educators

"Hosted by Colin Hill (@digicoled), we speak to Jamie Manolov about his research into how ClassDojo is used in classrooms globally, with potential implications to data, privacy and behaviours encouraged."

"Asking young girls to "do science" leads them to show greater persistence in science activities than does asking them to "be scientists," finds a new psychology study by researchers at New York University and Princeton University. "Describing science as actions, by saying 'let's do science,' leads to more science engagement than does describing science in terms of identities, by asking them to 'be scientists'" explains Marjorie Rhodes, an associate professor in NYU's Department of Psychology and the senior author of the study, which appears in the journal Psychological Science. "These effects particularly hold for children who are the target of stereotypes suggesting that they might not be the kind of person who succeeds in science-in this case, girls," she adds."

"The importance of offering a broad curriculum within the school system cannot be over-stated, allowing students to explore a range of topics that spark their interest, and potentially inspire them to follow a career path that can have a positive impact on their lives, society and the environment. STEM activities (built around Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) offer a broad range of opportunities, opening up the potential of enquiry based learning that is relevant to the world we live in. Many education systems globally place a great emphasis on a STEM curriculum for all students, no matter of age, race, gender or ability, but what STEM based activities work best in your setting, helping students see the world differently, and potentially inspiring to enter STEM careers of the future?"

"In the book, Atwal challenges the more traditional means of providing professional development for teachers - usually involving the implementation of government imposed initiatives, rather than individualised professional learning opportunities. The challenge is finding space to deliver a more dynamic learning environment for teachers - a thinking school that is fundamental to improving children's learning experiences."

"Colours promote such emotion and are attributed to everything we see every day. Children are taught from a very young age that the sky and the ocean are blue, the grass and leaves are green, that the sun, sand and sunflowers are yellow and the night is black. But I ask you, how often have you looked at the ocean and seen green, not blue or looked up into the branches and seen a selection of oranges, yellows, browns and reds not a blanket of green. I am not suggesting that we shouldn't teach children these colour clichés, at a young age they are their first experiences of colour and form the bases of many of their first art pieces."

"Many people know the benefits of reading, as whole new worlds, opportunities and adventures can open up to help enhance knowledge of the world around us, but getting some young people to read quality can be like extracting teeth!"

"Usually, being able to visualise mathematical concepts to students is an important step in helping them understand techniques to illustrate connections with previous learning, helping them master maths notions to progress their skills. The importance of visualising concepts is clearly integral for Peter Mattock who has collected together a valued resource of mathematical activities that can be used with manipulative across the age and ability range."

"Imagine being a child who's given a school note to take home and realising all your friends can read it, but you can't. Or being asked to complete an assignment in class that has been written on the whiteboard but having no idea what it says. Or opening up a book and seeing all the letters jump around. For the one in 10 children in the UK who are dyslexic, this may well simply be part of their everyday life."

"In education we are very comfortable using the term "middle leaders", rather than "middle managers", to talk about heads of department and heads of faculty. But are they really leaders? What distinguishes middle leaders from middle managers?  Middle managers - and senior managers for that matter - work to the specification of their leaders. Managers only become leaders when they inject something of themselves into their work. Managers sing the hymn sheets of others. Leaders do much more, they add verses, create harmonies and the best compose new scores. "

"There's something about origami that really seems to capture children's imagination. In most of the classes that I have taught over the years, there has been at least one child with a real passion for origami. Many a show-and-tell has been dominated by incredible paper-folding creations, from water bombs to paper dragons. Think back to your own school days; which of these origami classics do you remember creating?"

"Many students require years of experience to discover their preferred (and most efficient) style of revision. For me, I found that dictating my notes to myself and playing them through my earphones when I lay in bed at night was effective, but this might not work for everyone."

"The education twitter-sphere has been all a-buzz today with stuff about helping (or failing) bright pupils. I am not at all qualified to contribute directly to the debate; I can only recount my own experiences, and anecdotal evidence is not very valuable in such a case. Because of my work as an examiner, I meet history teachers from scores of other schools every summer, and I do not think my approaches were in any way unusual. Yes, I taught at an independent school, so it was selective in terms of ability to pay fees. It was not very selective in terms of ability; plenty of our pupils did well to get C passes at GCSE with a couple of Bs thrown in."

"In a world where political divisions seem more entrenched than ever, and a school system which has yet to crack the problem of bullying, an opportunity to engage young people with different voices, narratives and ideas seems urgently necessary. I would suggest that the strategy of "writing in-role" holds the potential to do just this. "

"Modern education is tough on everyone involved. Teachers spend hours preparing lessons and marking work, whilst students find themselves studying multiple subjects at once and experiencing a high level of pressure throughout their school career."

"You are obsessed with stories. I am obsessed with stories. We are obsessed with stories. Even when you go to sleep at night, your mind stays awake telling itself stories in your dreams.  It's predicted that modern humans began to speak language around 100,000 years ago. It's no great leap of the imagination to assume they started telling stories not long after.  We're obsessed with stories. But why? It's how we make sense of the world. We have a deep neurological compulsion to find patterns. "

"We've all been there… you are excited. You have the perfect lesson planned. You have been laminating and cutting out for half the night and your plan has just the right balance of pace, content and skills to move your pupils on. But as the pupils arrive, something is… off. Our pupils bring more baggage with them into the classroom than just a satchel. Whether it is issues within the previous lesson, or problems the pupils bring with them from home, how can we mitigate the negative impact on learning and ensure that pupils are ready to learn?"

"When we set out to create and encourage critical thinkers and problem solvers. We need to look at various aspects. How people will respond and adapt to the change. We need to further establish what our students need, do they need constant attention or space? Decoding a teenage brain, is it really difficult to understand teenagers?  I took workshops this year to enhance my understanding and sharing my know how with others.  I have realised that I always look for what's going to push the student, egg them on to ask questions, to look at themselves as stakeholders in their learning process and something that adds value to their existing experience of learning. "

"Incorporating the arts-rapping, dancing, drawing-into science lessons can help low-achieving students retain more knowledge and possibly help students of all ability levels be more creative in their learning, finds a new study by Johns Hopkins University. The findings were published on Feb. 7 in Trends in Neuroscience and Education and support broader arts integration in the classroom."