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Reading List
From education visionaries to programmatic mavericks, passionate education experts and authors lay out their visions for an inspiring new world of education through research-driven concepts. The books selected below share stories and visions which are in alignment with the philosophy and mission of Argo Navis School. Enjoy!
The End of the Rainbow
Amid the hype of Race to the Top, online experiments such as Khan Academy, and bestselling books like The Sandbox Investment, we seem to have drawn a line that leads from nursery school along a purely economic route, with money as the final stop. But what price do we all pay for the increasingly singular focus on wage as the outcome of education? Susan Engel, a leading psychologist and educator, argues that this economic framework has had a profound impact not only on the way we think about education but also on what happens inside school buildings
A School of Our Own
A School of Our Own tells the remarkable story of the Independent Project, the first student-run high school in America. Founder Samuel Levin, a high school junior
who had already achieved international fame for creating Project Sprout—the first student-run farm-to-school lunch program in the United States—was frustrated with his own education and saw disaffection among his peers. In response, he lobbied for and created a new school based on a few simple ideas about what kids need from their high school experience.
who had already achieved international fame for creating Project Sprout—the first student-run farm-to-school lunch program in the United States—was frustrated with his own education and saw disaffection among his peers. In response, he lobbied for and created a new school based on a few simple ideas about what kids need from their high school experience.
Out of the Classroom and Into the World
Bank Street College of Education professor Salvatore Vascellaro is a leading advocate of taking children and teachers into a wider world as the key to improving our struggling schools. Combining practical and theoretical guidance and illustrated throughout, Out of the Classroom and into the World visits a rich variety of classrooms transformed by innovative field trip curricula—showing how students’ hearts and minds are opened as they discover how a suspension bridge works, see what connects them to the people and places of their neighborhood, and come to understand the ecosystem of a river by following it to its source. Vascellaro also shows that what teachers can offer children is fueled by their own engagement with the world, and he offers stunning examples of teachers awakened by their direct experiences with the social issues plaguing American society, from the flood-torn neighborhoods of New Orleans to the mining areas of West Virginia. Based on the core principles of progressive pedagogy, and the wisdom gained from Vascellaro’s experience as a teacher, school administrator, and teacher educator, Out of the Classroom and into the World is a direct retort to test scores and standards as adequate measures of teaching and learning—an inspiring call and a major new resource for anyone interested in reinvigorating America’s classrooms.
The Math Myth
When Andrew Hacker published an op-ed in the New York Times questioning the requirement of advanced mathematics in schools, it instantly became one of the paper’s most widely circulated articles. Why, he wondered, do we inflict algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and even calculus on all young Americans, regardless of their interests and aptitudes? In response to the controversy sparked by his ideas, Hacker fleshed out his arguments in The Math Myth, which Diane Ravitch has hailed as an “important book” that “demolishes some totally unrealistic policies that will prevent many students from ever receiving a high school diploma and leading useful lives.”
In a book Howard Gardner calls “important and timely—and a great read,” Hacker offers a bold examination of widely held assumptions about the Common Core curriculum, the frenzied emphasis on STEM, and the type of knowledge that is—and will be—needed for most jobs. A mathematics professor himself, Hacker, in this “direct and clear” (Kirkus Reviews) “worthwhile read” (National Book Review), honors mathematics as a calling and extols its glories and its goals—yet shows how mandating it for everyone not only prevents other talents from being developed, but acts as an irrational barrier to graduation and fulfilling careers.
In a book Howard Gardner calls “important and timely—and a great read,” Hacker offers a bold examination of widely held assumptions about the Common Core curriculum, the frenzied emphasis on STEM, and the type of knowledge that is—and will be—needed for most jobs. A mathematics professor himself, Hacker, in this “direct and clear” (Kirkus Reviews) “worthwhile read” (National Book Review), honors mathematics as a calling and extols its glories and its goals—yet shows how mandating it for everyone not only prevents other talents from being developed, but acts as an irrational barrier to graduation and fulfilling careers.
Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner's brilliant conception of individual competence, known as Multiple Intelligences theory, has changed the face of education. Tens of thousands of educators, parents, and researchers have explored the practical implications and applications of this powerful notion, that there is not one type of intelligence but several, ranging from musical intelligence to the intelligence involved in self-understanding.
Multiple Intelligences distills nearly three decades of research on Multiple Intelligences theory and practice, covering its central arguments and numerous developments since its introduction in 1983. Gardner includes discussions of global applications, Multiple Intelligences in the workplace, an assessment of Multiple Intelligences practice in the current conservative educational climate, new evidence about brain functioning, and much more.
Multiple Intelligences distills nearly three decades of research on Multiple Intelligences theory and practice, covering its central arguments and numerous developments since its introduction in 1983. Gardner includes discussions of global applications, Multiple Intelligences in the workplace, an assessment of Multiple Intelligences practice in the current conservative educational climate, new evidence about brain functioning, and much more.
The Unschooled Mind
Merging cognitive science with educational agenda, Gardner makes an eloquent case for restructuring our schools by showing just how ill-suited our minds and natural patterns of learning are to the prevailing modes of education.
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