In the most recent issue of the Journal of Teacher Education, the editors—Dan Liston, Jennie Whitcomb, and Hilda Borko—offer a provocative editorial on “reclaiming the role of social foundations in teacher education.” They suggest that teacher education has become overly instrumental, calcifying into a “growing professional orthodoxy.” Even if that orthodoxy is seemingly “progressive” and “child centered,” the editors suggest that teacher education should demand more than a narrow and singular vision for what teaching and learning should be. The editorial is seemingly prompted by the ever-expanding...
Early Child Trauma Can Affect DNA?
Interesting study:Scientists have discovered that childhood trauma can actually alter your DNA and shape the way your genes work. This confirms in humans earlier findings in rats, that maternal care plays a significant role in influencing the genes that control our stress response.....Epigenetics is the study of changes in the function of genes that don’t involve changes in the sequences of DNA. The DNA is inherited from our parents; it remains fixed throughout life and is identical in every part of the body. During gestation and even later in development, however, the genes in our DNA are marked...
The Depression Has Been Going On a Long Time for People of Color
Nice overview of the "Silent Depression" for people of color.While the general population has been in recession for one year, people of color have been in recession for five years. By definition, a long-term recession is a depression.. . . Extreme economic inequality (which the U.S. experienced in the 1920s and is again experiencing now) is often a key indicator of recession and/or depression. The Black depression of today may well foreshadow the depth and length of the recession the whole country entered in December 2007. A deep recession would see median family income decline by 4%. Thirty-three...
Three Progressivisms: Trying to Find Logic in Silver's "Rationalist/Radical" Dichotomy
Crossposted and slightly edited from Open Left.This is a belated follow-up to Paul Rosenberg and David Sirota’s critiques of Nate Silver’s “Rationalist vs. Radical” progressivism. The dichotomies Silver laid out include:Rationalist vs. RadicalEmpirical vs. NormativeSees politics as a battle of ideas vs. Sees politics as a battle of willsTechnocratic vs. PopulistProne to elitism vs. Prone to demagogueryProne to co-optation vs. Difficult to organizeOptimistic vs. PessimisticConversational vs. Action OrientedThe ensuing discussion focused mostly on how progressives think, or frame the world. I...
A New Contest: Rename NCLB
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/23/04438/5317/20/700...
Reading and Action Meet in the Brain
A new brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to "get lost" in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life. "Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly coming to the conclusion that when we read a story and really understand it, we create a mental simulation of the events described by the story," said Jeffrey M. Zacks . . . .The study, forthcoming in the journal Psychological...
Urban Institute Audio Webcast: Children, the Recession, and the Economic Recovery Plan
Feb. 19, 9am-10:30 E.T. Register for live audio webcast here:As the economy ails, policymakers, program managers, and service providers will be under extraordinary pressure to get the biggest bang for each buck. Be part of the discussion as experts tackle such questions as- What happens to children and families during recessions?- What must federal, state, and local officials do to speedily implement the recovery package and coordinate programs effectively?- Are service providers ready?- How will budget-strained states handle a funding infusion?- Can new and expanded activities jump start change...
God and Agency in the Mind
Interesting article on why religion may be a byproduct of the way our brain attributes agency to objects and persons, starting very early in childhood:So how does the brain conjure up gods? One of the key factors, says Bloom, is the fact that our brains have separate cognitive systems for dealing with living things - things with minds, or at least volition - and inanimate objects. This separation happens very early in life. Bloom and colleagues have shown that babies as young as five months make a distinction...
Poor Kids Need Vitamins: Only Priveliged Kids (Who Don't Need Them) Take them
Interesting study finds that it's privileged kids who don't need vitamins who take them. Poor kids, who have poor diets and might actually benefit are the ones who don't. The investigator had hypothesized that poor families might use vitamins to buffer poor nutrition but found, not surprisingly, that poor kids rarely took vitamins.There is apparently little research on this, but Richard Rothstein et. al. report on a double-blind study showing that providing vitamin supplements to poor children directly resulted in increased test scores. But, of course, giving poor kids vitamins in the morning...
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