IGSS 2013-14 Student Links

I know that not everyone is sold on our Mobile Learning program, and I find this article really does a nice job of illustrating how the iPads can be used effectively to improve the learning experience, and I suspect IGSS will be one place where we see some of these ideas come to light at NTHS.

I like how this article focuses on ways students and teachers can work together to improve student engagement in high schools. I'm also impressed by how much of what it suggests is already being done in IGSS! 

I've always said I wanted cars to be able to drive themselves because I always get so tired when I'm driving... Imagine the time we could save if while we drove we could actually be reading or napping or just enjoying the road instead of focusing on the stress of it. This would create less accidents- but what would happen if the computer crashed.. can we really put our lives in the hand of a machine? Is this showing how dependent on technology we've become; we think we cannot even drive our own cars? What would happen to traffic police?

An article relevant to our Syria discussion on Friday. The questions I have after reading this are, with regard to Syria, what outcome do we want to achieve, and will military intervention achieve that end?

Later this year, each of you is going to be researching and working on a project you care about.  Here's an example of a student who is in an early stage of that sort of thing.  And its an issue that matters.

This article is very thouugh provoking. I always knew that the arts would help me but this article really opened my eyes to how much the arts will aid me in my life. The arts do way more for you than just making you think more creatively. This article also taught me about how the arts help with handling stress! Very intersting read.

On this page, it discusses Howard Gardner, a Harvard graduate, and his philosophy of Multiple Intelligences. All six different intelligences, according to Gardner, are equally important and should all be explored in schools. I find this interesting and thought provoking because in many schools, only mathematical and linguistic intelligences are explored and expanded upon, even though not every student learns best that way.

This give a really cool overview of what happened today, 50 year ago that Vargas began to touch on at the end of 9th period. Emanuel's remembrance video a tad down the article was really cool also!

This is an incredibly thought provoking piece because of it's detailed accuracy in describing our education system as a "factory". It is simple to follow and very captivatingly executed. It had a touch of humor that lightened the mood, which is nice for such a serious subject.

A Montessori school is a type of school that implements the idea of alternative learning. This type of learning is embraced on 6 continents and all over the United States. The ideology behind this system encourages an environment with more freedom and individuality.

Alfie Kohn provides an intriguing perspective on the benefits (and lack thereof) of homework. He reveals that there is no strong correlation between excessive amounts of homework and good grades and questions the need for homework at all. Educators tend to not question the premise of homework, but Kohn provides his opinions- backed with evidence- on why they should. It's definitely something to think about.

This study on the effect teacher and peer relationships have on academic achievement is rather wordy and full of citations, but it has interesting implications about the learning environment. It connects a student's social life to the classroom by considering students of different ages and how they interact with others.

I read Zhao's book, "Catching Up or Leading the Way", before applying to the IGSS. The book is about how American students are still on top because the US creates more innovative students while China only creates good test takers. In this video, Zhao discusses why testing is a poor way of measuring education. He goes on to talk about how only testing math, science, and reading does not accurately measure education because many students may be proficient in creative writing or art, two very important skills for any citizen who cares to be an active member of society. He adds at the end that schools should not be rewarded for better test scores, but they should be rewarded for using innovative ways of education. This is important because this is what IGSS is doing and although we may not have the perfect solution to all education reform right now, it is critical that we keep shooting the subject from different angles.