“After collecting the data from 253 accounts, we focused our analysis on data by location. Our initial analysis focuses on New York City, home to the Klingenstein Center and to a robust and diverse micro-ecosystem of independent schools. This analysis examines more than 900 posts involving 11 New York City-area independent schools. Using the text mining tools and analysis, we grouped the experiences shared in these posts into the following categories: (1) racially charged incidents in the classroom, often involving curriculum and pedagogy; (2) interpersonal incidents outside of the classroom; and (3) students of color trying to share racist incidents only to be ignored or told by faculty, staff, and/or fellow students that they were being too sensitive or blowing things out of proportion.”
“Consistent exposure to music, like learning to play a musical instrument, or taking voice lessons, strengthens a particular set of academic and social-emotional skills that are essential to learning. In ways that are unmatched by other pursuits, like athletics for instance, learning music powerfully reinforces language skills, builds and improves reading ability, and strengthens memory and attention, according to the latest research on the cognitive neuroscience of music.”
“By early 2021, Walsh had gathered ample evidence to prove that esports could bring in as many as 20 student-athletes per year and boost the college’s brand among potential applicants who’d been weaned on Fortnite and NBA 2K. Still, some of the school’s administrators scoffed at the idea that gamers deserved the same respect as, say, members of LCCC’s well-regarded rodeo team. “They’re not athletes, because an athlete, by definition, manipulates their body and muscles in a way to interact with some object,” Walsh recalls an administrator saying. “And I said, ‘You just described esports.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, no, they’re not moving.’ And I go, ‘They’re moving their wrists and their fingers with dexterity. And they’re using their brains in such a quick and decisive way. How is that not a sport?’””
“With all the praise Apple receives, it can be easy to forget about the company’s many failures, some of which never made it to market. Apple is now the richest tech company in the world, but its ascendance wasn’t without its setbacks, some of which put the company on the brink of bankruptcy. Some of these ill-fated devices were either poorly realized or overly ambitious—but nearly all of them influenced the devices Apple users enjoy today. And you might be surprised to learn about, or perhaps remember, some of the more recent failures.”
“Whoever thought that you could provide a 4-year-old from an impoverished family with 5 1/2 hours a day, nine months a year of preschool, and close the achievement gap, and send them to college at a higher rate? she asks. I mean, why? Why do we put so much pressure on our pre-K programs?” We might actually get better results, she says, from simply letting little children play.”
“What we’ve discovered is that moderated small-group discussion with a prepared agenda of vetted, balanced materials where you get the best arguments on either side on a. Policy proposal, and people are incentivized to listen to each other and take their turns and then have a civil discussion, over a period of time, usually a weekend… there are some astonishing changes of opinion that result. And there are some lasting effects as people encounter others who are very different from themselves… and they see the merit in what other people are trying to do.”
“Hype? Hope? Hell? Maybe all three. Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive ‘metaverse.’ They expect that augmented- and mixed-reality enhancements will become more useful in people’s daily lives. Many worry that current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms.”
Copyright
Every week I send out articles I encounter from around the web. Subject matter ranges from hard knowledge about teaching to research about creativity and cognitive science to stories from other industries that, by analogy, inform what we do as educators. This breadth helps us see our work in new ways.
Readers include teachers, school leaders, university overseers, conference organizers, think tank workers, startup founders, nonprofit leaders, and people who are simply interested in what’s happening in education. They say it helps them keep tabs on what matters most in the conversation surrounding schools, teaching, learning, and more.
– Peter Nilsson