Parent Cortical Mass

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

The public conversation about math continues for a third week. New brain research shows rote memorization of math facts contributes to later math achievement. This research doesn’t align well with the approach common core math standards are taking. 1 Have you heard of the Flynn effect? It’s worth knowing. It shows how the IQ of the worlds’ population is increasing over time. 2 Alfie Kohn explains what recent research says about the 10,000 Hour Rule. It’s essential reading. 3 In education there's two items to point out. First, Michelle Rhee has stepped down as head of her political action organization. Was she too controversial to be effective? 5 6 The second item concerns accountability requirements of NCLB. Many superintendents this year will inform parents that their schools are failing. Even when they aren’t. Why? It’s the law. Congress has failed to fix the problems with NCLB. So, parents will have to make sense of whether schools are, or are not, failing. 4 Many times in the course of life, you find yourself staring into the star-filled night. A four-minute video could enhance your background knowledge as you gaze! 7

Parenting

10 Things Teachers Wish Parent Knew Before School Starts - Lisa Flam, Today Parents

Global Parenting Habits That Haven't Caught On In The U.S. - Emily Lodish, NPR

Encouragement for the Digital Parent - Dr. Elizabeth Milvidov, A Platform for Good

6 Things that Happy Families Have in Common - Eric Barker, Barking up the Wrong Tree

We Don't Need No Education - Ben Hewitt, Outside Online

Harry Potter Casts a Spell for Tolerance - Annie Murphy Paul, Motherlode, NTYT

Learning

1 How Kids' Brains Reorganize When Learning Math Skills - Lauran Neergaard, ABC News

2 How Every Child Can Be a "Math Person" - Miles Kimball, Quartz

3 Perfect, It Turns Out, Is What Practice Doesn't Make - Alfie Kohn, Huffington Post

Why Students Prefer to Learn From a Machine - Annie Murphy Paul, Slate

Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain - Daniel J. Levitin, New York Times

Education

4 Superintendents Must Tell Parents Schools are Failing, Even Though They Aren’t - V Strauss, WP

Teaching Is Not a Business - David Kirp, New York Times

Building Better Teachers - Sara Mosle, The Atlantic

Common Core Tests: Tough Questions, Curious Choices - Robert Pondiscio, Education Next

5 StudentsFirst: Our Next Chapter - Michelle Rhee, Students First

6 Michelle Rhee drops out of school group - Stephanie Simon, Politico

High Schools Letting Students Sleep In to Improve Grades & Health - Kathryn Baron, Ed Week

Video Games and the Future of the Textbook - Jordan Shapiro, Mind/Shift

Resources

7 What Light Can Teach Us about the Universe - TedEd

Tom Hanks Just Released a Typewriter App for iPad - Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge

History Channel Launches Planet H, Edu Moblile Game for Kids 7-11 - Erik Sass, Media Post

Disney Tsum Tsum Mobile Game Hits 20 Million Downloads - Saquib Shab, What Mobile

Guide to Student Data Privacy: How and Why Data Is Collected - edSurge

Teach the Whole Family to Code: MIT's Family Creative Learning Guide - Justin Reich, EdWeek

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 Best Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

If you’ve had questions about the teaching and learning of math, this week's for you. Elizabeth Green wrote two articles on the topic--one for parents in specific and one for Americans in general. 1 8 But that’s not all. Other writers covered the topic. Learn about teaching vs. coaching math, possible genetic links to math skills, and results of extra math class time. 2 6 9 New research on expertise calls into question the 10,000 Hour Rule. Stay informed on the talent vs practice debate. Why? Because parents are the most likely adults to apply the information to the benefit of kids. 4 5 The learning concept of language dancing is in the news because of Hillary Clinton. She launched a "word gap" initiative this week. The goal is for all parents to understand that talking, reading, and singing to kids is crucial for their cognitive growth. 3 Also this week find articles on extended learning time, growth mindsets, and background knowledge. 7 10 Does Minecraft mania puzzle you? This week you can discover the secret! 11

Parenting

1 5 Ways To Help Your Kid Not Stink At Math - Elizabeth Green, New York Times

2 Don’t Teach Math, Coach It - Jordan Ellenberg, New York Times

3 A New Hillary Clinton Initiative Urges Parents To Talk, Read And Sing To Their Babies - AP, HuffPost

Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League - William Deresiewicz, New Republic

Send Your Kids to the Ivy League! - J.D. Chapman, New Republic

Please Share My Children's Data - Marie Bjerede, Getting Smart

Parent Groups Call for Congressional Data-Privacy Hearings - Benjamin Herold, Ed Week

To Spy or Not to Spy: New Parenting Issues in the Digital World - Devorah Heitner, Raising Digital Natives

Learning

4 Talent vs. Practice: Why Are We Still Debating This? - Scott Barry Kaufman, Creativity Post

5 We've Been Thinking About Talent the Wrong Way All Along - Daniel Coyle, Fast Company

6 Could the Same Genes Shape Math Skills As Reading Ability? - Maanvi Singh, Mind/Shift

Babies Recognize Familiar Rhyme in the Womb - Traci Pedersen, PsychCentral

Stronger Early Reading Skills Predict Higher Intelligence Later - Hannah Klein, EurekAlert

Learning To Read May Take Longer Than We Thought - Anya Kamenetz, nprEd

7 Growing a Mindset with the Right Words - Rebecca Butler, edSurge

Education

8 Why Do Americans Stink at Math? - Elizabeth Green, New York Times

American's Stink at Math, (But We're Much Better Now) - Chad Aldeman, EducationNext

9 Double Dose of Math Has Diminishing Returns, Study Finds - Liana Heitin, Ed Week

10 The Importance of Teaching Content - Karin Chenoweth, Huffington Post

Not Teacher Quality, But Quality Teaching - Robert Pondiscio, Fordham Institute

Lessons From a School that Scrapped a Longer Student Day - Melissa Bailey, Hechinger Report

Can Regular Public Schools Replicate Successful Charter Models? - Daniel Willingham, RCE

Ten School Reform Phrases That Should Trigger Your BS Detector - Rick Hess, Ed Week

Resources

11 The Secret of Minecraft (And Its Challenges to the Rest of Us) - Robin Sloan, Medium

Kids Coding App 'Tynker' Now on Android and Adds Game-Making Mode - Stuart Dredge, The Guardian

Trip Hawkins Releases 2nd Chapter of ‘If’ - Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat

Twelve New Yorker Education Articles to Read While the Archives are Free - Libby Nelson, Vox

Summer Fun with the Brain in Mind - Lori Desautels, edutopia

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 Best Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

It’s midsummer. Doesn’t it feel like a time for family game nights? Check out Jessica Lahey’s article describing 5 fun games and the cognitive benefits of this informal learning time. ● Annoyed by the 10,000 Hour Rule? Good news. Maybe talent is more important than practice. Bothered by that? No worries. In a few years we'll see further research. Knowledge advances in refining increments! ● Have you wondered how the switch from print to digital media affects reading comprehension? Read Maria Konnikova’s well-written article on the topic. ● In education this week public discussion over teacher tenure turned bizarre. Dozens of articles covering Diane Ravitch’s unflattering comments about Campbell Brown circulated. But none of that is below. Too mindless for us, right? Instead, check out Daniel Willingham’s level-headed take on K-12 tenure. ● Meredith Broussard’s story about standardized tests is straight from a parent's point of view. Then, she makes helpful connections to education policy. Don’t miss it. ● Have you heard of the toy whisperer? She’s a huge hit on YouTube!

Parenting

How Family Game Night Makes Kids Into Better Students - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

How Becoming a Father Changes Your Brain - Christian Jarrett, Wired

New Dads Want Paid Leave to be Caregivers - Brigid Schulte, Washington Post

When Work Becomes a Haven From Stress At Home - Shankar Vedantam, NPR

Why We Should All Take a Nap in the Afternoon - John Medina, Brain Rules

Didn't Read Facebook's Fine Print? Here's Exactly What It Says - Amanda Scherker, Huff Post

OMG! Texting Doesn't Hurt Kids' Grammar or Spelling Skills - Joseph Stromberg, Vox

Learning

Humans Already Use WAY More Than 10% of Their Brains - Sam McDougle, The Atlantic

How Tests Make Us Smarter - Henry L. Roediger III, New York Times

Students Benefit from Learning That Intelligence Is Not Fixed - Ingfei Chen, Mind/Shift

What's Going On In There? How Babies' Brains Practice Speech - Nicholas St. Fleur, NPR

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? Talent - Benedict Carey, New York Times

The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning - Judy Willis, MD, edutopia

Being a Better Online Reader - Maria Konnikova, The New Yorker

Education

2 Years Isn't Enough: What K-12 Can Learn from Higher Ed on Tenure - Daniel Willingham, RCE

Higher Calling: To Improve Schools Make it Harder to Become a Teacher - Amanda Ripley, Slate

Five Inconvenient Truths for Reformers - Jal Mehta, Education Week

Five Inconvenient Truths for Traditionalists - Jal Mehta, Education Week

Sweden's School Choice Disaster - Ray Fisman, Slate

Charter School Battle Erodes Middle Ground - Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe

A Basic Flaw in the Argument Against Affirmative Action - Linda Darling-Hammond, Washington Post

Why Poor Schools Can't Win at Standardized Testing - Meredith Broussard, The Atlantic

The Case Against Exit Exams - Anne Hyslop, New America Foundation

Teaching 4-Year-Olds To Feel Better - Anya Kamenetz, npr_Ed

Resources

YouTube’s Biggest Star Is An Unknown Toy-Reviewing Toddler Whisperer - H. Reinsberg, BuzzFeed

12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free - The Mind Unleashed

This Software Guy Accidentally Designed an App That's Saving My Dyslexic Son - Jenn Choi, Quartz

Pack Your Bags for Summer Coding Camp - Charley Locke, edSurge

14 Facts That Help Explain America's Child-Migrant Crisis - Dara Lind, Vox

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!