After cruising through days of engineering enigmas, science stumpers and
mathematical mysteries, a 14-year-old car aficionado earned the top
award at the second annual Broadcom Math, Applied Science, Technology
and Engineering for Rising Stars, or MASTERS, competition.
In a project he called “Spare the Environment, Spoiler the Car: The
Effect of Rear Spoilers on Drag and Lift,” Gilmartin studied how
different sizes and shapes of spoilers change the amount of drag that
cars experience. He built a six-foot wind tunnel in his house and tested
various combinations of model cars and hand-carved wooden spoilers,
tests that ultimately told him that some kinds of rear spoilers on SUVs
may ease drivers’ pain at the pump.
This year's crop of finalists also included 13-year-old twin brothers —
Shashank Dholakia and Shishir Dholakia of Santa Clara, Calif. — who
tracked the movements of two stars in the sky; a 14-year-old surfer from
Hebron, Conn. — Maura Clare Oei — who developed a way to capture
energy from waves; and a 13-year-old Texas rancher — Paige Gentry of
San Angelo — who had a run-in with a rabid skunk in her hen house. After
tinkering around with various types of skunk bait that could eventually
be spiked with a rabies vaccine, Gentry discovered that skunks like
chicken best.
October 2, 2012
October 1, 2012
Scientific Inquiry Among the Preschool Set
When engaged in what looks like child’s play, preschoolers are actually
behaving like scientists, according to a new report in the journal
Science: forming hypotheses, running experiments, calculating
probabilities and deciphering causal relationships about the world.
[S]tudies have found that when children are simply taught, they don’t explore and test multiple hypotheses, Dr. Gopnik said, adding:
“There’s a lot of pressure from parents and policy makers to make preschools more and more like schools. This research suggests the opposite.”
FOR KIDS: Pathways to research, Problem-solving
Many young researchers get their start by trying to solve a problem
or fulfill a need in their own communities. When students dedicate
themselves to finding a solution that may benefit their community, “a
passion is ignited,” says Wendy Hawkins, executive director of the Intel
Foundation, which sponsors Intel ISEF. “Finding that passion and
fostering it can be the key to many students’ future success,” she says.
News as inspiration
Students can find inspiration for their research almost anywhere. Newspapers, magazines and even TV are good places to start. Toll, for instance, decided to engineer a new way to build homes for refugees after seeing TV reports about families displaced by violence in Afghanistan.
News as inspiration
Students can find inspiration for their research almost anywhere. Newspapers, magazines and even TV are good places to start. Toll, for instance, decided to engineer a new way to build homes for refugees after seeing TV reports about families displaced by violence in Afghanistan.
FOR KIDS: Icy inns at Earth’s end
Icebergs, scientists are discovering, play host to all kinds of life —
everything from tiny plantlike organisms called phytoplankton to
enormous whales. This world of extreme cold and isolation bustles with
surprising amounts of activity.
Identifying how and why animals choose to make their homes in and around icebergs hasn’t proven an easy task for scientists. Icebergs stretch to towering heights and even more dizzying depths. To study them underwater, scientists may sink scientific instruments hundreds of meters (yards) to the chilly seafloor. To understand what’s going on dozens of meters (yards) up on top, these experts may rely on remote-controlled aircraft. Meanwhile, waves may rock and soak scientists bobbing in nearby boats.
In fact, everything about studying an iceberg is challenging...
Identifying how and why animals choose to make their homes in and around icebergs hasn’t proven an easy task for scientists. Icebergs stretch to towering heights and even more dizzying depths. To study them underwater, scientists may sink scientific instruments hundreds of meters (yards) to the chilly seafloor. To understand what’s going on dozens of meters (yards) up on top, these experts may rely on remote-controlled aircraft. Meanwhile, waves may rock and soak scientists bobbing in nearby boats.
In fact, everything about studying an iceberg is challenging...
How Self-Expression Damaged My Students
Every decent human impulse we have as teachers shouts in favor of not
imposing rules and discipline on students, but liberating them to
discover the power of their voice by sharing their stories. Of course children will be become better writers if they write personal narratives instead of book reports. Obviously
children will be more engaged and motivated if they can write from the
heart about what they know best, rather that trudge through turgid
English essays and research papers.
Grammar? Mechanics? Correcting errors? Please. Great writing is discovery. It is the intoxicating power of words and our own stories, writing for an audience and making things happen in the world. We know this works. We all saw the movie Freedom Writers, didn't we?
Like so many of our earnest and most deeply humane ideas about educating children in general, and poor, urban children in particular, this impulse toward authenticity is profoundly idealistic, seductive, and wrong. I should know. I used to damage children for a living with that idealism.
Grammar? Mechanics? Correcting errors? Please. Great writing is discovery. It is the intoxicating power of words and our own stories, writing for an audience and making things happen in the world. We know this works. We all saw the movie Freedom Writers, didn't we?
Like so many of our earnest and most deeply humane ideas about educating children in general, and poor, urban children in particular, this impulse toward authenticity is profoundly idealistic, seductive, and wrong. I should know. I used to damage children for a living with that idealism.
Tech will make us rethink age-grouping in schools
Online platforms like Khan Academy are already starting to flip classrooms across the country
so that students can learn at their own pace. But some think it might
not be too long before technology pushes schools to personalize
education in even more structural ways, so that students are no longer
grouped by age, but by competency.
Noting advances in educational technology –- from online platforms that deliver instruction to programs that analyze student learning data -– Jeff Livingston, senior vice president of College and Career Readiness at McGraw-Hill, said Thursday he thinks that in the next five to six years, schools and educators are going to have to rethink age-grouping as the primary organizing principle for K-12 education, especially at the high-school level.
In a virtual roundtable with reporters, he said, “What does it mean to be a 9th grader or 10th grader beyond being a certain age? … It doesn’t make sense that all the 15-year-olds are in this grade and all the 16-year-olds are in that grade. It should be where your interests, your skills and your mastery of certain concepts takes you.”
Noting advances in educational technology –- from online platforms that deliver instruction to programs that analyze student learning data -– Jeff Livingston, senior vice president of College and Career Readiness at McGraw-Hill, said Thursday he thinks that in the next five to six years, schools and educators are going to have to rethink age-grouping as the primary organizing principle for K-12 education, especially at the high-school level.
In a virtual roundtable with reporters, he said, “What does it mean to be a 9th grader or 10th grader beyond being a certain age? … It doesn’t make sense that all the 15-year-olds are in this grade and all the 16-year-olds are in that grade. It should be where your interests, your skills and your mastery of certain concepts takes you.”
September 28, 2012
FOR KIDS: Making rocks into magnets
Heat up a rock. Most likely, all you will get is a hot rock. But heat
up the right type of stone to just the right temperature and you could
end up with a magnet, scientists now report.
Long before people invented the small magnets that stick to refrigerators or the big magnets that pick up cars at the junkyard, people discovered natural magnets. The most magnetic and common type is a lodestone. It consists of a brownish-black mineral called magnetite. Lodestones are natural compasses: Suspend one by a thread or wire and it will rotate until its magnetic field is aligned with Earth’s magnetic field.
Long before people invented the small magnets that stick to refrigerators or the big magnets that pick up cars at the junkyard, people discovered natural magnets. The most magnetic and common type is a lodestone. It consists of a brownish-black mineral called magnetite. Lodestones are natural compasses: Suspend one by a thread or wire and it will rotate until its magnetic field is aligned with Earth’s magnetic field.
The Writing Revolution
For years, nothing seemed capable of
turning around New Dorp High School’s dismal performance—not firing bad
teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs.
So, faced with closure, the school’s principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class.
What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of student potential, across nearly every subject—one that has made New Dorp a model for educational reform.
So, faced with closure, the school’s principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class.
What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of student potential, across nearly every subject—one that has made New Dorp a model for educational reform.
September 27, 2012
Technology 'Improves' Grammar Learning for Primary Pupils
Hand-held technology can help to improve primary pupils'
learning of grammar, according to a new study by the Institute for
Effective Education (IEE) at the University of York.
Researchers at the IEE conducted a large randomised evaluation in more than 40 primary schools of the use of Questions for Learning (QfL), a technology-enhanced, self-paced learning tool. It was found to enhance grammar achievement and was particularly effective for average- and low-achieving pupils.
If these results held over a school year, these pupils would make between three and four months of additional progress.
In QfL each pupil responds to progressively more difficult questions that are presented on Promethean ActivExpression wireless hand-held devices at the rate that the pupil answers them. This allows both more advanced and weaker pupils to answer in a private way at a pace appropriate to them.
Researchers at the IEE conducted a large randomised evaluation in more than 40 primary schools of the use of Questions for Learning (QfL), a technology-enhanced, self-paced learning tool. It was found to enhance grammar achievement and was particularly effective for average- and low-achieving pupils.
If these results held over a school year, these pupils would make between three and four months of additional progress.
In QfL each pupil responds to progressively more difficult questions that are presented on Promethean ActivExpression wireless hand-held devices at the rate that the pupil answers them. This allows both more advanced and weaker pupils to answer in a private way at a pace appropriate to them.
Researchers Investigate Aggression Among Kindergartners
Not all aggressive children are aggressive for the same
reasons, according to Penn State researchers, who found that some
kindergartners who are aggressive show low verbal abilities while others
are more easily physiologically aroused. The findings suggest that
different types of treatments may be needed to help kids with different
underlying causes for problem behavior.
"Aggressive responses to being frustrated are a normal part of early childhood, but children are increasingly expected to manage their emotions and control their behavior when they enter school," said Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, assistant professor of human development and family studies.
"Kids who don't do this well, who hit their classmates when they are frustrated or cause other types of disturbances in the classroom, are at especially high risk for long-term consequences including delinquency, violence, dropping out of school, abusing substances and even suicide. Research tells us that the earlier we can intervene, the better the chances of getting these children back on track."
"Aggressive responses to being frustrated are a normal part of early childhood, but children are increasingly expected to manage their emotions and control their behavior when they enter school," said Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, assistant professor of human development and family studies.
"Kids who don't do this well, who hit their classmates when they are frustrated or cause other types of disturbances in the classroom, are at especially high risk for long-term consequences including delinquency, violence, dropping out of school, abusing substances and even suicide. Research tells us that the earlier we can intervene, the better the chances of getting these children back on track."
FOR KIDS: Building Stonehenge
A new study of ancient crops may identify the laborers behind Britain’s most famous stone monument.
No one knows for certain why ancient people built Stonehenge, a circular monument of stones in Great Britain. But somebody built it. A new study now concludes that it was most likely erected by prehistoric people who herded animals and moved around the countryside. Until now, most scientists had suspected crop farmers had built Stonehenge.
No one knows for certain why ancient people built Stonehenge, a circular monument of stones in Great Britain. But somebody built it. A new study now concludes that it was most likely erected by prehistoric people who herded animals and moved around the countryside. Until now, most scientists had suspected crop farmers had built Stonehenge.
Cogmed Working Memory Training: Does It Actually Work?
Helping children achieve their full potential in school is of great
concern to everyone, and a number of commercial products have been
developed to try and achieve this goal.
The Cogmed Working Memory Training program is such an example and is marketed to schools and parents of children with attention problems caused by poor working memory. But, does the program actually work?
The target article in the September issue of Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) calls into question Cogmed's claims of improving working memory and addressing underachievement due to working memory constraints.
The Cogmed Working Memory Training program is such an example and is marketed to schools and parents of children with attention problems caused by poor working memory. But, does the program actually work?
The target article in the September issue of Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (JARMAC) calls into question Cogmed's claims of improving working memory and addressing underachievement due to working memory constraints.
September 26, 2012
What Is This App Doing To My Kid’s Brain?
Seven out of 10 kids in tablet-using homes use the tablet
themselves. The author of a new book argues parents are paying attention
to the wrong criteria to decide what’s good and bad in kids’ media.
The amount of digital media exposure we’re getting, even among the tiniest infants, just keeps growing . Half of all children under the age of 8 have access to a touch-screen device, whether smartphone or tablet, at home, and half of infants under 1 year watch TV or videos--an average of almost two hours a day. The educational app field is seeing massive growth with 80% of educational apps in the iPad store targeted to young children. But research, says one expert, is lagging far behind practice.
"Parents tend to think: 'If my kids are interacting with media, that they’re getting something out of it,' versus 'If they’re just watching they’re not,'" says Lisa Guernsey. "It’s a dangerous dichotomy--it’s not always true. Some passive screen media may be designed much better than some interactive media."
Learning Requires Rhythmical Activity of Neurons
The hippocampus represents an important brain structure
for learning. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in
Munich discovered how it filters electrical neuronal signals through an
input and output control, thus regulating learning and memory processes.
Accordingly, effective signal transmission needs so-called theta-frequency impulses of the cerebral cortex. With a frequency of three to eight hertz, these impulses generate waves of electrical activity that propagate through the hippocampus. Impulses of a different frequency evoke no transmission, or only a much weaker one.
Moreover, signal transmission in other areas of the brain through long-term potentiation (LTP), which is essential for learning, occurs only when the activity waves take place for a certain while. The scientists even have an explanation for why we are mentally more productive after drinking a cup of coffee or in an acute stress situation: in their experiments, caffeine and the stress hormone corticosterone boosted the activity flow.
Accordingly, effective signal transmission needs so-called theta-frequency impulses of the cerebral cortex. With a frequency of three to eight hertz, these impulses generate waves of electrical activity that propagate through the hippocampus. Impulses of a different frequency evoke no transmission, or only a much weaker one.
Moreover, signal transmission in other areas of the brain through long-term potentiation (LTP), which is essential for learning, occurs only when the activity waves take place for a certain while. The scientists even have an explanation for why we are mentally more productive after drinking a cup of coffee or in an acute stress situation: in their experiments, caffeine and the stress hormone corticosterone boosted the activity flow.
Language Use Is Simpler Than Previously Thought
For more than 50 years, language scientists have assumed
that sentence structure is fundamentally hierarchical, made up of small
parts in turn made of smaller parts, like Russian nesting dolls.
A new Cornell study suggests language use is simpler than they had thought.
Co-author Morten Christiansen, Cornell professor of psychology and co-director of the Cornell Cognitive Science Program, and his colleagues say that language is actually based on simpler sequential structures, like clusters of beads on a string.
A new Cornell study suggests language use is simpler than they had thought.
Co-author Morten Christiansen, Cornell professor of psychology and co-director of the Cornell Cognitive Science Program, and his colleagues say that language is actually based on simpler sequential structures, like clusters of beads on a string.
September 25, 2012
Human Brains Develop Wiring Slowly, Differing from Chimpanzees
Dr. Sherwood and co-authors write that the development of myelin from
birth to adulthood in humans is protracted in comparison to
chimpanzees. In humans, myelin develops slowly during childhood,
followed by a delayed period of maturity beyond adolescence and into
early adulthood. In contrast, in chimpanzees, the development of myelin
already starts at a relatively more mature level at birth and ceases
development long before puberty.
“These observations indicate that a marked delay in the development schedule of the human neocortex may play an important role in the growth of connections that contribute to our species-specific cognitive abilities,” wrote Dr. Sherwood and co-authors.
The developmental timing of myelination is important because it establishes connectivity among parts of the growing brain, which is essential to higher-order cognitive functions, such as decision-making and emotional regulation. These cognitive functions are known to mature relatively late in humans, after the time of adolescence.
“These observations indicate that a marked delay in the development schedule of the human neocortex may play an important role in the growth of connections that contribute to our species-specific cognitive abilities,” wrote Dr. Sherwood and co-authors.
The developmental timing of myelination is important because it establishes connectivity among parts of the growing brain, which is essential to higher-order cognitive functions, such as decision-making and emotional regulation. These cognitive functions are known to mature relatively late in humans, after the time of adolescence.
Studies Find Payoff in 'Personalizing' Algebra
While "personalization" has become a buzzword in education, it can be
hard to determine what really makes a subject relevant to individual
children in the classroom. An ongoing series of studies at Southern
Methodist University suggests learning students' interests upfront and
incorporating them into lessons can get struggling students to try
harder and substantially improve their performance in algebra.
"You don't think the words, the little details of context, will make a difference when you are solving a math problem, but it really does," said Candace A. Walkington, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Southern Methodist in Dallas and the lead researcher for the reports. The most recent of them
is expected to be published later this year in a special issue of the
Journal of Educational Psychology
on advanced learning technologies.
The studies, which were discussed at a recent meeting here at Carnegie Mellon University, highlight one way to boost learning in algebraic expression, a concept considered critical in the Common Core State Standards but which educators say is perennially challenging to students. The study
found that personalized math problems not only made it easier for
students to understand what was being asked, but also helped boost the
confidence of students.
"You don't think the words, the little details of context, will make a difference when you are solving a math problem, but it really does," said Candace A. Walkington, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Southern Methodist in Dallas and the lead researcher for the reports. The most recent of them
is expected to be published later this year in a special issue of the
Journal of Educational Psychology
on advanced learning technologies.
The studies, which were discussed at a recent meeting here at Carnegie Mellon University, highlight one way to boost learning in algebraic expression, a concept considered critical in the Common Core State Standards but which educators say is perennially challenging to students. The study
found that personalized math problems not only made it easier for
students to understand what was being asked, but also helped boost the
confidence of students.Schools Should Move from Print to Digital Content by 2017
A report
released Monday by a national education technology group suggests
schools switch to digital instructional materials by 2017, and
highlights some of the policy barriers that must be knocked down in
order to get there. The report, from the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA),
is a blueprint for states and districts looking to switch over to
digital content, and mirrors a similar road map laid out by the U.S.
Department of Education and Federal Communications Commission earlier
this year.
"The textbook was the best technology we had... 50 plus years ago," said Doug Levin, the executive director of SETDA, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Levin was joined by SETDA officials and representatives from states like Utah and Virginia, which are put forth as case studies for digital content policy in the report, titled "Out of Print." Levin went on to list the trends changing how instructional materials are designed and delivered, like the Common Core State Standards, budget pressures and student demographic changes, among others.
"[It's] the perfect storm for re-imagination of the K-12 textbook," said Levin.
"The textbook was the best technology we had... 50 plus years ago," said Doug Levin, the executive director of SETDA, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Levin was joined by SETDA officials and representatives from states like Utah and Virginia, which are put forth as case studies for digital content policy in the report, titled "Out of Print." Levin went on to list the trends changing how instructional materials are designed and delivered, like the Common Core State Standards, budget pressures and student demographic changes, among others.
"[It's] the perfect storm for re-imagination of the K-12 textbook," said Levin.
Dive into the Great Barrier Reef with the first underwater panoramas in Google Maps
Today we’re adding the very first underwater panoramic images to Google
Maps, the next step in our quest to provide people with the most
comprehensive, accurate and usable map of the world. With these vibrant
and stunning photos you don’t have to be a scuba diver—or even know how
to swim—to explore and experience six of the ocean’s most incredible
living coral reefs. Now, anyone can become the next virtual Jacques
Cousteau and dive with sea turtles, fish and manta rays in Australia,
the Philippines and Hawaii.
Starting today, you can use Google Maps to find a sea turtle swimming among a school of fish, follow a manta ray and experience the reef at sunset—just as I did on my first dive in the Great Barrier Reef last year. You can also find out much more about this reef via the World Wonders Project, a website that brings modern and ancient world heritage sites online.
Starting today, you can use Google Maps to find a sea turtle swimming among a school of fish, follow a manta ray and experience the reef at sunset—just as I did on my first dive in the Great Barrier Reef last year. You can also find out much more about this reef via the World Wonders Project, a website that brings modern and ancient world heritage sites online.
Dyslexia Cause May Be Different Than Previously Thought
Dyslexia may result from impairment of a different
linguistic system than previously thought, according to research
published Sept. 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
Speech perception engages at least two linguistic systems: the phonetic system, which extracts discrete sound units from acoustic input, and the phonological system, which combines these units to form individual words.
Previously, researchers generally believed that dyslexia was caused by phonological impairment, but results from the current study, led by Iris Berent of Northeastern University in Boston, suggest that the phonetic system may actually be the cause.
"Our findings confirm that dyslexia indeed compromises the language system, but the locus of the deficit is in the phonetic, not the phonological system, as had been previously assumed," says Berent.
Speech perception engages at least two linguistic systems: the phonetic system, which extracts discrete sound units from acoustic input, and the phonological system, which combines these units to form individual words.
Previously, researchers generally believed that dyslexia was caused by phonological impairment, but results from the current study, led by Iris Berent of Northeastern University in Boston, suggest that the phonetic system may actually be the cause.
"Our findings confirm that dyslexia indeed compromises the language system, but the locus of the deficit is in the phonetic, not the phonological system, as had been previously assumed," says Berent.
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