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Ed Webb

Mind - Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com - 3 views

  • instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing. “We have known these principles for some time, and it’s intriguing that schools don’t pick them up, or that people don’t learn them by trial and error,” said Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”
  • The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
  • Cognitive scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade on a given exam. But hurriedly jam-packing a brain is akin to speed-packing a cheap suitcase, as most students quickly learn — it holds its new load for a while, then most everything falls out. “With many students, it’s not like they can’t remember the material” when they move to a more advanced class, said Henry L. Roediger III, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s like they’ve never seen it before.”
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  • cognitive scientists see testing itself — or practice tests and quizzes — as a powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment. The process of retrieving an idea is not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future.
  • “The idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning,” said Dr. Kornell. “When you forget something, it allows you to relearn, and do so effectively, the next time you see it.”
  • An hour of study tonight, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort or pay more attention, dozens of studies have found.
  • “Testing not only measures knowledge but changes it,” he says — and, happily, in the direction of more certainty, not less.
  • “Testing has such bad connotation; people think of standardized testing or teaching to the test,” Dr. Roediger said. “Maybe we need to call it something else, but this is one of the most powerful learning tools we have.”
  • The harder it is to remember something, the harder it is to later forget. This effect, which researchers call “desirable difficulty,”
Roland O'Daniel

MSP:MiddleSchoolPortal/Teaching With Trade Books - NSDLWiki - 5 views

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    ...benefits of using trade books is increasing student engagement. High quality trade books are written as to spark interest and create a desire to read. Many contain colorful, interesting illustrations, photographs, and diagrams, all of which draw students into the text and improve comprehension.
carlos villalobos

Mindomo Blog: Introducing Mindomo 5.0 - 16 views

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    We are excited to announce the release of Mindomo 5.0, a new and improved version of our flagship product. Based extensively on customer demand, Mindomo 5.0 provides exciting new features, including real-time collaboration, auto-save, versioning and many more.
Ben Rimes

Twitter to the Student Rescue - Improve Student Engagement - 11 views

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    Study conducted to assess the effectiveness of social media on student engagement. Study included both experimental and control groups of students, and followed the National Survey of Student Engagement guidelines to measure data.
Jackie Gerstein

Tucson Schools Enhance Learning with the Arts | Edutopia - 0 views

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    Brain-based research supports an effort to improve student achievement through an interdisciplinary curriculum that combines creative pursuits and academic subjects.
Eloise Pasteur

Clark Aldrich's Style Guide for Serious Games and Simulations: The Reason Why Most Rese... - 0 views

  • Why is most research on business issues so useless? Why doesn't it drive the results that businesses require? Organizations may have commissioned reports on new markets, or Second Life, or Web 2.0, or outsourcing or re-insourcing, but why don't the reports have a richer impact?
  • I have come to the fairly unambiguous conclusion: most business research sits unused on shelves. It is thus a valid question to ask, especially in tightening budgets, why is that so? Is that inevitable? And, to a lesser degree, who's fault is that?
  • The big problem is that most business research relies on the same faulty intellectual constructs as other forms of linear content - it relies on linear analysis, case studies, and inspirational examples. And like with movies and magazines, they impress us with their cleverness but don't actually enable effective action (or any action, except more presentations), because they ar not designed to. The reports focus on knowing, not doing. The people at the receiving end of such research seldom turn the concepts into productive actions, because the research does not help them enough in doing so. At best, most research I have studied only takes the reader on 20% of the journey.
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  • The content model advocated on this blog is that of actions, systems, and results. And, there is a multiplier effect between them. If you do not have all three you really don't have anything.
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    Discussion of business research, why it's not so great and how it could be improved
Maggie Verster

Creating Rubrics - TeacherVision.com - 0 views

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    Rubrics can be used in many ways. Once created, an established rubric can be used or slightly modified and applied to many activities. Reviewing, reconceptualizing, and revisiting the same concepts from different angles improves understanding of the lesson for students. Think of a writing rubric - good writing does not change with the project. Because the essentials remain constant, it is not necessary to create a completely new rubric for every activity. This five-part series explores how one teacher designs, refines, and implements rubrics in a variety of subject areas.
Jeff Johnson

Daily English Activities: Tease your Brian - 1 views

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    This site is for EFL & ESL students. Each day you can find a new simple online activity to help you improve your English.
Vicki Davis

Future of Education - Charting the Course of Education and Learning in a Networked World - 0 views

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    From Steve Hargadon: "I've started a new community at http://www.FutureofEducation.com to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas on charting the course of education in a networked world. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic. The site will launch officially at the end of the month with the start of a weekly interview series, but I'm inviting some participation now because of an email Carol Broos (http://www.classroom20.com/profile/beatechie) sent out. Carol is one of twelve teachers who have been invited to participate in a round table discussion concerning the direction of education the new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Jan 21. She was sent the following questions, and is asking for feedback and ideas. You can respond either at the new http://www.FutureofEducation.com site or her wiki at http://education20.pbwiki.com/FrontPage. Here are the questions: 1. What is the one most important education issue you wish Secretary Duncan to focus on during his tenure and why? 2. How shall the tenets of the No Child Left Behind act be altered or invigorated? What are its positives? How can its negatives be improved? 3. How should the new administration respond to the nation's need for better prepared and more qualified teachers? 4.What should the new administration do to increase student engagement in mathematics, the sciences and the arts? 5. How should funding equity issues be addressed? There is also a discussion topic on what questions were not asked that might have been." This seems to be a great thing!
Vicki Davis

Federation of American Scientists :: The National Center for Research in Advanced Infor... - 0 views

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    New center for researching information and digital technologies and the impact on learning has been created.
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    Comprehensive research on how advanced computer and communication technologies can improve all levels of learning has been funded. This National Center was created and signed into law on August 14, 2008 in the United States. I think that research is a great thing. I they will involve all educators in developing their primary questions. Research based best practices underlie all we do and we do need more. I hope, however, they don't get too hung up on the technology (i.e. wiki, blog) and focus on what technology lets us do.
Dean Mantz

BBC NEWS | Technology | US to back 21st century learning - 0 views

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    The US Congress has given the go-ahead for a new centre to explore ways advanced computer and communications technologies can improve learning.
Pat Hensley

iLearn Technology » Book Punch - 0 views

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    tool to improve reading
Patti Porto

UDL4All - 0 views

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    A ning network where you can collaborate with other educators using Universal Design for Learning tools in their classrooms to improve teaching and learning.
Gary Bertoia

---- Achievement Test Results ---- - 0 views

  • successful schools there was a decrease between 1998 and 1999 in the average class size per school, whereas the opposite was true among the other schools.
  • I hate to admit it, but I no longer see the students the way I once did—certainly not in the same exuberant light
  • its track record is unimpressive
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  • to narrow the curriculum. It inflates test scores,
  • REMEMBER: Province-wide tests are not about passing or failing students, or about comparing schools. The primary purpose of the tests it to improve students learning—to identify areas of strength and to address areas where improvement is needed
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    By way of twitter and Konrad Glogowski
John Evans

Welcome to Literacy Leader | Literacy Leader - 2 views

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    This site was created so that literacy leaders around the world can: * share research, resources, and ideas. * discuss current issues in literacy education. * improve literacy teaching and learning.
anonymous

Concord.org - Contents - 0 views

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    The mission of the Concord Consortium is to foster equity and self-realization through improved education. The greatest and most underexploited opportunity for advancing this mission is through educational technologies. We know that students at all ages are capable of learning more, earlier, and at a far deeper level than is currently achieved and we have seen this kind of learning in well-designed schools that have creative teachers and use excellent, computer-based materials. Our goal is to make this the norm.
Art Gelwicks

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves - Practical Theory - 0 views

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    Interesting discussion going on about the pros and cons of a strict school environment
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    This article is dealing with a school and a social environment that has deteriorated past the ability to self-regulate through a series of stated guidelines. Both your school and ours are able to maintain their levels of operation through similar sets of guidelines, but in viewing the situation in the article I can completely understand how that school would need to take those steps to regain control over what had become an unmanageable situation. Looking at examples from the article of students who receive detention for failing to carry their ID after being reminded of it the previous day is not an unusual policy in most public schools. Denial of the "pleasant" aspects of school life for students who struggle academically or behaviorally is also nothing new. In this case they have made it a core part of the students life. Think about it this way: how many of these students who learn through these hard lessons of personal responsibility are going to be come parents who pass along to their children the values of personal responsibility? Some of the parents at CCS have a saying..."It's good to be in the bubble." There is a safe, easily maintained environment at the school, reinforced by clear guidelines and rules with defined penalties for failure to comply. To those who would think this too strict or limiting I would refer you to the number of students returning to our school after venturing into the "real world" and realizing "the bubble" is a better place for them. This is very similar to what I saw at SLA when I visited. Your students are committed to attending the school. They have a personal investment in their futures and the future of the school, something many mandatory schools lack. It's that personal investment that makes respect mean something to them and carry the weight it should in balancing their actions and behaviors with the greater good. For those of us "in the bubble" it can be disturbing to observe the tactics necessary to restore, or in some
Reggie Ryan

Techlearning > > Digital Age Assessment: Part 2 > April 22, 2008 - 0 views

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    Technology and assessment- how tech can integrate into growing demand for assessment data and personal learning communities
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    A look at how technology use in formative assessments improves feedback and reporting opportunities.
Ben W

Michigan, Ground Zero For Sustainability, Struggling To Develop Wind Power : TreeHugger - 0 views

  • while surrounded by water resources that are the envy of half the population of the US and many arid nations
    • Ben W
       
      Michigan may see a resurgance in vitality as water resources become increasingly taxed elsewhere (i.e. Atlanta). MI is a state mostly free from worry about weather calamities (no hurricanes, flooding happens, but hasn't been horrible, forest fires are rare, and mudslides are unheard of), and may become a "safe haven" in the future.
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    Describes MI's problems w/ adding serious wind power to the existing electrical grid. Calls for an improvement of transmission lines to be able to handle new energy sources.
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