Monday, May 6

Tag: teachers

Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way
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EDUCATION

Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way

I found that college students who are taking courses to become teachers can change their beliefs of how science and mathematics should be taught to and learned by K-12 students. Most of these future teachers tell me when they start my course, they believe that K-12 students must memorize science and mathematics knowledge to learn it. They also believe that students cannot acquire knowledge through a process used by scientists and mathematicians called problem-solving. Problem-solving asks students to solve engaging and challenging problems that are provided without a strategy or solution. It also involves group work and a time to present and justify their strategies and solutions to the class. To challenge my students’ beliefs, I ask future teachers to teach science and mathematics to st...
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Race and class can color teachers’ digital expectations for their students – with white students getting more encouragement
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EDUCATION

Race and class can color teachers’ digital expectations for their students – with white students getting more encouragement

Schools that rely on remote learning during the pandemic are trying to ensure that all kids have the devices and internet bandwidth they need. While important, it takes more than everyone having comparable equipment and working WiFi for all children to get an equal shot. In my new book based on the sociological research I conducted at three middle schools before the COVID-19 pandemic, I explain how even if all students could get the same hardware and software, it would fail to even the academic playing field. I saw many technologies used in unequal ways. And I observed teachers responding differently to students’ digital skills depending on the race or ethnicity and economic status of most of their students. Learning from digital play Previous research by a team of University of Californ...
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New teachers mistakenly assume Black students are angry
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EDUCATION, Journalism

New teachers mistakenly assume Black students are angry

The big idea College students who are training to become teachers are 36% more likely to mistakenly believe that a Black child is angry when that child isn’t making an angry face than if a white child makes the same facial expression, according to our new study. We determined this by having a group of 72 Black and white child actors trained by experts to make specific facial muscle movements. For example, to come across as surprised, the children raised their eyebrows and widened their eyes. To convey anger, the children furrowed their eyebrows and tightened their lips. We designed our study this way to make sure that no one could say maybe the Black children were making angry faces more often than the white children. They absolutely were not. Then we had teachers-in-training watch vide...
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Journalism

Chicago teachers’ strike: Educators want trauma care for students

Strike is about more than pay; teachers demand counsellors for every school to help students deal with daily trauma. Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets, stopping traffic and circling City Hall in a show support for the ongoing teachers strike [Scott Heins/Getty Images/AFP] Chicago, Illinois - Chicago Public School social worker Cathy Mizicko hasn't had a "normal day" in her 17 years at Jordan Elementary Community School in Rogers Park, a school on the far north side of the city. "My day is always different," Mizicko said. "Our school has a high poverty level, and it's very diverse ... There will be a shooting near one of the student's apartments, so they come in having to deal with that," she told Al Jazeera. Mizicko is one of the mor...
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