Category — General
Education in the Netherlands - Another High Performing Country
A short time ago we took a brief look at Finland, the highest scoring country on the 2006 PISA Exams (Programme for International Student Assessment). The tiny country demonstrated extraordinary results taking the top spot in science, the number two slot in Reading (only trailing Korea), and the number two slot in Mathematics (trailing [...]
May 6, 2008 5 Comments
Equal Opportunity, General, Public Policy, Teaching and Learning
No Child Left Behind Act Deters High Standards
This past week, a Boston Globe article revealed the development of an alarming educational trend within the State of Massachusetts. Hidden beneath the surface was yet another subtle demonstration as to why the No Child Left Behind Act may actually be acting as a deterrent to improved educational outcomes.
The issue? It seems that many Massachusetts [...]
April 25, 2008 4 Comments
Equal Opportunity, General, Public Policy
Risk Taking - Part of Growing Up, Part of the Learning Process
A paper released at the thirty-eighth Hawaii International Conference on System Science in 2005 challenges some of the conventional thoughts about the level of risk acceptable in our society today. The paper, Understanding the Effect of Risk Aversion on Risk, suggests that “the attempt to eliminate all thinkable risks in our society may be setting [...]
April 8, 2008 4 Comments
General
In the News - Teaching our Children to Lie
Why do kids lie? Could it be that they are just copying their parents? That’s seems to be the latest thinking. A clear argument as to how the entire process works can be found in a NY Times Magazine Article called “Learning to Lie.”
There are the traditional mainstay sort of beliefs: “Kids lie early, [...]
March 4, 2008 No Comments
General
In The News - The Infamous Rubber Room?
NY City’s Rubber Room
A snippet worth taking a peek at is the web page “The Rubber Room”. It represents the home site for a group of independent film makers creating a documentary on the place known as New York City’s teacher purgatory.
According to the page, “Each year in New York City hundreds of schoolteachers [...]
February 28, 2008 2 Comments
General
In the News - Cool Web Sites and Social Networking While Learning a Language
A new web site is changing the meaning of being published. SciVee Televisionis a new site designed by scientists for scientists. The concept is simple, SciVee allows scientists to make their research available on the net by combining a published scientific article with a video to create an online presentation. Once posted, other scientists can [...]
February 19, 2008 No Comments
General, Technology
In the News - Web Pages and News Worth a Look
If you have not seen this impressive performance from Lily you have missed a rare treat. Keep in mind that she is not yet two. Also, those who object to children walking or jumping on mattresses will have to put aside their sentiments. This little cherub had me as soon as I heard her say [...]
February 10, 2008 No Comments
General
In the News - Web Pages Worth Pondering
Today we provide our weekly round up of web pages garnering special interest. One site getting a lot of bookmarks these days offers teachers a digital plan book to replace the longstanding paper version that virtually everyone in the profession utilizes. The new software site allows the user to enter lesson plan information and [...]
February 4, 2008 No Comments
General
Education In the News - What’s Worth Checking Out
Before we begin our weekly roundup of interesting education/web pages in the news we wanted to follow up with a couple of additional comments regarding the recent comic book series. Perhaps the most interesting and positive aspect of our research was the depth to which proponents of the use comics in the classroom have gone [...]
January 29, 2008 2 Comments
General, Multimedia Content
The Twelve Best Comic Books for the Classroom
Today we offer our recommendations as to the best comics for teachers to explore the concept in their own classrooms. We have pounded the Internet pavement and read the reviews of sellers and independent critics alike to try to find a list that is unequivocally strong.
To be sure of academic support for the concept [...]
January 27, 2008 13 Comments
General, Multimedia Content, Teaching and Learning