Education Learning Issues

• "Allows manufacturers to determine that the use of an additive is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), and then use that substance without notifying the FDA.
• "Does not require that manufacturers inform the FDA when health reports suggest new hazards associated with additives already used in food."

DID YOU BELIEVE IN JAVITS? The Senate committee charged with appropriating funds for its continuation didn't, according to their vote on July 29th -- but the battle may move now to the US House of Representatives. Find more information at the CEC website.

THE EFFECT OF GOOD TEACHERS, QUANTIFIED. Try $320,000 -- that's the estimated value of a stand-out kindergarten teacher, as measured by the increased earnings of a full class or his or her students. The New York Times reported on a longitudinal study of 12,000 children, in which some teachers were identified as being able to help their students learn much more than other teachers. The results? "Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more." Read the article and give a raise to a standout teacher you know.

ON BULLYING. Also from The New York Times: An op-ed piece "There's Only One Way to Stop a Bully" (training teachers and staff how to recognize bullying and intervene), along with quite a few thoughtful responses to the article by readers. If bullying is an issue that you're concerned with, find the article and find the responses.

AD/HD AND DIET. An Australian study suggests that adolescents eating a "Western" diet have twice the risk of AD/HD than those eating a "Healthy" diet, one high in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and fish. The Western diet? It's heavy in takeaway foods, confectionery, processed, fried and refined foods, and higher in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar, and sodium. The researchers speculate the difference in the levels of omega-3 fatty acids might be the culprit. Read more, then go harass your teenager.

INTELLIGENCE AND THE BRAIN is a new book by Dennis Garlick, Ph.D., who answers questions about it in an interview with Michael Shaughnessy. Topics covered include the nature of intelligence, IQ, and IQ testing. Find it.

TEACHING MICROBIOLOGY WITH A VIDEO GAME. It can be done successfully, according to a press release from Wake Forest University. CellCraft, a game developed there and available on popular gaming sites, was played more than a million times within 10 days of its release. Gamers made comments such as, "I wish this game would've come out earlier; maybe I wouldn't have received a D in Biology." The game is available for free download at www.cellcraftgame.com. For the school year, it will include a free, downloadable teacher's packet and a printable lab worksheet. Read more.

STUCK AT PROM CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED. One of our favorite contests, where high-school prom-goers make their outfits out of Duck brand duct tape, has announced this year's winners. You can see the winners here. (You've got to admit, winning this contest takes creativity, discipline, and artistic talent. It's not every kid that would spend up to 300 hours to craft, say, a Victorian-inspired gown -- even if the kids did get to spend the time in the company of their prom dates.)

BACK TO SCHOOL? It's not even August. But anyway, the American Optometric Association has issued its back-to-school recommendation for eye exams. The press release includes indicators of vision problems, for example performing below potential or struggling to complete homework. Find the release. Along those lines, the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), members of which have been featured in 2e Newsletter, note that August is National Children's Vision and Learning Month. Find the COVD website.

DSM-V -- CONTINUING SAGA. An editorial in the Journal of Mental Health expresses concerns among experts that proposed guidelines in the new DSM would qualify almost everyone as having some sort of disorder. You can actually read the full editorial online, or you can read others' interpretations here or here.

TEMPLE GRANDIN BIOPIC. An HBO movie about autistic achiever Temple Grandin airs for the first time this Saturday night. Grandin frequently speaks at conferences where twice-exceptionality is a topic. Her "real" job is animal behavioralist and livestock consultant. The New York Times says this about the movie: "Hers is a tale that could be easily be played up for drama, intrigue and weepy reconciliations, but this narrative is loyal to Ms. Grandin’s credo: emotions are secondary to tangible results. And the result is a movie that is funny, instructive and also intangibly charming." Read the Times article. Hear a recent NPR interview with Grandin.

AP FAILURE RATES. USA Today notes that even while the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams is rising, the rate of failure among those taking the exams is also rising. In some states, more than 50 percent of AP test-takers fail. Read more. Jay Matthews, education writer for the Washington Post, also commented on the problem.

VISION, DYSLEXIA, AND LEARNING is the subject of a recent article at LD Online. The article notes a joint statement between the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Council on Children with Disabilities, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology on visual problems and dyslexia, along with possible treatments. Read the LD Online piece; read the full statement.

TEACHING THE GIFTED is a topic of an article from the San Diego News Network. The article offers strategies that can positively affect learning in high-ability young people. Read it.

EDUTOPIA EVOLVES. The organization Edutopia, here-to-fore the publisher of a print magazine of the same name, has announced it will no longer publish the print edition, instead using the Internet "to deliver deeper, more relevant stories, especially with video, about innovation in teaching and learning. New community and content-sharing tools make it possible for educators to find and exchange tips and solutions with each other whenever they wish." Find out more.

CEC COMMENTS ON THE NEW EDUCATION BUDGET. The Council for Exceptional Children offers its opinions on a couple things the federal government is proposing that involve IDEA and the Javits act, and the Council is not happy. Read why.

TIDBITS. ScienceDaily offers three news items for those of you with an interest in certain exceptionalities in that gifted child you raise or teach. One article describes how children with AD/HD may have differences in the brain's reward system. Another article covers a study on similarities between symptoms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and AD/HD. And a third study links excessive Internet use to depression, although the population in question uses the Internet so much that the article uses the word "addicts" to describe them.

AD/HD VERSUS GIFTEDNESS. Mom and blogger Kelly Burns recently posted a long piece offering information and advice to parents in regard to giftedness being misdiagnosed as AD/HD. One of her main suggestions: find a qualified psychologist for an assessment. Read the blog.

WE BASH VIDEO GAMES, sometimes, but an article in the Boston Globe describes research about the positive side of the games. From the article: "Most games involve a huge number of mental tasks, and playing can boost any one of them. Fast-paced, action-packed video games have been shown, in separate studies, to boost visual acuity, spatial perception, and the ability to pick out objects in a scene. Complex, strategy-based games can improve other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning." The article also notes that video games are just a medium, and, as such, neither inherently good nor bad. Find the article.

THE EIDES ON VIDEO GAMES. Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide, in their Neurolearning blog, note that action-based video games can improve contrast sensitivity in players -- the ability to discern close shades of gray. The ability to train this sensitivity may help kids with lazy eye, or older adults who are losing their night vision. The Eides also weigh in with their opinion on "Anti-learning Style" proponents such as Daniel Willingham, the subject of two recent items in this blog. Find the Eide's blog.

NAGC'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE is November 5th through 8th. We will have a presence at the conference, and we look forward to meeting friends of 2e Newsletter. Hope to see you there!

SMART CHILD LEFT BEHIND is the title of an opinion piece in The New York Times this past Thursday. The piece disputes what it calls an optimistic notion that NCLB is raising test scores for top students as well as low-achieving students. It points out the disparity in the gains between the two groups, and provides three reasons why gifted students are not benefiting as much. Find the article.

KIDS LEARN ABOUT LEARNING DIFFERENCES -- their own. According to an Edutopia article, a charter school in San Francisco helps kids who learn differently. The school provides a Mel Levine-inspired environment and encourages students to learn about their personal learning styles. One former student relates how he went from getting straight D's in middle school to almost all A's in high school -- and into Cornell University. Read about the school.

IT'S FOOTBALL TIME AGAIN, and if your scholar/athlete is out on the field, make sure you know the symptoms of concussion, what concussion can do to higher mental processes, and the dangers of continuing to play after suffering a concussion. Two articles this week, one in The New York Times and one in Science Daily, attest to the dangers. Sorry to nag, but as they say: "A brain is a terrible thing to waste." Find the Times article. Find Science Daily's take on the topic.

RON DAVIS LECTURE. If you're a fan of dyslexia expert and author Ronald Davis, and if you live in the Chicago area, you're in luck. He has a two-hour lecture scheduled on the evening of October 14th in downtown Chicago. Find out more.

TAMARA FISHER'S most recent entry on her blog "Unwrapping the Gifted" is on RTI -- and she's concerned that the needs of the gifted aren't represented in the three-tiered RTI model. She explains her concerns... and then proposes changes in the RTI tiers to help address her concerns. She also provides links for those who want to learn more about RTI. Find her blog.

GIFTED WITH LD? OR JUST CAN'T SEE? An article in the Arizona Daily Star relates cases of children whose classroom achievement was greatly improved by addressing vision problems. According to the article, the American Optometric Association contends that as many as 60 percent of "problem learners" have undetected vision problems. The article also recounted how one bright but reluctant learner in a gifted ed class was not participating; after vision screening and treatment, both his confidence and his grades improved greatly. Read the article.

MORE NEWS as the week goes on...