September » 2011 » Carol J. Carter

Student Panel Speaks on Education Reform at the Education Nation Summit

At this year’s Education Nation Summit, reformers, policymakers, and funders were asked to look at education from a new perspective. A panel of students came before the audience to discuss their own experiences and their ideas on reforming the education system so they and future generations can receive a “world-class” education. Blogger Lisa Nielsen of Â The Innovative Educator blog shared 20 key points made by the student panel in her article “20 Things Students Want the Nation to Know About Education.“

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Study Finds Popularity May Influence Teen Drinking

It isn’t news that peer pressure can lead to teen drinking. However, a new study shows teens with “popular” friends and with friends who already drink might be more likely to start drinking at a young age.

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Are You Sure that College is Good for You? The Nutrition Facts of Your College

[Image from the article, “Do Colleges Need a ‘Calorie Count'”]

There’s a lot information about college out there. The federal government actually does a great job at collecting a substantial amount of statistics, according to Julie Margetta Morgan, a Policy Analyst with the Postsecondary Education Program at the Center for American Progress. In Morgan’s latest article, “Do College Need a ‘Calorie Count,'” she argues even though the numbers about college exist and are available to the public, students don’t necessarily know where to find it or want to do the work.

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6 Essential Elements to Designing Games for the Classroom

There is a lot of talk about, and some movement toward, bringing game-based learning into the classroom. Experts have seen the benefits of engaging young minds with an educational game, from games causing neurological benefits to gaming teaching 21st century skills to a new generation.

Many teachers might understand the benefits of using game-based learning in their classroom, but do not know where to begin. How do you design a game? How do know what it should be about? What should the framework look like? Andrew Miller, a consultant for the project-based curriculum organization, the Buck Institute of Education, shares six easy to implement elements every game needs to be effective in the classroom.

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Could teaching your kids to say ‘no’ to a piece of candy help them stay off drugs and do better in school?

According to a new study, the answer is yes.

Over 40 years ago Standford University researchers conducted a study on self control. They gave 4-year-olds the option to wait 15 minutes and get two pieces of candy or have one piece of candy immediately. Less than one in three kids passed the “marshmallow test.”

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YouTube Launches Teacher Channel

Yesterday, YouTube released a new channel for educators at www.youtube.com/teachers. Due to some school district’s filters, many teachers were blocked from being able to use YouTube in their classroom without first converting files and downloading them to a media player. Now, teachers can easily and safely share online videos with their class that can not only help them enhance the class lecture with video, but also allow students to easily share videos in their presentations, study at home, and create videos in the classroom.

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New Census Bureau Stats Released: Is College Worth the Investment?

If we needed proof that the shape of our economy has changed over the last ten years and that attending college has become a questionable investment, the Census Bureau has released numbers to back up our economic concerns.

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Georgia Schools Plan for Career-Based Curriculums

In Georgia, a plan to overhaul high school curriculums and move into career-based curriculums will be going before the state Board of Education this fall. High school dropouts are a common problem for many districts due to students not seeing the relevance of a high school course or boredom. Career-based curriculums are believed to engage students more because they can visualize the direct correlation from school to their lives.

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Fight Temptation with Strong Willpower Muscles

In a study, hungry students who had to resist the temptation of eating chocolate chip cookies didn’t score as well on focus and self-control tests as students who didn’t have to resist the chocolate chip cookie temptation prior to taking the test. In the NPR article, “Resistance Training for your ‘Willpower’ Muscles,” author of the new book Willpower, John Tierney, explains each of us only has a set amount of willpower for they day, so we should do our best to conserve it for moments that really matter.

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Profile: Liz Murray’s Inspirational Story from the Streets to an Ivy League School

We all run into obstacles in our lives, but we don’t all react the same. Some people will find a creative way to maneuver past the challenge, and others will sit down and let the obstacle get in their way. Students might run into small obstacles to their success when they get a bad grade on a research paper or they might be dealt a huge obstacle, like their parent’s unemployment or a death in the family.

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