  Muller warns that well-controlled studies show static pictures can be just as effective as a digital animation to explain a certain concept like electromagnetic induction. But, “you can bring a ‘Wow’ factor into the classroom with digital technology.  You can use a video of something that might be too expensive or difficult to bring into a classroom. I see it as a tool a teacher can pull out when they realize it’s the optimal tool for the job.”  Used correctly, technology can expand the possibilities of education – Chinese language students Skyping with Chinese native students, for example, says West. Similarly, a simulated chemistry lab on the computer gives students more freedom to really explore what might be too dangerous in a real lab. (Digital explosions and fires are a lot easier to clean up!)  Muller maintains that social interaction is important to effective education. “We interact with people; we are motivated by people; we feel responsible to our teacher to do the work of learning. If you change that equation and make it all reliant on a computer, it won’t work.”  “I focus on how technology can help to improve social interactions,” adds West.  “Too often technology cuts out the social interaction and then we’re disappointed when people drop out or don’t learn as much as we expected.”  “It’s not about the amount of information we can throw at the student, it’s about the way we can construct social environments so the learning happens in a natural and facile way,” says Muller.  The mistakes in how technology is designed for a learning environment often come because the technology is not being designed by teachers and people who understand the psychology of learning, adds West. “We need to make sure the technology is packaged in a way to take advantage of the way people learn, rather than overwhelming them.”  Is money being wasted on technology? “Not necessarily,” says West. The important thing is to focus on “what needs to be learned” and then focus on that and “back away from anything that doesn’t get you there.”  “The way the technology is used is far more important than the technology itself,” adds Muller. “The money isn’t necessarily wasted. Hopefully the technology will encourage people to figure out how to use it best in education.”  SCOTUS RULES UNANIMOUSLY FOR BEARDS AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM  A Muslim man in an Arkansas prison can grow a half-inch beard, according to a unanimous ruling by the US Supreme Court last week. The case is considered another “win” for religious liberty, with some drawing a parallel to the ruling last year in favor of Hobby Lobby – the company whose Christian owners opposed a federal requirement that certain types of birth control be covered by their employee health plan.  “It’s a really great case, because it just shows there’s a lot of room for great legal principals to come out of some very difficult life stories,” says Hannah Smith, senior counsel for the non-profit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which argued both the beard and Hobby Lobby cases. “Obviously Mr. (Gregory) Holt is in prison for some not insubstantial reasons. (He’s serving a life sentence for slitting the throat of his girlfriend.) The fact that he’s found a religious conversion in prison is to his credit and we were happy to represent him in this case.” (Holt represented himself until the case reached the Supreme Court, when the Becket Fund got involved, notes Smith. “It’s an amazing story. Holt wrote a hand-written petition to the US Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito found the petition and thought it had merit.)  The state of Arkansas maintained that beards posed a prison security threat - what contraband might an inmate hide in a beard?  But the Supreme Court disagreed with that argument, noting a half-inch beard would be easy to search and difficult to hide anything in. Smith says the court’s analysis also noted many other states allow half-inch beards on inmates and that Arkansas even allows quarter-inch beards for health reasons.  The Supreme Court justices determined that it wasn’t enough for the Arkansas prison to allow Holt to exercise his religion in other ways – through prayer or other worship.  They found that restricting his beard as unreasonable and that the beard was mandated by his religion, says Smith. The law requires governments to use the “least restrictive” means where religious beliefs and practices are concerned.  “The decision from the Supreme Court last week will help not just Muslims who want to grow beards in prison, but will help people of all faiths,” adds Smith. The Becket Fund has been involved in kosher diets for Jewish inmates, for example. And she says the ruling could have an impact on religious interests in land-use cases “where local governments are inclined to treat poorly religious land-use requests.”  “Religious liberty is a passion and an interest for Justice Alito,” says Smith, who clerked for the justice prior to joining The Becket Fund. “I am a true believer that the justices are honest and hard-working and that when they see a petition with merit, they will refer it to the court regardless of their political positions. This was a 9-0 outcome, which doesn’t happen often, so obviously it was a slam dunk.”  FRESH WATER MODELING  Fresh water is an increasingly scarce resource as the population on our planet grows. In addition to conserving water, there’s a need to better understand where it is and how long it will last. A team of BYU civil engineers has developed simulation software that makes it possible to predict long-term water usage and availability. The software is already being used by the US Army Corps of Engineers and state transportation departments across the country.  Helping policy makers deal with immediate and long-term water crises is within the scope of the software, says BYU Civil Engineering professor and inventor Jim Nelson.  Co-inventor and BYU civil engineer Norm Jones points to a consulting project in California several years ago where about 30 different city and state boundaries lie within the boundaries of a shared underground aquifer. “It’s like a giant bathtub with straws in it. They develop agreements in terms of who can take what water and agreed to work together to use the aquifer sustainable and do long-range planning and management,” says Jones. “We built a large groundwater model for the entire region that had capabilities they hadn’t had access to and they were able to use it to look at different scenarios into the future: If we restrict agricultural use in this area, what will it do? If we implement use restrictions in certain urban areas, what will that do?”   A unique aspect of the BYU-created water modeling software is “it focuses on visualization of data,” says Nelson.  COUGAR SPORTS UPDATE  “It’s a terrible morning,” says BYU Sports Nation co-host Jarom Jordan, reacting to BYU Men’s Basketball loss to San Diego on Saturday. “Can BYU still make the NCAA tournament? Probably not, but there’s still a chance.”  “We’re seeing BYU going to an inferior conference and lose to inferior teams, but BYU’s still a program with good players and potential to do good things,” adds Jordan.  “I will always be the flag-bearer of optimism for BYU basketball,” says co-host Spencer Linton.  NEW SAUDI KING  Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died Friday at the age of 90. President Barack Obama paid tribute to him as a leader who “was always candid and had the courage of his convictions.” World leaders visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend to pay their respects to a nation that plays a vital role in both the economic and political stability of the Middle East.  “King Abdullah was trusted by Saudis,” says BYU Wheatley Institution Senior Fellow and former State Department official Fred Axelgard, who worked for a time at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia. “He was credible, pious and respected.” Abdullah was also non-corrupt – which is remarkable considering his predecessors who were venal – says Axelgard.  Abdullah’s record as a reformer included strengthening the education system in Saudi Arabia and opening it to women.  The late king also worked hard to connect with religious authorities and gain support from the tribes in Saudi Arabia, further cementing the royal family’s power. Axelgard compares Saudi Arabia to a private, family-run business.  The new King Salman, who is 79, is a brother of Abdullah, one in a long line of the sons of King Abdulaziz who died in 1952. Axelgard says Salman shows indications of leading much like his brother Abdullah. He faces the immediate threat of instability in Yemen, which shares a border with Saudi Arabia where weapons, drugs and immigrants are known to pass.  Axelgard predicts Salman will also maintain the education reforms of his late brother.