Vi Hart...

... is an absolute hero of visual thinking. She blows my mind. I left mathematics behind a long time ago in this life but I am so happy there are other people out there who enjoy it, since I do have a sneaky feeling it serves some kind of purpose in the world.
What makes me even happier is that there are people like V.H. doing math like this! Yeah!
Check out her whole YouTube channel. So clever.

PS This totally has to do with ECE because she points us to creative ways of teaching complex ideas. Maybe this particular video wouldn't be helpful to show to 4 year olds, but I like that she's pushing math to a place where it's engaging and useful and relevant and stuff.

Graphic recording and visual notes at SXSW!

Check out the work of some amazing colleagues at SXSW in Austin...

Click for full size. Graphic by Heather Willems of ImageThink.

Ogilvy Notes

doodle time #1

I think I'm at my most creative when I'm coming up with ways to procrastinate. My latest discovery is that I can scan the scribbly drawings I do in my notebooks and post them for your viewing pleasure here on this blog.

You may have noticed that there are some class notes next to my coffee cup doodle and maybe you're thinking that I don't pay attention in class...

Well, I'd like to take this opportunity to dispel some of the myths about doodling through the awesome wisdom of Sunni Brown:

She talks about visual note-taking and makes the case for doodling, redefining it as "scribblings to help a person think." She says doodlers retain 30% more information than non-doodlers! Whoa!

More scribbles to come. In the meantime, I also recommend this. Super amazing and hilarious.