Can TV Shows Teach Science?

"...“CSI” has “led to positive outcomes in terms of viewers’ awareness and interest” in forensics.


"The National Research Council study found the strongest evidence that educational TV, through such shows as “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and “3-2-1 Contact,” can positively influence children’s knowledge of science. In one study cited in the report, children who watched Mr. Nye’s show were able to provide more complete and complex explanations of scientific concepts and could better generate scientific ideas."

Education Week, "Informal Experiences Can Go a Long Way in Teaching Science: NRC Study Points to Benefits from TV and Games" by Sean Cavanagh, 1/28/09

Are Newbery Award books better for gifted kids?

"The literary world is debating the Newbery's value, asking whether the books that have won recently are so complicated and inaccessible to most children that they are effectively turning off kids to reading. Of the 25 winners and runners-up chosen from 2000 to 2005, four of the books deal with death, six with the absence of one or both parents and four with such mental challenges as autism. Most of the rest deal with tough social issues."

Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post, 12/08

"Does it follow that books dealing with tough social issues turn kids off? Doesn't whether a book is complicated or inaccessible depend on the age and experience of the reader?"

Newbery Medal winner Susan Patron, in The Dallas Morning News, 1/25/09

According to Dubrowsky's theory of over-excitabilities, gifted kids may be more sensitive, more empathetic, and/or more engaged by or troubled by ethical issues. So, shall we conclude that Newbery Medal books are just the ticket for gifted kids or overload?

In the end, the best approach is to read the books before we give them to our kids. (But who's got the time?!)

Good news for science majors

Obama's recovery package aims to...triple the number of undergraduate and graduate fellowships in science.

Dallas Morning News, 1/25/09

Science and math are already lucrative fields for students to pursue, both in terms of eventual salaries and because of the summer research grants and fellowships they can get. Obama promises to make it even better.

What do I mean by summer research grants? If a student can find a researcher-mentor and join an existing project or propose a new one, he or she can apply for grants from their college. For example, Stanford pays up to $5200; CalTech pays $600/week; the University of North Texas' TAMS (Texas Academy of Mathematics and Sciences) pays up to $3000. Most colleges that focus on science will have similar programs.

It's a whole lot better than flipping burgers at MacDonalds for the summer.

A Win for Evolutionary Biology in Texas

AUSTIN (Texas) – State Board of Education members tentatively approved new science curriculum standards Friday that scrap a longtime requirement that students be taught the "weaknesses" in the theory of evolution.

Dallas Morning News, 1/24/09

Would it be inappropriate for me to say "Thank God" or "Hallelujah"?

Finally, the Texas Board of Education got it right.

I had noticed recently that some colleges are not giving credit for Advanced Placement Biology. It made me wonder: have colleges realized that Texas has been teaching creationism and deemphasizing evolution, and, knowing that such an approach fails to give students the necessary understanding of evolutionary biology - which is the foundation of all biology - decided that they had to make sure everyone took Freshman Biology?