Over the past decade, academic research has increasingly examined issues of multitasking and distraction as people try to squeeze more activities into their busy lives. Prior to the Internet age, some cognition science research focused on how behavior might be better understood, improved and made more efficient in business, hospital or other high-pressure settings. But as digital technology has become ubiquitous in many people’s daily routines — and as multitasking has become a “lifestyle” of sorts for many younger people — researchers have tried to assess how humans are coping in this highly connected environment and how “chronic multitasking” may diminish our capacity to function effectively.
In an era of national attention to what’s real and what isn’t, we asked educators to share their strategies for helping students sort out fact from fiction. Source: 5 Ways Teachers Are Fighting Fake News : NPR Ed : NPR The definition of fake news has been very distorted since the election. Now, it seems…
As an English teacher, I’ve had numerous conversations with college professors who lament the writing skills of their first year students. But not all writing. Most students are capable of solid expository writing. It’s their skill with persuasive writing that’s the problem. Specifically, they’re weak at writing a thesis statement that can be argued. I…
Paul Horner, the 38-year-old impresario of a Facebook fake-news empire, has made his living off viral news hoaxes for several years. He has twice convinced the Internet that he’s British graffiti artist Banksy; he also published the very viral, very fake news of a Yelp vs. “South Park” lawsuit last year. But in recent months, Horner has…
In 2013, the superintendent charged our district technology committee—comprised of board members, teachers, administrators, parents and students—to come up with a plan that would provide an equal education opportunity for all students. Beekmantown’s poverty rate is the highest in Clinton County at 53%, and 30% of our students don’t have access to the internet at…
Most people make relatively few personal experiments, in both small and big things. The cost of passivity is enormous. Source: Why Trying New Things Is So Hard to Do The opening story on pop struck home for me. For the longest time I would never get a pop from the gas station’s self-serve fountain machine…
In an open letter to Apple, two of its major shareholders, Jana Partners and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, have raised concerns about research that suggests young people are becoming “addicted” to high-tech devices like the iPhone and iPad, and the software that runs on them. It asks the company to take a number of…
