Having a purpose comes with benefits, according to Heather Malin, a consultant and former director of research at the Stanford Center on Adolescence. When students identify a greater purpose in what they learn at school, their academic performance, persistence and social belonging rise, Malin said during a talk at the recent Learning and The Brain:…
Late last year, in the days before the Slovakian parliamentary elections, two viral audio clips threatened to derail the campaign of a pro-Western, liberal party leader named Michal Šimečka. The first was a clip of Šimečka announcing he wanted to double the price of beer, which, in a nation known for its love of lagers…
As part of its goal to displace American influence, China is winning linguistic hearts in East Africa (a bloc of 300 million people), by publishing the Xi Jinping Thought propaganda book in the local Swahili language. Millions of Swahili speakers in East and Central Africa are sampling China’s ruler’s thoughts in their native language. Xi’s…
Even before the explosion of generative AI, technology had already found its way into traditional face-to-face and distance learning classrooms. No longer are we bound only to text, but we can now bring in software and media such as videos, audio, and images to enhance learning. No longer must distance learning be asynchronous, we can…
Reading Time: 4 minutes Could your students benefit from having a memory palace? The Memory Palace is an adaptation of the ancient Greek method of loci, where students use a familiar environment to place and recall information systematically. Above is a photograph I took in Vietnam in 2010. It will forever remain in my episodic…
Spanish speakers in the US, among linguists and nonlinguists, have been denigrated for the way that they speak, says UC Berkeley sociolinguist Justin Davidson. It’s part of the country’s long history of scrutiny of nonmonolingual English speakers, he says, dating back to the early 20th century. “It’s groups in power, it’s discourses and collective communities,…
It’s rare to get a first-person perspective on living with a condition called schizoaffective disorder. But Michael Vargas Arango, who was diagnosed as a teenager, wanted the world to know that it’s not something to be afraid of. “I’m not dangerous. I’m not crazy. And I’m not delusional,” he says in his podcast, The Monsters…
Within twelve days, The Dallas-Fort Worth area has experienced two school shootings. The first shooting occurred at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas, Texas, on April 12, 2024. A teenage boy was shot in the leg by a 17-year-old, who sneaked a .38 revolver into the school, past several metal detectors. A Wilmer-Hutchins teacher’s courageous efforts…
Reading Time: 3 minutes Is problem-solving the key to unlocking better learning over memory recall? This research questions how engaging students in problem-solving rather than relying on memory recall can significantly enhance their retention and understanding … Why Problem-Solving Enhances Learning Jacoby’s research (1978) highlights a shift from rote memorisation to active problem-solving; today, we…
May 6-10 is Teacher Appreciation Week 2024! A week devoted to giving a big “thank you” to the amazing teachers who help shape the futures of our little ones. Teachers work tirelessly, often going above and beyond, to ensure every student finds their path to success. At American Board / ABCTE, we have one goal: we…