Andrew Carter Knoll

Links for 2009-10-06 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Apple Learning Interchange - Polar Bears in a Changing Climate

Links for 2009-09-15 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Hot Potatoes Home Page

Links for 2009-09-14 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Free Math Video Lessons and Tutorials | Tutor-USA.com
Free Math Education Video Lessons, Tutors, and Instruction. Videos in all math subjects are available.
Instructional Design Models
A popular hypertext index into the theory and practice of instructional design by Martin Ryder. Models are grouped according to philosophical approaches to instruction and learing.

Links for 2009-09-12 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

ISEEK | Minnesota's career, education, and job resource

Links for 2009-07-07 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Playing History

All work and no play...

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Daily School Recess Improves Classroom Behavior

School children who receive more recess behave better and are likely to learn more, according to a large study of third-graders conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

TJ and the gang knew this 10 years ago.

Strategies for keeping students in school

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Staying Power: How to End the Dropout Crisis | Edutopia

This year, an estimated 1.25 million kids will leave school without earning a high school diploma -- that's approximately 7,000 students every day of the academic year.

Some strategies mentioned in this article include:
Engage and Partner with Parents
Cultivate Relationships
Pay Attention to Warning Signs
Make Learning Relevant
Raise the Academic Bar
Small Schools
Rethink Schedules
Develop a Community Plan
Invest in Preschool
Adopt a Student-Centered Funding Model

Are you going to school?

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School - NYTimes.com

“My parents told me to keep coming to school even if I am killed,” said Shamsia, 17, in a moment after class.

1,300 Afghan girls are going to school despite having been burned with acid. Despite the lack of regular electricity. Despite the lack of running water or paved streets. Despite living in a culture that does not provide for the education of women. The parents of these girls want them to get an education despite the constant threat of violence or murder.

Are your kids going to school?

Tragicle.

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Via Pharyngula: Edward Current must be a highly trained theologian

8 years of 'oops'

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:56:00 +0000

So Long Worst President Ever; 10 Reasons History Will Hang You | | AlterNet

Bernie Horn takes out his Bush-Bashing stick one last time:

So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history.
That's not just my personal opinion; that's the opinion of 109
historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked Bush as the "worst ever;" 98 percent labeled his presidency a "failure." And this poll, taken in early 2008, predated the cataclysmic housing and banking crashes. Bye-bye W -- history will not be kind.

Palin pwned by the ADN

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:35:00 +0000

Cost of Sarah Palin writing a letter to the Anchorage Daily News Editors, regarding "false reports" that were "pursued and/or published": $0

ADN editor Pat Dougherty's response: $priceless

You can find the full text of the Palin-ADN email exchange at adn.com. Here are some of the best parts:

Did you really allow a story to run in your paper today claiming Levi Johnston is a high school drop out?

Your question today is the first suggestion I've heard that this fact might be in error.

Should I infer from your question that Levi did not drop out of school and will graduate with his class? If so, we will be happy to publish our own correction of the AP story. I think you would also want to contact the AP and ask them to issue a correction as well. Their story was distributed nationally and internationally.

(Paragraph written after this message was otherwise finished.) Literally just this minute I see an AP story, quoting you, saying that Levi has enrolled in correspondence classes. There's not much detail in the story about what he's doing and when he started his correspondence work. Does that mean today's story should have said something like: Johnston dropped out of school last fall but has since started taking correspondence classes?
---

Did you really print a story last week suggesting I had any connection with Sherry Johnston's activities in the past six months or so and you won't correct the story?

Because we checked the trooper's statement in the affidavit with the Secret Service, we didn't make the mistake of treating it as fact. I don't see that anything we reported was incorrect.

Do you read this differently, or am I missing something?

I would also remind you that we called the governor's office for comment about the Johnston arrest. Your spokesman declined to make any comment on the matter. He could have clarified your relationship and/or interactions with Ms. Johnston, but elected not to.
---

And is your paper really still pursuing the sensational lie that I am not Trig's mother? Is it true you have a reporter still bothering my state office, my very busy doctor (who's already set the record straight for you), and the school district, in pursuit of your ridiculous conspiracy?

Yes, it's true.

You may have been too busy with the campaign to notice, but the Daily News has, from the beginning, dismissed the conspiracy theories about Trig's birth as nonsense. I don't believe we have ever published in the newspaper a story, a letter, a column or anything alleging a coverup about your maternity.
---

And, oh, I could go on . . .

Governor, I would encourage you to go on. I cannot address your concerns if I do not hear them. Perhaps after reading this you will conclude that the facts are not exactly as you thought, or that there was more to these issues than you knew.

And I'm sure naughty British teens grow up to get arrested at footie matches

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Behavioral Difficulties At School May Lead To Lifelong Health And Social Problems

They show that the participants with severe or mild conduct problems in adolescence were more likely to leave school with no qualifications and go on to suffer a number of problems in adulthood including depression and anxiety, divorce, teenage pregnancy, and financial problems that continued throughout adult life.

Now blogging on a Windows lappie

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 19:05:00 +0000

I looked at the MSI Wind and Asus 1000 with every intention of installing OSX. But in the end, I decided to go for a full-size craptop and install Ubuntu Linux. But now... after running Vista for a few weeks... I am no longer interested in my Ubuntu partition! How did this happen???

It all started about a month ago. When my MacBook display had a high-speed collision with the living room floor. Now blackie is hooked up to life support (a 19" monitor for use at work).

Then the Walmart sold me a Compaq for $299. And Best Buy offered an identical HP G50(though upgraded with Intel core 2 duo) for $279. The last deal even included a free printer. Thanks Black Friday.

I customized the HP and used PING to restore everything onto the Compaq. Now I have a matched set for me and the missus. And a funny thing happened... I decided that I like Vista better than Ubuntu.

Occasionally, I get serious Unix withdrawals but the Vista UI is more polished and friendly than Ubuntu. Of course I still use Mozilla & Open Office software and that made the Vista transition easier. And I can't imagine what I'd do without Launchy and Rocketdock.

Movie clips too violent for school?

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:12:00 +0000

I have shown parts of R-rated films in class but have never ventured to show a full-length "R" movie. Is that common sense or just a prudish overreaction to sex, foul-language, and violence?

/really hoping I'm not a prude

Elmbrook schools consider restrictions on R-rated films in classrooms - JSOnline

A Brookfield East High School history teacher's notice to parents that he might show clips or full lengths of those R-rated films - as well as "Glory" and "Mississippi Burning" - has drawn protests from two families who say R-rated movies have no place in school.

Teens getting dumber?

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:48:00 +0000

It's official - Teens are getting dumber - ParentDish

The study reviewed test scores of 800 thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds and compared them with similar tests of teens from 1976, a generation ago. The results? In one test, only one in ten of the current teens tested with top scores, down from one in four twenty years ago. In another, only one in twenty reached the top score compared to one in five from the 1976 batch. Professor Michael Shayer, who lead the study, believes the educational focus on testing (rather than learning) is at least partially to blame. Focusing on testing leaves little time for teaching development skills such as those required in the tests that were part of the study.

Primarily, however, Shayer believes that television and video games are responsible for the decline. Participating in these "non" activities leads to a lack of being involved in other things such as playing with gadgets and tools which develop higher level thinking. The UK education system has responded that measures were being taken to "ease the burden" of testing. According to the article in the Mail Online, the UK government had also scrapped the SATs for fourteen-year-olds.

Still need a majority to win...

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Forget Red vs. Blue -- It's the Educated vs. People Easily Fooled by Propaganda | Media and Technology | AlterNet

Millions of Americans live in a non-reality-based belief system informed by childish clichés - they can barely differentiate between lies and truth.

Rhee on unions

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:34:00 +0000

New York Times: A School Chief Takes On Tenure, Stirring a Fight

Tenure is the holy grail of teacher unions,” she said, “but has no educational value for kids; it only benefits adults. If we can put veteran teachers who have tenure in a position where they don’t have it, that would help us to radically increase our teacher quality. And maybe other districts would try it, too.

Links for 2008-11-11 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST

Smith's AP Physics B @ Arapahoe

Time for the U.S. to wage a unilateral war on world hunger

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:10:00 +0000

ecosalon :: the green gathering :: Could Just 4 of the Wall Street Bailout End World Hunger

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that it would only take $30 billion a year to launch the necessary agricultural programs to completely solve global food insecurity. (Severe hunger afflicts 862 million people annually.)

$30 billion sounds like a lot of money, but considering we've just bailed out Wall Street to the tune of nearly a trillion, it's trifling. After I did a little digging, all I could think was...really? $30 billion is all we need to end world hunger? That's it? I thought such a major goal would require some unreachable, vast sum. Here are six things I learned we're doing with that money instead.

Pregant? Put down the coffee and soda pop.

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Even a little caffeine may harm fetus, study finds | Reuters

Women who drank one to two cups of coffee daily, or between 100-199 milligrams, had a 20 percent increased risk of having a baby of low birth weight, the study found. This was compared to women who consumed less than 100 milligrams daily.

Record high temperatures in my backyard

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:41:00 +0000

Arctic temperatures at record highs, report says - USATODAY.com

"Changes in the Arctic show a domino effect from multiple causes more clearly than in other regions," said James Overland, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. "It's a sensitive system and often reflects changes in relatively fast and dramatic ways."

University Pay Scales

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Evolving Thoughts: This is a disgrace

Fish in a barrel

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:57:00 +0000

Friedman: Palin's kind of patriotism - International Herald Tribune

Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can't just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: "You recently said paying taxes is patriotic. In middle-class America, where I have been all my life, that is not considered patriotic."

Sleeping in

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:41:00 +0000

Should kids sleep in parents' bed? - ParentDish

Having kids in the bed disrupts our sleep and God knows that parents with five kids need their sleep. On the other hand, we know that this stage is limited (our nine year-old no longer comes to our bed at night ) and that we will one day pine for the days when our kids loved to crawl in our bed and cuddle.

Free internet - nationwide!

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:11:00 +0000

FCC Clears Free National Internet Plan | Epicenter from Wired.com

The FCC plans to auction off a chunk of airwaves to a carrier who will set aside some of the space for free national Internet access. The costs will be offset by advertising and a subscription-based plan for consumers willing to pay for faster access.
...
The decision is a blow to the telecoms, as the FCC could begin
auctioning off the airwaves as soon as the first quarter of 2009. The
proposed network would have to reach 50 percent of the U.S. population
in four years and 95 percent within a decade.

Links for 2008-10-16 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 PDT

Dabbleboard - Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration
Dabbleboard is a free, powerful and easy-to-use online whiteboard. Draw with flexible tools. Share and collaborate in real-time.
Webspiration

Mammalian diversity declining

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:19:00 +0000

1 in 4 mammals faces extinction, scientists say - USATODAY.com

The report due Friday in the journal Science says that of the world's 5,487 mammal species, at least one in four land species and one in three marine species face extinction in the foreseeable future.

To do: buy myself a pay raise

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:45:00 +0000

In Most School Districts, the Doctor Is in Charge, but Some Question Degree

Nationally, the percentage of superintendents who hold an education-related PhD or the education doctorate known as an EdD rose from 36 percent in 1992 to about 51 percent in 2006, according to the American Association of School Administrators. An exception to this trend in the Washington area is D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, who holds a master's degree in public policy.

Superintendents and many academics say the doctoral programs teach vital management and statistical skills while providing an intellectual challenge. But critics say the programs mostly provide financial rewards -- for the universities that collect tuition and for educators who pick up a credential that helps them earn a higher salary and a "doctor" title.

Oh noes! I can't haz a spelling test!?

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:41:00 +0000

Learning spelling lists too 'distressing' for kids: UK school - World

"We have taken the decision to stop spelling as homework as it is felt that although children may learn them perfectly at home they are often unable to use them in their daily written work.

"Also many children find this activity unnecessarily distressing."

Internet use is OK during Australian exams

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Top News - Digital debate: Prepare kids for exams or life?

Students at Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC), a private girls' school in Sydney, Australia, are participating in a pilot project in which they can use cell phones, the internet, and can even call a friend or relative to help them with an exam question.

Learning environments make a difference in math

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Girls love math, too! Please be sure to praise them for it.

A recent report

... found that while girls can be just as talented as boys at mathematics, some are driven from the field because they are teased, ostracized or simply neglected.

Buzz, Buzz.

noreply@blogger.com (andrewcknoll) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Bees Can Count - Yahoo! News

Honeybees are clever little creatures. They can form abstract concepts, such as symmetry versus asymmetry, and they use symbolic language - the celebrated waggle dance - to direct their hivemates to flower patches. New reports suggest that they can also communicate across species, and can count - up to a point.