Chess in school

Chess, the Game of Royalty, Is Now the Game of Grade Schoolers, Too“… In Philadelphia, which has the seventh-largest school system in the country, 18 of the city's 280 public schools have added chess to their curriculums in a pilot program. About 4,000 students are getting chess instruction this year, according to Marjorie Wuestner, executive director of the school district's office of health, safety, physical education and sports administration.The goal, she said, is to have all second and third graders receiving chess instruction by next year.Paul G. Vallas, chief executive of the school system, said anecdotal evidence showed that chess is a great educational tool. "Chess seems to improve problem-solving skills," he said. "It improves discipline. It improves memory. It certainly seems to improve mathematical skills." Teaching chess, he added, is meant to enrich the curriculum, not replace another subject….”  Read the whole article

Pew report on the internet at school

The Internet at School
The internet is an important element in the overall educational experience of many teenagers. Schools are a common location where online teens access the web, although very few online teenagers rely exclusively on their school for that web access. Further, there is widespread agreement among teens and their parents that the internet can be a useful tool for school. However, 37% of teens say they believe that “too many” of their peers are using the internet to cheat. And there is some disagreement among teens and their parents about whether children must be web-literate by the time they begin school. Additionally, large numbers of teens and adults have used the web to search for information about colleges and universities.  

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Awesome stories

AwesomeStories.com uniquely uses the Internet to link its story content to hundreds of thousands of the world's best on-line primary sources. Enjoy an interactive learning experience as you see relevant maps, pictures, artifacts, manuscripts and documents, IN CONTEXT, within each story. Take advantage of human-based searches for a safe, fast and fun way to learn the real story behind historic events, famous people, heroic exploits, legends, disasters, movies, plus topics of current and general interest.

Learning vs Education

Learning vs Education

“…what learning is (as opposed to education) and what the future might bring in

terms of "Personal Learning Environments" (PLE). And the underlying question here is what role do schools and teachers play in all of this.”  

Website warns parents about new technology

Parents warned over new technology
The need to educate children and teens about the new risks associated with devices such as webcams and mobile phones has sparked a revamp of a Government advisory website.  

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Teaching vs Learning

Our learning environments need to change to take advantage of the people and information and ideas that we can now connect to. We cannot continue to be enablers to our students' dependence on a school selected, force fed curriculum that was in some ways necessary 50 years ago but is quickly becoming irrelevant today. Our students need to learn how to learn, because there is so much more to learn from, and they need to be given the license to start making some of those decisions on their own

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Bush pushed to promote science and technology education

Bush pushed on science, innovation
Former ED Sec. Alexander urges president to promote science, technology education Responding to what he believes is a critical need for the future of American industry, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., former U.S. education secretary, has urged President Bush to make science and technology research and education key themes during the remainder of his presidency.  
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Curbing education dropouts

Education quandary: curbing dropouts The past year has seen unprecedented attention paid to the shortcomings of America’s high schools, prompting national leaders to pledge to transform high school and toughen graduation standards. But that means little to the nearly one-third of high school students who fail to meet current standards and don’t graduate on time.  Read the whole article

Merit based pay for teachers?

Houston Ties Teachers' Pay to Test Scores
HOUSTON, Jan. 12 - Over the objections of the teachers' union, the Board of Education here on Thursday unanimously approved the nation's largest merit pay program, which calls for rewarding teachers based on how well their students perform on standardized tests.Article continues

Virtual software for schools

'Virtual' software: The future for schools?
Software virtualization could greatly simplify IT management A new paradigm in software delivery, called "software virtualization," is poised to transform school IT management, some experts say--making software independent of an operating system and simplifying network administration. 
 Read the article

Teens optimistic about innovation

Study: Teens optimistic about innovation

Curbing eduction dropouts

Education quandary: curbing dropouts The past year has seen unprecedented attention paid to the shortcomings of America’s high schools, prompting national leaders to pledge to transform high school and toughen graduation standards. But that means little to the nearly one-third of high school students who fail to meet current standards and don’t graduate on time.  Read the whole article

New Intel Macs

Jobs: New Intel Macs are 'screamers'
SAN FRANCISCO--Addressing a packed crowd of the Mac faithful, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday served up the first Intel-based Macs, introducing a new high-end laptop and a revamped iMac.  
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Making schools work

PBS finds a recipe for "Making Schools Work"
A companion web site to the PBS television series "Making Schools Work,"this online resource invites educators to follow host Hedrick Smith and his production team into classrooms from coast to coast to see how different communities, large and small, are coping with the challenge of preparing students for success in the face of higher federal standards and a new global economy. Among the site's many features are best practices detailing effective reform efforts underway in individual schools; a look at district-wide initiatives in New York City, San Diego, and Charlotte, N.C.; and a library of community-focused resources meant to help teachers and parents gauge how much work still needs to be done in their schools. "The common denominator"of all these programs, producers note as they welcome visitors to the site, "is results--lifting scores and closing achievement gaps, not just for a few hundred children but for nearly 2 million, from our inner cities to rural America."

Interactive learning does not improve literacy

Interactive learning fails reading test
INTERACTIVE computers used in British schools to teach children to read are harming their learning, research shows.  

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New science resouces on the web

Applied Math and Science Education Repository (AMSES) – A portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use by those in community and technical colleges, which is open to everyone. AMSES highlights new science resources on the Web

TV time increases

We're Spending More Time Watching TV
Even with increased competition from video games, the Internet, DVD's and portable devices, the average television viewing time has risen four minutes a day so far this season over the same period last season.

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Hector Protector

Hector Protector is a "safety button" to protect children frominappropriate Internet content.  The Hector safety button is the first stage of the Internet Safety Group's education initiative - Hector'sWorld - designed for children between the ages of 3 and 10.  For more information see www.netsafe.org.au

Human minds like computers?

Is the mind like a computer? Evidence that it is not“What is your mind doing when you think about something? For decades, the prevailing wisdom was that when you imagine, say, the scent of a flower or your lover’s perfume, your mind is doing something different from when you actually smell those things. The metaphor was a computer: The hardware for sensing things was distinct from the software for thinking about things.More recent evidence suggests that the way we understand concepts relies on the sensorimotor system. When you think of the sound of a dripping faucet, the same parts of your brain are activated as when you are actually hearing a faucet dripping. (Computer geeks should see how the computer metaphor breaks down: it’s as if searching a database of images required the server to access its video card.)”

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Web 2 and learning

Tech Tools For Learning“Over the last few years, our relationship with the Web has been changing dramatically. Simple new technologies like weblogs and podcasts are allowing us to not only create content like text, audio, and video more easily, they are also allowing us to publish and share that content on the Web with very little effort. Instead of a “read only” Web, we’re entering the age of the Read/Write Web, where contributing knowledge is as easy as consuming it. Being able to publish worldwide this easily does raise legal and ethical issues for educators to be aware of, but it also facilitates a whole range of new learning potentials for students and teachers in the classroom. Here is a quick look at some of the technologies that are changing the way educators think about and deliver instruction.”

English teaching should incorporate techology

English 'must reflect technology'

English in schools must adapt to reflect the use of text messaging and communication via new technologies, a report says.
Research by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority says new skills are needed to keep pace with change.
It says schools should take advantage of the range of texts now available to teach the language, including online.
The recommendations come in a report which examined the future of the major curriculum subjects.  Article continues

Myths about video games

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked
A large gap exists between the public's perception of video games and what the research actually shows. The following is an attempt to separate fact from fiction.  Read the whole article

TESOL pages

Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom
A Project of The Internet TESL Journal

This is a place were English teachers can share games and activities that they have found useful in the classroom.