Research Findings on Gestures, Misconceptions, and Budding Engineers

This roundup in Principal recommends three brain-based strategies to try in classrooms:

• Encourage gestures. San Francisco State researchers found that 2-5 year-olds who used hand gestures while sorting cards by color and shape did better than older children who didn’t use gestures. A different study reported in Child Development’s spring…

Jazzing Up a Science Unit with Fine Arts Activities 

“Science must be something that students do, not something that is done to them,” say Judy Beck and Laura Kaufmann (University of South Carolina Upstate/Greenville) and Cece Toole (Meredith College) in this article in AMLE Magazine. In that spirit, they suggest how a middle-school unit on simple machines can incorporate drama, visual arts, dance, and music:

• Show videos…

Helping Students Notice and Make Good Use of Graphics as They Read

In this article in The Reading Teacher, Kathryn Roberts (Wayne State University) and five colleagues suggest how elementary teachers can foster graphical literacy in their students, following the emphasis on this in the Common Core standards:

• Help children see that good readers pay attention to graphics. Some parents and teachers inadvertently…

Ben Franklin's Guide to Innovation

Imagine Ben Franklin, fat and self-satisfied. 

That image his hard to conjure because Franklin, one of America's great innovators, was …

Teachers, Don't Forget Joy

• Ed Week

As another school year moves into high gear, I would like to offer a few thoughts.

Not long ago, the room where classmates and I met for our 50th high school reunion buzzed with all the conversations you'd…

Anti-Bullying Programs Could Be a Waste of Time

Bullying has been declining for over a decade, but data suggests that's not because of anti-bullying programs

Making a School Into a Community of Leaders

(Originally titled “The Time Is Ripe (Again)”)

In this thoughtful article in Educational Leadership, leadership guru Roland Barth explains why teacher leadership hasn’t taken off:

First, principals want to be in control. “If I, as a principal, delegate or accept a teacher’s leadership of something and it goes badly,” says Barth, “…the superintendent isn’t going…

The Power of a Museum Visit 

In this Education Gadfly article, Dara Zeehandelaar reports on a recent study of school field trips. Researchers gathered data on 11,000 Arkansas students in grades K-12 – half took a one-hour tour of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and half remained in their schools. Several weeks after the field trip, students took a quiz and here were the results:

• Students who visited the museum…

Does the Common Core Mandate Specific Works of Literature?

In this Education Gadfly article, Chester Finn addresses the concern that the Common Core ELA standards are dictating the use of certain books. There’s recently been a flap over Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, which is included in the 11^th-grade list in Appendix B of the standards…

Is Music the Key to Success?

By JOANNE LIPMAN

Published: October 12, 2013

NY Times

Turning Education Upside Down