Is social networking harming students’ grades? The quick answer might be yes, because it distracts students from studying. And in fact, a 2009 study at The Ohio State University found that students who admitted logging onto Facebook several times a day to check status updates, correspond with friends and relatives, or join common-interest groups, had a GPA as much as a grade lower than non-users. [...]
My class supplies list for my junior year of high school included something I had never needed before: a scientific calculator that cost a little under $100. Armed with my daunting calculator, I faced Pre-Calculus with wide, equation-glossed eyes. But I started to relax when I figured out the magic of the calculator: punch in buttons and be rewarded with the answer. With [...]
When I was a senior in high school, I was so stressed that no amount of yoga, tea, or silence could calm my nerves. My mind was littered with grades, organizations, and college and financial concerns—weighing one incomprehensible amount of debt against another, or remembering which school’s food tasted better on a campus tour. It is from this personal experience that I know [...]
Growing up with an engineer as a father meant I always had help with my math homework, all the way up until I left for college. Whether it was Algebra, Geometry, or Calculus, he knew the concepts and would help me work through tough problems. Math never came easily to me, but my dad managed to convince me that it’s an imperative skill [...]
After spending over 30 years in the publishing industry, I’ve collaborated in the development and production of thousands of published works. I’ve worked with authors, editors, designers, illustrators, proofreaders, production artists, translators, reviewers—hundreds of people who contributed to the accuracy and quality of each book or digital offering. We followed procedures to ensure content was accurate and errors were eliminated, relying on the [...]
As a writer and a Literature major, it’s always seemed like a given that I would need a master’s degree to compete in the job market. Although I’m incredibly happy I’ve spent my college career learning how to detect the irony in Shakespeare’s plays and cite all my sources in perfect MLA format, those skills aren’t exactly what employers expect to find on [...]
The past several years we have seen many stories about how technology is becoming an integral of part of classroom instruction, almost to the point that it is sometimes being touted as the solution to all of our education problems. While technology has certainly proved valuable in giving students access to resources and instruction and simulations previously unavailable to them, not every teacher [...]
Is 3-D the wave of the future? It seems like 3-D technology is taking over more and more of the 2-D world everyday. There are 3-D movie theaters, televisions and video games. People can even make their own 3-D movies with their phones or tablet computers and this trend is also making its way into the classroom. Recently, the International Research Agency, lead [...]
The debate over banning certain books, and even films, from being taught in schools is nothing new to the world of education. Recently, however, a new debate has been thrown into the mix—should schools, namely those at the high school level and below, have the power to ban (block) certain websites from being used within their walls? This year the American Association of [...]
People tend to think about a child’s development as something that can be improved in the relative short term. If something happens to a child at age 5, it can certainly affect them when they’re 25. But what about when they’re 65, 75 and 85? Can early benefits or hindrances affect someone late into his or her 80s? The American Psychological Association (APA) [...]