Gwen Mueller is an IT Professional, #dnd Gamer-girl, #coffee drinker, geek in Secondary Education, editor on tumblr #education, curating #science, and #tech resources to inspire lifelong learning with 1/4 cup of #fun.
Showing 25 posts tagged high school
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Smartphones a Standard for Majority of Students by High School, Survey Finds
Girls are more likely than boys to be users of mobile devices, by a margin of 75 percent to 69 percent, the survey found. They were also more likely to use tablets, by a margin of 39 percent to 30 percent, than boys, and e-readers, by a margin of 16 percent to 7 percent.
Great list of 10 dimensions of innovation that deal with student motivation, connections with community, and content delivery.
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A Look Inside the Admission Conclave
From the outside, the college admissions process might seem random, impersonal and elite. While imperfect in many ways, the truth about what happens behind the closed doors of the ominous admission committee might be surprising…
photo via flickr:CC | DeSales University
Here is a possible joint venture: Why don’t the professors help the teachers persuade public high schools to teach research with required projects? That might raise the quality of the first year of college in a way that would please AP teachers who see the students off and the college instructors who greet them.
Organized by a pair of Maryland-based advocacy groups—the Lloyd Society and Start School Later—the event explored adolescents’ need for sleep, and the effects of—and the necessity for—appropriate start times for schools across the country.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact benefits of later start times; however, a study published in May 2012 by Education Next looked at more than 146,000 middle schoolers in the Wake County, N.C., public school system and found that pushing back their start times an hour increased standardized math and reading scores by 2 percentile points to 3 percentile points.
Although the sample is small, the study’s main author, economist Finley Edwards from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, said the findings are significant enough to be important, suggesting that later start times can be a relevant policy change for those districts trying to find ways to improve students’ academic achievement.
Researchers from the University of Montreal have developed a program to significantly reduce the stress associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school.
The DeStress for Success Program is based on an earlier study that showed the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with the production of stress hormones for many youth.
“The educational program is based on the belief that intervention can decrease the level of stress hormones and depressive symptoms in teenagers and help facilitate this transition,” said Sonia Lupien, lead author of the study.
photo via flickr:CC | Riley Alexandra
“It’s tough for me to explain their error. I know how to fix their sentences, but I actually had to google why it should be changed. It adds more of a challenge and it helps me remember grammar rules. To be honest, I am worried that I will give them wrong information, but I always try to double check. (Breanna S.)”
(via world-shaker)
Career Technical Education Linked to Boys’ High School Survival
“We have a boy problem. Boys are less likely to finish high school, go to college, finish college, go to graduate school, or finish grad school,” said Stone, noting that 75 percent of D’s and F’s are given to male students. “We are driving them out. We are not giving them things that engage them.”
photo via flickr:CC | Sandy Livermore
Crime and No Punishment: Discipline in High School Classrooms
Part of the reason I initially was drawn to high school teaching, besides the appeal of focusing exclusively on English, was the idea that I would not have to spend as much time disciplining 15-16 year olds as I would in the lower grades. I realize now that I was mistaken about many things in this rose-colored vision, not the least of which the amount of time I’d spend on “classroom management,” an all-encompassing term that involves maintaining control over the classroom—not only in focusing students’ attention and keeping them busy, but also correcting and addressing problematic classroom behaviors.
photo via flickr:CC | Grotuk
The Modern Day High School Geometry Course: A Lesson in Illogic
Geometry as taught today is for the most part lacking in the most important aspect of the subject: Proofs. Prior to 1980, most if not all high school geometry classes were very much proof-based. While there are those who bemoan the teaching of K-12 math as being mired in “computational” and “procedural” aspects of math while ignoring the larger beauty of what mathematics is about, it is ironic that when it comes to geometry, the true mathematical nature of the subject is largely ignored.
photo via flickr:CC | Slongood
A 15-year-old student’s ed reform plan: Self-directed learning
Arooj Ahmad is a high-achieving 15-year-old high school sophomore at Libertyville High School in suburban Chicago who has taken a focused interest in reforming the U.S. education system, which he calls outdated.
He says that schools spend too much time forcing students to memorize a mountain of facts rather than teaching relevant knowledge that can help them select a career path and function well as adults.
Keep reading to find out what he things is wrong with education and how to fix it.
The Oregon Legislature is looking at making college students out of every Oregon high-school student.
A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill that would require college coursework as a condition of graduating from high school. The move would increase the number of students going to college, make their degrees more affordable and encourage students not considering college to continue in higher education…
“Earlier this week I was having dinner with some fellow educational technologists. The conversation took the inevitable turn to discussing 1:1 philosophy. 1:1 is most typically defined as the ratio of one student to one device where that device is provided by the school. During our discussion, the question was posed as “1:1, Chromebooks or iPads?” While I am a fan of both Chromebooks and iPads, I was troubled by this conversation. Not, of course, because I am opposed to the student use of technology, but because I am starting to realize that 1:1 is a parallel philosophy to “one size fits all.”
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It’s no secret there’s big competition in Higher Education, and Edudemic provides a few tips on how to better your chances at getting in:
High schools offer day-care services for teen parents to prevent dropouts
For the kids who have kids, such day-care centers offer a chance to stay in school and earn a diploma while getting help with the daily responsibilities of parenthood.
Although the number of teen pregnancies has dropped across the country, proponents of the day-care programs say they hope to prevent teens from leaving school to care for babies, with the added bonus of offering their young kids early childhood development. Critics say the centers promote unprotected sex by teens.
photo via flickr:CC | rabble
