01 July 2013

Items to share: 30 June

Education Focus
  • How can we improve our education system? | Pragmatic Education  Quotes Rob Coe approvingly: "Much of what is claimed as school improvement is illusory, and many of the most commonly advocated strategies for improvement are not robustly proven to work”; and proceeds to offer prescriptions. Debatable at several levels--and thus a good piece to use in class.
  • BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Elizabeth Stokoe (Audio) "Liz is professor of social interaction at the University of Loughborough and her unusual approach involves collecting and analysing the fine details of hundreds of real, spontaneous conversations as a source of raw data.[...].Her most recent research has overturned ideas about the best ways to teach people how to communicate, negotiate or deal with confrontation. Role play using actors to stage a scenario, has been seen by many as a gold standard training device. But, Liz says there's no evidence to show that it works." That will come as a relief to students who hate it!


Other Business
  • Q & A with Temple Grandin on The Autistic Brain | Beautiful Minds, Scientific American Blog Network  "To many, Temple Grandin is the public face of autism. Grandin’s story has significantly increased autism awareness around the world, and has increased society’s appreciation of the unique and positive characteristics of the autistic mind. But Grandin is much more than just a label: in addition to being an activist, Grandin is also an author, professor, and highly regarded animal scientist for her innovative methods for handling livestock." 

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