Freedom, digital distraction and control Annie Murphy Paul has an excellent article in Slate and this publication this week about the issue of digital distraction while learning. A recently published study by psychologist Larry Rosen found that in a short 15-minute period of observation, teenagers spent only 65 percent of their time studying. Their attention drifted after an average of 2 minutes from reading and writing their assignments to activities like Facebook, texting and instant messaging–and all this was while they knew they were being watched. Digital distraction or multitasking is a modern scourge, not just for young people. The question is what to do about it. Control by authority means putting the teacher and school in charge of students’ access to technology: banning cellphones in school, instituting “screens down” policies, and enlisting teachers to police students’ behavior from moment to moment. Control through technology means designing tools to nudge students in the direction of desired use.
Four Skills to Teach Students In the First Five Days of School Jane Mount/MindShift The first few days of school are a vital time to set the right tone for the rest of the year. Many teachers focus on important things like getting to know their students, building relationships and making sure students know what the classroom procedures will be. While those things are important, Alan November, a former teacher-turned-author and lecturer says the most important ideas to hammer home will help students learn on their own for the rest of the year. “The name of the game is to find the right information with the right question,” said November during a workshop at the 2014 gathering of the International Society of Technology in Education in Atlanta. “My job used to be to give you the information, now my job is to teach you how to find the information.” “The best teachers were kids who had really struggled with the material and really understand what it’s like to learn.” “Kids literally take their teachers assignment and Google it,” November said.
The new marshmallow test: Resisting the temptations of the web By Annie Murphy Paul This story also appeared at: Living rooms, dens, kitchens, even bedrooms: Investigators followed students into the spaces where homework gets done. Pens poised over their “study observation forms,” the observers watched intently as the students—in middle school, high school, and college, 263 in all—opened their books and turned on their computers. For a quarter of an hour, the investigators from the lab of Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, marked down once a minute what the students were doing as they studied. A checklist on the form included: reading a book, writing on paper, typing on the computer—and also using email, looking at Facebook, engaging in instant messaging, texting, talking on the phone, watching television, listening to music, surfing the web. Photo by Erin Scott “We were amazed at how frequently they multitasked, even though they knew someone was watching,” Rosen says. Another study, carried out at St.
How Opening Up Classroom Doors Can Push Education Forward Transparency is not a word often associated with education. For many parents, the time between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. can feel like a mysterious part of their child’s life. Questioning students about their school day often results in an unsatisfying answer and not every parent has the time to be in constant communication with their student’s teacher. For teachers, transparency can have a distinctly negative connotation. In the political debate, the word is often used in connection to hot button issues like posting teacher salaries and benefits publicly or publishing test scores. “I try to become a bridge between the quantifiable and the qualifiable.” But what if teachers embraced the idea of transparency as a form of activism, a way of shining light on what works in the classroom? Opening one’s classroom to public scrutiny isn’t an easy thing to do. At Mission Hill School in Boston every structure in the school is based on transparency. Related
Kids' Self-Control Is Crucial for Their Future Success Self-control—the ability to regulate our attention, emotions and behaviors—emerges in childhood and grows throughout life, but the skill varies widely among individuals. Past studies have reported that self-control is partially inherited and partially learned and that those with less self-control are more likely to be unemployed, engage in unhealthy behaviors such as overeating, and live a shorter life. A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA tying childhood self-control to health and well-being in adulthood suggests that everyone, not just those most lacking the skill, would benefit from a self-control boost. Psychologist Terrie E. Moffitt of Duke University and her team focused on the self-control of a group of 1,037 children born in 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The investigators observed the children and took reports from parents and teachers every two years from the ages of three to 11.
6 Things the Most Productive People Do Every Day Ever feel like you’re just not getting enough done? Know how many days per week you’re actually productive? About 3: People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive). We could all be accomplishing a lot more — but then again, none of us wants to be a workaholic either. It’d be great to get tons done and have work/life balance. And who better to ask than Tim Ferriss, author of the international bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek? (Tim’s blog is here and his podcast is here.) Below are six tips Tim offered, the science behind why they work, and insight from the most productive people around. 1) Manage Your Mood Most productivity systems act like we’re robots — they forget the enormous power of feelings. If you start the day calm it’s easy to get the right things done and focus. Here’s Tim: I try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. Research shows email:
Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction By all rights, Vishal, a bright 17-year-old, should already have finished the book, ’s “Cat’s Cradle,” his summer reading assignment. But he has managed 43 pages in two months. He typically favors , and making digital videos. On YouTube, “you can get a whole story in six minutes,” he explains. Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. Researchers say the lure of these technologies, while it affects adults too, is particularly powerful for young people. “Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next thing,” said Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health in Boston. But even as some parents and educators express unease about students’ digital diets, they are intensifying efforts to use technology in the classroom, seeing it as a way to connect with students and give them essential skills. But he also plays video games 10 hours a week. Growing Up With Gadgets
How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done - 5 Expert Tips Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here. Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting. We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this — and more. Cal Newport impresses the heck out of me. He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students.He writes 6 (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year.He’s the author of 4 books including the wonderful “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” And yet he finishes work at 5:30PM every day and rarely works weekends. No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Below you’ll get Cal’s secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done — and be finished by 5:30. 1) To-Do Lists Are Evil. To-do lists by themselves are useless. Here’s Cal: Sum Up
With Tech Tools, How Should Teachers Tackle Multitasking In Class? Important research compiled on the effects of students multitasking while learning shows that they are losing depth of learning, getting mentally fatigued, and are weakening their ability to transfer what they have learned to other subjects and situations. Educators as well as students have noticed how schoolwork suffers when attention is split between homework and a buzzing smartphone. Many students, like Alex Sifuentes, who admit to multitasking while studying, know the consequences well. “When I was grounded for a couple of months and didn’t have my phone, I got done extra early with homework,” Sifuentes wrote in response to Annie Murphy Paul’s article, “How Does Multitasking Change the Way Kids Learn?” Parents also see a big difference in their kids’ studying habits. “Devices that once were just an entertainment tool are also becoming our educational and work tools.” “Look, it’s not going away. “Look, it’s not going away. How will students stay focused? Related
Role-Playing Game Upends College Lecture and Ignites Fire in Students Carsten Tolkmit/Flickr The excerpt below is from the book “Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College,” by Barnard University professor Mark C. Carnes. Everyone responds to a role- immersion game in a different way. From the start he sought an edge over the other students. As he delivered his speech, Gilberto noticed that his heart was pounding. Other Reacting students care less about competition and instead enjoy imagining what it’s like to be someone else. Eric enjoyed the competitive banter and the debates. Often students find this surprising. In the first game, she was assigned the role of Thrasybulus, the general who led the radical democrats in Athens in 403 b.c.E. I really bought into it. Perhaps the oddest aspect of Reacting is how readily students surrender their skepticism and, like Ashleigh, “buy into” Reacting. Sometimes, however, the subversions are more explicit. On the day of the quiz, Ingrid Norton, a graduating senior, arrived early. As indeed they are.
How Does Multitasking Change the Way Kids Learn? Using tech tools that students are familiar with and already enjoy using is attractive to educators, but getting students focused on the project at hand might be more difficult because of it. Living rooms, dens, kitchens, even bedrooms: Investigators followed students into the spaces where homework gets done. Pens poised over their “study observation forms,” the observers watched intently as the students—in middle school, high school, and college, 263 in all—opened their books and turned on their computers. For a quarter of an hour, the investigators from the lab of Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, marked down once a minute what the students were doing as they studied. “We were amazed at how frequently they multitasked, even though they knew someone was watching,” Rosen says. “I don’t care if a kid wants to tweet while she’s watching American Idol, or have music on while he plays a video game. The media multitasking habit starts early.
Do You Know The Silly Reason Why America Put A Man On The Moon? Do You Know Why We Stopped Going? Here's what happened. In the 1960's we were at war with the Soviet Union - Cold War. And a little bit of hot war over in Southeast Asia. So, we feared them [Soviet Union] because they put up Sputnik. Which, by the way, people forget was an emptied out casing of an intercontinental ballistic missile. And Sputnik itself means "Fellow Traveler". So, that was a signal and we freaked in America. Then we go the moon. That entire era galvanized the nation. Meanwhile, however, that entire era galvanized the nation. The World's Fair - all of this - was focused on enabling people to make tomorrow come. And even if you're not a scientist or technologist, you will value that activity. I'm tired of saying this, but I'll have to say it again, "The NASA budget is four-tenths of one penny on a tax dollar." Do you realize that the $850 billion dollar bank bailout - that sum of money is greater than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA? The home of tomorrow. NASA is a force of nature like none other.
Divided attention and memory: evidence of substantial interference ... 22 Science-Backed Study Tips to Ace a Test ’Tis the season to start studying. All over the country, students in high school, college, and grad school are going into panic mode, wondering how they’ll manage to remember an entire semester’s worth of information before the big final. Luckily, we’ve got some advice to make those freak-outs a thing of the past. Remember Your Stuff 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Stay Focused 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.