Abstract
On the Web
NOVA
https://www.youtube.com/user/NOVAonline
NOVA is the most-watched primetime science series on television and reaches an average of five million viewers each week. NOVA’s mission is to make science accessible to everyone so that they can better understand the world we live in. Visit this website for educational videos about eclipses, riding a bicycle, supercapacitors, lava, glaciers, tsunamis, cyber attacks, killer ants, and more! There are shorter videos (2-5 min) that would be perfect for use in the classroom.
Google Sightseeing
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/
This website uses satellite images from the Google Earth program so that you can tour the world. See Paris’ Le Bourget Field where Charles Lindbergh landed his aircraft after completing his Trans-Atlantic flight in 1927. View images of different volcanoes, monuments, national landmarks, spacecraft, movie locations, theme parks, world heritage sites, and more from the comfort of your own home! You can even view images of abandoned cities, ghost towns, and underwater cities that are restricted in real life. Compare and contrast images of different crop circles, deserts, or even spacecraft. The images are searchable by country and state.
Plagiarism Checker
http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/
Students, authors, teachers, and publishers can check for plagiarism on the web for free with this website. All you need to do is to copy and paste a phrase, sentence, or excerpt into the search box. You can also submit a web page ULP address to check an entire web page. In case there is an instance of cheating, the website lists resources on how to report it. Teachers can print handouts covering what plagiarism is versus copyright infringement for use in the classroom.
Quick Currency Converter
https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/
The exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another currency. Supply and demand for imports and exports and even interest rates affect these exchange rates, and they change everyday. Use this site to see how many dollars one Euro is worth right now. You can look up the exchange rates of any currencies. Also, this website has information on historical currency rates, a place where you can sign up for currency email updates, and a travel expenses calculator to help you on your next trip to a foreign country.
Policies for Acceleration
Acceleration is used to provide for individual differences in rates of learning and includes a variety of strategies such as early entrance to schooling at all levels, grade skipping, placement in a higher grade level for instruction in a single subject, continuous progress or accelerating the pace of instruction within and across classes, curriculum compacting, concurrent or dual enrollment, credit-by-examination, advanced placement, and international baccalaureate. Research shows how accelerated students demonstrate superior levels of achievement, attend more prestigious colleges, and earn higher incomes than their nonaccelerated, equally able peers. Moreover, acceleration does not create social or psychological challenges for the majority of talented students who accelerate. Although this strategy is supported by an overwhelming amount of research over the past 70 years, it is infrequently used in schools, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. To improve the likelihood of its implementation, the Acceleration Institute of the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa developed checklists for implementing whole-grade, early entrance, and single subject acceleration policies (Lupkowski-Shoplik, Behrens, & Assouline, 2018) in collaboration with the National Association for Gifted Children, the Association for the Gifted, Council for Exceptional Children, and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted. The report describes these best-practice principles that should be included in every policy: (a) accessibility, equity, and openness; (b) features preventing unintended consequences; (c) guidelines on administrative matters to ensure fair and systematic use of accelerative opportunities and recognition for participation in those accelerative opportunities; and (d) guidelines for preventing nonacademic barriers to the use of acceleration as an educational intervention. To access policy checklists and other acceleration resources, visit accelerationinstitute.org/policies/
State Support for Academically Talented Low-Income Students
High-ability students from lower income families are less likely identified than their wealthier peers for advanced level work and other high-ability programs. A recent report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation examined the extent that states are addressing the needs of high-ability, low-income students and how states might improve their support of best practices (Plucker, Glynn, Healey, & Dettmer, 2018). The researchers used eight criteria to grade each state system:
The extent to which states promote and achieve learning for high-ability students,
The extent to which states ensure that low-income students have equal access to advanced learning opportunities and are equally likely to achieve high levels of academic excellence as other students policies that support excellence,
Participation rates of all students in advanced learning opportunities,
Outcomes of all students at the advanced level,
Policies that help close excellence gaps,
Participation rates of low-income students in advanced learning opportunities,
Outcomes of low-income students at the advanced level.
They found four states (Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Wisconsin) that had strong results across all three grading areas—policies, participation, and outcomes. The remaining states had more mixed results. The full report and ratings may be retrieved from https://www.jkcf.org/research/equal-talents-unequal-opportunities-second-edition-a-report-card-on-state-support-for-academically-talented-low-income-students/
How People Learn: An Update
The National Academies summarized key findings from their investigation of the nature of learning in a consensus study, How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). In addition to expanding the understanding of how the brain adapts throughout life, this study examined the influences on learning, particularly sociocultural factors and the structure of learning environments. Although the report focuses on learning throughout life and beyond formal educational settings, the researchers highlighted four topics related to formal schooling: the cultural nature of learning and development, learning in academic content areas, influences of culture on the classroom environment and the perspectives students bring to their learning, and the central role of effective assessment. Implications for learning in school were summarized in these conclusions:
Effective instruction depends on understanding the complex interplay among learners’ prior knowledge, experiences, motivations, interests, language, and cognitive skills; educators’ own experiences and cultural influences; and the cultural, social, cognitive, and emotional characteristics of the learning environment.
Research points to the importance of engaging the learner in directing his or her own learning and support in setting and pursuing meaningful goals.
Research supports adopting an asset model of education in which curricula and instructional techniques support all learners in connecting academic learning goals to the learning they do outside of school settings.
Purposefully teaching the language and practices specific to a particular discipline is critical to helping students develop a deep understanding in the subjects.
Assessment is a critical tool for advancing and monitoring students’ learning in school.
The entire study may be accessed at https://www.nap.edu/read/24783/chapter/1