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

 

A young woman and her grandfather

ASU student honors her grandfather’s legacy through storytelling

This fall at Arizona State University's West Valley campus, a new communication course is teaching students that storytelling can…

A woman's hair flies as she dances in a circle of children

ASU professor creates 'Red,' an interactive dance with toddlers

Red is the color that best embodies the range of energetic expression in toddlers, and that’s why Amanda Pintore named her family…

A still from the 2025 move "The Running Man" depicting a man in a black and red suit standing in front of two guards

Could a reality game show from 'The Running Man' happen today?

The 1982 novel "The Running Man" was written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard…