Over at Skeptic’s Dictionary Robert Todd Carroll has an extended and detailed analysis of the bologna marketed under the brand name “Brain Gym.” Mr. Carroll, who retired as professor of philosophy in 2007 after teaching taught courses on logic and reasoning, created a Web site (and wrote a book) that covers diverse lunch meats ranging from supernatural, paranormal, and pseudo-scientific. His examination of Brain Gym shows that it falls into the third category of those three…at least, he doesn’t go into any connections between Brain Gym the supernatural or paranormal.
Continue reading ‘Skeptics’ Brain Gym workout’
Archive for the 'The press' Category
The UK incarnation of the Reading Reform Foundation provides a glimpse into some of the thinking supporting systematic and synthetic phonics. Here’s clip from it’s home page:
You are entering fascinating territory as these are very exciting times regarding the debate on how best to teach beginning reading in English-speaking countries. English is taught in many countries as an additional language and so people across the world are following this debate with great interest.
Michael F. Shaughnessy has published responses by Reid Lyon, one of the architects of Reading First, to questions about the “Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report” by Beth Gamse and colleagues. Here’s a link to his comments. They are wide-ranging and detailed.
Continue reading ‘Lyon on RF impact study’
This time the folks at “Weapons of Math Destruction” have raised the spectre of the Follow Through study of early education models. The cartoon characters (has a ring to it, doesn’t it?) are examining a graph showing the results of a comparison of alternative models of instruction.
Continue reading ‘WMD on FT’
Don Hirsch published an editorial in Education Week that tells it true. We need, he argues, to place a greater emphasis on what and how we teach during children’s early school years. Of course, he champions his recommendation for adopting a clear curriculum during the early years, too. But, the big idea is that the primary and elementary grades are very important if students are to be able to excel in high school and college.
Continue reading ‘Hirsch hits homer’
Well, folks, I closed the poll about bogus reasons for not teaching effectively. It was a close contest:
- That kind of instruction may be good for some students, but it just doesn’t fit my teaching style. (35%, 34 Votes)
- Students will learn it when they’re ready. (33%, 32 Votes)
Now it’s time to start a new poll. This time we’ll examine bogus reasons for failing to test whether students actually learn what educators say they “teach.”
Continue reading ‘Bogus Bowl III’
Writing for the Boston (MA, US) Globe under the headline “Seeking a kinder word for failure: Schools’ morale front and center,” Tracy Jan reported that Massachusetts school officials have debated what words to use to describe schools were too many students fail. Check this lead:
To soothe the bruised egos of educators and children in lackluster schools, Massachusetts officials are now pushing for kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure.
Over on I Speak of Dreams, Liz Ditz has an extended post examining views about black cultural learning styles. She makes her way through much of the smoke and mirrors of the arguments, providing readers with a well-worth-the-read analysis. Link to it.
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