🙋♂️ Google updates, educational research, and more – Of bits and bytes for April 29, 2024
Internet Travels
Of bits and bytes is my weekly round up of interesting links and ideas I discovered on the internet. It is published on Mondays for the previous week
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Apps
Several updates from Google this month! Starting off, Google is moving your reminders in Google Keep to Google Tasks. We are also getting the ability to seemlessly switch devices during a Google Meet. Finally, there are rumblings that Chromebooks will get an easier way to open MS Office files.
Pedagogy
Are you looking for something to do? Larry Ferlazzo laments about the research into ‘Racial Noticing’ that may be helpful in your classroom but teachers don’t have time to implement.
Being able to deescalate a situation is a very powerful ability. But, learning how to comes easily to some but is difficult more most. Research review 154 studies shows examples of effective anger reduction techniques.
Technology has permeated almost every aspect of the classroom and we [need to be vigilant on what this companies are doing with our student data and how they are manipulating them]](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/opinion/ed-tech-classroom.html) (Archive).
Embracing a growth mindset actually changes how your brain is wired. To help develop a growth mindset here are 5 phrase not to use.
Technology
Headlines I would have never thought of in a million years: School athletic director arrested for framing principal using AI voice synthesis.
If you are worried about students playing videogames for long stretches of time it appears that these longer gaming sessions can be associated with improved cognitive functions and motor control.
Tips
I’ve been playing the New York Times Connections game for a while, and Brad Dale demonstrates a way of creating your own games.
Chadwick Matlin has a great email newsletter called Writ Small that covers all sorts of “books, shows, games, etc. that spark kids imagination, stoke their creativity, and liveratie their minds”.
Pop Culture
- How teens benefit from being able to read ‘disturbing’ books that some want to ban – All sorts of growth happens when reading these books, and anything that increases empathy in 8th graders is a win in my book.
- It’s the End of the Web as We Know It – The Atlantic – Is all of this AI generated content going to kill of the web?
- Why Are Elo Ratings Everywhere Now? – The Atlantic – Used in Chess and in Mark Zuckerberg’s FaceMash, it’s also being researched for educational assessments.
Potpourri
- Can I lick it? – For the science teachers out there, a chart of the periodic chart color coded on whether you can lick it. Be sure to read the comments.
- Pupil Dilation Linked to Working Memory Capacity – Neuroscience News – When I read this I only thought of one thing, how the computer is going to be able to measure a student’s pupil and use that information in an asessment.
- “read, write, own” web | One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age – Continuing on with the end of the web, here is a look at what we’ve lost with our current web overlords.
- Other people’s problems? – Why is it easier to solve someone else’s problems instead of our own?
Extra Credit
Here are extra links that I found interesting that may or may not be education related or interesting to you and I didn’t want to lose them.
- Bright Light, Sharper Mind: Lighting Affects Cognition – Neuroscience News
- What New Teen Polling Tells Us About the State of K-12 Education in 2024 – EdChoice
- The Use of “Attention Capture” Technologies in Our Classrooms Has Created a Crisis | The Nation
- The Nerdy Teacher: Hit the Ground Running: Why Schools Must Amp Up Meaningful PD Before the Bell Rings #PD #EdChat
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