From housing instability and food insecurity, to natural disasters and gun violence, trauma and adversity deeply affect children’s ability to learn and thrive. Today, researchers and evidence-based nonprofit partners are poised to work together with local communities to translate research and practice into responsive public policy. Join America Forward Advocacy Director, Sarah Groh for a conversation about Reimagine Learning/America Forward’s recent work on this front.
Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.
Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, director of the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University, spoke at a conference in Cromwell, Connecticut in May 2012 and graciously sat down for an interview with Dawn Homer-Bouthiette, director of parent engagement and family policy for the Connecticut Commission on Children.
Researchers in Michigan showed that project-based learning in high-poverty communities can produce statistically significant gains in social studies and informational reading—see how they did it in this video.
In this video, Kylie Peppler discusses the importance of embodiment, or learning through movement, in science learning. She shares an example from her BioSim project of elementary students learning about the complex systems of honeybees by role-playing with electronic puppets.
This video explores the importance of reflection for teacher learning and describes the benefits of one strategy for educators: recording classroom instruction. Recording and replaying classroom footage allows educators to see moments of student learning, helping them understand what went well in a lesson and what can be improved next time. Watching themselves teach, and discussing this footage with colleagues, helps teachers consider how their instructional choices affect their students.
In this video, Ryan Baker describes gaming the system: students’ attempts to get through material in an online or blended learning system without learning. Dr. Baker explains why gaming the system is even worse for learning outcomes than off-task behavior. He shares interventions that ed-tech developers can use to address off-task behavior such as alerting teachers to gaming, requiring students who game to do more work, and incorporating metacognitive messages to help students understand why gaming is harmful to their learning.
In this video Rachel Barr and Laura Zimmermann discuss the importance of social scaffolding, or social demonstration and thoughtful guidance from adults, for introducing early learners to new technology and media. Even for “digital natives,” the social aspect of education is important for learning how to use new tech devices and apps. Key social scaffolding strategies include hands-on demonstration, verbal narration and repetition.
In this video, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Associate Professor of Education and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, discusses the importance of building in class time for students to reflect. She explains how reflection can help students connect what they are learning in the classroom with their future goals and the world around them.
David Rose, Co-Founder and CEO of CAST, an organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning, discusses the importance of providing learning supports and structures that are tailored to students’ individual needs and abilities. He shares his vision for “de-standardizing” education to help students discover their strengths and become expert learners.
Jeremy Roschelle and Kara Carpenter discuss how technology based on learning science research can support students in learning mathematical concepts. They share several ways technology can support math learning, including the value of multiple representations and personalized feedback to diagnose and remedy mistakes in real time.
Lisa Dieker, Professor and Lockheed Martin Eminent Scholar Chair at University of Central Florida, shares her experiences as a researcher who collaborates with students with disabilities from kindergarten through graduate school. Students who can self-advocate are able to lead their own learning and ensure they have the supports they need to be successful. Research shows that empowering students through technology can change student outcomes throughout their education and career.
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