School’s out! With the start of summer, parents are now in charge of all that informal learning time. Several articles below provide science-backed guidance--all about play, fun, and executive function. (To quote Dr. Seuss, “These things are fun, and fun is good.”) ● You’ve heard of the word gap. This week we have more on the topic. It's called “dad talk” and it’s worth knowing. ● What have the world’s smartest countries determined is the most efficient education reform? Amanda Ripley, author of best-seller The Smartest Kids in the World, answers the question. Teacher effectiveness improves, she explains, with more selective teacher education programs. ● If you’ve read the headlines about kids learning to code, but have yet to dive deeper, click on Tasneem Raja’s “Is Coding the New Literacy?” You don’t want to not know this stuff. ● In the past week have you heard or said, “Whoa, how do they bend the soccer ball like that!!?” Time to talk physics!
Parenting
4 Ways to Plan a Mind-Restoring Vacation - Victoria Stern, Scientific American
Let Kids Take Risks When They Play - Peter Gray, Boston Globe
Chart: American Dads Are Stepping Up - Matthew Yglesias, Vox
Birth Order and Success: Implications for Parenting - Richard Rende, Red Hot Parenting
Chart: Media Habits of the Class of 2014 - Niche
Parents: Learn About Mobile Safety, Privacy & Security From Your Kids - L. Magid, ConnectSafely
Looking at Link Between Violent Video Games and Lack of Empathy - Nick Bilton, New York Times
Learning
Why Free Play is the Best Summer School - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic
How Background TV Impacts Toddler's Language Development - Robert Preidt, HealthDay
What Fathers Can Teach Us About Talking to Babies - Gwen Dewar, PhD, BabyCenter
Why Crawling Matters...A Lot - Richard Rende, Red Hot Parenting
7 Memory Skills that Will Make You Smarter - Drake Baer, Business Insider
Neuroscientists Say handwriting is Good for You - Gabriella Munoz, Science Alert
Education
To Improve Our Schools, Make It Harder to Become a Teacher - Amanda Ripley, Slate
How Teacher Prep Programs Are Failing New Teachers--And Your Kids - Joy Resmovits, Huff Post
There is No War on Teachers - Eric A. Hanushek, Education Next
The Overworked Bachelor's Degree Needs a Makeover - Jeffrey Selingo, The Chronicle
Early Vocabulary Development and the Common Core - Conor Williams, EdCentral
Is Coding the New Literacy? - Tasneem Raja, Mother Jones
Digital Games and the Future of Math Class - Jordan Shapiro, Mind/Shift
Creating Our Most Compliant Generation of Workers Yet - Jeffrey Benson, TeachThought
Are Schools Putting Your Child's Information at Risk? - Sienna Kossman, Fox Business
Resources
Explained: How Does a Soccer Ball Swerve? - Peter Dizikes, MIT News
Summer Solstice: Longest Day and Shortest Night of the Year - Justin Grieser, Washington Post
A Beginner's Guide to Photographing Flowers - Lindsay Rothfeld, Mashable
% of Bachelor's Degrees Conferred to Women, by Major (1970-2012) - Randal S. Olson, randalolsen.com
Cool Kids' Video Game Trends from E3 2014 - Jeff Haynes, Common Sense Media
5 Virtual Summer Camps for Kids - Melissa Taylor, Imagination Soup
10 Game Playlists for Exploring Future Careers - PowerMyLearning
Read a few articles each week, and gain parent cortical mass! If you enjoy our weekly article roundup, please email it to a friend, or share on social media. Thank you!