fulcrum.org
what <::> why <::> how

Why do this work? <::> Why form a new foundation? <::> Why seek endowment funding?

Why form a new foundation rather than doing this work through existing ones?

Although there are a multitude of foundations, organizations, and institutions that seek to improve methods of teaching and learning, only a small handful of organizations focus on the specific goal of learning how to tap the brain's natural desire to learn.

Why is that?

In the vast majority of teaching/learning environments, the student's desire to learn the material is not considered at all in either presentation of the material or selection of the content. For example, the idea of a session of an algebra class starting out with the question "would you like to go on to the quadratic equation or do you want to see more factoring of polynomials?" would almost surely draw laughter from anyone you proposed it to. Yet there is very compelling evidence that an approach along that line (which not only respects students' interests, but is driven by it) has a dramatically higher chance of successfully acheiving long-term retention of the material and encouraging more advanced study in the given topic area.