Monthly Archives: October 2017

The Pro-Homework Argument

The Effortful Educator, an 11th and 12th grade psychology teacher, outlines the research-based case…



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Bright Screens and Sleep

Here’s a handy review of the effects that bright computer and tablet screens have on sleep. (Hint: they’re not helping.) Author Viatcheslav Wlassoff concludes with a few simple hints on how to reduce the detrimental effects of screens on melatonin.



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5 Praises a Day

Back in May, a brief flurry of articles rose up (here, here, and here) around the “Five Praises a Day Campaign,” which encourages parents of 2- to 4-year-olds to praise their children more often. (The authors don’t claim that the



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Working Memory Cheat Sheet

I write a lot about working memory on this blog. If you’d like a quick overview of its characteristics and development, here’s a handy link.



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Technology in Schools: Beyond Anecdotes…

Because technology is everywhere, anecdotes about technology abound. Almost everyone in your school has opinions — strong opinions! — about the effect that technology has on learning. If we move past anecdotes, what does the research show? For all sorts



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TOP RESEARCHERS TO EXPLORE WAYS TO CREATE ENGAGING SCHOOLS OF THE FUTURE

MEDIA ADVISORY October 23, 2017 Contact: Kristin Dunay (781)-449-4010 x 104 [email protected] MERGING MINDS & TECHNOLOGY: TRANSFORM SCHOOLS WITH NEUROSCIENCE, ROBOTS, MAKERSPACES, AND VIRTUAL REALITY WHAT: Neuroscience and technology are merging to transform schools, eliminating rows of desks, teacher-centered instruction,



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Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion by Paul Bloom

“Empathy can motivate kindness to individuals that makes the world better.” Paul Bloom, the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University, asserts this emphatically. Yet, Bloom makes a compelling case for reducing our reliance on empathy in



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Hands-on and Hands-off Learning

When we walk into a classroom, especially an early learning or elementary school one, manipulatives are almost always within reach. Look to your left, and notice the group of children spinning the hands on a pretend clock, trying to figure



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Consider the Squirrel…

If you have a chance, I highly recommend reading The Distracted Mind — especially if you’ll be attending the upcoming conference. Authors Adam Gazzaley (a neuroscientist) and Larry D. Rosen (a psychologist) explain our current difficulties with attention by looking at — hold



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Action Video Games Harm the Hippocampus, Right?

Here’s a headline to get your attention: Action video games decrease gray matter, study finds. The article opens with this alarming sentence: “A new study suggests that playing action video games can be detrimental to the brain, reducing the amount of



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