by Emeli Warren, Spring 2013 Intern
With the advent of social media, online publicity for books and authors has gone viral. Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular locations for authors to spread the word about their current work, highlight their events and project development, and gain a following. But these aren’t the only two venues that can push an author into social media stardom. Goodreads, a company that debuted in 2007, has spread like wildfire in recent years, showcasing author profiles from the likes of Nicholas Sparks, Paulo Coelho and Kathryn Stockett. The site has attracted over 14 million members, making it a go-to hub for author and book promotion in an oversaturated market.
All users, both readers and authors, can post personal writing, catalog past reads, rate their book choices, join virtual book clubs and even track goals. One of the most alluring options is the “shelves” feature that adds books to a list of “read,” “currently reading” and “to-read” titles. Each time a user rates a book, the title is added to their “read” shelf containing books they’ve already read. If there are currently reading any titles, a user just need change the date of the “date read” and the list will automatically be updated, moving the book to the “currently reading” list. Type in a number of books to read this year, and Goodreads will track how many have been added to the “read” shelf since the goal start date. It will keep the reader informed of his or her progress, whether they are behind, on track or ahead of their goals.
While anyone can join the site for free, authors can also become members of the Goodreads Author Program, a page that can be merged with their “reader” profile. In a time where many authors are forced to handle much of their own event planning and media outreach, Goodreads makes the process just that much more enjoyable. The program opens up promotion through giveaways, the ability to post videos, the chance to host Q&A sessions, and the option to upload book cover images and bios. Any published or soon-to-be published author can join—including those who have self-published. The site also offers a Goodreads widget that can be placed on any personal website or blog to help display the reviews authors have on their current works. Because an author profile is linked to a reader profile, authors can connect with other readers on a personal level rather than purely through an author-to-reader relationship—it doesn’t have to be all self-promotion.
Goodreads has managed to create a site integrating the multi-tiered relationships to be made between authors and readers, making it a necessary addition to the social media ventures of any up-and-coming—or established—author. If it’s free to join and only takes minutes to create a profile, what’s the risk? Nothing, it seems, other than becoming addicted to another form of networking . . . but where’s the harm in that?
*Note: After this article was written, Amazon Inc. purchased Goodreads. Is this a tactic to keep Goodreads from becoming a competitive bookseller, allowing Amazon to retain their “monopoly” on the market? Or does this simply mean that more authors can reach a wider audience, as Amazon claims the merger is intended to do? Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/02/amazon-purchase-goodreads-stuns-book-industry
Further Reading:
"Read Any Good Web Sites Lately? Book Lovers Talk Online," New York Times, accessed April 3, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/books/goodreadscom-is-growing-as-a-popular-book-site.html?_r=0
"Author Program—Use Goodreads to Promote Yourself and Your Books," Goodreads.com, accessed April 3, 2013, http://www.goodreads.com/author/program
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Teaching Kids the Bottom Line
by Catherine Martin, Spring 2013 Intern
As long as money exists, people will continue to have problems with it. And as long as people continue to have problems with money, publishers of educational material will continue to try to help kids learn about being smart with it. As The Wall Street Journal mentioned back in 2008, publishers like Kidnexions and Educational Learning Games have tried to make financial responsibility fun by designing games around concepts like budgeting and monitoring savings. They have board games and bank account simulation games, where kids can confuse themselves for hours, trying to learn about interest percentages and savings allotments.
Now, I don’t doubt that the people at Kidnexions and Educational Learning Games know what they’re doing. I’m sure their games are well-designed and will teach kids at least the very basics about not spending more than you have, making budgets, and maybe even what a balance is. However, money is a concept that is nigh impossible to grasp until you start earning and spending it yourself. So I wonder if there is an untapped psychology about money that is better explored in other, more complicated media than merely in board games and the simplest of computer software.
I loved Super Mario Bros. when I was growing up. I especially loved hoarding extra lives. You start out with only a few lives, but there were ways to get more, and I would spend long stretches of time earning life after extra life until I hit 99, the maximum number of extra lives the game allowed you to have. After that, I would play as carefully as possible, so as not to lose a precious life. I couldn’t stand to let my balance go under 80 or 90, or sometimes, if I was feeling meticulous, 95.
Years later, when I was making money for the first time, I realized that I manage money with a similar mentality. I love watching the number in my bank account go up (who doesn’t?), and I try not to let it fall under a certain number until I get my next paycheck. Maintaining my bank account feels a lot like maintaining the number of lives I had stocked up in Mario in the sixth grade.
I know I’m not the only person who enjoys playing video games this way; “looting” is a style of video game playing where a player’s first priority is not to beat the game but to get as much stuff as possible. I wonder what would happen if game designers partnered with educators to connect the experience of earning and spending loot in video games more strongly with the basic principles of money management.
If they want to create a truly engaging, effective product, maybe educational publishers should think beyond board games and 2-D software. Kids are going to play video games anyway; why not make gaming a little more practical? Maybe, amidst all the fantasy monsters and high-tech weaponry of video games, there’s a financial lesson or two to be learned.
“Financial Literacy through Video Games” CNN.com http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/12/smallbusiness/young_adult_financial_literacy.fsb/, accessed February 21, 2013
As long as money exists, people will continue to have problems with it. And as long as people continue to have problems with money, publishers of educational material will continue to try to help kids learn about being smart with it. As The Wall Street Journal mentioned back in 2008, publishers like Kidnexions and Educational Learning Games have tried to make financial responsibility fun by designing games around concepts like budgeting and monitoring savings. They have board games and bank account simulation games, where kids can confuse themselves for hours, trying to learn about interest percentages and savings allotments.
Now, I don’t doubt that the people at Kidnexions and Educational Learning Games know what they’re doing. I’m sure their games are well-designed and will teach kids at least the very basics about not spending more than you have, making budgets, and maybe even what a balance is. However, money is a concept that is nigh impossible to grasp until you start earning and spending it yourself. So I wonder if there is an untapped psychology about money that is better explored in other, more complicated media than merely in board games and the simplest of computer software.
I loved Super Mario Bros. when I was growing up. I especially loved hoarding extra lives. You start out with only a few lives, but there were ways to get more, and I would spend long stretches of time earning life after extra life until I hit 99, the maximum number of extra lives the game allowed you to have. After that, I would play as carefully as possible, so as not to lose a precious life. I couldn’t stand to let my balance go under 80 or 90, or sometimes, if I was feeling meticulous, 95.
Years later, when I was making money for the first time, I realized that I manage money with a similar mentality. I love watching the number in my bank account go up (who doesn’t?), and I try not to let it fall under a certain number until I get my next paycheck. Maintaining my bank account feels a lot like maintaining the number of lives I had stocked up in Mario in the sixth grade.
I know I’m not the only person who enjoys playing video games this way; “looting” is a style of video game playing where a player’s first priority is not to beat the game but to get as much stuff as possible. I wonder what would happen if game designers partnered with educators to connect the experience of earning and spending loot in video games more strongly with the basic principles of money management.
If they want to create a truly engaging, effective product, maybe educational publishers should think beyond board games and 2-D software. Kids are going to play video games anyway; why not make gaming a little more practical? Maybe, amidst all the fantasy monsters and high-tech weaponry of video games, there’s a financial lesson or two to be learned.
Reading:
“Educational Games on
Finances,” The Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121989192278778797.html#mod=2_1559_leftbox
accessed February 21, 2013.
“Are Video Games
Educational?” Education.com http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Video_Games_Educational/,
accessed February 21, 2013
“Financial Literacy through Video Games” CNN.com http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/12/smallbusiness/young_adult_financial_literacy.fsb/, accessed February 21, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The Union: The Way Buying Things Should Be
by Emeli Warren, Spring 2013 Intern
Their other products range from wooden iPhone cases by Vers, which plants 100 trees for every one used in production, to handmade soaps by Hand in Hand, which not only donates a bar of soap for each one purchased, but also saves 50 square feet of rain forest and ensures a donation to “help fund micro-credit loans to alleviate poverty in the U.S. and the developing world” per bar sold.
At Azusa Pacific University, class projects in the business department encourage students to team up with existing companies to promote networking and field experience. But Mitch Ahlenius and Benjamin Juhlin have never done things like everyone else. Rather than teaming up with a “real” company, they thought they would create one themselves.
The idea for what would eventually be called The Union Co. started out as dream Ahlenius and Juhlin could entertain while working on their project, but it soon developed into a venture they wanted to seriously pursue outside of class. Originally wanting to provide a wide range of services to nonprofits that would include everything from design to marketing, the duo realized they could serve more people by narrowing their focus. The goal became to create a marketplace for products that support causes.
The co-founders wanted to maintain a business that is mutually beneficial: the customers get a quality product, and those providing the products get the return they deserve. Their website says, “We want to engage people in the dignity of a business relationship, one where both sides win, because that is a more sustainable way to support a cause.”
Epic Timepieces, the first company willing to become part of the venture, was signed on nearly a year ago and supports clean water initiatives; the purchase of one watch provides “clean water to someone in a developing country for an entire year through the distribution of water filters.”
The website, launched March 4 of this year, allows its users to search by product category (from home goods to electronics) or by cause (such as job creation by employing Kenyan mothers). They even offer products from five vendors that support education. OAK Lifestyle sells backpacks with a pouch intended for an ordinary act of kindness (or “OAK”; thus the acronym), encouraging the owners to carry around a granola bar or cash to give to someone in need. With each purchase, OAK provides a child with a backpack and school supplies. RePick sells guitar picks that are made from recycled gift cards, donating 100% of the proceeds to keeping music in Los Angeles school districts.
The idea for what would eventually be called The Union Co. started out as dream Ahlenius and Juhlin could entertain while working on their project, but it soon developed into a venture they wanted to seriously pursue outside of class. Originally wanting to provide a wide range of services to nonprofits that would include everything from design to marketing, the duo realized they could serve more people by narrowing their focus. The goal became to create a marketplace for products that support causes.
The co-founders wanted to maintain a business that is mutually beneficial: the customers get a quality product, and those providing the products get the return they deserve. Their website says, “We want to engage people in the dignity of a business relationship, one where both sides win, because that is a more sustainable way to support a cause.”
Epic Timepieces, the first company willing to become part of the venture, was signed on nearly a year ago and supports clean water initiatives; the purchase of one watch provides “clean water to someone in a developing country for an entire year through the distribution of water filters.”
The website, launched March 4 of this year, allows its users to search by product category (from home goods to electronics) or by cause (such as job creation by employing Kenyan mothers). They even offer products from five vendors that support education. OAK Lifestyle sells backpacks with a pouch intended for an ordinary act of kindness (or “OAK”; thus the acronym), encouraging the owners to carry around a granola bar or cash to give to someone in need. With each purchase, OAK provides a child with a backpack and school supplies. RePick sells guitar picks that are made from recycled gift cards, donating 100% of the proceeds to keeping music in Los Angeles school districts.
Their other products range from wooden iPhone cases by Vers, which plants 100 trees for every one used in production, to handmade soaps by Hand in Hand, which not only donates a bar of soap for each one purchased, but also saves 50 square feet of rain forest and ensures a donation to “help fund micro-credit loans to alleviate poverty in the U.S. and the developing world” per bar sold.
If there is a good way to approach shopping, this is it.
Just by purchasing everyday products, lives can be changed forever—putting us
one step closer to a better educated, healthier, and happier world.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Teachers Worry About Making the Grade
by Victoria Elliott, Spring 2013 Intern
South Carolina teachers are uneasy about a new grading system being introduced in public schools. The A–F letter grades are familiar, but the educators won’t be giving out the marks—they’ll be receiving them.
As a push to further improve the public school system in South Carolina, State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais has developed this new way of evaluating teachers. The program is in its first two years of pilot testing at twenty-two schools, and though it hasn’t yet been formally presented for a vote to the South Carolina State Board of Education, it is tentatively slated for statewide use in the 2014–2015 school year. After the current school year comes to a close, officials will review the pilot test’s results, making any needed changes before testing again for the 2013–2014 term.
Teachers have responded strongly against the proposal. They have stated that receiving letter grades would be offensive and demeaning, and they find it ludicrous that no teachers were consulted during the proposal development. Of course, teachers understand the need to be evaluated. They would simply prefer being evaluated in a more professional way, on a scale from exemplary to unsatisfactory.
Though these letter grades would not affect salary, teachers performing at D or F levels two years in a row would be terminated from their positions. Teachers’ grades would be based roughly two-thirds on observation by principals and peers and one-third on the statistical analysis of yearly student standardized test scores, comparing actual student growth against predictions. Teachers would be evaluated based on whether a student meets, fails to meet or exceeds expectations. Another one of the bigger issues teachers have taken with this plan is the way it plans to grade those who teach subject areas not included on current standardized tests, such as music, art, physical education, special education and so forth. For these teachers, 30 percent of their overall grade would be based on how the entire school does on standardized testing, even though the teachers’ subjects have no direct impact on students’ scores.
Fortunately, though Superintendent Zais states that he wants letter grades because they clearly communicate levels of performance, he also states that he is willing to negotiate and that his primary goal is to ensure quality teachers are teaching kids. For South Carolina’s sake, hopefully Zais, teachers and school administrators can come together to create an evaluation system that is fair, mutually agreed upon and serves to reward gifted teachers more than focusing on those who are underperforming.
Further Reading:
“South Carolina Teachers Worry as State Plans to Grade Them,” accessed February 21, 2013, http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/south-carolina-teachers-worry-as-state-plans-to-grade-them/.
“SC plan to grade teachers stirs protests,” The State: South Carolina’s Homepage, accessed February 21, 2013, http://www.thestate.com/2012/12/26/2568261/sc-plan-to-grade-teachers-stirs.html#.UNt7iG8Yu6W
South Carolina teachers are uneasy about a new grading system being introduced in public schools. The A–F letter grades are familiar, but the educators won’t be giving out the marks—they’ll be receiving them.
As a push to further improve the public school system in South Carolina, State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais has developed this new way of evaluating teachers. The program is in its first two years of pilot testing at twenty-two schools, and though it hasn’t yet been formally presented for a vote to the South Carolina State Board of Education, it is tentatively slated for statewide use in the 2014–2015 school year. After the current school year comes to a close, officials will review the pilot test’s results, making any needed changes before testing again for the 2013–2014 term.
Teachers have responded strongly against the proposal. They have stated that receiving letter grades would be offensive and demeaning, and they find it ludicrous that no teachers were consulted during the proposal development. Of course, teachers understand the need to be evaluated. They would simply prefer being evaluated in a more professional way, on a scale from exemplary to unsatisfactory.
Though these letter grades would not affect salary, teachers performing at D or F levels two years in a row would be terminated from their positions. Teachers’ grades would be based roughly two-thirds on observation by principals and peers and one-third on the statistical analysis of yearly student standardized test scores, comparing actual student growth against predictions. Teachers would be evaluated based on whether a student meets, fails to meet or exceeds expectations. Another one of the bigger issues teachers have taken with this plan is the way it plans to grade those who teach subject areas not included on current standardized tests, such as music, art, physical education, special education and so forth. For these teachers, 30 percent of their overall grade would be based on how the entire school does on standardized testing, even though the teachers’ subjects have no direct impact on students’ scores.
Fortunately, though Superintendent Zais states that he wants letter grades because they clearly communicate levels of performance, he also states that he is willing to negotiate and that his primary goal is to ensure quality teachers are teaching kids. For South Carolina’s sake, hopefully Zais, teachers and school administrators can come together to create an evaluation system that is fair, mutually agreed upon and serves to reward gifted teachers more than focusing on those who are underperforming.
Further Reading:
“South Carolina Teachers Worry as State Plans to Grade Them,” accessed February 21, 2013, http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/south-carolina-teachers-worry-as-state-plans-to-grade-them/.
“SC plan to grade teachers stirs protests,” The State: South Carolina’s Homepage, accessed February 21, 2013, http://www.thestate.com/2012/12/26/2568261/sc-plan-to-grade-teachers-stirs.html#.UNt7iG8Yu6W
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Head Start: The Answer, but Also the Question
by Catherine Martin, Spring 2013 Intern
During his 2013 State of the Union address, among the many plans he laid out for improving America, Obama managed to frame a very controversial topic in very neutral, accessible terms: He declared that his administration would “make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.” Sounds pretty great, right? Almost everyone would have a hard time arguing with rhetoric like that.
Even without his catchy speech style, there isn’t much ideological controversy in Obama’s premise; after all, who would be opposed to giving children better opportunities to succeed in education? Yet Obama’s proposal has caused a debate, but it’s not a debate over the merits of the American dream of high-quality education for three-year-olds everywhere. Instead, people are all riled up over how Obama’s proposed plan will be executed.
A version of this utopian vision of preschool education already exists. It’s called the Head Start program, established in 1965, and has provided comprehensive educational and parent involvement services to nearly 30 million low-income preschool-age children and their families throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In 2007, it extended its services to homeless children. However, a study published in 2011 by the Department of Health and Human Services has raised serious doubts about the effectiveness of the program.
The study reflected some positive effects of the program: children who had received preschool education from Head Start “manifested less hyperactive behaviors and more positive relationships with parents” than their peers, they tested significantly better on vocabulary and oral comprehension, and parents of children in the program were more likely to read to them and involve them in cultural enrichment. However, the study also showed that although “the program had a ‘positive impact’ on children’s experiences through the preschool years, ‘advantages children gained during their Head Start and age 4 years yielded only a few statistically significant differences in outcomes at the end of 1st grade for the sample as a whole.’” After first grade, Head Start did not seem to have any significant overall social–emotional impact on its students.
The results of the study have brought strong anti–Head Start sentiments into public forums. Many argue against continuing a program that, at $7.6 billion a year, they say is much too ineffective for its price tag. Another concern is that the way in which the program is implemented simply does not yield the results that are expected of it.
The president wants to expand Head Start as well as have the federal government work with states directly to provide high-quality education to children in low- and moderate-income families. The question is not whether or not an Extended Head Start program should be implemented, but rather how it will be implemented. The best that education reform advocates—and people who believe in equal opportunities for everyone—can hope for is that Obama’s administration will work to solve the major problems existing in Head Start’s system and will build a preschool program that provides even more disadvantaged children with better education.
Further Reading
“Can Obama Sell Universal Preschool to the GOP?” The Atlantic Wire, http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/02/obama-universal-preschool-gop/62156/.
“Head Start Impact: Department of Health and Human Services Report,” Journalist’s Resource, http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/civil-rights/head-start-study/.
“In Alabama, a Model for Obama’s Push to Expand Preschool,” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/education/details-emerge-on-obamas-call-to-extend-preschool.html.
During his 2013 State of the Union address, among the many plans he laid out for improving America, Obama managed to frame a very controversial topic in very neutral, accessible terms: He declared that his administration would “make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.” Sounds pretty great, right? Almost everyone would have a hard time arguing with rhetoric like that.
Even without his catchy speech style, there isn’t much ideological controversy in Obama’s premise; after all, who would be opposed to giving children better opportunities to succeed in education? Yet Obama’s proposal has caused a debate, but it’s not a debate over the merits of the American dream of high-quality education for three-year-olds everywhere. Instead, people are all riled up over how Obama’s proposed plan will be executed.
A version of this utopian vision of preschool education already exists. It’s called the Head Start program, established in 1965, and has provided comprehensive educational and parent involvement services to nearly 30 million low-income preschool-age children and their families throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In 2007, it extended its services to homeless children. However, a study published in 2011 by the Department of Health and Human Services has raised serious doubts about the effectiveness of the program.
The study reflected some positive effects of the program: children who had received preschool education from Head Start “manifested less hyperactive behaviors and more positive relationships with parents” than their peers, they tested significantly better on vocabulary and oral comprehension, and parents of children in the program were more likely to read to them and involve them in cultural enrichment. However, the study also showed that although “the program had a ‘positive impact’ on children’s experiences through the preschool years, ‘advantages children gained during their Head Start and age 4 years yielded only a few statistically significant differences in outcomes at the end of 1st grade for the sample as a whole.’” After first grade, Head Start did not seem to have any significant overall social–emotional impact on its students.
The results of the study have brought strong anti–Head Start sentiments into public forums. Many argue against continuing a program that, at $7.6 billion a year, they say is much too ineffective for its price tag. Another concern is that the way in which the program is implemented simply does not yield the results that are expected of it.
The president wants to expand Head Start as well as have the federal government work with states directly to provide high-quality education to children in low- and moderate-income families. The question is not whether or not an Extended Head Start program should be implemented, but rather how it will be implemented. The best that education reform advocates—and people who believe in equal opportunities for everyone—can hope for is that Obama’s administration will work to solve the major problems existing in Head Start’s system and will build a preschool program that provides even more disadvantaged children with better education.
Further Reading
“Can Obama Sell Universal Preschool to the GOP?” The Atlantic Wire, http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/02/obama-universal-preschool-gop/62156/.
“Head Start Impact: Department of Health and Human Services Report,” Journalist’s Resource, http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/civil-rights/head-start-study/.
“In Alabama, a Model for Obama’s Push to Expand Preschool,” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/education/details-emerge-on-obamas-call-to-extend-preschool.html.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Students Get Hands-On Science Experience with Inquiry
by Emeli Warren, Spring 2013 Intern
It’s been almost twelve years since I went to science camp, but I still vividly remember my experiences. I had never been that engaged in my science classes, as I was more interested in reading and writing, but the week I spent in the outdoors with my fellow elementary students was one of my favorites. Why? you might ask. I was allowed to “play” outside with my friends in the dirt, exploring the woods and examining banana slugs—while learning! At the time I may not have realized it, but I was engaging in a hands-on version of science, now being referred to with the word inquiry.
According to the National Science Education Standards, “Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.” In terms of education, this method allows students to understand scientific concepts through a personal lens, testing and developing their own theories. Inquiry science is a free-form learning experience that does not rely directly on textbooks and step-by-step procedures. Instead, students build from data-gathering techniques and factual information they have learned in the classroom or from previous textbook studies; they then take the learning outside to engage in science without the constraints of a lab. The students are responsible for finding credible solutions to their questions as well as developing the best way to present and synthesize the information.
For example, Adam Flynn, chair of William M. Davies Career & Technical Center’s science department, may ask his juniors where they think the next earthquake will strike. Rather than basing their answers purely on speculation derived from what they’ve read in their textbooks about why and how earthquakes occur, students build upon their previous knowledge and perform research to support it. As long as the students provide a logical explanation for their hypotheses, the method of obtaining exterior research is up to them—some may comb through the news, while others may explore the US Geological Center or other online sources.
Julia Steiny’s interview with Adam Flynn in Education News reveals three questions Flynn asked each science teacher:
By answering these three questions, teachers are driven to assess student learning, rather than solely planning and implementing activities. For those who are wary about the effectiveness of inquiry science, Synergy Learning also offers a variety of reasons to why it works, from helping students reflect with their peers and increasing communication to connecting sequences and events, which allows them to predict and notice change. Through implementing inquiry science, students are encouraged to answer questions and critique their own work—skills that are crucial in any environment, both in and out of the classroom.
Further Reading:
It’s been almost twelve years since I went to science camp, but I still vividly remember my experiences. I had never been that engaged in my science classes, as I was more interested in reading and writing, but the week I spent in the outdoors with my fellow elementary students was one of my favorites. Why? you might ask. I was allowed to “play” outside with my friends in the dirt, exploring the woods and examining banana slugs—while learning! At the time I may not have realized it, but I was engaging in a hands-on version of science, now being referred to with the word inquiry.
According to the National Science Education Standards, “Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from their work.” In terms of education, this method allows students to understand scientific concepts through a personal lens, testing and developing their own theories. Inquiry science is a free-form learning experience that does not rely directly on textbooks and step-by-step procedures. Instead, students build from data-gathering techniques and factual information they have learned in the classroom or from previous textbook studies; they then take the learning outside to engage in science without the constraints of a lab. The students are responsible for finding credible solutions to their questions as well as developing the best way to present and synthesize the information.
For example, Adam Flynn, chair of William M. Davies Career & Technical Center’s science department, may ask his juniors where they think the next earthquake will strike. Rather than basing their answers purely on speculation derived from what they’ve read in their textbooks about why and how earthquakes occur, students build upon their previous knowledge and perform research to support it. As long as the students provide a logical explanation for their hypotheses, the method of obtaining exterior research is up to them—some may comb through the news, while others may explore the US Geological Center or other online sources.
Julia Steiny’s interview with Adam Flynn in Education News reveals three questions Flynn asked each science teacher:
- What are the desired results? What, exactly, should students know and be able to do?
- How will you assess your teaching so you’re sure the kids got it?
- And only lastly, given numbers 1 and 2, what’s the lesson plan?
By answering these three questions, teachers are driven to assess student learning, rather than solely planning and implementing activities. For those who are wary about the effectiveness of inquiry science, Synergy Learning also offers a variety of reasons to why it works, from helping students reflect with their peers and increasing communication to connecting sequences and events, which allows them to predict and notice change. Through implementing inquiry science, students are encouraged to answer questions and critique their own work—skills that are crucial in any environment, both in and out of the classroom.
Further Reading:
“Scientific Inquiry,” National Science
Teachers Association, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/inquiry.aspx
“Julia Steiny: Inquiring Minds Want To Know Science,” Education News, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/julia-steiny-inquiring-minds-want-to-know-science/
“Inquiry Based Science: What Does it Look Like?” Institue for Inquiry, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/classroom/inquiry_based.html
“Julia Steiny: Inquiring Minds Want To Know Science,” Education News, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/julia-steiny-inquiring-minds-want-to-know-science/
“Inquiry Based Science: What Does it Look Like?” Institue for Inquiry, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/classroom/inquiry_based.html
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Training Our Brains
by Victoria Elliott, Spring 2013 Intern
There’s a new trend in learning aids, and this one may be able to raise your IQ. “Brain training” facilities claim they can improve both IQ and cognitive skills through a regimen of games aimed at promoting brain elasticity and fluid intelligence. Though there are many companies specializing in brain training, the most notable is LearningRx, the only brick-and-mortar brain trainer, numbering 83 franchises. The rest of the trainers are either web-based or software-based, and include industry players such as Lumosity, Cogmed, Posit Science, and MindSparke.
Brain training seems deceptively simple: play games either online or with trainers and quickly increase your processing speed, logic, memory, and attention. But there is a heavy dose of science behind it. The n-back, introduced in 1958 and the most popular game in the business, challenges memory, asking users to recall things such as the color of an image or the location of a letter. The item that has been presented immediately before is 1-back, the time before last is 2-back, and the time before that is 3-back. This continues further backwards if the trainee successfully remembers the requested detail or moves to an easier level if the detail is missed. The n-back is used to improve fluid intelligence, which is the ability to both reason quickly and think abstractly; some other brain training tactics are not quite as science based, such as clapping to teach trainees to ignore distractions. It may sound a touch crude, but it seems to work.
Erin Matlock, the editor-in-chief of BrainTraining101.com, a Web site dedicated to the promotion of brain and mental health products, completed a 19-day trial of MindSparke’s Brain Fitness Pro as a test to see just how well brain training works. Ms. Matlock, a registered member of Mensa, spent around 30 minutes a day in computer-based training sessions for her trial run. She took an IQ test both before and after she completed the nearly three weeks of training, and came up with a twelve-point increase.
Because research on the programs is quite new, scientists disagree whether one can truly improve through brain training or if trainees are merely learning to take tests. However, LearningRx reports IQ leaps of up to 15 points after 24 weeks and 20 points in less than 32 weeks of training. The web-based trainers do not claim that their programs improve IQ, but they definitely believe the programs increase cognitive performance.
Matlock can certainly attest to that claim. She acknowledges that her second IQ test was an approximation, as it was online and not professionally done. However, she could not ignore the improvements she noticed in her day-to-day life, including increased brain stamina, short-term memory, and productivity levels. With such quick results, Matlock thoroughly endorses the product.
Further Reading:
“The Brain Trainers,” The New York Times, accessed February 6, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/a-new-kind-of-tutoring-aims-to-make-students-smarter.html.
“How I Improved My Productivity, Strengthened My Working Memory and Increased My IQ Score by 12 Points in 19 Days,” Brain Training 101, http://www.braintraining101.com/increased-my-iq-score-by-12-points-in-19-days/.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Tolkien Hype Gets in the Way of Serious Consideration
by Catherine Martin, Spring 2013 Intern
You could say that his literary presence is as resilient as the One Ring’s will to conquer Middle-earth. More than 40 years after his death, J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfinished manuscripts are still being discovered and dusted off for public consumption. Last year, in an article entitled “An Unexpected Journey: Hobbits in the Heartland,” New York Times reporter Lawrence Downes let everyone in on the secret that all of Tolkien’s archives—from notes to original manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings written in longhand—have been living peacefully in the Raynor Memorial Libraries at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 1957.
This year, Tolkien’s son Christopher will publish one of his father’s many unfinished manuscripts he has “squirreled away” in his home: a book-length poem called The Fall of Arthur, about the king’s last days. The poem, which will be published under J.R.R. Tolkien’s name and listed as edited by Christopher Tolkien, is highly anticipated.
You could say that his literary presence is as resilient as the One Ring’s will to conquer Middle-earth. More than 40 years after his death, J.R.R. Tolkien’s unfinished manuscripts are still being discovered and dusted off for public consumption. Last year, in an article entitled “An Unexpected Journey: Hobbits in the Heartland,” New York Times reporter Lawrence Downes let everyone in on the secret that all of Tolkien’s archives—from notes to original manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings written in longhand—have been living peacefully in the Raynor Memorial Libraries at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 1957.
This year, Tolkien’s son Christopher will publish one of his father’s many unfinished manuscripts he has “squirreled away” in his home: a book-length poem called The Fall of Arthur, about the king’s last days. The poem, which will be published under J.R.R. Tolkien’s name and listed as edited by Christopher Tolkien, is highly anticipated.
But if the excerpt of the poem that accompanies Sarah
Sloat’s Speakeasy
article is any indication, such anticipation may not be warranted. Which
leaves the question: Why exactly are people so excited?
Whether you’re a fan of Middle-earth or not, the educational benefits Tolkien’s books cannot be denied. Their all-ages appeal stems from their complexity: they’re epic fantasy adventures that present good and evil in a unique and thought-provoking way. But Tolkien’s distinct, heavily academic writing style adds another layer of meaning to his work. Some people, especially children, find his tone prohibitive to read, but regardless of how unappealing his writing may be, he demonstrates that it’s possible to approach intellectual pursuit with any attitude you want. Myths and legends don’t always have to be Disney-fied to have widespread appeal; you can write about whatever you want to, in whatever style best suits you, and if you do it well enough, it won’t matter whether you use practically indecipherable slang or are so formal you refuse to use contractions in your writing.
However giant a literary figure Tolkien may be, his work still does not all occupy a single tier of readership ability: The Hobbit, originally written for children, is the most accessible installment of his Middle-earth saga, and, therefore the most appealing; The Lord of the Rings, with its overextended genealogies and many languages, is a history or language nerd’s dream, but plenty more people would rather watch the movies; The Silmarillion, probably the least well-known of his well-known books (and also edited and published by Christopher Tolkien), doesn’t even have a narrative, but is rather a collection of stories offering deeper insight into Middle-earth’s history.
Yet, with the rediscovery of Tolkien’s yards of unpublished, unfinished manuscripts, the academic community and, more enthusiastically, The Lord of the Rings fandom, seem to have forgotten one of the most important rules of considering the full breadth of any author’s work: whenever you come across the extra stuff that was left out of the final published product, there is a reason the extra stuff was left out in the first place.
Of course we shouldn’t limit public access to Tolkien’s work. There are good reasons to publish The Fall of Arthur and any other manuscripts the Tolkien estate sees fit to make available. But within all the enthusiasm for these new manuscripts lies an important lesson about appreciating an author’s work: each piece should be treated on its own terms and never assumed to be equally good. It’s unfair to both reader and writer to hold every new manuscript up to the standards of the gems in Tolkien’s (or anyone’s) rather large repertoire, and to forget that for every genius idea on center stage, there are one hundred extra ideas waiting in the wings, where they should probably remain.
Further Reading:
“An Unexpected Journey: Hobbits in the Heartland," New York Times, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/hobbits-in-the-heartland.html?_r=1&
"J.R.R. Tolkien Moves From Middle-Earth to Camelot," Wall Street Journal, accessed February 12, 2013, http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/10/16/j-r-r-tolkien-moves-from-middle-earth-to-camelot/ "J.R.R. Tolkien Collection," Marquette University, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/tolkien.shtml
"How the Hobbit Came to Milkwaukee (Excerpts from the Q&A)," YouTube, accessed February 12, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFY534kSm90
Whether you’re a fan of Middle-earth or not, the educational benefits Tolkien’s books cannot be denied. Their all-ages appeal stems from their complexity: they’re epic fantasy adventures that present good and evil in a unique and thought-provoking way. But Tolkien’s distinct, heavily academic writing style adds another layer of meaning to his work. Some people, especially children, find his tone prohibitive to read, but regardless of how unappealing his writing may be, he demonstrates that it’s possible to approach intellectual pursuit with any attitude you want. Myths and legends don’t always have to be Disney-fied to have widespread appeal; you can write about whatever you want to, in whatever style best suits you, and if you do it well enough, it won’t matter whether you use practically indecipherable slang or are so formal you refuse to use contractions in your writing.
However giant a literary figure Tolkien may be, his work still does not all occupy a single tier of readership ability: The Hobbit, originally written for children, is the most accessible installment of his Middle-earth saga, and, therefore the most appealing; The Lord of the Rings, with its overextended genealogies and many languages, is a history or language nerd’s dream, but plenty more people would rather watch the movies; The Silmarillion, probably the least well-known of his well-known books (and also edited and published by Christopher Tolkien), doesn’t even have a narrative, but is rather a collection of stories offering deeper insight into Middle-earth’s history.
Yet, with the rediscovery of Tolkien’s yards of unpublished, unfinished manuscripts, the academic community and, more enthusiastically, The Lord of the Rings fandom, seem to have forgotten one of the most important rules of considering the full breadth of any author’s work: whenever you come across the extra stuff that was left out of the final published product, there is a reason the extra stuff was left out in the first place.
Of course we shouldn’t limit public access to Tolkien’s work. There are good reasons to publish The Fall of Arthur and any other manuscripts the Tolkien estate sees fit to make available. But within all the enthusiasm for these new manuscripts lies an important lesson about appreciating an author’s work: each piece should be treated on its own terms and never assumed to be equally good. It’s unfair to both reader and writer to hold every new manuscript up to the standards of the gems in Tolkien’s (or anyone’s) rather large repertoire, and to forget that for every genius idea on center stage, there are one hundred extra ideas waiting in the wings, where they should probably remain.
Further Reading:
“An Unexpected Journey: Hobbits in the Heartland," New York Times, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/hobbits-in-the-heartland.html?_r=1&
"J.R.R. Tolkien Moves From Middle-Earth to Camelot," Wall Street Journal, accessed February 12, 2013, http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/10/16/j-r-r-tolkien-moves-from-middle-earth-to-camelot/ "J.R.R. Tolkien Collection," Marquette University, accessed February 12, 2013, http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/tolkien.shtml
"How the Hobbit Came to Milkwaukee (Excerpts from the Q&A)," YouTube, accessed February 12, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFY534kSm90
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