Parent Cortical Mass

Week's Best Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

Did World Cup Soccer, the US-Belgium game, and the July 4th holiday consume your week? If so, maybe you missed the news about Facebook’s "Emotional Manipulation” research? It sparked a zillion articles. Read Anne Collier’s essay about, 1) what happened, and 2) the ethical commentary that followed. ● Most likely you’ve heard of “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” motivation. Two scientists, writing in the New York Times, describe two more motives--internal and instrumental. Even though these sound like intrinsic and extrinsic motives, they aren’t. The distinction is worth knowing. ● Influencer Linda Darling-Hammond wrote an article about teaching and the achievement gap. With over 14,000 likes and 3400 shares on Facebook, as well as 1,000+ retweets on Twitter, it's a must-read. ● This week in “Resources” discover some great summer time-sucks. Er, I meant summer learning games. Get dazed by Khan's light puzzles and lost in Google's map quizzes. Both are more entertaining than the emotional manipulation happening on Facebook!

Parenting

How to Trick Your Kids Into Reading All Summer Long - Daniel Willingham, The Atlantic

Clues to Teaching Young Children to Tell the Truth - Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal

It's the Culture: The Point About That Harvard Study - Rick Ackerly, Genius in Children

The Perils of Too Much Happy Talk - Anna North, New York Times

How to Get Into Harvard - David A. Graham, The Atlantic

The Why of the Facebook Research Fracas & What It Calls For - Anne Collier, NetFamilyNews.org

Learning

The Secret of Effective Motivation - Amy Wrzesniewski & Barry Schartz, New York Times

9 Terms to Know About Executive Functioning Issues - A. Morin, Natl Center for Learning Disabilities

Becoming an Expert Takes More than Practice - Anna Mikulak, EurekAlert

The Latest on Digital Use by Preschoolers - Annie Murphy Paul, School Library Journal

Education

To Close the Achievement Gap, We Need to Close the Teaching Gap - Linda Darling-Hammond, HP

Gates Says Fixing Education Toughest Challenge - AP, KHOU.com

Americans Think We Have the Best Colleges. We Don't - Kevin Carey, New York Times

How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play - Tim Walker, The Atlantic

Why Schools' Efforts to Block the Internet Are So Lame - Annie Murphy Paul, Slate

What You Need to Know About Charter Schools - Annie Baxter, Marketplace.org

The Era of Majority White U.S. Public Schools Is Over - Janell Ross, Peter Bell, National Journal

Animated Map: 70 Years of Educational Progress in 30 Seconds - Libby Nelson, Vox

Resources

Light-On/Light-Off Puzzles - Khan Academy

Smarty Pins: Google Launches Map-Based Quiz Game - Roberto Baldwin, TheNextWeb

The Awesome Physics in a Simple Sparkler - Rhett Allain, Wired

Einstein on Fairy Tales and Education - Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

Kids' Summer Movie Guide for 2014 - Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

5 Old School Car Games for Retro Road Tripping - Lisa Tate, GeekMom

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!

Week's Top Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

Education Policy is getting curiouser and curiouser! A California judge's ruling on the case Vergara v California shook things up. Every media outlet covered the story. It’s not just big in the education realm. The ruling impacts politics as well. Election level politics, even. While media coverage was noisy, politicians were strangely silent. (Now that’s impact.) Below find articles explaining different viewpoints on this significant ruling, including commentary from our Top Influencers, Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten, and Diane Ravitch. ● A government study released this week compares teen behavior trends over the last 20 years. It provides stats on teen drinking, fighting, texting, sex, and media use. There’s some good news. ● Annie Murphy Paul reviews the book, How Not to Be Wrong. Doesn’t that sound like essential reading for parents? Read it before your teen does!

Parenting

Study: Teens Are Drinking Less, Texting More - Mike Stobbe, Sacramento Bee

Subtweeting: Inside the Harmful New Social Media Trend - Steven Woda, uknowkids

When Texting Goes Wrong: Helping Kids Repair & Resolve Issues - Devorah Heitner, Platform for Good

The Case for Dedicated Dads - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

The Daddy Juggle: Work, Life, Family, and Chaos - L. Weber and J. Lublin, Wall Street Journal

Secret Parent: 10 Things We'd Like to Say to Teachers - The Guardian

For Parents and Kids, Sleep is Critical to Keeping Pounds Off - Rick Nauert, PhD, PsychCentral

Sports Should Be Child's Play - David Epstein, New York Times

Learning

The 1 Thing That Will Improve Math Learning - Daniel Willingham, RealClearEducation

12 Minutes of Exercise Improves Attention - Janice Wood, PsychCentral

What's the Best Way for Toddlers to Acquire Verb Meaning? - Northwestern University, PsyPost

Synchronized Brain Waves Enable Rapid Learning - MIT, PsyPost

The Woman Who Forgot the Names of Animals - I. Viskontas & C. Mooney, The Atlantic

Education

Does Tenure Protect Bad Teachers or Good Schools? - Room for Debate, New York Times

Arne Duncan: Drawing the Right Lessons from Vergara - HomeRoom, Dep't of Education

Michelle Rhee: California Tenure Ruling is a Win for Teachers and Kids - Washington Post

Diane Ravitch: Vergara Decision Is Latest Attempt to Blame Teachers - Huffington Post

Randi Weingarten: Moving From 'Test and Punish' to 'Support and Improve' - Huffington Post

Will California's Ruling Against Teacher Tenure Change Schools? - Dana Goldstein, The Atlantic

Putting Teacher Tenure in Context - Adam Ozimek, Forbes

What Does Teacher Tenure Mean for Parents? - Carol Lloyd, GreatSchools

Delay Urged on Actions Tied to Tests by Schools - Motoko Rich, New York Times

The Untold Story of School Finance Reforms in the U.S. - CJ Libassi, EdCentral

Resources

How High Schoolers Use Pot, in 3 Maps - Niraj Chokshi, Washington Post

Summer Reading Favorites for Kindergarteners - Mary Ann Scheuer, GreatKidsBooks

New Chapter Books for Summer Reading, Ages 6-18 - Melissa Taylor, Imagination Soup

12 Games that Teach Kids to Code, AND are Fun - Dan Crawley, VentureBeat

Map: There Have Been 74 Shootings at Schools Since Newtown - Niraj Chokshi, Wash Post

Book Review: How Not to Be Wrong; Why Math Fills So Many of Us with Dread - Annie Murphy Paul, WP

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!

Week's Top Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

We’ve rounded the Memorial Day weekend, and so begins the shift from school time to summertime. Many articles here will help parents optimize the stream of informal learning moments ahead. Check out Jessica Lahey’s big pile of fantastic ideas. ● Video games will be an avid pursuit for kids. Read Jordan Shapiro’s article. Stay calm and remember the meta-cognitive benefits. ● In education policy this week, influencers Linda Darling-Hammond and Randi Weingarten contend it’s time to change the accountability systems put in place with No Child Left Behind. They want to replace policies of “test and punish” with “support and improve.” Jeb Bush, however, says schools need “sanctions for failure” and parents need choice in the form of charter schools. That’s the only way to close achievement gaps, he states. ● Do you think “young people today” are (a) the best-behaved generation ever, or (b) a bunch of mollycoddled babies? Try reading the article that contradicts your viewpoint. I know, that’s an annoying idea. But, at Parent Cortical Mass we both support and reject paradox.

Parenting

A Summer Camp Lesson: Good-bye, and Go Away, Thank You Very Much - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

Holding Kids Back Doesn't Help - Deborah Stipek and Michael Lombardo, Education Week

Today's Teens Are the Best-Behaved Generation on Record - Sarah Kliff, Vox

America's Kids are a Bunch of Mollycoddled Babies - Chester Finn, Jr., Politico

Tiger Mom and Her Critics Are Both Right - Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., BabyCenter

Kids, Parents Are Embracing the Walking School Bus - AP, Fox News

Learning

How Your Working Memory Makes Sense of the World - Peter Doolittle, TED Talk [Video]

What Is Informal Learning? - Ava Arsaga, Parent Cortical Mass

Why Do People Persist in Believing Things That Just Aren't True? - Maria Konnikova, The New Yorker

Social & Emotional Benefits of Video Games: Metacognition & Relationships - Jordan Shapiro, Mind/Shift

Kindergarten Bots Teach Language to Tots - Hal Hodson, New Scientist

Education

It's Time for a New Accountability in US Education - Linda Darling Hammond, Randi Weingarten, HP

When Schools Are a Matter of Choice, Families Win - Jeb Bush, Miami Herald

What School Reformers Can Learn from Poker - Ben Spielberg, Washington Post

Union 'Wins' Against Reformers are Real Losses in Education 'War' - R. Whitmire, Real Clear Education

Are Schools More Segregated Than in the 50s? [Graphs] - Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report

What's Really at Stake? Untangling Big Issues Around Student Data - Francesca Segre, Mind/Shift

Despite Worries, Big Data Can Be Key for Student Success -Rey Junco, NBC News

Mass Collection of Student Data Raises Privacy Concerns - Anya Kamenetz, NPR

Resources

Kate DiCamillo's Picks for Summer Treehouse Reading (Ages 8-13) - Staff, NPR

A Big Pile of Fantastic Ideas to Get Kids Outside Making and Doing This Summer - Jessica Lahey, NYT

Register Now for Girls Make Games (Girls, Grades 6-10) - Jonathan H. Hiu, GeekDad

Minecraft Gamer's YouTube Hit 'More Popular than Bieber' - Matt Precey, BBC News

10 Unique Graduation Gifts for 2014 - Tiffany Doerr Guerzon, ParentMap

Kids' Summer Movie Preview 2014 - Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

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!