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.
Deeper Learning represents the evolution of a conversation that has gone on for some time now. The primary thrust of that conversation is that the pre-eminent challenge facing our schools is not one of student achievement on standardized assessments but rather a fundamental misalignment between school and the realities of our modern economic and civic life. Deeper Learning represents an attempt to better align the experiences that students have in school with the demands that will be made of them by the world.
What is the most important problem facing American children today? According to the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is the effects of poverty on the health and well being of young people.
The role of poverty on student achievement has been one of the flashpoints between supporters and critics of modern school reform. Supporters insist that citing poverty as a reason for lack of student achievement is “an excuse” made by people who want to support the status quo. Critics of reform say that the major reform efforts ignore the effects that living in poverty have on children and their ability to do schoolwork and perform on standardized tests.
Most teachers think that students today have a problem paying attention. They seem impatient, easily bored. I’ve argued that I think it’s unlikely that they are incapable of paying attention, but rather that they are quick to deem things not worth the effort.
But the test had one feature that shocked this test-taker and surely others who noticed it: product placement.
As a student who takes these tests year after year, I (and many others) can testify to the nonsensical and, at times, illogical qualities of many test passages and questions. Last year, for example, Pearson had to throw out six questions onits eighth grade English test that followed a perplexing fable with the moral, “Pineapples don’t have sleeves”. I thought that nothing could be worse than that test. I was wrong.
My major concern is the increasing standardization of the college experience. In order to make online learning worth the cost of development, institutions must achieve economies of scale so as to spread its costs over a large number of students. But achieving these economies of scale means losing certain intangible aspects of the classroom environment; indeed, online education makes no room for the interpersonal interactions that are an essential part of an authentic education.
My second concern is that cost-saving technologies will have different consequences for rich and poor institutions and for rich and poor students. Public institutions have faced decreased taxpayer subsidies for years and feel acute pressure to reduce costs through standardization. In contrast, wealthy private universities have little incentive to standardize and cheapen their learning environments.
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, self-affirmation is the process of identifying and focusing on your most important values. Doing this can boost problem-solving abilities, the researchers claim.
“An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester.
One in six U.S. high school students reported being electronically bullied within the past 12 months, according to a new study.
The study also found that almost one-third of high school students spend three or more hours each day playing video games or using a computer.
“Electronic bullying of high school students threatens the self-esteem, emotional well-being and social standing of youth at a very vulnerable stage of their development,” said Andrew Adesman, M.D., F.A.A.P., of Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York and lead author of the study.
A four-year-old arrives at school and starts crying when she realizes her lunch is packed in a generic plastic bag, not the usual Disney Princess lunchbox she so loves. A friend tells her she won’t be able to sit at the princess lunch table—it’s only for girls with princess lunchboxes.
A fourth grader arrives home from school all excited. He has a Book It certificate from Pizza Hut because his mother signed the form showing that he met the reading-at-home goal his teacher set for him. He pleads with his mother to take him to Pizza Hut for dinner that night.
Sixth graders are assigned the task of writing to their principal about something important that they would like to see happen at their school. They decide to ask for school vending machines that sell snack foods and drinks.
As marketing to children intensifies, what can we do to minimize the damage? Keep reading.
The infographic highlights findings from the mobile learning report, Living & Learning with Mobile Devices, released today from Grunwald & Associates and the Learning First Alliance. According to the report more than 50 percent of parents believe that schools should make more use of mobile devices in education.
I’m really surprised by the data collected in this survey (2,392 parents) which isn’t unfortunately broken down into age categories. Two items of note:
83% said their school does not require use of personal electronic devices and 72% said it was not allowed at all.
Parents are concerned about theft of personal devices (81%), but 45% still plan to buy or have a personal mobile device purchased for their student. 32% of parents surveyed think schools should require this.
“Leadership does not come with your position in a group. Leadership doesn’t come with a title. Leadership is not a set of traits that a few people have. Leaders are not elites. Leadership is an action that anyone can take at any moment in any group regardless of position.”
The study found that students motivated by a desire for autonomy and competence tended to earn higher grades and show a greater likelihood of persistence than did other students.
