In the effort to "leave no child behind", many teachers are saying that something else is getting lost in the shuffle—the social studies. Social-science teachers at all grade levels are finding that the increased emphasis on basic reading and math skills is all too often taking away time needed to put those skills into their cultural context and inform students of their role as citizens of a democracy:
nasspcms.principals.org/s_nassp/sec_Illumen.asp?CID=391&DID=47311&XMLID=2&file=newsfeed20050122.xml
Is Test Prep the Best Prep?
As high school students around the country prepare for their college careers, the first step for many of them will be a test-preparation resource, either online or in person. Companies like Kaplan, Sylvan, and the Princeton Review, household words for most college-bound students and their families and teachers, all benefit from students' desire to do well on their SAT's and ACT's. But do the students benefit as well, and are these resources worth the cost?www.asbj.com/current/research.html
Testing, Testing, 1,2,3....
It's not just the SAT's and ACT's any more: with the emphasis on high-stakes testing mandated by NCLB, more and more companies are getting into the testing game. But some fear that these companies may not be adequately supervised or held to responsible standards for educational testing:
www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/19_02/test192.shtml
A Course (or 5000) Of Course
Need something to liven up your social studies classroom? Want to expand your own knowledge or indulge your curiosity about Asia? The Eastern Studies database may have what you're looking for! This website, recently expanded to include US history and culture as well as Asian and Eastern studies, boasts over fifteen thousand pages of teacher resources:
easternstudiesdatabase.com/courses.cfm
A Perspective on Tragedy
As the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust approaches, many teachers are struggling with how they can address this subject with their students—how do you make them appreciate the magnitude of such an atrocity without bludgeoning them with the horror? This article offers some insights, as well as links to a variety of great resources for teachers and students:
education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,5500,1397261,00.html
Parents Do Know Best
Parents, take heart: although many of us may take it for granted that teenagers know more about technology than their parents, there's at least one area in which adults score ahead of teens: web surfing. A new study indicates that teens as a group are actually poorer web-users than their parents, due, among other things, to a lesser degree of perseverance and poorer reading skills.www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-01-30-teens-usat_x.htm
Pressing (Or Oppressing) The Press: Students' Views on the first Amendment
If you're used to dealing with outspoken teens who defend their own right to speak up, you may be surprised to find that many of them aren't nearly so keen on other forms of free speech. A recent survey showed that around a third of teenagers believe that the press should be required to seek approval from the government before running stories, and almost three-quarters disapprove of flag-burning—both findings which indicate a need for greater emphasis on the social studies in the classroom.
www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30-students-press_x.htm
"McSchooling"
This editorial by a businessman-turned-teacher takes a hard look at "education on the cheap." In particular, the author gives short shrift to privatization of education, using a comparison with fast-food restaurants to illustrate the point:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/18/EDGT7AQRRA1.DTL
High Stakes Versus Best Practices
This issue of the ASCD's "Is It Good For The Kids?" examines the impact of high-stakes testing and the reason for its persistence despite objection from the educational community:
www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.ef397d712ea0a4a0a89ad324d3108a0c/template.article?articleMgmtId=a9a153d06d841010VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD
A "Gaggle" of Students
Looking for a controllable way to use email in your classroom? Check out Gaggle, an email provider which allowed teachers to monitor the contents of their students' Gaggle-based accounts while enabling students and teacher to share class-related information online:
gaggle.net/gen?_template=/templates/gaggle/html/index.jsp
Racing Through Physics
in Britain, a new video game, Racing Academy, offers a far more realistic approach to racing video games: in order to succeed, students have to develop an understanding of real racers' skills such as automotive engineering and physics:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4189411.stm
A New Meaning for "Mental Health Days"
Two years ago, a report by the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health stopped just short of recommending annual mental health screening for every child in America—with the possibility of mandatory medication for students found to have difficulties. Critics see the trend as not only a potential violation of parents' rights, but as evidence of the increasing over-medicalization of child care:
www.csmonitor.com/2005/0120/p11s01-lifp.html
Reading Minds
No, we're not talking about telepathy! But a researcher in Canada may have discovered a key to what goes on in some children's minds when they read—or rather, when they try to read and can't. His research suggests that some forms of dyslexia may actually be caused by a problem with translating letters into familiar sounds:
www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2005/01/24/908291-sun.html
God and Country, Church and State
For those following the latest round of the evolution-versus-creationism debate, a recent ruling will be of interest: a federal judge in Georgia recently dubbed the Cobb County Board of Education's labels for science textbooks, which described evolution as a theory, as being a violation of the separation of church and state:
www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/13/evolution.textbooks.ruling/index.html
The Lab of the Future—Now
At the recent British Education and Technology showcase this week, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts showed off its Futurelab. This exciting science-ed resource includes student activities like the Savannah project which allows students to simulate life as a lion on the African plains:www.nestafuturelab.org/index.htm
