Instructivist

A parent reads from a letter that contains a powerful indictment of TERC math at a school board meeting. The board is unresponsive and event...

If you want a good chuckle, read this piece by the NYT's A. Revkin. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/a-students-call-for-a-l...

There is a lot of hand-wringing about what to do about dismal academic performance. This little gem points to a way out. Multiple Alternativ...

The global warming fraternity portrays itself as embattled but plays rough. Willis_Eschenbach Stephen Schneider says "Most of our colle...

What's going on with education in England? An education professor is advising the government to drop academic subjects because supposed...

Whole language mother teaches phonics kid how to read. [Click to enlarge] As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this c...

A reader of Bridging Differences asks: "Instructivist v constructivist? Can there be some common ground between the two?" There i...

A rare event of nature.

A mathematician once said that math was "a seamless whole" inside her head. I don't know if this ties in with the idea of a se...

I came across comments made by Lee Stiff, past president of NCTM on how math used to be taught. STIFF: Parents are upset because, when they ...

Education Week reports on a new study that shows that smaller classes don't help close the achievement gap. Class-Size Reduction of Limi...

A grand experiment spearheaded and financed by Bill Gates aimed at reforming high schools in Chicago has suffered a setback. In addition to ...

The New York Times reports on scientific studies that show that biofuels are not the vaunted "green" fuel many believed it to be....

A reader asked me how I was able to navigate ed school considering the dominance of the constructivist creed and my instructivist views. I t...

Two giants of education with differing views, Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch, are having an amicable conversation in search of common groun...

Another parent group is formed to fight the fuzzy math plague. The fuzzy math program the parents are fighting is TERC (also known as Inves...

Depressing pictures of the book depository for Detroit schools. (via Joanne Jacobs)

Propelled by Gates millions, Chicago's high schools are being transformed to conform to progressive/constructivist visions to save the d...

Most prospective teachers seeking certification must go through education schools where they get bombarded with the rhetoric of progressive/...

A core tenet of the progressive/constructivist education creed is that students must construct their own knowledge . For this reason, accord...

When even ed schools like Appalachian State’s ed school are fluent in edubabble, then you know "progressive" education has arrived...

An organization dedicated to "infusing 21st century skills into education" commissioned a poll that had the vast majority of vote...

Who can compete with all that fun as educators prepare the young for their world? See the kiddies happily dancing into the world of tomorrow...

In this report by John Merrow of PBS, celebrated teachers speak out against NCLB. The criticisms range from unrealistic expectations to the...

Poor Earth! First it was knocked out of its central location by Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo et al. Now (relatively speaking) comes a popular...

It is shameful that educationists care so little for the needs of gifted students. The egalitarian dogma and the quest for mediocrity are m...

If you listen to Kozol of the land of Kozolnistan, schools are starved for money. On the other hand, money can flow quite freely as this ext...

Google is pouring its massive resources into developing alternative energy sources: SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. is expanding into alternativ...

This is rich! Alfie thinks he has a right to be heard at taxpayer's expense. Alfie Kohn Settles Suit By The Associated Press BOSTON The ...

Going largely unnoticed by major media, Gates billions are rapidly and radically transforming high schools and turning them into a homogeniz...

With all this globalization, it is remarkable that so few elementary schools teach foreign languages. Everyone knows that a language is best...

In a superb post, rightwingprof takes issue with the suggestion by some that Latin should be taught to learn English grammar. RWP offers ma...

Gotta chew on this one. Sample questions from Singapore's PSLE examination. This examination is given to sixth graders who leave for sec...

When I read stories like this, Science courses nearly extinct in elementary grades, study finds I begin to wonder whether educationists wil...

Teaching is probably the only profession that is more rewarding and satisfying than herding cats.

The Chicago Tribune went into a classroom for a year in an inner-city school to observe first hand the challenges faced by teachers. The re...

Learning styles are needlessly reduced to too few categories. Here, Dr. Kerry Hempenstall explores Freud's seminal contributions to lear...

Scores go up when questions get easier, a Daily News analysis shows. Daily News exam finds math scores up when difficulty rating went down W...

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer. Note: Figure not drawn to scale. The circle shown above...

The learning-styles craze has received another well-deserved drubbing from a leading scientist in England. Let's hope "senses work...

There is no need to keep reinventing the wheel. California math standards look good. Here are California's grade level expectations in ...

Kids and grownups should have fun marveling at these different sizes.

There usually are multiple approaches to doing things. For example, if you want to increase the pass rate on tests, you could try to make st...

Parents dissatisfied with the fuzzy math plague can go to this site: http://www.aaastudy.com/grade8.htm No expensive tutor needed. The progr...

Some educationists believe that so-called "21th century skills" means dumbing down the curriculum beyond recognition. Such educat...

Doing chemical experiments like throwing sodium or potassium into water is not without risks. As a matter of fact, it's very dangerous. ...

Jumping on teachers for educational shortcomings is a sport in some quarters. In a welcome corrective, Diane Ravitch looks at the role stude...

It is quite difficult to navigate around the Mathematically Correct site when looking for specific math textbook reviews. There is no searc...