Here's a collection of things that have caught my attention lately.
The Dangers of Time Travel
Apparently, when the Chinese authorities aren't busy funding our national debt, they're busy policing the television airwaves for unhealthy programming. The latest danger to the Chinese population: time travel.
According to the Chinese government, television shows that depict time travel "lack positive thoughts and meaning." The broadcasting guidelines discourage these shows, pointing out that they often "casually make up myths, have monstrous and weird plots, [and] use absurd tactics." In other words, they are too much like The Disney Channel.
Personally, I think the Chinese are still mad that Bill and Ted chose to travel back in time to capture "the very excellent barbarian" Genghis Khan—the "dude who 700 years ago totally ravaged China" as well a San Dimas, CA sporting goods store.
Just imagine how bad unemployment would be in this country if the FCC enforced similar guidelines for our television programming.
Teaching Math
The excellent New York Timex blog Fixes regularly takes a look at interesting solutions to social problems and why they work.
This week's installment takes a look at a curriculum called "Jump Math" that is being used in parts of Canada and England as a way to make sure that every kid becomes good at math. The author points out that "in every math class I’ve taken, there have been slow kids, average kids and whiz kids. It never occurred to me that this hierarchy might be avoidable."
This new curriculum breaks math down into very small steps that build upon each other and assesses a student's performance at each step. Not only does this method squeeze the traditional bell curve so that there is less variation in performance between students, it also shifts the curve toward greater mastery.
You can see that play out statistically in the example illustrated above from a teacher who taught the same Canadian students in both fifth grade and sixth grade. During the fifth grade year, student math scores ranged from 9% to 75%. During the sixth grade year when the teacher used Jump Math, the lowest score was 95%.
The Jump Math web site has links to videos about the curriculum and the ability to download sample worksheets.
Bullies Need Sunday School
Thelma wrote yesterday about some neighborhood bullying. Bullying is obviously unacceptable behavior by any social standard. But can you limit bullying by teaching bullies that their behavior is wrong?
In the April 2011 issue of the scholarly journal Personality and Individual Differences, three researchers took a look at 719 children between the ages of 9 and 13. The group of children included kids whom the researches classified as bullies, victims or defenders. What they found was that bullies actually have strong moral judgement when it comes to understanding whether certain behaviors are permissible. They shared this trait with defenders, but not victims who are relatively less competent at making moral judgements. However, the researches noted that "despite the advanced moral competence of bullies, they were woefully deficient with respect to their moral compassion when compared to both victims and defenders." In other words, bullies may be able to judge easily between right and wrong, but they lack compassion.
The questions I come away from this with are how or whether you can teach a bully compassion and empathy?
What many people misunderstand about true religion is that it goes far beyond a mere study of what is right or what is wrong. Instead, it builds the character and traits in a person that allows them to behave well with that knowledge. I'm convinced that if children grow up in a home or community or congregation where they are taught to seek and feel and act upon the promptings of the Holy Spirt, then they will develop the traits of compassion and empathy that allow them to couple their knowledge of what is right and wrong with right and good choices.
I'm reminded of the oft repeated observation of Boyd K. Packer who has taught that "true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."
So instead of lessons on what behavior is acceptable as a cure for bullying, perhaps we should try creating experiences that allow children to develop empathy and compassion.
The Dangers of Time Travel
Apparently, when the Chinese authorities aren't busy funding our national debt, they're busy policing the television airwaves for unhealthy programming. The latest danger to the Chinese population: time travel.
 |
| In "Palace", a woman travels back in time and falls in love with Qing Dynasty princes. |
According to the Chinese government, television shows that depict time travel "lack positive thoughts and meaning." The broadcasting guidelines discourage these shows, pointing out that they often "casually make up myths, have monstrous and weird plots, [and] use absurd tactics." In other words, they are too much like The Disney Channel.
Personally, I think the Chinese are still mad that Bill and Ted chose to travel back in time to capture "the very excellent barbarian" Genghis Khan—the "dude who 700 years ago totally ravaged China" as well a San Dimas, CA sporting goods store.
Just imagine how bad unemployment would be in this country if the FCC enforced similar guidelines for our television programming.
Teaching Math
The excellent New York Timex blog Fixes regularly takes a look at interesting solutions to social problems and why they work.
This week's installment takes a look at a curriculum called "Jump Math" that is being used in parts of Canada and England as a way to make sure that every kid becomes good at math. The author points out that "in every math class I’ve taken, there have been slow kids, average kids and whiz kids. It never occurred to me that this hierarchy might be avoidable."
This new curriculum breaks math down into very small steps that build upon each other and assesses a student's performance at each step. Not only does this method squeeze the traditional bell curve so that there is less variation in performance between students, it also shifts the curve toward greater mastery.
The Jump Math web site has links to videos about the curriculum and the ability to download sample worksheets.
Bullies Need Sunday School
Thelma wrote yesterday about some neighborhood bullying. Bullying is obviously unacceptable behavior by any social standard. But can you limit bullying by teaching bullies that their behavior is wrong?
In the April 2011 issue of the scholarly journal Personality and Individual Differences, three researchers took a look at 719 children between the ages of 9 and 13. The group of children included kids whom the researches classified as bullies, victims or defenders. What they found was that bullies actually have strong moral judgement when it comes to understanding whether certain behaviors are permissible. They shared this trait with defenders, but not victims who are relatively less competent at making moral judgements. However, the researches noted that "despite the advanced moral competence of bullies, they were woefully deficient with respect to their moral compassion when compared to both victims and defenders." In other words, bullies may be able to judge easily between right and wrong, but they lack compassion.
The questions I come away from this with are how or whether you can teach a bully compassion and empathy?
What many people misunderstand about true religion is that it goes far beyond a mere study of what is right or what is wrong. Instead, it builds the character and traits in a person that allows them to behave well with that knowledge. I'm convinced that if children grow up in a home or community or congregation where they are taught to seek and feel and act upon the promptings of the Holy Spirt, then they will develop the traits of compassion and empathy that allow them to couple their knowledge of what is right and wrong with right and good choices.
I'm reminded of the oft repeated observation of Boyd K. Packer who has taught that "true doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."
So instead of lessons on what behavior is acceptable as a cure for bullying, perhaps we should try creating experiences that allow children to develop empathy and compassion.
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