Against the backdrop of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings and student-designed rubber band cars, William Brown, Director of the Eli Whitney Museum, explains how teachers can use innovative, non-traditional education models to bring out the best in students - even students who have never before been the "best."
Bio
William Brown
Trained in Social Work at Columbia University, William Brown apprenticed with designer/cabinet maker Normand Methot. Through his design work, William grew interested in hands-on learning, particularly as it related to talented students who may not necessarily thrive in conventional classrooms. William currently directs the Eli Whitney Museum, where he invents and directs workshops that encourage experimental learning through the use of wood, clay, cloth, computers and electronics – in a compelling combination of art, science and history.
Anya Kamenetz
Anya Kamenetz writes about the future of education. In 2011, Learning, Freedom and the Web and The Edupunks’ Guide were published as free ebooks by the Mozilla and Gates Foundation respectively. Anya also penned Generation Debt which dealt with youth economics and politics. Her book DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education investigated innovations to address the crises in cost, access, and quality in higher education. She was named a 2010 Game Changer in Education by the Huffington Post and received 2009 and 2010 National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association.
Eli Whitney Museum director William Brown investigates why gender roles impacted the performance of one school's rubber band car experiment and how teachers make a difference.