Evolution Still Struggling in Public Schools

Despite 80 years of court battles ousting creationism from public classrooms, most public high school biology teachers are not strong advocates for evolution.

While vocal advocates of intelligent design and similar non-scientific alternatives to evolution are a minority, more than half the teachers in a nationwide poll avoided taking a strong stance for evolution.

Such teachers “may play a far more important role in hindering scientific literacy in the United States than the smaller number of explicit creationists,” wrote Penn State political scientists Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer, the poll’s architects, in a Jan. 28 Science paper.

Read the WIRED article:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/scopes-weeps/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Separate Autism Schools Proposed in New Jersey

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/nyregion/17njautism.html?ref=education

Two sides of the debate:
A) "...children with disabilities gain valuable academic and social skills from interacting with their peers without disabilities, and also develop closer ties to their communities... It would also send a message to parents that children with autism can’t be included."

B) "...specialized autism schools would provide a much-needed alternative for some families. Many districts lack the staff, training and resources to educate children with autism... The governor has a vision to expand the continuum of options for our students. There are currently not enough high-quality school options for children with autism. Not every child is being educated in an effective program."

What's your opinion?

Protecting Kids From Violence?

A thought-provoking quote from Time magazine's review of The Hunger Games (a popular dystopian young adult novel which I'm currently reading).

"The Hunger Games and Catching Fire expose children to exactly the kind of violence we usually shield them from. But that just goes to show how much adults forget about what it's like to be a child. Kids are physical creatures, and they're not stupid. They know all about violence and power and raw emotions. What's really scary is when adults pretend that such things don't exist."

Kids & Gadgets: Focus vs. Distraction

A must-read article from NY Times (Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction) about the effect of gadgets on learning. Great interviews with students, families, teachers and perspectives of neuroscientists.

The article caused me to reflect on a conversation with teachers at a recent professional development meeting. The discussion centered on the statement that students are growing up in the most stimulating age we've ever known. This article presents some of the obstacles students may face in the barrage of all of this gadgetry. Here's a quote from the article that really struck me:

..Major cross sections of the brain become surprisingly active during downtime. These brain studies suggest to researchers that periods of rest are critical in allowing the brain to synthesize information, make connections between ideas and even develop the sense of self.

Researchers say these studies have particular implications for young people, whose brains have more trouble focusing and setting priorities.

“Downtime is to the brain what sleep is to the body,” said Dr. Rich of Harvard Medical School. “But kids are in a constant mode of stimulation.”

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html

First Day of School Warm-Up

1. Play this clip.
2. Afterward, explain that the girl was 13 years old when she made this speech.
3. Ask your students, "What should we do this year?"

Developing Problem-Solving Skills

Found this lesson plan about problem-solving skills on NY Times. It's a bit rigid, but seems like it could be modified to work for a variety of projects (not just fixing school problems). I'd like to see it modified for collaborative learning.

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/no-quick-fix-developing-problem-solving-skills/#more-38009

Are You Divergent or Convergent?

Our director, Janie, shared this video with the staff this morning. It's an excerpt from a talk by Sir Ken Robinson about revolutionizing education by pursuing divergent thinking. Powerful stuff. We had a project tuning brainstorm directly after watching the video. I could feel us shifting paradigms in the midst of our conversations. Honey, if this video don't get you fired up about education, I don't know what will!