If you've surfed the web lately, you know there is no lack of information and advice aimed at parents available on the Internet. As a reader and a parent myself, though, I've often been dismayed by the snarky tone, bellicose attitude, or because-I-believe-it's-true subjectivity of this writing intended for moms and dads.

One place I know I can go to avoid all that is Motherlode, the New York Times' parenting blog. Edited by KJ Dell'Antonia, Motherlode consistently serves up thoughtful, intelligent pieces about parenting, from a variety of perspectives.

My admiration for Motherlode makes me especially grateful that KJ has asked me to begin contributing posts about educational research to the site. I've gathered the four posts I've written so far below. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you have a chance to explore the rest of Motherlode's riches while you're there.

Kids Need More Structured Playtime, Not Less
Lauren McNamara is a professor of educational psychology who studies what goes on among children during unstructured playtime. While she agrees with those who argue that today's children have little experience with old-fashioned play, McNamara doesn’t believe that more freedom is the remedy. The children she observes during school recess are given plenty of freedom, and their freedom quickly turns ugly. Teachers release children onto the playground with few resources and little guidance. A result is frequent and sometimes intense social conflict, as students tell her in interviews: “Some kids get real aggressive when the teacher is not looking.” “I wish there was less bullying and exclusion.” “We need help out here” . . . read more here.

The Dumb-Jock Stereotype Can Be a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Social scientists know that in research studies, minority and female students appear to be vulnerable to the phenomenon called “stereotype threat.” Aware that the group to which they belong is often stereotyped as intellectually inferior, their anxiety that a poor showing on a test will confirm the stereotype actually depresses their performance on the test, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now, new research suggests that stereotype threat is experienced by student-athletes, too. Conscious that they may be regarded by professors or other students as “dumb jocks,” they do less well on a challenging test when they’re reminded of their student-athlete identity beforehand . . . read morehere.

Students Reading E-Books Are Losing Out, Study Suggests
Could e-books actually get in the way of reading? That was the question explored in research presented last week by Heather Ruetschlin Schugar, an associate professor at West Chester University, and her spouse, Jordan T. Schugar, an instructor at the same institution. Speaking at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia, the Schugars reported the results of a study in which they asked middle school students to read either traditional printed books or e-books on iPads. The students’ reading comprehension, the researchers found, was higher when they read conventional books . . . read more here.

Research on Children and Math: Underestimated and Unchallenged
We hear a lot about how American students lag behind their international peers academically, especially in subjects like math. In the most recent Program for International Student Assessment, commonly known as PISA, students in the United States ranked 26th out of 34 countries in mathematics. On the surface, it would seem that we’re a nation of math dullards; simply no good at the subject. But a spate of new research suggests that we may be underestimating our students, especially the youngest ones, in terms of their ability to think about numbers . . . read more here.