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" A new study shows that as people become more intelligent they don't become any less prejudiced, they only change who they are prejudiced towards, with the usual direction going towards those who we see as different from ourselves. In order to study a wide range of biases, and to avoid confusion, the researchers defined prejudice as "'a negative evaluation of a group or of an individual on the basis of group membership" for the purposes of this study.  The study took 5,914 individuals and tested them for their "cognitive ability", determined by their score on the Wordsum test of verbal ability. The subjects were asked of their opinions of certain groups of people such as Christians, Hispanics, or the poor. Those answers were later converted to a zero to 100 scale, with 100 being the most negatively viewed. The study showed that individuals of higher and lower intelligence showed similar levels of prejudice, but not towards the same people. Persons of lower cognitive ability tended to be prejudiced towards "low choice" groups, persons who have little control over the fact that they happen to be a member of that group. More intelligent persons were more prejudiced against "high choice" groups, where the members of that group, hypothetically, had greater ability to opt in or out of membership in that group."

Whatever else they do, school-issued laptops encourage kids to retreat into their own lairs. And that can't be good for them or their families. That might be an acceptable cost if we knew that laptop programs were helping kids learn. But the truth is that we don't. For every study demonstrating a slight increase in achievement as a result of one-to-one computing programs, there's a study showing no effect at all. In one especially extensive study in 2004, Texas researchers found no significant difference in test scores between 21 middle schools that gave students laptops and an equal number that didn't. But students consistently report that laptops enhance learning. And so do school boards, which hold the purse string

"It didn't take long for civic journalism to move from election experiments to deep enterprise work on major issues plaguing communities - race, drugs, education, the economy. Techniques involved listening to how the communities framed their problems and convening conversations about how they might be addressed. Yet major differences emerged between civic journalism and traditional investigative journalism. Unlike traditional investigative journalism, civic journalism's enterprise projects, "didn't have bad guys attached to them," Friedland said. Rather they mined the muddy swamps of tough issues enveloping communities. These projects focused less on measuring the nature of the engagement and instead focused on outcomes. The most systematic and deepest research into civic journalism was undertaken in 2002 by Friedland and PhD student Sandy Nichols. The Pew Center opened its files on 651 civic journalism projects that had applied for funding or for recognition in the Knight-Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism between 1994 and 2001. For months, Nichols read every project and coded them by engagement strategies, outcomes and story frames. You can read the final report or the executive summary. Among its highlights: At least one fifth of all U.S. daily newspapers - 322 of the nation's 1,500 dailies practiced civic journalism during that time. They hailed from 220 cities in all but three states. But, the authors said, the real number, if you included projects that didn't cross the Pew Center's transom, was much higher Newspaper editors asserted that their civic journalism increased public deliberation, civic problem solving, volunteerism and changed public policy.a  96 percent of the civic journalism projects used an "explanatory" story frame to cover public issues instead of a more traditional "conflict" frame, which often reports two opposing viewpoints. "The clear shift to explanatory frames is perhaps one of civ

"Close Up's High School Program curriculum is designed to inform, inspire, and empower students to become more active citizens. For over forty years, we have been dedicated to this mission. This mission and inspiration comes from a commitment and understanding of the importance that civic education plays in the health of our democracy and in the lives of each student. A National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement study in 2012, found that students who participate in civic learning opportunities are more likely to "persist in college and complete their degrees, obtain skills prized by employers and develop habits of social responsibility and civic participation." The study goes on to say, "Today's education for democracy needs to be informed by deep engagement with the values of liberty, equality…and the willingness to collaborate with people of differing views and backgrounds towards common solutions for the public good.""

"NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to Professor Sam Wineburg about his study that tested over 7,800 teenagers about their ability to differentiate fake from real news and sponsored ads from news articles."

An American Studies class blog from Winnetka, Illinois. Perhaps we can interact with them on something.

Effective study habits based in research

Educators from Central York High School in York, Pennsylvania, have provided these samples of integrated studies projects and their associated resources as examples to use in your own school.

A group of social studies educators are working together with Edutopia to offer new ways to collaborate and enhance our professional teaching practices through an ongoing forum for discussion. Here are the main channels we're using.

"Our own study of over 1.25 million stories published online between April 1, 2015 and Election Day shows that a right-wing media network anchored around Breitbart developed as a distinct and insulated media system, using social media as a backbone to transmit a hyper-partisan perspective to the world. This pro-Trump media sphere appears to have not only successfully set the agenda for the conservative media sphere, but also strongly influenced the broader media agenda, in particular coverage of Hillary Clinton."

"This lesson examines some of the obstacles to equal education that African Americans faced in the 20th century, the segregation that triggered the Civil Rightsmovement, and the different strategies people used to effect change. Students begin by reviewing the basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution that guarantee equal rights for all people, specifically, the Fourteenth Amendment, which was used toargue the case for school desegregation in the courts. Next, students work in small groups to study the impact of segregated schools and how individuals and communitiesresponded. Each small group focuses on a specific response or strategy. Finally, students come together to present what they learned, the advantages and disadvantages of thestrategy they examined, and what they might do in that situation and in a similar situation today."

"A 2011 study published in Political Research Quarterly, "Does Foreign Military Intervention Help Human Rights?" examines the effects of foreign military interventions on human-rights grounds in 145 countries from 1981 to 2001. "The empirical evidence offers robust support for the assertion that supportive and neutral military interventions deteriorate the level of respect for physical integrity rights," writes the author, Dursun Peksen of East Carolina University. "Supportive intervention is likely to increase the predicted probability of extrajudicial killing by 103 percent. Neutral interventions … increase the predicted probability of extrajudicial killing by 130 percent." Peksen concludes:"

""To the extent we want kids to be good citizens, we want them to be able to think critically about whatever information they're getting," he said. "Teachers in the classroom have a responsibility to helping teach those skills." Following are summaries of the two new research studies."

"As we educators enter Black History Month, it's easy to focus our energy on Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.-and typically sanitized versions of their radical activism. It's tempting to try to make talking about race as "easy" as possible. However, doing that does a disservice to our students, because then they can't enter conversations about the world around them-whether it's a news story or a music video-with the full story. Delving deeper into untold histories and modern pop culture results in interdisciplinary possibilities that result in and more thoughtful and well-informed discussions about race in America. After our initial discussions about the video and performance (and some quick history lessons about Katrina, New Orleans, segregated swimming pools, and the Black Panthers), I asked students in all of my classes-Composition I, Composition II, Diversity in the Media, and Intro to Film Studies-to complete the following assignment. The results were universally thoughtful and analytical, without the discomfort and anger that was in their voices the day after the Super Bowl performance."

"The case can be made that all subject areas are important, but students often lack the educational opportunities to put their learning from these subject areas to work in the real world. My students now take part in community research projects where I ask them to identify a problem or issue that they care about in our local community. Their topics have included the school dress code, teen drug use, bullying, rural road conditions, and suicide prevention. In this process, students undertake a variety of research efforts. They work with primary sources. They interview community members, fellow students, and school officials. They create online surveys, and they visit the library, the museum, and the courthouse. They seek out knowledge from experts (including other teachers) regarding statistics, technology, and hazardous chemical compounds. They even become experts on the ins and outs of state laws that are relevant to their causes. They learn to value evidence. Sometimes that causes students to change their minds too. But just gathering the information isn't enough. We have to do something with that information. We have to take action and argue for reasonable solutions to our community issues based on the best information available. The secret is harnessing the spirit each student holds for the issue they seek to solve and allowing that spirit to develop each student's ability to reason. If I can accomplish that, I find that my students care enough about their writing to revise, edit, spell, and punctuate just fine. A recent study also confirmed that students' mastery of conventions can improve as a by-product of writing arguments on topics they care about. But first I had to go bigger with my expectations and with the lessons I valued. I had to believe they could change the world around them if I gave them the opportunity."

"A year ago I made an informal study of the mission statements of the 100 largest school systems in the United States. I was curious to see whether the public purpose of public education - preparing children for citizenship and self-government - is top of mind when those who run those systems ask themselves, "What exactly is our purpose here?" Unsurprisingly, it's not. About 60 percent of those big districts, collectively responsible for more than 11 million children, made no mention whatsoever of civics or citizenship. But it got a lot worse: The words "America" and "American" appeared zero times in the 100 school mission statements. Neither did "patriotic" or "patriotism." However, "global" appears in the statements of 28 districts - usually in phrases like "global society," "global economy" or "global citizens." What are we to make of that? The public mission of education in America's schools (as distinct from the private and personal ends of college and career readiness) seems suddenly relevant. Writing in The Atlantic, Rick Kahlenberg asks whether the election of Donald Trump represents a "Sputnik moment" for civic education, forcing us to confront how badly we have failed "at what the nation's founders saw as education's most basic purpose," namely preparing our children for reflective and capable self-government. "Just as Soviet technological advances triggered investment in science education in the 1950s," Kahlenberg writes, "the 2016 election should spur renewed emphasis on the need for schools to instill in children an appreciation for civic values and not just a skill set for private employment.""

The Texas State Board of Education adopted a social studies and history curriculum Friday that amends or waters down the teaching of the civil rights movement, slavery, America's relationship with the United Nations, and hundreds of other items. The ideological debate over the guidelines, which drew intense scrutiny beyond Texas, will be used to teach about 4.8 million Texas students for the next 10 years. The standards also will be used by textbook publishers who often develop materials for other states based on those approved in Texas

A new Harvard Business School study reveals that whites believe discrimination against them is rising, and that it's more prevalent than racism toward blacks. Host Michel Martin continues the conversation about anti-white bias with the study's co-author Michael Norton and Color Blind author Tim Wise.

Summer PD opportunities

Tom, Darrell and Mary -- Let's go to DC

NewsTrust has created a set of teacher guides that will help you teach your students the difference between good and bad journalism. These guides include interactive lesson plans for college and high school classes in journalism, civics, social studies, communications and more