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IN the Speak up 2011 report, students say that 46% of them have used Facebook to collaborate on school projects.

Interesting report that also shows the flip side where 65% of principals say they will not allow personal devices in the next school year. (What is odd is a study I shared a few weeks  a go on my blog says that almost 50% of students are receiving text messages during class NOW in schools where cell phones are BANNED so really, this is just window dressing.)

"Students want more control over how they use technology in school, but many classrooms are still making it difficult. That’s according to the most recent Speak Up 2011 report, “Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey,” which reflects the views of more than 416,000 K-12 students, parents, and educators nationwide surveyed on how technology can enhance the learning environment. They survey is produced by Project Tomorrow, an educational non-profit focused on raising student voices in education policy discussions. The theme for this survey focused on individualized learning paths.

education news research social media

Have a purpose in life. It may help you have higher quality life dementia free. A group of 900 relatively healthy individuals from the Chicago area were selected for a study about preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Before the study began, patients were Alzheimer’s-free, and they also answered questions about their purposes in life. During ongoing studies, about 16 percent of the patients were found to have early stages of Alzheimer’s. The individuals who scored the highest on the “purpose in life” test were found to be 2.5 times more likely to remain free of the disease throughout their lives."

education research alzheimers

I find this research from the UK hard to believe since my children were reading by age 5. My children test as being gifted (although 2 have learning differences). I guess it depends on the kind of "lessons" they are exposed to. We use a marvelous multisensory approach to teaching children at our school that I'd hardly call boring "lessons." This research was done in the US. What do you think?

research edreform uk

Sensory Substitution devices (SSD)'s are shown to help the blind read in a recent study. This is being touted as an alternate to the prostheses that will help the blind see which are said to be very invasive. If you work with those with special needs, this research will interest you.

education research blindness blind spedchat

A very interesting topic over whether teaching has become a "fenimized" profession. I think one point to realize is that teaching may be "feminizied" but I doubt that administration or professional development is if the representation of men in edtech PD can attest. I think this is something to note and be aware of as we look at schools. This is out of the UK.

research learning education

Unearned praise always hurts kids. Tell the truth in a constructive way but be truthful. Teachers were not as critical and gave more praise when told the student was a minority. This bias hurts students in the end.

research minority writing bias learning

New research shows multitasking gives you an emotional boost whilr harming productivity and cognitive functions.

research learning education multitasking

Jane Hart shares a presentation from Hans de Zwaart about the quantified self and learning. I have to admit that this is the first I've heard of the "quantified self movement" but he says it has big consequences for how we learn in the future. Jane is a nice writer and I learn a lot from her.

education research researcher_thoughtleader

We all need to be active. I think we need PE for kids AND teachers. We'd all feel better, live longer, and probably be less stressed out this time of year. I'm spending all my time in the classroom right now and it makes it hard to feel good when not working out like I need to. Take time to work out this week and I will too!

"New research suggests people who are obese and lacking physical activity in their daily lives are at higher risk of developing common forms of cancer.

We've known for years now that being overweight can lead to many health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes, but new evidence now shows it's also a cause for cancer.

And it's not just excessive weight.

Those who live inactive lifestyles are also at a higher risk.

education research health.

Here is an interesting point as I research inquiry based learning and move to look in a database that is largely built from overseas. Many places called "inquiry" "enquiry" so in this set of lessons across the curriculum, I have to search using the term "enquiry" to turn up what have been tagged as "inquiry based" lesson plans.

There are many nuances like that as you start looking at best practices across the world to remember. Eventually, hopefully, language searches will translate between common languages (like English) to help us bridge best practices.

If you're looking into inquiry-based learning (or equiry-based depending upon where you're from) - this is a database of lesson plans from Kindergarten up in different categories.

education inquiry-based learning teaching lessonplans research

As I'm reading on inquiry based learning, I came across another article, I'd like to share. In this article, it discusses how inquiry-based learning projects are driven by students. This very much aligns with the questions we ask on the Flat Classroom and other projects. The one point of meaning that I'm working to understand (and finding different answers depending upon the site) is that some differentiate that students should develop the questions rather than teachers "handing them" the questions. I have a lesson plan I sent through Diigo where the instructor designed a lesson around the question "Can there be giants?" and called in inquiry based. Under this article, it may not be called true inquiry based, and yet, I'm wondering if the question is intriguing and of interest and can be used in a way to teach if it really matters where the question originates. 

My class is a mix of student-created inquiries (Freshman project) and project-generated inquiries (Digiteen, Flat Classroom). Interesting. Look forward to reading and understanding more (and sharing with you.)

This is another nice article on the topic. Feel free to share yours.

"Inquiry-based learning" is one of many terms used to describe educational approaches that are driven more by a learner's questions than by a teacher's lessons. It is inspired by what is sometimes called a constructivist approach to education, which posits that there are many ways of constructing meaning from the building blocks of knowledge and that imparting the skills of "how to learn" is more important than any particular information being presented. Not all inquiry-based learning is constructivist, nor are all constructivist approaches inquiry-based, but the two have similarities and grow from similar philosophies.

education research edreform inquiry-ba inquiry-based learning researcher_thoughtleader

As I was reading up on inquiry based learning, I found a research paper from 1999 that has been cited almost 500 times. In this paper, you have an overview of inquiry based learning and how the use of technology is an excellent support for inquiry based learning. (They call it TSIL - technology-supported inquiry learning.) This paper talks about the potential and Opportunities. This is a PDF that I'm reading and filing in my personal research cabinet.

education research inquiry-based learning researcher_thoughtleader professionaldevelopment

Extending the school day may not have the benefits that some claim, especially since we're just giving kids more same-old same-old instruction time. This article from the Washington Post is worth a read.

"But the extended day approach being implemented in many schools as a result of the department’s push to increase instructional time  falls short.  It largely ignores the deep body of research on what makes effective expanded learning.   Instead, too many schools are merely adding another hour or so of regular class time onto the school day.  Not surprisingly, two very recent studies suggest we might not accomplish much with this approach to improving schools. "

edreform education schools edu_trends research learning

A summary of Justin REich's research written for classroom teachers and school educators.

edreform research wikis oer12hf oer all_teachers learning

in list: Wikis

Justin reich's research which has powerful implications for equity, how wikis are used (they are used more and longer by mid to higher affluent schools) and how we should shape and design platforms. (Because affluent students are disproportionately using the services, it is impacting design and most companies are caught in a feedback loop that is causing them to design for affluent students.)

education oer edreform research oer12hf bestpractices learning

in list: Wikis

Brainscans continue to reveal fascinating findings. In this study, scientist put people to sleep and scanned their brains as they emerged from anesthesia. This is helping them identify what parts of the brain are active when we first become conscious.

"The results may also have broader implications. The demonstration of which brain mechanisms are involved in the emergence of the conscious state is an important step forward in the scientific explanation of consciousness. Yet, much harder questions remain. How and why do these neural mechanisms create the subjective feeling of being, the awareness of self and environment - the state of being conscious?"

science psychology research learning

Jon Becker wrote a review of Robert Marzano's work in 2009. I'm wondering how many of those who bought promethean boards have seen the 17 percentile jump the report promised? Perhaps we should review this in retrospect.

education edreform research iwb flatclassroom_research learning

This is older but needs resurrecting. Download the report by economist JEsse Rothstein about the Gates foundation research. Many are claiming it is misinterpreting its own data in the preliminary report used to justify teacher evaluation systems. ARen't we tired of jumping on a bandwagon - perhaps first we should look at the wheels.

education learning edreform research flatclassroom_research

Relevant to this question is the growing "embodied cognition" literature showing that the position and state of our bodies can affect our thoughts - for example, cleaning their hands makes people feel morally purer. In a new study Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky propose that clothes can have similar effects on our thoughts - a phenomenon they call "enclothed cognition". In contrast to embodied cognition effects which are fairly direct, the researchers think enclothed cognition effects will depend on two conditions - first, the symbolic meaning of the clothing and second, the actual wearing of the clothes.

education research flatclassroom_research

Larry FErlazzo reflects on how dress influences teaching. I usually wear a business suit most days. Ron Clark always has his staff in coat and ties and dressed up daily. I wonder how many teachers would protest.

"I was reminded of that post, and that question, by a recent study that has been receiving a lot of attention this week. Researchers suggested that they had discovered “enclothed cognition” — that wearing certain clothes can affect how people think and subsequently act (they experimented with people wearing white lab coats):

education news research flatclassroom_research