Embracing ambiguity: Why predictive metrics aren't helping


man talking to camera

Shawn Loescher

|

Last year, Arizona State University alumnus Shawn Loescher presented his TED-Ed talk at the TEDSummit in Edinburgh, Scotland. Loescher, CEO of Urban Discovery Schools, was one of just 16 extraordinary innovators worldwide recognized by the TED-Ed Innovative Educator program for his leadership in advancing education.

Loescher, a graduate of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, leads Urban Discovery Schools, an inner-city pre-K–12 school system that embraces a design thinking-based curriculum developed with student input. 

Loescher’s talk, “Embrace ambiguity! Why predictive metrics aren't helping,” recounts how the tumultuous experience of his child being born prematurely taught him to embrace ambiguity. 

In the neonatal intensive care unit, each new diagnosis from a specialist came with a predictive metric for his child’s future.

“Let me tell you, it has been wrong more times than not," he said. “I was reminded how not to confuse statistical probability with human possibility,” he said.

More Arts, humanities and education

 

Photo of two students working on a garment on a dress form

Barbie partners with ASU FIDM on summer fashion camps

Barbie, the iconic fashion doll by Mattel Inc., and Edikted, an LA-based style-led contemporary fashion brand, are teaming with…

Men in red and black outfits walk a runway

From Scottsdale to LA: ASU FIDM takes the runway

The ninth annual ASU FIDM Fashion Show expanded beyond Arizona for the first time this year with a debut show in Los Angeles.…

A scene from a documentary where paramedics are helping cool down a man with heat stroke

ASU filmmaker highlights lifesaving work during a Phoenix heat crisis

A new documentary by an Arizona State University filmmaker captures the frantic moment when medics bring a man back from the…