Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying

http://ift.tt/1LjFAfG

Edutopia – Lisa Currie

Phrases like “random acts of kindness” and “pay it forward” have become popular terms in modern society. This could perhaps be best explained by those who have identified a deficiency in their lives that can only be fulfilled by altruism.

It seems there are good reasons why we can’t get enough of those addictive, feel-good emotions, as scientific studies prove there are many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits associated with kindness.

As minds and bodies grow, it’s abundantly clear that children require a healthy dose of the warm-and-fuzzies to thrive as healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals.

Patty O’Grady, PhD, an expert in neuroscience, emotional learning, and positive psychology, specializes in education. She reports:

Kindness changes the brain by the experience of kindness. Children and adolescents do not learn kindness by only thinking about it and talking about it. Kindness is best learned by feeling it so that they can reproduce it.

A great number of benefits have been reported to support teaching kindness in schools, best summed up by the following.

Happy, Caring Children

The good feelings that we experience when being kind are produced by endorphins. They activate areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust. These feelings of joyfulness are proven to be contagious, encouraging more kind behavior (also known as altruism) by the giver and recipient. Acts of kindness help us form connections with others which are reported to be a strong factor in increasing happiness.

Greater Sense of Belonging and Improved Self-Esteem

Studies show that people experience a “helper’s high” when they do a good deed. This rush of endorphins creates a lasting sense of pride, well-being, and an enriched sense of belonging. It’s reported that even small acts of kindness heighten our sense of well-being, increase energy, and give a wonderful feeling of optimism and self worth.

Read full story

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Five Emerging Trends For Innovative Tech In Education

Is Technology Distracting You Or Your Children From Vital Sleep?

http://ift.tt/1O4ACUx

Eileen Burns

With the explosion of modern technology has came a saturation of technology and media that is stressing us out, affecting our health and wellbeing, particularly our sleep.

We now have generations of children and adults glued to their mobile phones, laptops. ipads or xbox…late in the wee evenings, when we should be tucked up in bed having sweet dreams.

Instead many of us are  glued to social media, tv or online games such as facebook, candycrush … A generation over stimulated with not enough quality sleep are falling asleep to electromagentic radiation with kindles, mobile phones…

Other than the obvious DNA dangers of radiation from all the gadgets now plugged in or homes that aren’t turned off at night, the health risks are extremely concerning.

Generations no longer know how to SWITCH off, relax and go to bed feeling RELAXED. Instead they fall asleep often over stimulated, exhausted, irritable, to often the over stimulation of what they have been viewing.

Sleep Cycles are so easily affected especially in children and teens who need adequate sleep for repair and growth. So easily knocked off with the glare of a computer or ipad screen, especially children and teens who require enough sleep for necessary repair and growth.

So many of us are dropping off to sleep with graphic, violent or heart racing images from late night tv, instead of the nice, quiet, soothing, natural nightime environment that helps us get the GOOD QUALITY sleep we deserve and that is required to restore and repair the body, to face the day happy, healthy and refreshed.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Toy Subscription Services That Make Your Kid Smarter And Save You Money

http://ift.tt/1PI3vDE

Fatherly – Steve Schiff

You’re already subscribed to monthly boxes that keep your sock game strong and your dog’s breath fresh, certainly your kids deserve the same personal shopper treatment. Of course, you could probably just curate highly personalized, monthly crates of toys, games, projects, and activities that teach them about global cultures, STEM, coding, building, sustainability, art, and any other interest little kids can dream up. You have plenty of time for that, right?

If You Don’t Mind A Little Mess

Promote your little maker’s STEM skills with creativity kits from Green Kid Crafts, like a basil and sprout gardening kit, or that timeless classic: the baking soda volcano. Depending on your child’s age, each box of 4-6 kits is either an opportunity for quality time together or an effective way to absorb their attention for a few hours while you get some work done.
Green Kid Crafts ($20 monthly, $19 for 6 months, $18 for 12 months)
Ages: 3-10

If You Believe Adventure Can Come In A Box

As seen on Shark Tank, Surprise Ride delivers a monthly “adventure” in the form of activities, lessons, instructions, fun facts, and snacks curated around a random theme. Your kid will know about everything from Amelia Earhart to bees, dragons, and Paris, all without ever thumbing through a World Book. Do they even make the World Book anymore? Doesn’t matter, you were in at “snacks.”
Surprise Ride ($30 monthly, $25 for 6 or 12 months)
Ages: 6-11

If Your Home Is Absolutely Out Of Space

Each Sparkbox offers 4 educational toys and games, curated based on an age-appropriate “curriculum” designed to promote play between you and your kid. At the end of each period, you return the products (free of charge) and receive a new box. Theoretically, this would let you get rid of the horde of misfit toys currently occupying your house. Good luck with that.
Sparkbox ($35 monthly, $20 bi-monthly)
Ages: 0-4

If You Want Your Kid To Invent The Future (Or At Least Work In It)

Bitsbox delivers a new set of coding projects every month that allow kids to build real apps for real devices (in real life, despite being originally launched on Kickstarter). Because toys that teach coding are awesome, but an ongoing subscription service will keep your kid interested in coding long enough to land them one of those crazy future jobs that don’t exist yet.
Bitsbox ($20 monthly PDF, $40 month to month, $35 for 3 months, $30 for 12 months)
Ages: 6-12

If You Just Want To Get To The LEGOs Already

LEGOs are the greatest, but they’re also expensive. With Pley’s monthly subscriptions, you can get more than 400 different kits — all über sanitized, because kids are the greatest, but they’re also gross — delivered directly to your door. They won’t even charge you for lost pieces, because you’ll eventually step on them and that’s punishment enough.
Pley ($20 for ‘Easy’ and ‘Medium’ toys, $50 for ‘Easy,’ ‘Medium,’ and ‘Advanced’)
Ages: 2-You

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

3 Destructive Things School Taught You Without You Even Realizing It

Toddlers, TV and Touchscreens: Arguments For and Against

http://ift.tt/1KGwbbN

NurseryWorld – Prof Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Dr Richard House

Do ICT and multimedia in the early years have positive potential, or are they a danger to development? Here, two experts make their case.

FOR

Touchscreens and TV are here to stay, so let’s explore their positive features, says Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Birkbeck Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London

Touchscreen use is growing at a phenomenal rate. A recent survey indicates that UK family ownership of touchscreens increased from 7 per cent in 2011 to a whopping 71 per cent in 2014 (Ofcom, 2014), with the likelihood of it soon reaching nearly 100 per cent. Instead of indulging in emotional reactions about the potential negative influence of touchscreens, let’s explore their potential positive impact on child development.

What makes touchscreen devices different from other toys? Why are infants and toddlers (and older children) so fascinated by them? Why are children with ADHD quietly focused when using touchscreens (Stevens and Muslow, 2006)? Unlike passive TV watching, the child’s active interaction with touchscreen devices generates dynamic, contingent, audiovisual sensory stimulation.

The variety, frequency and complexity of the contingent responses from touchscreen devices far exceeds anything that books or traditional toys provide. These are facts that cannot be ignored even if, as parents and teachers, we do not welcome the ways in which touchscreen devices are engulfing childhood activities. In fact, touchscreen devices may actually generate heightened levels of cognitive activity compared to books and other toys.

Read More

---

 

AGAINST

We have to proceed with caution to avoid a developmental catastrophe, says Dr Richard House, academic, chartered psychologist and campaigner on early childhood

As last month marked the 70th anniversary of the nuclear incineration of Hiroshima, Japan, and its 140,000 population, I begin by mentioning the recent open letter, signed by Professors Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky and thousands of others, making a formidable ethical case for an international ban of ‘killer robots’ with AI.

Their plea graphically illustrates how we cannot assume that technological and scientific ‘progress’ is always necessarily beneficent for humankind. This needs spelling out because I so often hear a refrain of helpless resignation about ICT – for example, ‘Well, it’s part of the modern world, so we just have to accept it and work with it.’

I profoundly disagree. Unthought-through ideological commitments to technology are extremely dangerous. It’s an empirical and a developmental question as to whether ICT is appropriate for young children, and never something that we should blindly accept through robotic adherence to the new cultural myth that technology is always and necessarily a progressive force.

UNNECESSARY …

A simple way to summarise the arguments against early ICT is to say that in early childhood, it is unnecessary, inappropriate, and harmful.

Unnecessary: children will learn any ICT-related skills far more easily when their fine motor skills are well developed – and by then, many current technologies will likely be redundant anyway.

Inappropriate: is it necessary or appropriate for children’s early learning to be ‘accelerated’? Many authorities are fundamentally questioning this common assumption.

Harmful: apart from the alarming research findings reviewed by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman on ICT’s negative health effects (see ‘More information’), a core aspect of early experience is learning to be human. The real, human-relational and natural world is challenging for all human beings to understand. To confuse children when they have hardly begun to get a handle on this world, by introducing them to virtual, techno-magical worlds, is surely an absurd reversal of the natural order of things.

Read More

 

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

What To Do When Your Kid Is The Bully?

http://ift.tt/1LcZ6uv

Parents.com – Suzanne Peck

Here’s what to do if your kid turns out to be the bully at school.

It usually starts with a phone call from the school: Your child’s in trouble for bullying. “Ninety-nine percent of parents will say, ‘No way, not my kid’ and get defensive,” says Jennifer Cannon, a family therapist in Newport Beach, California. “But every kid is capable of bullying, even the kid you think is an angel.” So why do kids bully? Ronald Mah, a family therapist in San Leandro, California and author of Getting Beyond Bullying and Exclusion PreK-5, describes two distinct reasons why kids bully. “One reason is when popular and powerful children use bullying to maintain their power and popularity. The other reason is when children who experience a sense of deprivation feel entitled to bully other kids; that is, ‘I’ve been dealt a bad hand, so the rules don’t apply to me.’ or ‘I’ve been picked on, so I’ll get to them before they get to me.'” Kids also observe examples of bullying behavior every day through media, politics, TV reality shows, other kids at school, and even family dynamics. They may not understand that such behaviors are not acceptable anywhere.

• Get to the Root of Your Kid’s Bullying Problem
• The 4 Common Types of Bullying

Just take a deep breath, gather details about what exactly transpired, and let the school know that you want to work together for a positive outcome. At the same time, make sure that your child is treated fairly regarding school discipline. For example, new federal data shows that students of color and students with disabilities are disciplined much more frequently and more harshly, with suspensions as early as preschool. Assess your child’s actions without rushing to judgment and focus on understanding the behavior that’s involved before deciding on the appropriate consequences. The good news is that kids can unlearn bullying behaviors, and you can help them change their ways.

What to Do If Your Child Is Bullying Others

Acknowledge the Behavior

Sit down with your child, speak in a calm, firm tone, and ask him what happened and why he behaved a certain way. Be a good listener and avoid blame. Kids need to understand that it’s okay to admit they made a mistake. Ask questions to help him understand how his behavior affects others: “Is what you did respectful? Did it hurt someone? Would you want someone to do that to you?” Emphasize fair treatment of all people by saying, “We don’t behave that way in this family because we respect other people, and we don’t want other people to treat us that way,” suggests Walter Roberts, a professor of counselor education at Minnesota State University, Mankato and author of Working With Parents of Bullies and Victims.

• How to Deal With School Bullies

Focus on Consequences

Help your child understand that she is accountable for her actions. “Outline and follow through with consequences for bullying behavior. Write them out, review them once a week, and enforce them,” Cannon advises. Depending on the circumstances, you can eliminate something your child cherishes so the consequence will be significant, such taking away your child’s cell phone, eliminating or reducing TV or video game time, or preventing participation in a social outing. Or, better yet, turn the bullying incident into a teachable moment by discussing positive ways your child can handle future situations that lead to good consequences. Have your child write a paragraph describing what it would feel like to be in the other child’s shoes or write an apology letter.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Everything You Need To Know About Parenting

http://ift.tt/1MvODaH

Fatherly – Drew Wood

If you’re like most parents, when your kid’s first full written sentence is “Dad is fat,” you go find a book about how to raise respectful children or properly address body image issues. If you’re Jim Gaffigan, you go write a book about how to be a good parent when you have no idea what you’re doing — and use that sentence as the title. Gaffigan has plenty to say about parenthood, and for good reason; his brood of 5 kids provides endless material including these 12 timeless revelations.

On How Kids Perceive Sleep Compared To Adults
“Bedtime makes you realize how completely incapable you are of being in charge of another human being. My children act like they’ve never been to sleep before. ‘Bed? What’s that? No, I’m not doing that.’ They never want to go to bed. This is another thing that I will never have in common with my children. Every morning when I wake up, my first thought is, ‘When can I come back here?’ It’s the carrot that keeps me motivated. Sometimes going to bed feels like the highlight of my day. Ironically, to my children, bedtime is a punishment that violates their basic rights as human beings. Once the lights are out, you can expect at least an hour of inmates clanging their tin cups on the cell bars.”

On Your Actual Purpose For Toddlers
“I used to wonder why I had hair on my legs, but now I know it’s for my toddler sons and daughters to pull themselves up off the ground with as I scream in pain.”

On The Law Behavioral Averages
“Children have a tendency to behave as poorly as the most poorly behaved kid in the room. The laws of physics dictate that if there is a kid screaming and running in the hallway of a hotel, all the other children will scream and run in the hallway of the hotel.”

On The Flawed Programming Of Toddlers
“Toddler judgment is horrible. They don’t have any. Put a 12-month-old on a bed, and they will immediately try and crawl off headfirst like a lemming on a mindless migration mission. But the toddler mission is never mindless. They have two goals: find poison and find something to destroy.”

On Whether Or Not You’re Qualified To Be A Parent
“Every night before I get my one hour of sleep, I have the same thought: ‘Well, that’s a wrap on another day of acting like I know what I’m doing.’ I wish I were exaggerating, but I’m not. Most of the time, I feel entirely unqualified to be a parent. I call these times being awake.”

On Kids’ Music
“There should be a children’s song, ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It, Keep It To Yourself And Let Your Dad Sleep.”

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Meet Robo Wunderkind – The Lego of the Future

http://ift.tt/1WnuNmy

TechCrunch – Romain Dillet

A robotics and coding kit for kids of all ages. Modular, colorful and Lego compatible. Build, code, play, create the future!

Meet Robo Wunderkind, the Lego of the future. This startup is building programmable Lego-like bricks that teach kids how algorithms and code work. It is launching today on stage at Disrupt, and on Kickstarter.

“We are building smart Lego bricks. We are embedding different electronics in the cubes,” co-founder and CEO Rustem Akishbekov told me in a phone interview before Disrupt. “Then, you can simply program your devices with your smartphones and tablets. We created a programming language that is very easy to understand for children. They don’t need to write codes, they just need to drag and drop blocks.”

So what can you do with Robo kits? Well, it depends on you. You can build your own remote control car, for example Each block can do something different. For instance, there are proximity sensors, humidity sensors, motors and more. Connecting these bricks is as simple as putting Lego bricks together — there is no wire or magnet.

The company is aiming to ship during the Summer of 2016, and you can pre-order a kit on Kickstarter today. The basic kit costs $149 and you get 9 cubes — early bird prices are at $79. If you want 15 cubes, it costs $249. Finally, the big kit comes with 25 cubes for $399 — this kit includes a digital camera and a weather sensor. Overall, Robo Wunderkind wants to raise at least $50,000.

“The most established brand in the space is Lego Mindstorms. But it’s for older kids — the programming language is very challenging,” co-founder and COO Anna Iarotska told me. The best part is that Roko kits are compatible with Lego bricks, meaning that you can put a few smart Robo bricks inside a sophisticated Lego vehicle.

You can then connect your Robo Wunderkind bricks to your Android and iOS device via Bluetooth. After that, it’s just a matter of drag and dropping blocks in the app to create simple algorithms. If you want to go to the next step, you can move on to program your robot with Scratch, a programming language designed for kids.

The Vienna-based startup went through hardware accelerator HAX in 2014. If Robo Wunderkind takes off, the company could end up running a community of makers sharing layouts and algorithms. And anything that can make coding less intimidating is a great thing.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Should Schools Hold Back Students?

http://ift.tt/1JtPAeW

Globe Education (The Globe and Mail) – Ash Kelly

When eight-year-old Sophie Skogster fell behind her Canadian classmates, her parents, try as they might, could not convince school administrators to “fail” their daughter.

In 2009, the Skogster family moved to Finland, home to one of the highest-ranked education systems in the world. There, Sophie studied at a Grade 1 level, a grade behind where she would have been in Canada – an accommodation that was made because she was studying in Finnish, not English.

When they returned to Canada, Sophie returned to Grade 3, but anxiety attacks caused her to miss a lot of school. Shortly after that, she broke her leg while riding her bike. Sophie’s class was on the second floor and the school’s elevator was unreliable, so she spent a lot of time in the library with a teacher’s assistant. “She had a one-two-three punch,” says her father, Aapo Skogster.

There were a lot of tears and frustration. “I would be up very late at night trying to do homework, falling asleep at the dining room table. I’d get upset in school because I didn’t understand anything,” says Sophie.

Eventually, her parents yanked her out of her school in New Westminster, B.C., and moved her to a new district in a lower grade; that was three years ago. Now 13, Sophie is the oldest child in her Grade 7 class. She says she’s less stressed and succeeding in school. “She was exactly the kind of kid who needed to be held back,” says Mr. Skogster.

The Skogster family says they don’t regret their decision and any social impacts on their daughter have been minimized by playing soccer with girls her age.

While it might have been the right move for Sophie, holding students back is no longer common practice.

Until recently, grade retention was an accepted remedial education tool. Research now indicates that students who are held back are more likely to have anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural problems than students of similar abilities who are not held back. One recent U.S. study suggests that students who were retained in elementary school were 60 per cent less likely to graduate high school.

“We don’t retain students because we don’t think it’s in their educational interests to do so,” says Janet Grant, associate superintendent of School District No. 40 (New Westminster).

There are options available for students who need support to stay in their age-group’s grade.

For instance, at St. Joseph Catholic School in Gananoque, Ont., eight-year-old Isabella Paul works with a scribe, a sort of teaching assistant or volunteer who helps her with reading and writing.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

How to Survive Raising Kids in a Toxic World

http://ift.tt/1MNWnYp

Mum.info – Holly Rust

Every day, I see another article about free-range parenting and how it was the “norm” just a few decades ago. I wasn’t a parent in the 70s or 80s – but I was a kid. And it’s true; when I was young, we left the house and didn’t come home until dark. My parents knew my general whereabouts, but didn’t keep tabs on me. We were barefoot the entire summer. We rode in the back of pick-up trucks without seat belts. We chased fireflies at night. We went on adventures, read books and played with friends without parental supervision.

Did our parents take a more lackadaisical approach when raising us or trust more in the “village” for support during this free-range period?  Were we exposed to all the same dangers when we were young, but our parents were fortunate enough not to have Google or live news feeds running straight to their cell phones? Were parents not exposed to as much fear mongering? Or maybe parenting was easier because people didn’t have open forums or computer screens to hide behind when broadcasting their hateful messages or bullying? Was ignorance truly bliss just a few decades ago? Why does it seem that raising children is so much more difficult in the world we live in today?

 

Now, in the information age, it’s hard to hide from the stories of kidnappings, disease “epidemics”, or “how to raise your children” advice columns – even if we want to.  Savvy marketing campaigns continuously target parents to spread fear so we will purchase their products. Social media opened the door for criticisms and the Internet created millions of pseudo experts who like to share their opinions on everything. Parenting is exhausting and overwhelming enough without having the everyday notification of something new that will harm our babies.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

8 Ways To Raise Calm, Happy Kids + Boost Their Social Skills

http://ift.tt/1LRvSvC

MindBodyGreen – Sean Grover

As a therapist and child development expert for over 20 years, I’ve learned a lot about the powerful of mindfulness.

Sure, children are born with different personalities and temperaments; some are impulsive while others may be more cautious or tentative. But no matter what your child’s character, there’s plenty of evidence that mindfulness is a powerful tool that can better many aspects of his or her life. Here are some of the biggest benefits of mindfulness, according to research:

It improves social skills. In a study published in the journal Developmental Psychology, children who were taught mindfulness skills showed a 24% improvement in social behaviors. They were less aggressive and more empathetic and optimistic than peers without the training.

It boosts school performance. The Developmental Psychology report also found that math scores for children with mindfulness training increased 15%. Plus, there were measurable improvements in sustained attention in class. A mindfulness practice empowers children with the ability to self-soothe, quiet their thoughts, and focus on the tasks before them.

It fosters creativity. Stress is the enemy of creativity. Scientists at Harvardshowed through neuro-imaging technology that meditation reduced hormones that produce stress and anxiety. Creativeness and inspiration naturally spring from children who experience less emotional tension. As they develop the ability to quiet their thoughts, they are more capable of engaging in artistic activities such as drawing or playing an instrument.

It reduces impulsivity. Impulsive kids don’t look before they leap — and that often gets them into heaps of trouble. Mindfulness helps by putting a reflective pause between impulse and action, and inspires children to make better choices. When a California middle school introduced a mindfulness program to students, suspensions were reduced by 45% during first year, and there was a significant upsurge in attendance and overall grade point averages.

It encourages independent thinking. Mindful children are far less likely to cave to peer pressure. Numerous studies suggest that children introduced to mindfulness experience less social anxiety and symptoms of depression. Such kids have a stronger sense of self, and are less likely to be swayed by schoolyard bullies or seduced into making poor choices.

8 Ways to Raise More Mindful Children

Raising a mindful child does not require moving your family to a monastery. I’ve seen parents foster it in everyday activities by creating more reflective spaces at home, making room for greater contemplation, and strengthening family communication.

To encourage greater mindfulness with your own kids, consider these eight steps:

1. Take technology blackouts.

Set aside times during the day when no one in your family touches technology. You too, mom and dad! That’s right: turn off all cell phones, televisions, computers, etc.

Children who are always engaged in technology are more impulsive and rarely have time for self-reflection, which is the bedrock of mindfulness. If your family is technology dependent, create more quiet space for relating and exchanging thoughts and feelings without a glowing screen between you.

2. Offer creative outlets.

Painting, drawing, playing a musical instrument, sewing, and similar hobbies require thought and patience to follow through to completion. Children who learn to sit quietly and assert themselves to creative tasks are more grounded and self-motivated to succeed. They learn to work through frustration by keeping their eye on the prize.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

7 Tips for Teaching Kids About Money

http://ift.tt/1PyQv2U

All Pro Dad

It’s always the right time to teach your kids about money.  Here are 7 tips to do that!

1. “It’s not your money.”

The first thing to teach your kids about money is that it’s only green paper. It’s required for existence in society, but cannot buy love, friends, or happiness.  And, they will not take it with them after their life is over.

2. It’s your responsibility. 

In a poll of parents by the website iVillage.com, 65% stated their own parents had taught them nothing about money. This would explain a portion of the current debt crisis. It is your responsibility to mentor your kids in the important facts of life. Money stands tall on that list.

3. Younger kids and money.

Kindergarten-age children are fascinated with money. Isn’t it refreshing to see a person get truly excited over a nickel? Teaching a child this age about money also comes with the extra benefit of learning math skills. Introduce them to all of the different valued coins. Have them count and divide them. They will never tire of this game!

4. Give a commission. 

When you feel your kids are at an appropriate age, have them start earning their own money. Nothing teaches children the value of a dollar like having to work for it. And, they can start saving up their commission to purchase items they want instead of bugging you for it!

5. Common sense. 

Scott Reeves of Forbes magazine writes, “If you can teach your child the difference between needs and wants, how to budget and how to save, your child will know more than many adults.” Proper money management is common sense and keeping greed in check.

6. Big decisions. 

A great idea is to allow the whole family to be a part of major family purchases. The family vacation, buying a new car, and purchasing a new washer and dryer are a few examples. Give everyone in the family an assignment to research. Compare costs, quality reviews, and the most return on investment. This will be fun and a terrific real-life money management experience.

7. Counter-influence. 

We live in a consumer-based economy. Our current system only works when people spend great deals of money. We also have to contend with the daily bombardment from all angles of advertising. Children are encouraged to want and to spend from the earliest ages. You must counteract this influence by providing the skills for a properly balanced life and that starts by you showing the rare jewel of contentment.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Dear Parents: Are You Spending Too Much Time On Your Phone?

http://ift.tt/1KDmKdO

Forbes – Amit Chowdhry

Last year, Bank of America conducted a study that revealed nearly half of U.S. adults would not last a day without their smartphone. If you are interested in finding out how much time is spent on your smartphone, then check out the QualityTime app for Android.

Not ony does QualityTime show you how much time you spend on your smartphone, but it also breaks down the daily frequency of each app that you use in a “timeline” format. QualityTime also creates charts that show the weekly usage of your apps and how many times you unlock your smartphone to use it. You can set usage alerts for individual apps if you want to cap the amount of time that you spend on an app. A pop up appears when you have used an app for more than a designated amount of time that is set. There is also an actionable feature called “take a break” that helps you control your usage. And you can have the app lock your screen for set periods of time.

If you create a QualityTime account, then you can see detailed device usage history for up to 6 months. The usage information will be backed up in the cloud. This way you can find out if you are making progress over time for reducing your smartphone addiction.

The company that built the QualityTime app is ZeroDesktop. ZeroDesktop is also known for building an app called DinnerTime, which helps parents manage the amount of time that kids user their devices. ZeroDesktop came up with the idea for QualityTime after receiving feedback from adults that are looking for a similar app as DinnerTime to self-help themselves, according to TechCrunch.

“Smartphone use has become so widely integrated into our everyday lives, it’s difficult for people to realize just how frequently and compulsively they use their phones. If you asked me whether I’m addicted to my smartphone, I would say absolutely not. Then I discovered that I spend 3 hours a day on my phone simply out of habit,” said ZeroDesktop president and co-founder Richard Sah. “QualityTime details smartphone and app use both in terms of frequency and duration, allowing you to understand your smartphone habits and trends – whether it is how often you unlock you phone, a specific app you keep revisiting, or a certain time of day you most use your phone.”

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Making Learning Visible: Doodling Helps Memories Stick

Why Kids Take On Adults’ Math Anxiety

9 Tips For Raising A Socially Aware Child

http://ift.tt/1QxUwF5

Mashable – Katie Dupere

Raising a child to be socially aware is a top priority for any activist parent. After all, you want your kids to value the principles you hold close, too.

But parenting to foster a passion for social justice can seem like a daunting task. You can teach your kids why diversity, equality, acceptance and critical thinking matter, but these ideals don’t have teachable boundaries like the ABCs or 123s.

Beatrice Fennimore, an advocate specializing in promoting social justice for children, describes parents as the filter for social good information. They hold the keys children can use to unlock a social consciousness.

“The more children are attuned to fairness, justice and equality, the better the future community will be,” Fennimore tells Mashable.

Consider these nine tips to help your children become more socially aware, and come to a social consciousness on their own.

1. Address privilege — and do it early.

The concept of privilege may seem like an intimidating idea to talk about with your children, but they’re probably noticing social differences much earlier than you’d expect.

“Children recognize gender differences and skin color differences by age four or earlier — whether or not those differences exist in their own community,” Fennimore says. ”

Though privilege is complex, conversations around privilege don’t have to be intimidating. Talk to your child about how these differences often make things more difficult for certain groups of people, and continue to talk about privilege when real-life examples come up.

2. Make sure your child has diverse choices when it comes to toys, books and TV.

Look at every toy box and bookshelf with a critical eye. Make sure the things your child is playing with and learning from represent a spectrum of identities. A little diversity — even in something as simple as toys or books — can go a long way to promote understanding of all people and perspectives.

But even if your child engages with materials that don’t promote the values you stand behind, Fennimore suggests taking the opportunity to question, critique and reflect on what they represent.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Helping Your Kids Learn With eCarrot Learning Apps

http://ift.tt/1YugQoN

eCarrot Math

Equal parts education app and time-management app, eCarrot Math is changing the way children interact with their smart devices. The eCarrot Math app gives children an educational edge while also ensuring they use their smart devices in healthy, appropriate, time-responsible ways. At eCarrot we’re helping to change the way parents think about smart devices by showing you all you can do for your kids to help them make smart choices with their technology.

Supported by neuroscience and behavior/learning science, the eCarrot Math app ensures your child completes a series of age-appropriate math problems in order to bank time that can be cashed in for recreational use on their device–such as playing games, watching videos, interacting with friends or browsing. Installing eCarrot Math on your child’s smart device allows you to play a part in helping your child interact with technology in beneficial, responsible ways. Even when you’re not there to oversee how they are using their smartphone or tablet, eCarrot is there to ensure they are completing education before earning time to spend freely.

Haven’t purchased your child their own smartphone or device? No problem. eCarrot Math can be installed on a parent’s phone and turned on only when allowing your child access to the device. Then, the app is simply bypassed by the parent when they enter their password and wish to use the phone for themselves.

eCarrot Math: Helping you to help your child become smarter and more time responsible when on their smart devices.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Does Common Core Ask Too Much of Kindergarten Students?

What Can I Do With My Incredible Body?

http://ift.tt/1Mcf30R

The Appzine – Lisa Caplan

Kids are endlessly curious about their own bodies and while as parents we can answer the type of questions toddlers ask, once kids get into later elementary or middle school their questions can perplex us as much as them. Enter a brilliant app in every aspect from conception to execution – My Incredible Body – that opens the human body up to kids and parents in a way that makes the most of digitization to enhance learning. Available for iOS and Android along with versions for Windows phone and desktop computers we can’t say enough good things about what children’s publisher Zybright in conjunction with medical publisher Visual Body make an app that has tons of appeal, reuseability, and grows both literally and figuratively with your tween or even young teen.

What is it?

At the core of My Incredible Body is are medically precise 3D representations and animations that highlight human anatomy with an emphasis on the brain and nervous system, the digestive track, pulmonary function, skeletal and muscular anatomy, kidneys and waste processing, the circulatory system and heart, and a section that touches on sensory perception and autonomic functions like breathing and swallowing. Also available for IAP is a section about puberty and the male and female reproductive systems, but if parents aren’t comfortable with that, it’s hidden behind a secure parental gate.

The app uses a scalable model of a human that can be adjusted to view from 360 degrees and as close up as necessary long with a host of interactive features that include but are not limited to animations, digital overlays, videos, or even ride a rocket through the various bodily systems.

How does it work?

The app is easy to navigate with the home screen serving as a main menu of sorts and tons of touch points and visual cues to let kids explore the various anatomical systems in any order they want. The core 3D model is easy to rotate and resize with simple gestures, and moving from feature to feature, or system-to-system, is all a simple matter of tapping.

On top of the visual model there is also a decent amount of text – with narration – but dense and intended for the target audience of nine years and up. This app certainly doesn’t dumb anything down for kids, but along with the fact-facts are fun-facts and of course all the interactivity. Ideally parents unlock the quizzes –.99 via IAP – so kids also have the befit of retention and comprehension enhancing features of a more traditional sort. The apps works without a hitch on iPad and looks spectacular on a large retina display.

What we love?

We love the thought and care that are evidenced in every facet of My Incredible Body. There is supplemental information on the developers website to help parents guide kids through the app and spark meaningful discussions. The digital features aren’t superfluous; rather they are at the core of the app. The information imparted by traditional text is enhanced and illuminated by incredibly well-rendered and thoughtful interactive elements that run from traditional video clips to the ability to overlay tissue over bone, or zoom through a human skull and peek out from the mouth. The app is a bargain at 1.99 and needs none of the IAPs to provide an educational interactive experience with shelf life, but the IAP quizzes and extra section puberty are priced fairly and add real value.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

American Public High School Hasn’t Changed in 100 Years

http://ift.tt/1Y8VWvv

XQ: The Super School Project is a national movement to reimagine high school. We have one focused goal: to galvanize America to change the way we prepare our students for the future. Starting in September, 2015, we are launching an open call to reimagine—and then design—the next American high school. In towns and cities all over the country, teams will rethink and build new schools that deeply prepare our students for rigorous challenges of college, jobs, and life.

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Laurene Powell Jobs Commits $50 Million to Create New High Schools

http://ift.tt/1Qfscac

The New York Times – Jennifer Medina

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Her husband, Steven P. Jobs, famously helped reboot Apple with the “Think Different” advertising campaign.

Now Laurene Powell Jobs is starting a $50 million project to rethink high school.

With an advertising campaign that looks as if it came from Apple’s marketing department, the initiative is meant to create high schools with new approaches to education. In essence, Ms. Powell Jobs and her team of high-profile educators and designers hope they can crowd-source a solution to a problem that has flummoxed policy makers for decades.

“The system was created for the work force we needed 100 years ago,” Ms. Powell Jobs said in an interview here Friday. “Things are not working the way we want it to be working. We’ve seen a lot of incremental changes over the last several years, but we’re saying, ‘Start from scratch.’ ”

Called XQ: The Super School Project, the campaign is meant to inspire teams of educators and students, as well as leaders from other sectors, to come up with new plans for high schools. Over the next several months, the teams will submit plans that could include efforts like altering school schedules, curriculums and technologies. By fall next year, Ms. Powell Jobs said, a team of judges will pick five to 10 of the best ideas to finance.

Ms. Powell Jobs has for years financed College Track, which helps low-income students across the country to enroll and then succeed in college. Since the death of her husband in 2011, Ms. Powell Jobs has taken tentative steps into the public sphere, including advocating an overhaul of immigration laws.

The XQ project is the highest-profile project yet of the Emerson Collective, the group that Ms. Powell Jobs uses to finance her philanthropic projects.

Ms. Powell Jobs has assembled a team of advisers led by Russlynn H. Ali, who worked in the Obama administration’s Education Department as the assistant secretary for civil rights. Ms. Ali, who for the last several years has overseen education grants at Emerson, will serve as the primary public face of the campaign. Michelle Cahill, who has spent more than three decades in education, including as a senior adviser to Joel I. Klein when he was the New York City schools chancellor, has culled much of the research used on the website. Keith Yamashita, a consultant for the project, has worked with Apple, IBM, General Electric and several start-up companies.

Improving outcomes for high school students has long been a priority in education. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has financed scores of small high schools meant to better educate students through more focused attention and carefully tailored programs. Boston began a push this year to redesign its public high schools.

“There is a huge gap between what students want for their future and what their schools are offering,” Ms. Powell Jobs said. “Once you have liberation from a system that was designed for the beginning of the century, there’s nobody to blame.”

Ms. Powell Jobs said that while she was committed to ensuring that the new schools are public, she was unsure whether they would be charter schools. She pointed out that she, like most Americans, is a graduate of a public high school. Plans for a national tour to collect ideas for the project do not include a stop at her alma mater in New Jersey, West Milford High School.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

How Educators Are Starting To Embrace The Concept Of ‘Good Screen Time’

http://ift.tt/1KQ43Jv

Huffington Post – Jacqueline Howard

Video games have a bad reputation among many parents and teachers, who worry that too much screen time is bad for children.

There’s no doubt that some kids go overboard — and those who do can face troubling health risks. But a body of research suggests that playing digital games can have psychological and even physical benefits — from increasing players’ “brain flexibility” to possibly improving eyesight. And new offerings from game makers like Leapfrog, National Geographic, Amplify Games and Galxyz may further assuage parents and teachers’ fears.

“There is a developing notion of good screen time versus bad screen time,” said Osman Rashid, founder and CEO of Galxyz, a game maker in Los Altos, California. “Good screen time” can include using games that make players strategize, analyze and think quickly, he said, while bad screen time generally involves doing something more passive, like watching a video.

Rashid, who has two daughters, was disappointed there weren’t more games he felt both entertained and challenged kids.

“Most learning games had shoddy graphics, poorly developed interfaces and fake gaming,” he said.

So Rashid set out to create one that would teach players about science — and actually appeal to kids.

Galxyz games can help kids learn about a variety of disciplines, from physical and life science to Earth and space science, and the company recently partnered with the New York Academy of Sciences to help deliver a new educational product.

Kids can play these games at home, or the programs can be incorporated into a teacher’s syllabus. Fifty-five percent of educators surveyed by the Games and Learning Publishing Council last year said their students played games in their classrooms at least once a week.

Rashid noted he appreciates seeing teachers realizing educational games won’t necessarily replace them and that certain programs can actually enhance lesson plans.

But since educational gaming is a relatively new concept, scientists still lack a solid understanding of how educational screen time affects children and learning outcomes.

There’s little data on the long-term effects of using education games, and scientists who research gaming don’t have a consistent working definition of “educational games,” Dr. Vic Strasburger, a University of New Mexico pediatrician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told The Huffington Post.

However, he added, finding new ways to engage students is generally beneficial.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

3 Questions Parents Of Gamer-Kids Should Ask Themselves Immediately

http://ift.tt/1J79uwc

Forbes – Jordan Shapiro

When my ex-wife and I separated about four years ago, I started playing video games with my kids. I wanted to spend time with them, but I didn’t want to pull them away from the things that gave them a sense of comfort in tumultuous times. So I bought them a Nintendo Wii. Then I snuggled up next to them on the couch and we played hours of New Super Mario Brothers. We cheered each other on, discussed our favorite parts of the game, and just generally had a great time.

Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, researching, and writing about the impact of screens on children and their families. I’ve discovered that when it comes to parenting, folks have a very strange relationship to the screen itself. There seems to be a unique fear of what screens will do to our kids. Most adults I know seem perfectly content to stare at their own smartphones, tablets, and laptops, but they worry when they see their kids doing exactly the same thing. Why?

Maybe it is because their parents told them not to sit too close to the television. Maybe it is because they remember reading George Orwell in high school and they fear Big Brother’s two-way telescreens. Either way, it is clear that parents have a complicated and somewhat neurotic relationship to screens when it comes to their children.

Earlier this summer, I wrote a post entitled “Parents Don’t Need To Worry About ‘Screen Time’ Anymore,” in which I argued that because screens had become such a ubiquitous part of our lives—the technological norm of the times—it is now absurd to worry about whether or not they are good or bad for your kids. In fact, these days, parents should be worried about the opposite. Are your kids comfortable and equipped to operate and live with screen-based technologies?

Here are three questions you should ask yourself immediately in order to make sure you’re teaching your children to live thoughtfully within a screen-time world.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

100 Super-Fun STEM Resources for Kids

15 Tech Toys Turn Play into Learning

Minecraft Fueling Creative Ideas, Analytical Thinking in K-12 Classrooms

http://ift.tt/1ghMLqm

Education Week – Benjamin Herold

One of the world’s most popular video games has made significant inroads into K-12 classrooms, opening new doors for teaching everything from city planning to 1st graders to physics for high schoolers.

The game, of course, is Minecraft, a 21st-century version of Legos in which players use simple 3-D digital blocks to build and explore almost anything they can imagine.

“It’s no longer a farfetched idea that Minecraft could be useful for teaching and learning,” said Joel Levin, the co-founder of TeacherGaming LLC, a 4-year-old company based in Tampere, Finland, that has sold MinecraftEdu, its customized classroom version of the game, to more than 6,500 schools, libraries, and museums. “The conversation has shifted to taking a closer look at the types of experiences that are possible.”

While the game’s power to engage children has made it a compelling draw inside schools, there have been hurdles to its growth.

Three-quarters of teachers now report using digital games in their classrooms, but many remain uncomfortable with integrating open-ended games such as Minecraft into instruction. Minecraft is also not free.

And the game’s surging popularity—a Warner Bros. movie is currently in development, and legions of children spend time watching YouTube videos of other people playing the game—has led to some concern that Minecraft’s creative elements are slowly being replaced by more passive forms of consumption.

Still, Levin said, the game is providing a growing number of teachers and students with opportunities to make profound connections.

“It’s a powerful moment when you take something kids love and are passionate about, and you bring it into the school day, and you say, ‘Show me what you can do with it,’ ” he said.

Millions of Players

Released in 2009, the commercial version of Minecraft is a virtual sandbox, with no set narrative or goal. Players are given tools and opportunities to build, create, destroy, and interact with each other. (In Minecraft’s “survival” mode, which is separate from its “creative” mode, players must find food and avoid animals and monsters that are trying to eat them.)

In March 2014, the computing and software giant Microsoft Corp. bought the game’s creator, Swedish developer Mojang, for $2.5 billion.

If that seems like a lot of money, consider: A June 2015 report by international gaming-research and -analytics firm Newzoo tagged Minecraft as the second-most-played computer game in the Western world. Newzoo estimated last fall that in North America and Western Europe alone, 36 million people play Minecraft.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Simulations And Games: Making Learning Fun!

http://ift.tt/1UO1yH3

eLearning Industry – Marina Arshavskiy

Regardless of our age, playing with simulators (e.g. stock market investment, driving or flight simulators) and games (Starcraft, Hearts of Iron, World of Warcraft) always puts us on the path to learning and experiencing new things. That is because if our objective is to “win” the game, then we need to explore and learn the “system” in order to beat it. That is exactly what Game-Based Learning (GBL) is all about.

In this article I will cover the types of game-based learning as well as the benefits of simulations and games. In addition, I will mention some of the tools that can be used to build eLearning games and simulations. Lastly, I will discuss how you can incorporate “gamification” into your eLearning content.

Simulations And Games: Types Of Game-Based Learning

Many different types of game-based learning have evolved over the years, each having a different audience and its own unique objective. Here are some alternate gaming styles to consider when designing game-based learning content:

• Flash Cards, Game Show Competitions.
  These are best suited for memorization-based or drill-based applications.
• Role-Play, Quests.
  These work well when the learning objective is to encourage imitation, reinforce continuous practice, and emphasize increasingly challenging content.
• Strategy, Adventure.
  When the objective is to foster decision-making abilities, or sharpen choice-making and quizzing skills, then these types of games are the best way to go.
• Multi-Player Gaming.
  These types of games are best suited when fostering collaboration and team work is the ultimate learning objective.
• Open-Ended Simulation.
  For teaching experimentation and logic, exposing learners to games and simulations that are open-ended (no single wrong/right answer) is the best way to go.
• Timed Games, Reflex Testing.
  When the objective is to foster quick thinking and thinking “out of the box,” then these types of games are ideal.

Even though the above list classifies each type of game as being the best for specific learning objectives, there is no rule that says game-based learning design can’t mix and match several of these elements into a single course. For instance, role-playing games can easily be based on open-ended simulation techniques.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Advice From Little Girls On How To Text Women

http://ift.tt/1KbW9I0

Hello Giggles – Christina Wolfgram

Cosmopolitan recently gave three love gurus their own YouTube segment, and they might be the best sources of romantic advice ever. Their names are Nina, Lulu, and Judith and, by the way, they’re all under six-years-old.

The trio teamed up to help some twenty-something guys with their relationship problems in a hilarious video called “Little Girls Give Guys Texting Advice.” For the record, yes, the girls are technically little, but their personalities are huge. They talk to three dudes in the video: Cory, Christian, and Ramy.

Ramy’s plight stuck out because his issue is a very universal one: His crush won’t text back poor Ramy for two days at a time. “How do I tell her it’s a problem?” he asks the three wise-girls.

“Just say ‘problem,’” Nina responds within literally a millisecond. Duh! Don’t just stew in your negative feelings: Let your love interest know her texting habits bring you grief.

If a ladyfriend still isn’t returning your messages? Lulu suggests texting her, “words,” which sounds like pretty solid advice to me. Of course, Ramy needs some specifics, and inquires further about these so-called words.

Nina tells him to write, “I like your hair.” That might be the wisest, most useful advice ever to be uttered. Virtually anyone would love to receive a text that compliments their hair.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Dad Advice From 16 Successful Executives

http://ift.tt/1iwQCS6

Business Insider Australia – Sarah Kimmorley

When looking for parental advice dads can provide some pretty funny anecdotes, sometimes with a devilish twist.

With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday we’ve pulled some dad executives together to find out what words of wisdom they tell pass on to their own children.

From “listen to your mother” to “don’t peak at high school”, here’s the advice of 16 successful Australian executives.

Cameron Wickham, CFO of goCatch:

“Dadda’s going to work, to get some money, so he can buy you presents”.

Dr Nigel Finch, Chairman of 3D Medical:

“Girls are always smarter than boys”.

Charlie Wood.

Charlie Wood, ANZ country manager at Dropbox:

“Whenever there’s a gold rush – you should be selling picks and shovels not panning for gold.”

Tony Ward, MD of Survey Monkey for Australia and New Zealand:

“Respect your elders… You just might learn a thing or two about a thing or two.”

James Spenceley, CEO of Vocus Communications:

“Always question what’s not possible”.

Jason Wyatt, Co-Founder of Marketplacer:

“We know who really is the boss don’t we?…Mum!”

Jeremy Crooks, MD, Australia and New Zealand, at Criteo:

“Respect yourself, respect others and always cuddle mum and dad, especially if they’re shouting at you!”

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

What Happens When Online Shaming Spirals Out Of Control

http://ift.tt/1iu2m7S

TED Global London – Jon Ronson

Transcript

In the early days of Twitter, it was like a place of radical de-shaming. People would admit shameful secrets about themselves, and other people would say, “Oh my God, I’m exactly the same.” Voiceless people realized that they had a voice, and it was powerful and eloquent. If a newspaper ran some racist or homophobic column, we realized we could do something about it. We could get them. We could hit them with a weapon that we understood but they didn’t — a social media shaming. Advertisers would withdraw their advertising. When powerful people misused their privilege, we were going to get them.This was like the democratization of justice. Hierarchies were being leveled out. We were going to do things better.

1:01Soon after that, a disgraced pop science writer called Jonah Lehrer — he’d been caught plagiarizing and faking quotes, and he was drenched in shame and regret, he told me. And he had the opportunity to publicly apologize at a foundation lunch. This was going to be the most important speech of his life.Maybe it would win him some salvation. He knew before he arrived that the foundation was going to be live-streaming his event, but what he didn’t know until he turned up, was that they’d erected a giant screen Twitter feed right next to his head. (Laughter) Another one in a monitor screen in his eye line.

don’t think the foundation did this because they were monstrous. I think they were clueless: I think this was a unique moment when the beautiful naivety of Twitter was hitting the increasingly horrific reality.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

How Children Learn Best, Part 1 of 10

http://ift.tt/1g4YhFn

Epoch Times – Pat Kozyra

About your child’s learning style

How does your child learn best and under what conditions? The experts tell us that “One size (style) does not fit all.” Most of us have our favourite learning style, but we do use other styles when necessary. The four basic types of learning styles are visual, auditory, tactile and kinaesthetic.

As a parent of two teenagers, I often worried about their studying with music on, doing homework with very little light in the room and sitting on the floor to do their work, but I soon came to learn through my work with gifted students in Canada for 15 years that it was simply their “learning style”. Many effective teachers today really try hard to produce and present materials and resources that will interest and motivate children to learn in ways they are best suited to absorb information and process it.

The following are various settings for learning that your child may favor:

• Dimly lit room, or brightly lit room? (use of colored cellophane on the windows)
• Warm cozy room or windows open for cool breezes?
• Quiet still room, or room filled with music or extraneous noises?
• Straight-backed chair or cozy soft cushions on the floor?
• Study-cards with notes, or visual recall, or accommodations for auditory learners?
• Tactile, kinaesthetic learner?
• Which of Dr Howard Gardner’s seven intelligences best fits your child?

Self-assessment of modality strength or learning style

Keep in mind that “students who have equal modality preferences are more flexible learners and are already using many studying techniques rather than just a few. Three of your five senses are primarily used in learning, storing, remembering and recalling information”.

The following simple Self-Assessment was printed by Incentive Publications, Nashville, Tennessee, but there are many available on the web and are free to take if you want to know how your child learns best and under what circumstances.
Read each question or statement and circle the most appropriate answer (a, b, c) Some will be difficult to answer but try to respond according to how you would react most often.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

The Test That Can Look Into A Child’s (Reading) Future

http://ift.tt/1One2Dm

NPR Ed – Cory Turner

If this isn’t an honest-to-goodness crystal ball, it’s close.

Neurobiologist Nina Kraus believes she and her team at Northwestern University have found a way — a half-hour test — to predict kids’ literacy skill long before they’re old enough to begin reading.

When I first read the study in the journal PLOS Biology, two words came to mind: science fiction.

Because flagging some 3-year-olds as potentially troubled readers — before they’ve even tried reading — feels eerily like being handcuffed by Tom Cruise in Minority Report for a crime that hasn’t happened yet.

Kraus herself says the test is nothing short of “a biological looking glass into a child’s literacy potential.”

To understand how the test works, she says, you need to understand that reading begins not with our eyes but with our ears, as we hear and catalog speech sounds. It’s hard work. Everything we hear, our brains have to process, separating the stuff that’s meaningful from pure noise. And they do it in microseconds.

“This is arguably some of the most complex computation that we ask our brain to do,” says Kraus.

Every sound creates a kind of electric reflection in the brain. Brain waves even look like the sound waves they’re reacting to. And it’s loads of information packed into these brain waves that, Kraus says, can tell her if a child who can’t yet read may have trouble reading down the road.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

How Can Technology Increase Rigor In The Classroom?

http://ift.tt/1Fp6Q4J

TeachThought – Barbara R. Blackburn

Instructional rigor is a concept we can agree is important, despite the debate about the use of the word itself. Rigor is “creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels; each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels; and each student demonstrates learning at high levels (Blackburn, 2008).” But how does technology relate to rigor? As with any instructional tool, educational technology is critical to increasing rigor in the classroom.  There are five ways technology can be used to increase rigor.

Technology can promote higher-order thinking.

Technology that increases rigor promotes higher order thinking, not rote level tasks. There are times it is appropriate to do lower level tasks, but they should build to higher levels of thinking. In other words, look for technology that is more than a basic worksheet on the screen. One tool that can be effective is using real-world simulations, which require students to analyze, reflect, synthesize information, and create solutions. (You can find some sample math examples here.)

Expectations can be raised.

In a rigorous classroom, expectations are high for everyone, even though the product may look different for a student with special needs and one who is an honors student. For example, the teacher in one classroom I visited wanted to increase expectations by moving students beyond simply summarizing a text.  First, some students compared two texts they read rather than one; others compared and contrasted three texts for an overall analysis of a theme or author study. In both examples, students then created analysis vlogs (or video logs) from the perspective of a book reviewer for a TV network rather than writing simple summaries.  The technology perspective enhanced the expectation level of the assignment.

Consider if the teacher did not use analysis vlogs. Instead, he or she simply asked students to write a paragraph or paper comparing and contrasting the texts. Certainly comparing and contrasting is higher level than summarizing, but the technology transforms the activity. With the vlogs, students are required to put themselves in the position of a book reviewer for a TV network. This means they have to analyze the text materials, synthesize the information, and then present it in a manner pertinent to a TV audience, which typically has a short attention span. Therefore, the students must identify the most important points and back them up with evidence, rather than telling everything they know.  These expectations are far more rigorous.

‘Application’ is more natural.

Third, application is the focus. Using an app like Glogster, students can apply their knowledge by creating a multimedia, interactive poster. This can be used for a variety of application-oriented projects, from creating their own math word problems with images to creating a new character in a story or book. I also like having students create an informational poster that contains three errors, and other students must discover the mistakes and correct them.

Technology-based often requires multiple steps.

According to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, increasing rigor also requires multiple steps to accomplish the assignment rather than one single step. Instead than simply writing an essay about a famous scientist, students can create a fake Facebook page. Through their research, they must generate information to complete the profile, add friends, “like” pages, and complete status updates. This process is far more complex that a simple writing assignment, and requires multiple steps for completion.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

Can the Maker Movement Infiltrate Mainstream Classrooms?

http://ift.tt/1JU2SX9

MindShift – Katrina Schwartz

At the White House Maker Faire recently, where President Obama invited “makers” of all ages to display their creations, the  President investigated a robotic giraffe, a red weather balloon and shot a marshmallow cannon made by a student. With so much fanfare and media attention on the event, some educators are hopeful that the idea of tinkering as a way of learning might finally have made it back to the mainstream. But will the same philosophy of discovery and hands-on learning make it into classrooms?

“Most of the people that I know who got into science and technology benefited from a set of informal experiences before they had much formal training,” said Dale Dougherty, editor of Make Magazine and founder of Maker Faire on KQED’s Forum program. “And I mean, like building rockets in the backyard, tinkering, playing with things. And that created the interest and motivation to pursue science.”

That spirit of play and discovery of knowledge is missing from much of formal education, Dougherty said. Students not only have no experience with making or the tools needed to build things, they’re often at a tactile deficit. “Schools haven’t changed, but the students have,” Dougherty said. “They don’t come with these experiences.”

Dougherty often watches kids as they interact with hands-on experiments or materials at Maker Faire events. “It’s almost aggressively manipulating and touching things because they’re not used to it,” he said, which is unfortunate because that kind of work is in high demand in doing engineering or mechanical jobs.

“Even at the university level we’re choosing talent based on math scores, not on capabilities and demonstrated abilities,” Dougherty said. He thinks engineering programs could learn something from art schools when it comes to the application process. No art school accepts a student without examining a portfolio of work that demonstrates the student can do the work required required of them and has the potential to grow. Dougherty helped lobby MIT to begin accepting “maker portfolios” along with other application materials to ensure the things kids make are considered alongside test scores, essays and recommendations.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog

When Students Get Creative With Tech Tools

http://ift.tt/1KPNiwr

MindShift – Jennifer Carey

One of the most intimidating aspects of infusing technology into curriculum is that educators often believe that they will have to master and then teach their students to use new technology tools before assigning a project. These concerns are understandable as our time for professional development is finite and school curricula are already packed. However, consider the impact if, rather than focusing on new tools, we explored the skills students need to learn and then incorporated the most effective digital resources to accomplish those objectives.

LOOK PAST THE FLASH

Good teachers know that learning is all about the skills that students develop in the process of a lesson, activity or project. Most teachers are exposed to digitally infused curriculum with flashy projects like documentaries, blogs, Minecraft activities, etc. However, the most important thing is to look past the flash. Before you sit down to design a project, think about what skills you want students to learn in your class.

For example, do you want your students to learn how to deeply research and assess sources effectively? Do you want them to demonstrate their understanding of a theoretical physics concept? Start with your traditional lesson objectives and build off those.

PRESENT AN OBJECTIVE, NOT A RECIPE

When you give your students a digitally infused project, there are different ways to structure it that will maintain your rigorous expectations but not require a lot of time teaching new software or hardware tools. For example, history students could use digital tools tomake documentaries. Give students clear parameters (such as time limits) and expectations for the project, but let them choose their own video tools and hardware. The project should be open-ended enough that students can get creative: by using appropriately licensed images, creating a live-action video or even incorporating their own artwork.

Shawn McCusker, social studies department chair at Libertyville High School in Illinois, teaches his students about world governments by asking them to create visual presentations that demonstrate their topic. Students are permitted to create something as simple as a Venn diagram, but he also maintains a “Best of All Time!” list and encourages his students to blow him away. One year, he got an amazing stop motion picture comparing Adam Smith with Karl Marx.

Ultimately, when students explore topics independently, solving problems as they arise, they become more invested in their own learning. Allowing them to creatively develop their own finished products gives them some control over learning artifacts they produce to demonstrate their understanding. Keep your parameters broad enough so that students can explore their passions. You will get different results, but don’t be surprised if they amaze you.

Read More

by MindMake via MindMake Blog