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Math doesn’t have to be puzzling
Schools in New York City have brought a 35-year-old puzzle into classrooms to help students learn math. Originally called the Magic Cube, the Rubik’s Cube was designed in 1974 by Ernö Rubik as a tool for teaching 3-D geometry. Seven Towns, the London-based company that owns the puzzle’s license, recently revamped the game’s guides with illustrations and simpler instructions to make them more student-friendly.
The puzzle can help students learn geometry and algebra as well as how to memorize and persevere at tasks. But New York City teachers say that the greatest benefit results from the sense of accomplishment that comes with solving the cube. Today, more than 300 million cubes have been sold worldwide, and many variations on the basic six-side, three-by-three grid exist, including one weighing in at more than half a ton, which can be found in Knoxville, Tenn. Seven Towns sells classroom kits for $50, but the guides, certificates of completion and other materials are available for free at www.YouCanDoTheCube.com.
Source: The New York Times
Listening to learn
Reading aloud to students is a common practice of elementary school educators, but it has recently been gaining ground with educators in higher grades.
Most research on the impact of reading aloud on student literacy has been done in elementary classrooms, but literacy isn’t just a concern for the younger students. According to a 2006 article in the journal Reading Research and Instruction, reading aloud to students, no matter their grade level, can lead to a better understanding of content, an increase in positive attitudes toward reading and an increase in reading fluency. Reading texts aloud can also act as an equalizer, bringing together students who enjoy reading and those who don’t.
It’s easier for English and language arts teachers to read aloud to their classes than it is for their counterparts in the math, history or science fields. Teachers in other curriculum areas, however, can find ways to incorporate the practice into their classrooms by using source material and texts other than the main textbook. For example, history teachers could read parts of the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution to their classes, pausing occasionally for interpretation and discussion.
Source: Education Week
Autism clusters attributed to parental education
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, recently went looking for concentrations of autism cases in the hope that they could attribute environmental triggers to the disorder. They found 10 locations in California with double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, but they have attributed the high number of cases not to environmental factors but to the race and educational background of the parents.
The study looked at 2.5 million California birth records from 1996 through 2000; nearly 10,000 of those children were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, which affects as many as one in 110 American children. In the 10 clusters, a majority of parents were found to be older and white, and they had higher levels of education than parents in other areas. This doesn’t mean that autism can be attributed to a certain race, however; it is just that these parents were more likely or better able to get their children diagnosed. Similar studies in Denmark, where all children are covered by universal healthcare, have found no correlation between race, socioeconomic status and autism.
Along with these findings, the study showed that environmental factors contributing to autism most likely will not be found in concentrated areas; rather, they will be related to more widespread, common exposures.
Source: ABC News
No more microfiche
The Texas Education Agency is working with a division of The New York Times to bring a digital information portal featuring electronic content and teaching tools to Texas public schools. The program will give students access to more than 150 years of the newspaper’s content.
Project Share represents a move away from traditional textbooks that began during the 81st legislative session. Two House Bills, 4294 and 2488, gave Education Commissioner Robert Scott the ability to approve electronic curriculum materials. (All school textbooks, printed or electronic, previously had to be approved by the State Board of Education.) Scott believes the portal, which will allow students to store work and projects in “e-portfolios,” will create new ways of student evaluation and allow students and educators to show what happens in the classroom on days other than test days.
Teacher training and networking on the project will begin this spring. By the beginning of the 2010-11 school year, the project will be opened to a currently undetermined number of districts. There is no cost to participate in the program.
Along with the e-portfolios and newspaper archives, the portal will give students and educators access to blogs, forums, wikis and social networks. Educators will also be able to store and share lessons with teachers in Texas and those in other states taking part in the program.
Source: The Texas Tribune
President Obama announces Educate to Innovate
President Barack Obama has introduced a new campaign aimed at getting students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses. Educate to Innovate will be a cooperative effort among government, businesses and nonprofit groups and will focus heavily on out-of-the-classroom activities.
Scientists, entrepreneurs and executives, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Craig Barrett, a former chairman of Intel, have been recruited as champions for the cause. Their role in the campaign will be to connect successful programs with financial resources in order to take them to a national level. The National Science Teachers Association, the MacArthur Foundation, the American Chemical Society and the foundation of Jack D. Hidary (a finance and technology entrepreneur) have worked together to create a website, www.nationallabday.org, on which educators can connect with scientists willing to donate their time to classroom projects. The projects will be spread over several months, but they will culminate on National Lab Day during the first week of May.
Discovery Communications has pledged two hours of afternoon scheduling on the Science Channel for commercial-free educational programming aimed at middle school students. Sesame Street will begin a two-year focus on science, particularly nature and the scientific method. The MacArthur Foundation and other technology organizations are also sponsoring science and math video game development contests; Sony will be donating PlayStation 3 game consoles to libraries and community organizations in low-income areas, as well as sponsoring a competition to create science and math levels for the interactive game LittleBigPlanet.
Read more about the campaign at www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/educate-innovate.
Source: The New York Times
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