Making tests (more) fun through hints increases student uptake of self-testing
(Learning Scientists)
Motivating students to change their habits on what strategies they use is not an easy task. However, it seems to be worthwhile thinking about ways to restructure or redefine the learning environment or task characteristics in a way that changes student perception of it towards higher attractiveness and more fun. Providing hints strategically can be one way to achieve this.
A school district wades through a deluge of social-emotional curricula to find one that works
(Hechinger Report)
Concern about the quality of social-emotional programs is rising — but one Virginia school sees academic success by focusing on students’ emotional wellbeing
David Epstein’s “Range”: An argument for teaching in research-focused academia
(APA Division 2 – Society for the Teaching of Psychology’s GSTA Blog)
Range is not a book about pedagogy, psychology, or graduate students, so it may seem like a strange fit as an entry in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology’s Graduate Student Teaching Association blog. However, this book could be one of the most important works you read in your graduate studies.
Don’t blame the teacher: Student results are (mostly) out of their hands
(Conversation)
But our study of 4,533 twin pairs, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, found classroom factors – which include teacher quality and class size – accounted for only 2-3% of the differences in students’ NAPLAN scores.
The narrative is wrong: LGBTQ kids not safe at school
(Medium)
LGBTQ kids deserve safe schools, but they rarely have them. According to data compiled by the US government, anti-LGBTQ bullying is endemic in American schools. LGBTQ students are more than twice as likely to be bullied…of LGBT students feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, and 37.8% because of their gender expression 30.3% of LGBT students missed at least one entire day at school in the past month because they felt unsafe, and 10.6% missed four or more days in the past month Bullying is getting worse, hitting unprecedented highs by 2017
North Carolina-based research firm RTI International tracked 20 years of data on school bullying and conducted a meta-analysis of those findings. They found that “despite assumptions that today’s youth are more welcoming and accepting of LGBTQ identities, widespread targeting of such… youth has not improved since the 1990s.”
Three things new higher education bills would mean for teachers and students
(Education Week – Free Trial)
On the GOP side, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee, has walked point on a package of bills dealing with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid—an issue that allows Alexander to use perhaps his favorite prop of an extremely long application for aid—as well as short-term Pell Grants and other issues. Meanwhile, House Democrats have unveiled the College Affordability Act, which builds on past legislation and aims to increase Pell Grant awards, lower student-loan payments, and more.
The key to raising brilliant kids? Play a game
(NPR)
So how does it work? NPR Education reporters and Life Kit hosts Anya Kamenetz and Cory Turner talk with Hirsh-Pasek about the “six C’s” that kids need to succeed — collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence — and why raising brilliant kids starts with redefining brilliant.
Can personality affect dementia risk?
(New York Time – Free Trial)
Extroversion, an energetic disposition, calmness and maturity were associated with a lower risk of dementia 50 years later. Your personality in high school may help predict your risk of dementia decades later.
Memory training builds upon strategy use
(Science Daily)
Researchers have for the first time obtained clear evidence of the important role strategies have in memory training. Training makes participants adopt various strategies to manage the task, which then affects the outcome of the training.
‘Don’t leave campus’: Parents are now using tracking apps to watch their kids at college
(Washington Post – Free Trial)
“It was supposedly for my safety, she said, “but I never had the option to refuse.”
Parents worry about their teens’ smartphone habits. But what about their own?
Her story was one of many that have found their way to Reddit. John Caffaro, a professor at the California School of Professional Psychology and an expert in family and sibling abuse, viewed several of the posts about Life360 and other tracking services on r/insaneparents and other discussion boards. “Many of the Reddit posts appeared to drift perilously close to what normally constitutes emotional abuse,” Caffaro told The Post in an email.
Power of family resilience to protect children from bullying
(Science Daily)
Studies show that children exposed to childhood trauma known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at increased risk of being bullied or bullying others. New research suggests that family resilience — the ability to work together to overcome problems, for example — reduces this risk.
Schools now letting students stay home sick for mental-health days
(Washington Post – Free Trial)
In the face of rising rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among young people, some states and school systems have started allowing students to take mental sick days off from school.
“We helped them figure out which legislators they needed to get on board and things like how to organize a letter-writing campaign,” said Robin Henderson, a psychologist and chief executive for behavioral health for the Providence Oregon health-care system. “It was surprising the amount of pushback they got.”
Infants recognize counting long before they can say, ‘1, 2, 3’
(Education Week – Free Trial)
In a new study in the journal Developmental Science, psychology and brain science researchers Jinjing “Jenny” Wang and Lisa Feigenson showed 14- to 18-month-old children a series of common objects before hiding them. Then the researchers pulled out a few of the objects, and tracked whether and how long the children searched for additional hidden items.
Do kids actually need playdates? Here’s what psychologists say about social interaction for kids
(Good Housekeeping)
“Playdates are not absolutely necessary if a child is getting daily exposure to children in preschool, school, and park playgrounds,” says Emily W. King, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist in Raleigh, North Carolina who specializes in working with children of all ages. Kids may also get good doses of play time with peers in organized activities, community events, and free play with siblings, cousins, and neighborhood children. “In other words, what is necessary is regular social exposure to same-age peers, so they can work on play skills at a similar social developmental level.”
Climate-change education is overdue in schools
(Florida Today)
When people think about climate change, their first thought is probably about its effects on the environment, and possibly on physical health. But according to the American Psychological Association, climate change can also take a significant toll on mental health, with the consequences including depression and anxiety.
Tami Silverman column: school discipline disparities: how we can do better
(Herald Bulletin)
Recent research from the American Psychological Association suggests that many widely used school disciplinary techniques are counterproductive and actually negatively impact student achievement, increase students’ risk of dropping out, and increase the likelihood that students disciplined in schools would become involved with the criminal justice system.
It’s more than pay: Striking teachers demand counselors and nurses
(New York Times – Free Trial)
School strikes have put teachers in the spotlight. But demands for more counselors, nurses and psychologists are growing.
Only half of US children get enough sleep: why that’s a serious problem
(Healthline)
“Sleep deprived kids have more behavioral problems, more academic problems, more health problems, more risk-taking behaviors, and more anxiety and mood related problems,” Lynelle Schneeberg, PsyD, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and director of the behavioral sleep program at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, told Healthline.
Only half of US children get enough sleep during the week
(Science Daily)
Only 48% of school age children in the United States get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, according to new research. Those who do, the study suggests, are significantly more likely to show a positive outlook toward school and other signs of ‘childhood flourishing,’ a measure of behavioral and social well-being.
What is schema? How do we help students build it?
(Education Week – Free Trial)
Have you ever been frustrated by how quickly students seem to forget what you’ve taught them? Or by their struggles to use what they’ve learned in one context in a new, but related context? When we intentionally help students build schema, we can solve both problems.
Social media has not destroyed a generation
(Scientific American)
It was the headlines that most upset Amy Orben. In 2017, when she was a graduate student in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford researching how social media influences communication, alarming articles began to appear. Giving a child a smartphone was like giving a kid cocaine, claimed one. Smartphones might have destroyed a generation, said another. Orben didn’t think such extreme statements were warranted. At one point, she stayed up all night reanalyzing data from a paper linking increases in depression and suicide to screen time. “I figured out that tweaks to the data analysis caused major changes to the study results,” Orben says. “The effects were actually tiny.”
California is pushing back school start times. The move could sweep the nation — or backfire.
(NBC News)
“Everyone is going to be watching to see what the results are going to be,” an education researcher said.
How tech tools can reduce anxiety and strengthen relationships with students
(KQED – MindShift)
In elementary school, I felt as if I was always being timed in math. And I could never finish in time. Tests made me panic, I had to count on my fingers and toes, and my friend was always faster than me when we practiced flashcards. My teachers told me that I didn’t know the material well enough and my friend was smarter. And I believed them.
Teaching isn’t a personality contest
(Edutopia)
One way to become an exceptional teacher is to focus less on traits like humor and charisma and more on self-awareness and interactions with students.
High five for our top five teaching strategies!
(Retrieval Practice)
This week is short and sweet: Our five most popular teaching strategies!
Mental health is low priority for community colleges
(Inside Higher Ed)
The largest community college in Pennsylvania is eliminating mental health services on campus. Higher ed experts worry more struggling two-year institutions may follow suit.
‘Students learn best in their preferred learning style,’ and other neuromyths
(Chronicle of Higher Education)
Among the most widely believed neuromyths is that students learn best when they’re taught according to their preferred learning style — visually, for example — according to the report, which is based on survey responses from about a thousand instructors and support professionals. Just over a quarter of professors correctly identified that idea as false, while 46 percent of instructional designers and 35 percent of professional-development administrators did.
Why recess should never be withheld as punishment
(Edutopia)
Experts argue that recess is necessary for a child’s social and academic development, and skipping it as punishment for misbehavior or to accommodate more seat time is a serious mistake.
