Student Mental Health Concerns, Growth Mindset, and more in the News Roundup

teen-student-mental-health

Schools Grapple With Student Depression as Data Show Problem Worsening
(Education Week – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
The findings confirm what many educators say has long been evident in their classrooms. Teachers and principals must be more versed in the warning signs of serious issues like mood disorders, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts so that they can better serve students in crisis, they say.

A Rise In Depression Among Teens And Young Adults Could Be Linked To Social Media Use
(NPR)
They found the rate of individuals reporting symptoms consistent with major depression over the past year increased 52 percent in teens and 63 percent in young adults over a decade.

The Mental Health Crisis Among America’s Youth Is Real – and Staggering
(The Conversation)
College counseling centers reported sharp increases in the number of students seeking treatment for mental health issues.

The Growth Mindset Problem
(Aeon)
A generation of schoolchildren is being exhorted to believe in their brain’s elasticity. Does it really help them learn?

How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging
(The Chronicle of Higher Education)
In fact, anyone who conflates engagement and entertainment is not only mistaken but also quite in conflict with the psychology and neuroscience underlying how human beings learn, which demonstrates that learning requires the motivated application of attention and working memory.

How Schools Can Make Advisories Meaningful for Students and Teachers
(Education Week – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
Advisories are pitched as a solution for very personal problems students face: loneliness, family stuff, meeting goals. But teens/tweens can seem allergic to such systemic solutions. How can schools make advisories meaningful? Give students more control.

Objections to Jo Boaler’s Take on Neuroscience and Math Education
(Daniel Willingham: Science & Education)
On February 28th Stanford Professor Jo Boaler and one of her students, Tanya Lamar, published an article that we think is a fine example of how not to draw educational conclusions from neuroscientific data.

Brain – Book – Buddy: A Strategy for Assessment
(The Effortful Educator)
I usually use this as a strategy for review either at the end of a unit of work or to begin class with some retrieval practice.

Research Scholars to Air Problems With Using ‘Grit’ at School
(The Hechinger Report)
The author of the popular concept says it was never intended as a way to raise grades

Does the Ubiquitous Attendance Certificate Really Get Students to School?
(Education Week’s Inside School Research – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
Handing out certificates for perfect attendance is a common and straightforward way to motivate students to come to school, but new research suggests principals should tread carefully: In some cases, it can actually discourage students from putting in effort to attend.

Families and Schools May Play Key Roles in Promoting Adolescent Self-Confidence
(Science Daily)
Self-confidence is critical for teens as they prepare for the challenges of adulthood, and both families and schools may together play a vital role in boosting adolescents’ confidence even in the face of difficulties with family, according to researchers.

Why Lunch, Exercise, Sleep, and Air Quality Matter at School
(Education Week – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
Yet evidence is mounting that attending to these basic aspects of students’ school experiences can significantly improve their academic focus, concentration, and mental well-being.

How Inuit Parents Teach Kids To Control Their Anger
(NPR)
“We learn best through things that are interesting to us. And stories, by their nature, can have lots of things in them that are much more interesting in a way that bare statements don’t.”

I Embraced Screen Time With My Daughter—and I Love It
(Wired – Subscription Required, Free Trial)
The Connected Learning Lab’s Candice Odgers, a professor of psychological sciences, reviewed the research on adolescents and devices and found as many positive as negative effects.

Forgetting Uses More Brain Power Than Remembering
(UT News)
“This will make way for future studies on how we process, and hopefully get rid of, those really strong, sticky emotional memories, which can have a powerful impact on our health and well-being”

Ofsted and Deeper Learning: It’s Like Learning, but Deeper
(The Learning Spy)
Recently, I was contacted by a school who wanted some help working on ‘deeper learning’. I asked them what they meant to which they replied, “Oh, we were hoping you’d tell us!”

Why The College Admissions Scandal Hurts Students With Disabilities
(NPR)
Students with disabilities and disability rights advocates are among those angry — and feeling victimized — after the arrests in the college admissions and bribery scandal Tuesday.

Origins and Nature of ‘Math Anxiety’
(Science Daily)
A report out today examines the factors that influence ‘math anxiety’ among primary and secondary school students, showing that teachers and parents may inadvertently play a role in a child’s development of the condition, and that girls tend to be more affected than boys.

Taking Arts Classes Leads to Better Academic Performance
(Science Daily)
A new study found a link between arts elective courses in music, dance, visual art and drama, and better grades in middle school. The study followed a large and diverse sample of preschool children up until they completed sixth, seventh and eighth grade.

In a First, U.S. Private Sector Employs Nearly as Many Ph.D.S as Schools Do
(Science)
The job market for U.S. science and engineering Ph.D.s is about to pass a long-anticipated milestone. For decades, educational institutions have been the largest employer of Ph.D.s.

How to Develop a Greater Sense of Motivation in Students
(KQED – Mind/Shift)
Teachers can know their content backwards and forwards. They might have put hours into their lesson plans. But if their students aren’t motivated, learning won’t happen.

One Way to Take the Sting Out of Student Feedback
(The Chronicle of Higher Education)
An insight of psychology and behavioral economics is that people often give outsize attention to the part of feedback that’s negative. Fixating on those comments, he said, could lead him to alter the course for the worse.

 

About the Author

Hunter is a communications professional who came of age in the digital revolution, and has witnessed big changes in how we communicate. In his eclectic 20 year career he’s seen vast changes across multiple industries from advertising, B2C, professional services, publishing, and now non-profit. During his time at APA Hunter has watched the growth of the organization’s web presence; a shift from print to digital media; and the pickup of social channels like the PsychLearningCurve. A tech geek at heart, Hunter is naturally drawn to all things shiny and new especially when it comes to communicating – particularly social media and apps. Hunter seeks to understand the world around him -- add in a penchant for creative design and a reporter’s curiosity and you’ve got Hunter. Through this blog he hopes to help translate quality psychological science into practical uses for educators, students, and parents.