New and Improved! Really?
I wonder whether the “improved” Zest soap from this 1961 commercial is actually a new and improved product or if it is just new packaging, or a new spin on an existing product to reach a new audience. Is it actually new and improved?
In The Innovator’s Mindset, George Couros defines innovation as a way of thinking that creates something new and better. (Is that the same as new and improved?)
We’re doing lots of NEW things, trying new pedagogies, using new tools. YAY, that’s the first step in being innovative.
But that’s only the first half of innovation. The second part, the most important part ,is:
Does it REALLY work?
NOT “new and improved Zest” work,
NOT 100% on the state test work
but does it REALLY work?
or
Is this right for kids?
Katie Martin challenged me this week in her post, How do you know if it’s not just new, but better?
How do I KNOW? Well, I can see that it is better. I think it is better. Maybe it is better. But, how do I KNOW? Hmmm . . .
Well, I have to have evidence. In school, I learned that there is direct and indirect evidence. On the true crime podcast I listen to, they talk about corroborated evidence, or evidence that is supported by other evidence. I love the definition brought up by a Google search: “the available BODY of facts.”
To know that something is new and improved, new and better, innovative, we need evidence, corroborated evidence, a body of evidence.
Tracie G Cain 