Here, from Bob Russell at MobileRead, based on a Forbes article. Photo is of Sun chairman Scott McNealy showing off a Sun chip.
From Forbes, article, dated Aug. 4, 2006: “‘Math hasn’t changed since Isaac Newton,’ declares Scott McNealy. So why, he asks, is California paying some $400 million annually to ‘update” grade-school textbooks?'” But will this approach work for all subjects? We’re in “depends” territory. I agree with those who say hard sciences and math would be among the best topics for open source textbooks. They’re more fact-based than, say, English or history books—more dependent on interpretation.
A few more specifics: “McNealy…is now applying his know-how to steer the Global Education and Learning Community (GELC)…Far from a mere sidewalk charity, the GELC will…amass funding to enable professors to create textbooks specifically for the Web site…The GELC has already been involved in pilot plans spanning ‘Africa, Asia and inner-city Detroit,’ as well as a numeracy initiative in Canada’s Alberta province and a digital-storytelling project for the United Nations.”
Links: Wikipedia item and GELC Web site
Relevant TeleBlog post: Sun head wants free textbooks––but that’s no panacea for Hollywood-bought copyright law. Also see Georgia prof starts free wiki textbook project—with some QC wrinkles.
“From Forbes, article, dated Aug. 4, 2006: “‘Math hasn’t changed since Isaac Newton,’ declares Scott McNealy. So why, he asks, is California paying some $400 million annually to ‘update” grade-school textbooks?’””
I am definitely not defending the specific math textbooks used by California, but what we know about how children learn *has* changed substantially since Isaac Newton’s time.
Brian: Point well taken! – David
Well, Brian:
What the experts say about ‘how children learn’ has certainly evolved over the past 100 years.
so you might think that, as a result, all the new teachers trained with this new knowledge, and all the new (expensive) textbooks crafted in accordance with this new knowledge, would mean that today’s students are math whizzes, and score on tests far, far in advance than any kids of the latter 19th century.
And yet, as we all know, the opposite seems to be true, alas…
Note also: Macnealy is not talking about publishing 100-year-old textbooks – which are in the public domain and could be very simple indeed to scan, proof, and provide in all sorts of formats including pdf and print-on-demand. Instead he is talking about commissioning current experts in their respective fields to produce modern texts. Presumably these textbooks would include all the modern, up-to-the-minute theories, and teach today’s students just as poorly as the expensive textbooks do.