tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/classroom-19991/articlesClassroom – The Conversation2023-11-30T17:21:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187002023-11-30T17:21:21Z2023-11-30T17:21:21ZWhy are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies?<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a0e5db7e-fb55-4a8a-880e-00f8d5a0f2dc?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>In this episode of<a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies"> Don’t Call Me Resilient</a>, we look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.</em> </p>
<p>Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by <a href="https://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.19_canada_school_kids_racism_diversity-1.pdf">Angus Reid</a> and the <a href="https://www.girlguides.ca/WEB/Documents/GGC/media/media-releases/Gender_Equality_Press_Release_Oct_2018.pdf">Girl Guides of Canada,</a> school-aged children are expressing concern about the sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes they are experiencing in their classrooms. And the research supports them: experts say <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students</a>. </p>
<p>Many experts point to Andrew Tate, the far-right social media influencer as one of the culprits. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/online-misogyny-harrasment-school-children-b2314451.html">Teachers say he has a big presence in the classroom</a>. </p>
<p>On top of that, there’s been an exponential rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada that have also impacted the classroom.</p>
<p>Why are boys especially attracted to these hateful ideologies? As we near <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-continuum-of-unabated-violence-remembering-the-massacre-at-ecole-polytechnique-88572"> the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6,</a> we spoke with to two experts who have been thinking a lot about this question.</p>
<p>Teresa Fowler is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton whose research focuses on critical white masculinities. </p>
<p>Lance McCready is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research explores education, health and the well-being of Black men, boys and queer youth, especially in urban communities and schools. </p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">How 'misogyny influencers' cater to young men's anxieties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/act-tough-and-hide-weakness-research-reveals-pressure-young-men-are-under-74898">Act tough and hide weakness: research reveals pressure young men are under</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-schools-can-foster-civic-discussion-in-an-age-of-incivility-106136">How schools can foster civic discussion in an age of incivility</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/less-talk-more-action-national-day-of-remembrance-on-violence-against-women-108139">Less talk, more action: National Day of Remembrance on Violence Against Women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-busy-for-the-pta-but-working-class-parents-care-104386">Too busy for the PTA, but working-class parents care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-critical-race-theory-should-inform-schools-185169">Why critical race theory should inform schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star">Inside the violent, misogynistic world of TikTok’s new star, Andrew Tate</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.boyhoodinitiative.org">The Boyhood Initiative</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gegi.ca">How to Advocate at School for Yourself or Someone You Love</a>, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender identity discrimination at school.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667368/rebels-with-a-cause-by-niobe-way/"><em>Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves and Our Culture</em></a> by Niobe Way</p>
<p><a href="https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/">The Mask You Live In</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/"><em>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</em></a> by Paulo Freire</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
<p><strong>Please fill out our <a href="https://dontcallmeresilient.com">listener survey</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Host Vinita Srivastava explores why racist, homophobic and sexist attitudes are increasingly showing up in school-age boys – and what we can do about it.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientJennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientKikachi Memeh, Assistant Producer/Student Journalist, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118112023-08-23T12:26:04Z2023-08-23T12:26:04ZHow a hip-hop mindset can help teachers in a time of turmoil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543937/original/file-20230822-19-fzf2o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C20%2C6679%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Confidence is a critical component of hip-hop culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/confident-black-woman-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/1298999131?phrase=high+school+teacher+black+woman&adppopup=true">Manu Vega via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While hip-hop has created a lot of good memories, good music and good times, the culture has gifted society much more than just entertainment.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7BZ3GM8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher who specializes in hip-hop culture</a>, I know that one of hip-hop’s greatest gifts is a <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/the-hip-hop-mindset-9780807768709#:">certain mindset that focuses on freedom of thought, flexibility and truth-telling</a>. It also includes <a href="https://doi.org/10.25148/CLJ.16.1.010605">creativity, authenticity, confidence, braggadocio, uninhibited voice and integrity</a> as those things relate to one’s community and culture.</p>
<p>In order for educators to overcome the challenges of what politicians are turning into an <a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-seek-to-control-classroom-discussions-about-slavery-in-the-us-187057">increasingly restrictive teaching environment</a> – particularly with regard to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-can-stay-true-to-history-without-breaking-new-laws-that-restrict-what-they-can-teach-about-racism-205452">matters of race and racism in American history</a> – I believe the hip-hop mindset has taken on a new sense of relevance in the educational arena.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/bans-on-critical-race-theory-could-have-a-chilling-effect-on-how-educators-teach-about-racism-163236">Many educators feel uncertainty</a> over what they can and can’t say in the classroom. They also want to stay true to themselves. Here, I offer five ways that educators can adopt the hip-hop mindset to confront the challenges they face:</p>
<h2>1. Claim your space</h2>
<p>When Run-DMC <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCaycrPIa0">took the stage in the 1980s</a>, they often began their show with Run – one half of the pioneering rap duo – walking on stage and saying to an eager crowd: “We had a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight, but I want y'all to know one thing: This is my house. And when I say ‘Who’s house?’ I want y'all to say ‘Run’s house.’”</p>
<p>Through this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25377-6_2">call-and-response</a> routine, the group claimed every arena in which they performed. Whether you call it posturing, braggadocio or swag, hip-hop culture has long rewarded those who confidently took control of the spaces where they work.</p>
<p>Hip-hop’s longevity is due in large part to this boldness – artists standing firm and <a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/musc210-hhp/hip-hop-culture-politics-exploring-the-narrative-and-power-of-rap-lyrics/fuck-tha-police-n-w-a/">fighting back</a> <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/when-christian-america-and-the-cops-went-insane-over-n-w-a-rap-and-metal/">even when they were under attack</a>.</p>
<p>Strong confidence gives artists the guts to be nonconformists, to tell the truth and to try something new – practices that I believe will benefit teachers in the midst of political efforts to control what they say.</p>
<h2>2. Form a squad or a crew</h2>
<p>From the early days to now, hip-hop artists have always formed
<a href="https://www.seoultherapy.co.uk/post/a-guide-to-k-hip-hop-crews#">squads or crews</a> to perform as emcees or dancers, who often battle to show who has the best lyrics or dance moves.</p>
<p>Early examples include the Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers, who famously squared off against one another in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xu48tnr4qQ">iconic scene</a> from the 1984 hip-hop movie “Beat Street.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Xu48tnr4qQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Breakdancing battle scene from the movie “Beat Street.”</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Your squad isn’t just your personal friends – they are your colleagues and comrades in the struggle. They are your trusted village of truth tellers, possibility partners and strategic thinkers. Educators can lean on their squad to help strategize and stay sane. </p>
<p>A squad or crew need not be confined to just one school. Queen Latifah, Monie Love, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul – who were either solo acts or individual groups – were all part of an even larger artistic community called <a href="https://www.avclub.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-hip-hop-collective-native-tongues-1798239179">Native Tongues</a>. </p>
<p>Just as hip-hop artists are often part of larger groups, educators can similarly build a larger community of support.</p>
<p>Partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations could prove important now more than ever. These organizations can host and facilitate learning experiences that might be prohibited in a classroom. Through these partnerships, students can get free, community-based programs that enable them to have freer discussions that might not be allowed within a public school in a state that restricts what educators can say.</p>
<h2>3. Remix</h2>
<p>One of the most popular strategies of creating hip-hop music is the remix – where a song’s producer will create a new version of a song, sometimes by borrowing or sampling beats from other songs, changing up the pace, or even introducing new lyrics that weren’t part of the original.</p>
<p>A classic example would be KRS-One’s 1988 song “Still #1.” Whereas the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw_UMdFSSlo">original version</a> was laid back, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gZ6tLhUAHY&t=42s">“Numero Uno” remix</a> featured a sample of an upbeat Latin jazz song and even opened in Spanish.</p>
<p>Embracing the art of remixing might offer a viable way for educators to respond to efforts to censor what students can read in school or educators can teach in class.</p>
<p>For instance, in school districts or states where certain books or topics have been outlawed, educators can use <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/how-teenagers-can-borrow-banned-books-for-free-from-brooklyn-public-library/">Books Unbanned</a> – a program in which teens and young adults can access e-books using a national library card. Educators can create a free guide of resources for families that include information on similar programs.</p>
<p>A remix may also be helpful with school funding. Schools at all levels could <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2022/01/11/critical-race-theory-scholars-counter-funded-attacks">secure grant and foundational support</a>, which can provide the resources to fund community-based partnerships and the freedom to establish specialized initiatives.</p>
<h2>4. Go crate digging</h2>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-lost-art-of-cratedigging-4ed652643618">Crate digging</a> is a critical part of the remix. It is the process of sifting through old vinyl records, typically stored in old milk crates or cardboard boxes, to find a long-forgotten song to use in a remix.</p>
<p>Similarly, teachers can turn to the tactics and strategies employed by educators from different eras to see how they dealt with the educational exclusion and erasure of their day. After desegregation, for instance, a new struggle emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to make school lessons more <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2668212">culturally and racially inclusive</a>. </p>
<p>By examining the work of legendary educators like <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/how-teenagers-can-borrow-banned-books-for-free-from-brooklyn-public-library/">Septima Clark</a>, today’s teachers can uncover ideas and opportunities to re-imagine historical efforts like the <a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/septima-clark/">Citizenship Schools</a> initiative that Clark developed. These mobile schools – or <a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/septima-clark/">“rolling schools”</a> as they were called – took learning into community spaces. These schools paved the way for programs like the Freedom Schools that were later developed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, and are still in operation today by the <a href="https://www.childrensdefense.org/programs/cdf-freedom-schools/">Children’s Defense Fund</a>. Communities around the country partner with the Children’s Defense Fund to offer local Freedom Schools.</p>
<h2>5. Still keep it real</h2>
<p>As a teenage fan of hip-hop in the early 1990s, I remember the phrase “keep it real” – which is an expression of authenticity – as being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/08/keeping-it-real-has-lost-its-true-meaning/">extremely popular</a>. At the time, it felt like intense pressure to keep it real and to represent your community. I now look back and appreciate that it actually wasn’t pressure, but rather permission to be authentic.</p>
<p>Educators don’t have to champion the new laws and policies that restrict what they can teach – they just have to follow them. But there’s no restriction against “keeping it real” and discussing the new laws and policies as a civics lesson.</p>
<p>So, when the lesson or class is about current events, students could examine various laws being enacted to restrict the teaching of Black history.</p>
<p>Educators may find themselves facing a growing number of challenges from state legislatures as they increasingly invade their classroom spaces and curtail the kind of content they can teach in class. I believe by adopting the hip-hop mindset, educators will be better prepared to do the kind of battle required to prevail on behalf of truth-telling, authenticity, creativity and all the other habits of mind that made hip-hop the defiant and resilient culture that it has become.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toby Jenkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The same boldness that enabled hip-hop to endure can benefit teachers in the classroom, a hip-hop scholar writes.Toby Jenkins, Professor of Higher Education, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047782023-05-15T12:34:19Z2023-05-15T12:34:19ZShort meetings could encourage teachers to stay on the job<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525733/original/file-20230511-42642-h5nbrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C50%2C6689%2C4396&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teacher turnover annually costs school districts thousands of dollars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/school-counselor-talks-withe-group-of-students-royalty-free-image/950887440?phrase=teacher+principal&adppopup=true">SDI Productions via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>A single, 10-minute meeting between teachers and their principals can increase teacher job satisfaction, our new research shows. This increase in job satisfaction could potentially encourage teachers to stay in the profession longer, thereby reducing turnover and potentially saving school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars. </p>
<p>Our pilot study <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/cvj/index.php/cvj/article/view/113/235">findings were published</a> in the Journal of Leadership, Equity, and Research.</p>
<p>By combining surveys and digital conferencing to gauge how teachers felt before and after they met with their principals, we implemented a novel research design that, to the best of our knowledge, has never been attempted previously. The three teachers who had the meetings were compared to four teachers who did not meet with their principals.</p>
<p>Although there are many factors, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-time-for-teachers-to-get-a-raise-199687">relatively low salaries</a> and lack of support from colleagues, that <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/node/2448">contribute to teacher turnover</a>, teachers also frequently mention <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716659929">inadequate support from school principals</a> as a major reason for leaving the profession. Due to increasing demands on school administrators’ time, a commitment of only 10 minutes could have a lot of appeal if later on, that 10 minutes can save countless hours that would otherwise be spent on attracting and hiring new teachers to replace the ones that leave.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Half of U.S. teachers <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED556348">leave the profession within their first five years on the job</a>. These early departures occur most often in <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-turnover-report">schools located in poorer, rural and inner-city areas</a>. </p>
<p>Very often these schools have <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105180.pdf">higher percentages of students who require remedial or specialized learning environments</a>. In terms of subject matter, <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/article/view/3696/2228">many schools are struggling</a> to find qualified math and science teachers, as well as teachers who are certified to teach English language learners.</p>
<p>Studies have also shown that many schools with lower student achievement <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Teaching_Experience_Report_June_2016.pdf">have disproportionately high numbers of inexperienced teachers</a>.</p>
<p>While our study involved 10-minute meetings, we recognize that school principals need to do more than just hold these meetings to ensure they are supporting their teachers effectively. Recent research has shown that COVID-19 <a href="https://cceam.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ISEA-2021-49-No-1.pdf#page=115">led to lower job satisfaction among teachers</a>, placing greater demands on school principals to support their teachers.</p>
<p>Depending on the location, the <a href="https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NCTAFCostofTeacherTurnoverpolicybrief.pdf">cost of replacing each teacher</a> is between US$10,000 and $20,000. Taken nationally, these costs amount to $7.3 billion annually that could be spent on facilities, programs, meals and supplies to directly assist students.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are making plans to expand this intervention research to include a much larger population of teachers – 500 from one state, to be exact – and administrators.</p>
<p>We also plan to investigate the role that social media plays in how the general public, and specifically aspiring teachers, view the teaching profession. Thirty years ago, burned-out teachers were limited in expressing their workplace challenges to friends, family and others in their local communities. With the advent of social media, however, they are able to broadcast these struggles to anyone with internet access, across the country and around the world. </p>
<p>Determining the factors that contribute to the number of teachers who enter the profession is also just as important as keeping teachers in their classrooms longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Martinez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Could a 10-minute meeting between teachers and principals reduce teacher turnover? A researcher explores the possibilities.James Martinez, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038682023-05-15T12:32:20Z2023-05-15T12:32:20ZI’m an educator and grandson of Holocaust survivors, and I see public schools failing to give students the historical knowledge they need to keep our democracy strong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525747/original/file-20230511-35323-qsm6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3952%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A high school student in California holds a sign in protest of her school district’s ban on critical race theory curriculum.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-samaya-robinson-holds-a-sign-in-protest-of-the-news-photo/1245683863?adppopup=true">Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Florida Department of Education announced on April 10, 2023, that it had rejected 35% of the social studies books publishers submitted for approval and use in the state’s public schools. The move was based on a determination the books <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/tampa/news/florida-rejects-social-studies-textbooks-that-mention-social-justice-taking-a-knee-and-other-content-of-concern/">contain references to social justice issues</a> “and other information” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/us/florida-social-studies-textbooks-education-department/index.html">not aligned with Florida Law</a>.</p>
<p>The decision garnered a great deal of media attention. But it was just the latest in a series of efforts around the country to limit students’ access to books, lessons and courses about certain historical and societal topics, often dealing with race.</p>
<p>At least 36 states have halted or <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/22525983/map-critical-race-theory-legislation-teaching-racism">are seeking the legal means to stop</a> teachers from examining racism in their classrooms.</p>
<p>School districts around the country have <a href="https://time.com/6277933/state-book-bans-publishers/">banned books</a> about issues ranging from <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/07/us/book-bans-school-changes-reaj/index.html">racism to the Holocaust to the LGBTQ community</a>. Parent groups have campaigned <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077878538/legislation-restricts-what-teachers-can-discuss">to restrict the instruction</a> of such difficult topics as slavery. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/moms-for-libertys-florida-roots-have-spread-across-country-influenced-local-school-politics">Moms for Liberty</a>, and other groups and individuals opposing the instruction of some of these topics, say they’re protecting children from divisive, identity-shaming, indoctrinating and pornographic material. </p>
<p>In my view, some segments of American society are turning their backs on history. </p>
<p>That comes at a cost. I’ve seen it firsthand. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDorZaUIwU&t=9s">I direct Penn State programs</a> – the <a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/research/centers/holocaust-genocide-and-human-rights-education-initiative-at-penn-state">Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative</a> and the <a href="https://www.psu.edu/news/administration/story/alumni-couple-makes-5-million-gift-human-rights-education-initiative/">Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative</a> – that give my colleagues and me a real-time glimpse into the vulnerable state of K-12 instruction about difficult topics. </p>
<p>Many educators have been <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/scared-anxious-worried-states-new-restrictions-have-teachers-on-edge/2023/01">shying away from sensitive issues</a>. The <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-16.html">2022 American Instructional Resources Survey</a>, a survey about teachers’ views on what they can teach, by <a href="https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/about.html">Rand Education and Labor</a>, which focuses on school and education issues, shows the new and proposed state laws restricting the instruction of difficult topics made a quarter of the <a href="https://www.weareteachers.com/how-many-teachers-are-in-the-us/">country’s 4 million teachers</a> hesitant or downright scared to teach those subjects. This was true even when the educators taught in a state that had not at the time proposed or enacted such a law. </p>
<p>As a result, research shows, students may be deprived of vital lessons such as the <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/importance-teaching-and-learning-about-holocaust">global persistence of crimes against humanity</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2017.1343790">the factors that give rise to genocides</a>. </p>
<p>As a documentary filmmaker and assistant professor of journalism, I often discuss difficult topics with students. After a rough-cut university screening of my forthcoming documentary “<a href="https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/307439/documentary-celebrates-the-heroism-and-redemption-of-michel-cojot/">Cojot</a>,” which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Michel Cojot’s 1970s quest to kill his father’s Nazi executioner, two college students approached me apologetically, saying, “We’ve never heard of this.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvDorZaUIwU?wmode=transparent&start=9" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Studies show that 4 out of every 10 young Americans know very little about the Holocaust.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To spare them embarrassment, I noted the protagonist’s obscurity. That’s why <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/10/hero-of-entebbe-deserves-own-film">I’ve made this film</a>, I said. </p>
<p>Shaking their heads, the students stressed they’d “never heard about any of this.”</p>
<p>They were talking about the Holocaust. </p>
<p>As the <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-holocaust-survivors-german-rifle/">grandchild of Holocaust survivors</a>, I felt disturbed. As an educator, I wondered if we’re failing to give students the knowledge and insight they need to sustain and thrive in a 21st-century democracy. </p>
<h2>Costly ignorance</h2>
<p>Many Americans born between between 1981 and 2012, according to a <a href="https://www.claimscon.org/millennial-study/">2020 Schoen Consulting national poll</a>, lack “basic knowledge” of the Nazis’ murder of 6 million Jews and millions of people with disabilities, homosexuals, Romani and members of other oppressed groups. About two-thirds of respondents grossly underestimated the number of Hitler’s Jewish victims and knew little to nothing about the world’s largest-ever death camp, <a href="https://www.auschwitz.org/en/">Auschwitz</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman speaking into a microphone stands on a brick ledge. People holding a sign that reads: 'Support Real Education Not DeSantis Disinformation' face her from the ground below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525748/original/file-20230511-23-cy4zr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students and others attend a rally outside City Hall in Orlando, Fla., to protest Florida education policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-and-others-attend-a-âwalkout-2-learnâ-rally-to-news-photo/1252063814?adppopup=true">Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ignorance plagues other difficult topics, as well. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/4-factors-that-contributed-to-the-record-low-history-scores-for-us-eighth-graders-204997">In May 2023</a>, the National Center for Education Statistics released a report showing eighth graders’ grasp of <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ushistory/2022/">U.S. history</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/civics/2022/">civics</a> has reached a historic low.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/teachers-are-on-the-front-lines-of-preserving-democracy-they-cant-do-it-alone">report</a> revealed that in 2022, only 13% of eighth graders understood historic U.S. events such as the Civil War, a 5 percentage point drop from 2018. </p>
<p>Few children and adults realize <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/10/10/indigenous-slavery-digital-website">Europeans enslaved millions of Indigenous people</a> throughout the Americas. Comprehension of African enslavement runs nearly as shallow. Nine out of 10 high schoolers who filled out a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history">2018 Southern Poverty Law Center survey</a> failed to recognize slavery as the Civil War’s central cause.</p>
<p>Most of the survey’s adult respondents urged better preparation for those who teach students about slavery.</p>
<p>K-12 educators agree. They recurrently told my colleagues and me <a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/research/centers/holocaust-genocide-and-human-rights-education-initiative-at-penn-state/our-work">they need intensive training</a> and strong support to teach sensitive subjects effectively. </p>
<h2>Book bans right and left</h2>
<p>Since it began keeping tally in 2021, PEN America, which focuses on free speech in literature, has counted more than 4,000 instances of book banning in the U.S. </p>
<p>Its <a href="https://pen.org/report/banned-usa-growing-movement-to-censor-books-in-schools/">March 2023 report</a> showed a year-over-year jump of 28.5% in the number of books banned across the country. </p>
<p>Banned books range from Toni Morrison’s “<a href="https://www.themarysue.com/toni-morrison-beloved-under-attack/">Beloved</a>,” a fictional tale of freed enslaved people, to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moms-for-liberty-get-florida-school-to-ban-anne-franks-diary-adaption-2023-4">Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl</a>,” a nonfiction account of a Jewish girl’s life under Nazi occupation.</p>
<p>Although book banning may seem like a product of our polarized period, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/history-of-book-bans-in-the-united-states">it dates back to Colonial days</a>. These bans were last popular in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president.</p>
<h2>Classroom constraints</h2>
<p>Efforts to restrict what’s taught in the classroom also include <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077878538/legislation-restricts-what-teachers-can-discuss">bills blocking or restricting the instruction of certain sensitive issues</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Teenage girls and boys, some wearing face masks, stand together, holding signs opposing bans on critical race theory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525750/original/file-20230511-33099-6vqpjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students against a critical race theory ban at their school, hold signs with language opposing the ban during a school board meeting in Placentia, Calif., March 23, 2022. .</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-against-the-crt-ban-make-their-views-known-while-news-photo/1239482266?adppopup=true">Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the bills enacted by or making their way through 36 state legislatures vow to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/bills-targeting-classroom-talk-on-race-and-gender-identity-ballooned-this-year/2022/08">punish educators and districts</a> that teach prohibited topics through disciplinary actions, funding cuts and criminal charges. Florida’s 2022 <a href="https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=76545">Parental Rights in Education law</a>, for example, cautions educators to avoid teaching K-3 students about racism and sexual orientation or risk imprisonment.</p>
<p>Some of the new efforts are unlikely to have a practical effect on K-12 schooling. Although 49 state legislatures <a href="https://theconversation.com/efforts-to-ban-critical-race-theory-have-been-put-forth-in-all-but-one-state-and-many-threaten-schools-with-a-loss-of-funds-200816">aim to prohibit the teaching of critical race theory</a>, <a href="https://www.newswise.com/factcheck/critical-race-theory-crt-is-not-being-taught-in-k-12-schools-but-that-didn-t-stop-virginia-governor-elect-glenn-youngkin-from-vowing-to-ban-it/?article_id=760245">school districts have rarely incorporated</a> the graduate-level <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">academic concept</a> into their curricula. </p>
<p>However, some such legislative prohibitions may widen the gap between what democratic citizens need to know and what they learn in school. For decades, many experts on democracy have argued democracy suffers when officials impede the instruction of difficult topics and profits when they back it:</p>
<ul>
<li>Studies published by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2017.1343790">The Social Studies</a>, a peer-reviewed journal, and <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/importance-teaching-and-learning-about-holocaust">the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization</a> demonstrate the price of schools failing to teach the Holocaust. That failure may rob students of such imperative lessons as how propaganda can mislead, grow and wreak havoc on democracy, as well as how societies and institutions can fall apart. </li>
<li>An <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/defending-our-right-to-learn">American Civil Liberties Union</a> report indicates putting a lid on the exchange of information about difficult topics diminishes free speech – democracy’s lifeline – and boosts discrimination – which is hazardous for a healthy society.</li>
<li>UCLA’s Public History Initiative maintains <a href="https://phi.history.ucla.edu/nchs/preface/significance-history-educated-citizen/">the future of democracy demands a citizenship fully informed about its past</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>History has demonstrated – and, in recent years, so have citizens themselves – that democracy suffers when they are uninformed. We need look no further than the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. People who lacked an understanding of the American electoral process <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">participated in such acts as riots, seditious conspiracy</a> and more while attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203868/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Boaz Dvir does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There have been numerous efforts to limit students’ access to books and curricula about certain historical and societal topics. But history itself shows democracy suffers when people are uninformed.Boaz Dvir, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822112022-06-01T12:08:19Z2022-06-01T12:08:19ZHow the role and visibility of chaplains changed over the past century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465106/original/file-20220524-18-nz47c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C49%2C5548%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A chaplain prays for a COVID-19 patient in Los Angeles while on a video call with the patient's daughter in November 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXVirusOutbreakCalifornia/d120b3fd64064c77b02ec1c3bd5b9a5d/photo?Query=chaplains%20%20covid&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=76&currentItemNo=35">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic brought new attention to the work of chaplains.</p>
<p>Before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/opinion/coronavirus-hospitals-chaplains.html">as an article in The New York Times put it</a>, the place of the hospital chaplain was “at the bedside, holding a patient’s hand, counseling them and their family members, singing with them, crying with them, hugging them, offering the eucharist, or a prayer for healing.” </p>
<p>As the pandemic unfolded, the work of chaplains – increasingly called spiritual care providers – changed. Some were declared essential employees and continued to work in person, but they were not allowed into rooms with COVID-19 patients. They <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2020-04-22/coronavirus-shifts-spiritual-care-for-hospital-chaplains">offered words</a> of encouragement and solace through baby monitors and posters taped to patients’ doors. </p>
<p>COVID-19 also shifted the work of hospital chaplains from focusing primarily on patients to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/26/us/hospital-chaplains-coronavirus/index.html">bridging the gap</a> between dying patients and their distanced family members. Many helped family members at home <a href="https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/06/19/covid-19-chaplain-dying-alone-bridget-power">connect to hospitalized loved ones</a> by phone, FaceTime, Zoom and other technologies. Some chaplains started <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/hospital-chaplain-finds-unique-strategy-combat-covid-fatigue/story?id=84669638">rolling carts</a> of treats and pick-me-ups for hospital staff to promote self-care and prevent burnout. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08854726.2020.1822081">national survey</a> conducted in 2019 found that 21% of the American public had contact with a chaplain in the past two years. Of those encounters, 57% took place in a health care setting. Other encounters happened in places like the military, higher education, and more. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/sociology/people/faculty/cadge.html">scholars</a> of <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/team/michael-skaggs-phd">American religion and spirituality</a>, we know that <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/this-chaplain">chaplains</a> have long histories in health care organizations and have been visible over time to varying degrees. </p>
<h2>The origins of modern spiritual care</h2>
<p>Chaplaincy emerged as a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30102128/">professional field</a> in the mid-20th century out of Protestant efforts to reform theological education. Concerned about the growing influence of psychology and psychiatry in matters previously understood only as spiritual, Protestant theological leaders in the 1920s sought to get students out of classrooms and into real-life situations where they would learn to respond to the challenges and struggles people face in their daily lives. </p>
<p>In hospital settings <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo13963369.html">before the 1920s</a>, chaplains were retired or volunteer clergy with no special training. They visited patients in their own religious traditions alongside other volunteers. Religiously founded hospitals also frequently had priests, ministers or rabbis in service, reflecting the hospital’s religious affiliation. </p>
<p>Many nurses offered religious support at the bedside, rooted in their own religious commitments. In the mid-19th century, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1729vkn">Florence Nightingale</a>, who rose to prominence from her service to soldiers in the Crimean War, saw both to patients’ spiritual and physical needs.</p>
<h2>Training in the field</h2>
<p>As theological educators worked to reform Protestant theological education in the 1920s, they formalized <a href="https://acpe.edu/">Clinical Pastoral Education</a>, or CPE. Initially pioneered by a leading chaplain, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Head_and_Heart.html?id=B8smAQAACAAJ">Anton Boisen</a>, and supported by <a href="http://history.massgeneral.org/catalog/Detail.aspx?itemId=53&searchFor=cabot">Richard Cabot</a>, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, CPE students completed internships in hospitals that supplemented their classroom training. Boisen viewed patients as “living human documents” from which to learn.
CPE students in later years wrote “verbatims,” or reports of conversations they had with patients.</p>
<p>While most people who completed units of CPE did not go on to become chaplains, a few did. By the 1940s, those who wanted to work in hospitals based on their CPE training started to organize themselves as a distinct professional group. </p>
<p>Unlike retired clergy, who mostly made short visits and offered rituals, CPE-trained clergy worked from referrals and connections with hospital staff, made care plans based on the severity of a patient’s illness, documented their visits and were accountable to someone within the hospital.</p>
<p>Data collected by the American Hospital Association suggested that <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo13963369.html">two-thirds of American hospitals had a chaplain by the mid-1950s</a>, though it is not clear how many were CPE-trained. </p>
<p>The development of chaplaincy as a profession distinct from that of local clergy was also supported by the extensive work of <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674972155">military chaplains</a> on the front lines during World War II and their subsequent memorialization in American public life, such as <a href="https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Chaplains-Hill">Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery</a>. </p>
<p>Chaplains in military settings rose to such prominence in the American mind that one who served in the Korean War, Emil Kapaun, is now being considered for sainthood in the Catholic Church for his service to fellow prisoners of war. The priest died in the Pyoktong POW camp in May 1951.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man standing in front of a crucifix reading the Bible." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465109/original/file-20220524-19-fuulbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. Air Force Chaplain Stephan Borlang reads his Bible in a makeshift chapel in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SomaliaCivilWar1992UNPeacekeepingForcesUSAirForce/034154e8fe584adaace10a2c6b384f3c/photo?Query=chaplains%20%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1339&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Initially chaplains were almost all white Protestant men, but the demographics changed slowly through the 20th century. The <a href="https://www.nacc.org/">National Association of Catholic Chaplains</a> was founded in 1965 and the <a href="https://najc.org">National Association of Jewish Chaplains</a>, now known as Neshama, in 1990. Growing numbers of women and <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/resources/working-papers/black-chaplains">people of color</a> began to enter the field toward the end of the 20th century, and more health care providers began to pay attention to the role of religion and spirituality in patients’ experiences. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo13963369.html">two-thirds</a> of hospitals have chaplains today, which include growing numbers of Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and other non-Christian chaplains. In the 1990s, theological schools began to develop specific <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-020-00906-5">degree programs</a> in chaplaincy and spiritual care, rather than expecting chaplains to train for congregational service and then figure out on their own how to apply their training to other settings.</p>
<p>More than a <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/training-credentials/education">quarter</a> of theological or rabbinical schools currently have such programs, with some designed specifically for <a href="https://www.shin-ibs.edu/">Buddhists</a>, <a href="https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/interreligious-peace-studies-programs/degree-programs/ma-chaplaincy/islamic-chaplaincy-pathway">Muslims</a> and people from other non-Christian religious backgrounds. </p>
<p><a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469667607/chaplaincy-and-spiritual-care-in-the-twenty-first-century/">All chaplains today</a> need basic training in caring for people that includes understanding how individuals make meaning, the interpersonal skills necessary to care for people from different backgrounds, and navigating the complexity of organizations in which they work. </p>
<h2>What chaplains really do</h2>
<p>Health care chaplains talk a lot about <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo8268248.html">presence</a> when describing their work, which is increasingly based on the results of empirical research. Presence means everything from casual conversation with patients and families to mediating conflicts between patients, families and care teams. It can also mean offering prayer or other explicitly religious service, and listening to patients’ deepest fears, religious or otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.transformchaplaincy.org/">Research</a> about the effects of chaplains’ work has <a href="https://us.jkp.com/products/evidencebased-healthcare-chaplaincy?_pos=4&_sid=5673d1fb7&_ss=r">expanded significantly</a> in recent years and shows that individuals who are visited by chaplains are more satisfied with their hospital stays and often have improved outcomes. </p>
<p>Many chaplains reported serving expanding roles during the pandemic and having found increased visibility among hospital staff. Some noted a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-15/a-chaplain-reflects-on-lives-lost-to">greater sense of appreciation and knowledge</a> among staff of what chaplains do. Chaplains aim to <a href="https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/2021/04/mayo-news">continue</a> care of hospital staff through educational programs, among others. </p>
<p>As religious demographics continue to shift in the United States and growing numbers of people are not religiously affiliated, the work of health care chaplains will continue to change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Cadge receives funding from The Fetzer Institute, the Templeton Religion Trust, and the Henry Luce Foundation, and The John Templeton Foundation. She is the founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Skaggs receives receives funding from The Fetzer Institute, the Templeton Religion Trust, and the Henry Luce Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation, and ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education. He is a co-founder and Director of Programs of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.</span></em></p>Chaplaincy emerged as a professional field in the mid-20th century. In the years since, their roles have evolved and they have also come to include many diverse religious traditions.Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis UniversityMichael Skaggs, Director of Programs, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1787572022-03-14T12:21:54Z2022-03-14T12:21:54Z5 ways college instructors can help students take care of their mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451022/original/file-20220309-28-1hm62y2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C23%2C5168%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mental health issues for college students have been on the rise. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-college-student-meeting-with-campus-royalty-free-image/1218975597?adppopup=true">monkeybusinessimages via iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, a student showed up in my class looking distraught. “I don’t think I can be in class today,” the student told me.</p>
<p>No explanation, no elaboration. Yet I knew from our previous conversations that this student suffered from anxiety and that the previous few weeks had been pretty overwhelming for her. I allowed the student to leave class. When I checked in with her later that day, she said she was feeling a lot better, but was just stressed because of everything on her plate.</p>
<p>That conversation took place in 2016. Rates of mental health problems had already been on the rise. From 2012 to 2018, for example, the number of self-reported suicide attempts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.04.033">more than doubled among college undergraduates</a>.</p>
<p>Since then – in large part because of the pandemic – college leaders have expressed increased concern for the mental health of students. In September 2020, <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/Research-Insights/Pages/Senior-Leaders/College-and-University-Presidents-Respond-to-COVID-19-2020-Fall-Term.aspx">61% of college presidents at four-year public institutions</a> identified the mental health of students as a top concern. A year later, that figure <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/Research-Insights/Pages/Senior-Leaders/Presidents-Survey-Fall-2021.aspx">jumped to 71%</a>.</p>
<p>As a doctoral candidate studying the sociology of mental health, I have long been worried about the high rates of mental illness and general distress among college students. Based on my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221080433">review of recent scholarship on these issues</a> – along with guidance from mental health practitioners who work in a college setting – I developed a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X221080433">set of best practices</a> for instructors and others who wish to see college students flourish.</p>
<p>Here are five practices that emerged from my research.</p>
<h2>1. Signal support in the syllabus and in class</h2>
<p>The syllabus is one of the first opportunities that instructors have to demonstrate their openness and commitment to students’ mental health. Though many universities now require instructors to describe campus resources and accommodations available to students with disabilities, it may also be helpful to include additional language on mental health. </p>
<p>At the very least, instructors can provide information about the student counseling center, including the location, contact information and number of free appointments, if any. For students in online classes, be sure to specify which counseling services are available off-campus and how to access them.</p>
<p>Instructors can also signal their support in the classroom. During challenging periods, such as midterms and finals, consider saying something along these lines: “I know this is a stressful time. Please reach out if you feel like you’re falling behind, or if you just want to talk. I also want to remind you about the free services available at the student counseling center.” Such statements not only show empathy, but also guide students toward essential resources.</p>
<h2>2. Identify at-risk students</h2>
<p>A study by the Boston University School of Public Health found that <a href="https://marychristieinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Role-of-Faculty-in-Student-Mental-Health.pdf">71% of faculty would appreciate some kind of checklist</a> to help them identify students in emotional distress. </p>
<p>While warning signs may differ from one student to the next, a <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.618.9407&rep=rep1&type=pdf">few</a> <a href="https://www.activeminds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Faculty-Resource_Creating-a-Culture-of-Caring.pdf">key indicators</a> to look for include: a sudden decline in academic performance; repeated absences from class; failure to respond to outreach; and changes in weight, grooming or personality. </p>
<h2>3. Question, persuade, refer</h2>
<p>If you encounter a student in psychological distress, consider using the well-established “QPR” protocol: question, persuade, refer. While not developed for a college population, QPR has been shown to be effective in a college setting, leading to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2013.766109">increases in suicide prevention knowledge, attitudes and skills</a>.” Even when students’ mental health concerns do not present a suicide risk, instructors can draw on the QPR framework or a related approach, such as the <a href="https://www.activeminds.org/about-mental-health/var/">validate–appreciate–refer approach</a> by the nonprofit Active Minds.</p>
<p>First, question the student by <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/05/29/advice-promoting-student-mental-health-during-pandemic-opinion">gently raising your concerns</a> after class, during office hours, or via email. Professor David Gooblar of the University of Iowa, sharing advice he learned from the school’s director of counseling services, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-help-a-student-in-a-mental-health-crisis">writes</a>: “You can say, hey, you seem a little off these days. Is everything OK?” If things are not going well, persuade the student to seek treatment, and refer them to the college counseling center. If you fear your student may be suicidal, ask directly: “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” Many people believe that asking this question will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291714001299">exacerbate suicidal thoughts, but this is a myth</a>; instead, it can help at-risk students get the help they need.</p>
<p>Ask your college counseling center if there are opportunities to receive formal training, such as the <a href="https://www.livingworks.net/asist">Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training</a>, known as ASIST.</p>
<h2>4. Address real-world issues and events</h2>
<p>Students don’t live in a vacuum. Events such as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">murder of George Floyd</a> and the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwide-last-year-repo-rcna14282">rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans</a> have been linked to mental health challenges among <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victoria-Vetro/publication/350849549_The_COVID-19_Crisis_and_Racial_Justice_Equity_Addressing_the_Twin_Pandemics_SENIOR_GUEST_EDITOR/links/6075d9734585151ce182e5d9/The-COVID-19-Crisis-and-Racial-Justice-Equity-Addressing-the-Twin-Pandemics-SENIOR-GUEST-EDITOR.pdf#page=155">Black</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13723">Asian American or Pacific Islander</a> students, respectively. As <a href="https://www.activeminds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Faculty-Resource_Creating-a-Culture-of-Caring.pdf">Active Minds recommends</a>, give students a chance to share their thoughts whenever “a major event has happened on campus, in the community, or nationally that you suspect may be on the students’ minds.”</p>
<h2>5. Don’t forget about your own mental health</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://marychristieinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Role-of-Faculty-in-Student-Mental-Health.pdf">1 in 5 faculty members</a> indicated in a 2021 survey that caring for students’ mental health was taxing their own. <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-pandemic-is-dragging-on-professors-are-burning-out">Instructor burnout</a> is a serious concern that requires an institutional response. In the meantime, self-care may require <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/08/25/professors-should-uphold-rigor-when-assessing-students-even-pandemic-opinion">setting boundaries</a> with students to protect one’s own well-being. Instructors can also take advantage of existing campus resources, such as their <a href="https://www.activeminds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Faculty-Resource_Creating-a-Culture-of-Caring.pdf">employee assistance program</a>. </p>
<p>While instructors and community members rally university leaders to devote more resources to mental health, college instructors would do well to prepare for times when a student reaches out with thoughts of suicide, the onset of major depression or the trauma of sexual assault. Instructors can also take proactive steps to address mental health more broadly, including by directing students to the resources they need before such challenges arise.</p>
<p>[<em>More than 150,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Max Coleman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As concerns about college students’ mental health continue to rise, a sociology researcher offers tips for college instructors to help students who may be in crisis.Max Coleman, Ph.D Candidate in Sociology, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1560942021-06-08T12:51:09Z2021-06-08T12:51:09Z3 ways schools can improve STEM learning for Black students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391783/original/file-20210325-21-1mln1qy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5129%2C3416&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pro-Black STEM classes can lead to more Black scientists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-helping-student-with-model-wind-turbine-royalty-free-image/694015755?adppopup=true">Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Black people make up just <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/01/09/diversity-in-the-stem-workforce-varies-widely-across-jobs/">9%</a> of the STEM workforce in the U.S. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=XPlotVwAAAAJ">scholar</a> who studies how STEM educators can more effectively reach Black students, I want to help all people develop an understanding of how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916628611">anti-Black racism</a> is a significant barrier for Black students learning STEM.</p>
<p><iframe id="FPPHO" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FPPHO/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/diversifying-stem/9781978805675">Many scholars</a> have argued that our current ways of teaching STEM are bad for everyone because only the experiences and contributions of white people are discussed, but the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00241-4">negative effects are greater</a> for Black people. Teachers frequently question the intellectual ability of Black students and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270903161118">prevent them from using their cultural worldviews</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023119870376">spirituality</a> and language in the STEM learning setting.</p>
<p>Still, Black people continue to boost STEM knowledge across the world. It is time to generate new teaching practices in STEM that affirm Black students in a way that connects with their lives.</p>
<h2>1. Talk about Black excellence</h2>
<p>The projection of ideas about who can who can pick up STEM concepts is important. Research has shown that many people think of <a href="https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2019/11/white-men-in-hard-hats-image-of-engineering-persists/">engineers as white men</a>; therefore, seeing Black STEM professionals in person or via media representation can build inspiration among Black youths.</p>
<p>Although Black representation is essential, it alone won’t address the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruW8PAZvgM0&ab_channel=GladstoneInstitutes">barriers Black students face</a>. These barriers include <a href="https://emerging-researchers.org/projects/62-4/">racial stereotyping</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK368176/">stressful academic culture</a> and other social and cultural factors. Some of these issues are not unique to Black people, but together they can create a particularly harmful experience for Black students. When teachers celebrate the successes of Black people in STEM, they can also discuss the resources and opportunities these individuals had or did not have while navigating racism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An African American woman speaks at a conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395862/original/file-20210419-21-mjjumr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1992, Mae C. Jemison became the first Black woman to go into space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/astronaut-dr-mae-c-jemison-the-first-woman-of-color-to-go-news-photo/1140371831?adppopup=true">Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Black people throughout history have achieved advanced STEM knowledge. <a href="https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/black-history-month-scientists">Dr. Patricia Bath</a>, an ophthalmologist who developed laser technology used in treating cataracts, and <a href="https://www.prolacta.com/en/prolacta-feed/steven-d-townsend-phd-wins-the-ruth-a-lawrence-investigator-award-for-research-in-human-milk-science/">Steven Townsend</a>, who has advanced awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding, are just two examples. But <a href="https://youtu.be/nMjFZ7yopP8">Black contributions to STEM</a> predate American enslavement. <a href="https://jaamejournal.scholasticahq.com/article/18091.pdf">Recalling this history</a> normalizes Black success across STEM disciplines.</p>
<p>Educators must be mindful of how they tell Black success stories in STEM. When educators reduce examples of Black excellence to just a few people, it perpetuates the <a href="https://systemicjusticeblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/the-myth-of-black-exceptionalism/">myth of Black exceptionalism</a>, the idea that Black people who are capable of success are rare. Individual success stories can also portray these people as being successful without assistance or serve as limited representations. Instead, teachers can share varied examples of successful Black scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians, including local residents and family members of their students.</p>
<h2>2. Emphasize social skills</h2>
<p>Although STEM professions require both social and technical knowledge, technical skills are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243913504305">typically valued more</a> than social skills. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/make-math-a-gateway-not-a-gatekeeper/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">Math</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/tea.21065">science</a> instruction often encourage competition and rigor, which constrains students’ ability to value differences in experience, style and problem-solving approaches. This also limits students’ ability to see how math and science knowledge can solve social <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/20988/Bannister-et-al_2017_Returning%20to%20the%20Root.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">problems</a>. Furthermore, traditional <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Critical_Race_Theory_in_Mathematics_Educ/jwuWDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">math</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/tea.20410">science</a> teaching has punished Black students for how they <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00405841.2019.1665415?casa_token=Hqd3_GXsNnoAAAAA:fA-s6cZM5UxJqj6shx1OYleRH_T7JgLo_lhT2fYKw8WksXzNQH2OUL724eSZ30GmDzyDt3E3gug">speak</a> and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/science-in-the-city-culturally-relevant-stem-education/oclc/1099568068&referer=brief_results">live</a>. This happens when teachers focus more on using scientific language than on displaying <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20255">scientific understanding</a>. Therefore, many Black students become disengaged and lose interest. </p>
<p>STEM education in its current form pushes Black <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20410">students away</a> instead of addressing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21542">racial and socioeconomic problems</a> within STEM classrooms and broader society. </p>
<p>Black youths tend to have a strong sense of social realities and a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42643758?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">soulfulness</a>” that causes them to focus more on people than objects. STEM educators can train Black youths to utilize their emotional strengths in designing problem-solving technologies that are both effective and humane. For example, <a href="https://tcaalf.com/website-features/aalfs-program-director-on-black-centered-design-bcd/#:%7E:text=Black%2Dcentered%20Design%20is%20centering,to%20the%20challenges%20they%20face.">Black-centered design</a>, a race-conscious application of <a href="https://www.designkit.org/human-centered-design">human-centered design</a>, allows Black people to use their cultural knowledge to provide scientific solutions to problems in their community. However teachers choose to do it, Black identity and culture should be seen as an <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068387">asset to STEM education and careers</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Teach with sociopolitical awareness</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters hold 'Black Lives Matter' signs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391789/original/file-20210325-13-1e4szuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators hold Black Lives Matter signs during the ‘Justice for George Floyd’ march in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-hold-black-lives-matter-signs-as-they-news-photo/1231817974?adppopup=true">Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An abundance of <a href="https://www.wpi.edu/sites/default/files/inline-image/Academic-Resources/STEM-Education-Center/Teacher%20Resources%20-%20AntiRacism%20in%20STEM.pdf">resources</a> can help teachers develop curriculum that highlights the ways <a href="http://stemteachingtools.org/brief/53">culture influences</a> how we learn and practice STEM. One example is <a href="https://www.thewokestemteacher.com/organizing-for-social-change">The Woke STEM Teacher</a>, a website where educators can get tools to include social justice topics in their STEM curriculum.</p>
<p>Teachers can design or use enjoyable exercises that prompt students to use STEM knowledge to solve problems relevant to their lives outside of the classroom. This allows opportunities for students’ <a href="https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2016/engineering-second-grade">communities</a> to be used as spaces for STEM learning. </p>
<p>Also, the creativity of Black students may look different from that of other students, so it is important to develop a <a href="https://jaamejournal.scholasticahq.com/issue/2603">supportive</a> approach. Educators have used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20173">hip-hop</a>, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/a-voice-to-talk-about-it-cosmetologists-as-stem-experts-in-educational-technology-design-and-implementation/oclc/8599780690&referer=brief_results">cosmetology</a>, and <a href="https://invention.si.edu/game-changers-inventor-spotlight-tahira-reid-smith">double-Dutch</a> to demonstrate Black intelligence in STEM. </p>
<p>I believe these simple steps are powerful ways to shift STEM education toward better appreciating and elevating the knowledge and contributions of Black people in STEM.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 106,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Holly Jr. does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Applying cultural sensitivity in teaching STEM to Black students can help them engage in the sciences more.James Holly Jr., Assistant Professor of Urban STEM Education, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1298222020-02-12T11:44:12Z2020-02-12T11:44:12ZGirls consistently outperform boys in reading skills – but could this be changing?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314202/original/file-20200207-27538-ne99l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C18%2C6225%2C4675&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-girl-reading-book-classroom-573761899">Monkey Business Images/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Girls consistently <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/the-gender-gap-in-educational-outcomes-in-norway_f8ef1489-en">outperform boys on reading tests</a> – and have done so for several decades around the world. Lack of motivation, a weak vocabulary, poor reading engagement and lack of role models have all been considered possible reasons for this disparity.</p>
<p>But results from recent <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm">global student assessments</a>, known as PISA, suggests the global reading gap is closing. But in most cases, not for the reasons teachers, parents, researchers, or governments might have hoped for. Indeed, it seems gaps closed overall not because boys are necessarily doing massively better, but because the performance of girls has declined. </p>
<p>PISA is the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment and it
tests the reading, mathematics, and science literacy skills of 15-year-old students across a variety of OECD and partner countries. The latest PISA from 2018, which was the seventh since 2000, focused on reading and included about 80 countries. So far three rounds of PISA have focused on reading –- 2000, 2009, and 2018 – giving researchers almost 20 years of trends to analyse. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/you-could-be-putting-your-child-off-reading-heres-how-to-change-that-118409">You could be putting your child off reading – here's how to change that</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A concerning trend</h2>
<p>Although girls continue to perform considerably better than boys, on average, there is evidence that the gender gap may be closing because girls are not performing as well as they used to. The PISA test is designed so that the average student has a score of 500 and two-thirds of participating students have a score between 400 and 600. Among the 29 OECD countries with available data, the average performance of boys was under this average (479 points in 2000, 476 in 2009 and 475 in 2018). By contrast, the average performance of girls was above the average: 511 in 2000, 515 in 2009 but 505 in 2018.</p>
<p>But these averages mask large differences in the learning trajectories of high achieving and low achieving boys and girls. The findings show, for example, that among low achievers, the performance of both boys and girls declined – girls declined by 21 points and boys 13 points. On the other hand, among high achievers the performance of both boys and girls improved, with especially large improvements within the boys’ group (12 points among boys and three points among girls).</p>
<p>These patterns suggest greater polarisation between low and high achievers, with the lowest-achieving girls trending the most markedly in the wrong direction. </p>
<h2>Why is this happening?</h2>
<p>One possible reason for this difference stems from changes in how the tests were carried out –– the test was paper-based until 2009 but was administered on computers in 2018. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.01.004">Some studies</a> indicate that boys perform better in some of the skills involved in reading digital texts and may be motivated to perform well in tests that are delivered on computers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314203/original/file-20200207-27560-oh48v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls consistently outperform boys in reading skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trends over time in who <a href="https://www.egmont.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Reading-for-Pleasure-Paper-final.pdf">reads for enjoyment</a> and for how long do not appear to explain the evolution in reading achievement across different groups. Changes in the amount of time devoted to reading for enjoyment were not associated with changes in the performance of different groups of students. </p>
<p>Similarly, although many parents and teachers worry that internet use reduces the effort teenagers invest in schoolwork – and the amount of time students spent on the internet soared between 2009 and 2018 – those groups who increased their internet use the most are not the ones with the steepest performance declines. </p>
<h2>Differences across countries</h2>
<p>Despite this, some countries have managed to close the gender reading gap. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Slovenia and Sweden all experienced improvements in boys’ reading performance while girls’ performance remained stable or improved (albeit less markedly than boys).</p>
<p>In the UK though, the picture is mixed. The gender reading gap was lower in the UK than the average performance gap across OECD countries – in the UK it was 20 points while the average across the OECD was 30 points. On average boys in the UK improved while girls remained stable. But boys did not improve enough to lead to a statistically significant narrowing of the gender reading gap. </p>
<p>Similarly, an analysis of which boys improved suggests that advancements in reading performance were concentrated among middle- and high-achieving boys. Though overall, the largest improvements were seen in high-achieving girls. This indicates how the lowest achievers – both boys and girls – remain at risk of academic failure. </p>
<p>The fact that these patterns are so similar across a range of countries suggests that a common set of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-PISA-Effect-on-Global-Educational-Governance-1st-Edition/Volante/p/book/9781138217416">cross-national issues</a> are most likely responsible for the changes identified.</p>
<p>At the same time, the fact that some education systems bucked the general trend is a reminder that local circumstances, policy choices and the work of individual educators can make a real difference and promote the learning of both boys and girls. It’s clear though that closing this reading achievement gap continues to be a pressing global challenge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louis Volante receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francesca Borgonovi is currently on leave from the OECD, which is responsible for the development of the PISA study. She received funding from the British Academy through its Global Professorship programme. The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstance be regarded as stating an official position of the OECD or the British Academy.</span></em></p>Closing the reading achievement gap continues to be a pressing global challenge.Louis Volante, Professor, Faculty of Education, Brock UniversityFrancesca Borgonovi, British Academy Global Professor, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1241772019-10-23T19:10:51Z2019-10-23T19:10:51ZDon’t blame the teacher: student results are (mostly) out of their hands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298234/original/file-20191023-149550-1minwjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We wanted to find out how much classroom factors had to do with why some twins did better than others at school.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teachers have very little to do with why some kids are better at school than others, our research shows. This contradicts the popular view that <a href="https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/teachers-matter.html">teachers matter most</a> (after genes) when it comes to academic achievement. </p>
<p>Previous research has suggested teacher quality – which includes their qualification level and ability to organise the class – can account for <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=research_conference_2003">up to 30%</a> of the reason some students get better marks than others.</p>
<p>But our study of 4,533 twin pairs, published in the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-60508-001">Journal of Educational Psychology</a>, found classroom factors – which include teacher quality and class size – accounted for only 2-3% of the differences in students’ NAPLAN scores.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/genes-can-have-up-to-80-influence-on-students-academic-performance-58052">Genes can have up to 80% influence on students' academic performance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Classroom factors differ from school factors, although they overlap. School factors would include the overall socioeconomic makeup of the school and broader administrative policies. </p>
<p>Because our twin pairs generally attended the same school, we were not able to test for school differences. But we can apply our findings to differences between classrooms.</p>
<h2>Nature v nurture</h2>
<p>Most children first learn to read via formal instruction that starts in kindergarten or first grade. But they vary in how well and how quickly they learn across the first and subsequent years of instruction. Similarly, differences in numeracy emerge early in school and continue throughout. </p>
<p>Previous studies show <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266729/">genes account for most of</a> the individual differences – an estimated 40-75% – in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17539370">numeracy</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201406000700">literacy</a> development among <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27314402">twins at school</a>. </p>
<p>Around 40% of the variability is then left to be explained by environmental factors. These include twins’ shared environments, such as parents’ educational values and socioeconomic status, and factors that affect each twin differently – known as their unique environment – such as if they learn in different classrooms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-migrant-school-students-do-better-than-their-local-peers-theyre-not-just-smarter-93741">Why some migrant school students do better than their local peers (they're not 'just smarter')</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We wanted to find out how much the classroom environment matters to student achievement. </p>
<p>We used twins because they share either all (identical) or half (non-identical) of their genes, and both types of twins share parts of their environment such as their parents, where they live, and often which schools they attend. </p>
<p>There are also parts of the environment twins sometimes don’t share with each other such as their classrooms and friends. We can use what we know to be similar or different about twins to learn about how genes and environments influence achievement for all students, including non-twins.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298244/original/file-20191023-149585-79fgdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reasons for some students having higher scores than others may lie outside the classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We examined classroom-level influences on twins’ literacy skills in kindergarten through to grade 2, and on literacy and numeracy skills in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9. We did this by comparing the similarity of NAPLAN test scores in twins who shared or did not share classrooms with each other. </p>
<p>We found twins in separate classrooms were almost as similar in achievement as those who were placed together. This was true for all NAPLAN tests – numeracy as well as the literacy components – and as true for high-school grades 7 and 9 as for kindergarten through to grade 5. </p>
<p>Aside from the 2-3% classroom effect, our research (generalised across the sample) established a substantial proportion of the variability among students – on average around 60% – comes down to genetic differences.</p>
<p>Of the remaining 30+%, it appears other environmental factors such as broader school-based influences, or other still undetermined factors, play a larger role than the classroom environment.</p>
<h2>The teacher isn’t to blame</h2>
<p>Reasons for individual differences in reading and numeracy development have often been attributed to environmental factors. </p>
<p>Education policies in several countries reflect this. In the United States the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, for instance, assumes variation in teacher quality is a major reason for differences in student success, and that teachers should be held accountable when their students fall behind.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-review-how-we-test-for-teacher-quality-95074">Why we need to review how we test for teacher quality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Many of us can recall a teacher who had a profound influence on us, for better or worse. But it’s important to remember these are individual experiences – ones that could be just between you and that teacher. Our data cann’t detect these individual experiences, it can only detect the average class influences. </p>
<p>We acknowledge teachers matter. It is because of them all children know more at the end of a year, a week, even a day, than they did before.</p>
<p>But our study suggests teachers are doing an even-handed job of educating our students in the core areas of literacy and numeracy. We don’t have data on the higher grades (10-12) where the syllabus gets more demanding and shortages of fully trained teachers in mathematics, say, may begin to show.</p>
<p>But class factors, such as “teacher quality”, don’t appear to be the driving force for why students differ in their NAPLAN scores. Our results suggest individual differences in how students develop may be based more on environmental influences outside the classroom.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The research was conducted by Katrina Grasby, Callie Little, Brian Byrne, William Coventry, Richard Olson, Stefan Samuelsson and Sally Larsen.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Callie Little does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Previous research suggests teacher quality accounts for up to 30% of the reason some students get better marks than others. Our research on twin pairs turns that on its head.Callie Little, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228412019-09-16T15:02:03Z2019-09-16T15:02:03ZA climate change curriculum to empower the climate strike generation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291913/original/file-20190911-190065-2brnf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5760%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concept-education-back-school-two-cheerful-1129150847?src=-1-3">Andrew Angelov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s too late to protect them from it, so how do teachers tell children about climate change without scaring them? The good news is that young people are already engaged – the students taking part in <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/climate-strikes-66457">climate strikes</a> show that young people want action and are willing to skip school to show how serious they are. But while in class, children shouldn’t feel their time is wasted. Primary school teachers have an ethical responsibility to bring climate change into their classrooms and they’re well placed for the task.</p>
<p>Imagining a climate change curriculum is no mean feat. How to cover the range, scale and scope of the climate emergency? From the <a href="https://theconversation.com/animals-will-struggle-to-adapt-fast-enough-to-cope-with-climate-change-study-finds-120857">global effects on Earth’s biodiversity</a> to the human sources of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/greenhouse-gas-emissions-40070">greenhouse gas emissions</a> – climate change will dominate the future of today’s children and reshape every aspect of their lives.</p>
<p>Then there’s the biggest question of all – what are we going to do about it? This seems to <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-strikes-greta-thunberg-calls-for-system-change-not-climate-change-heres-what-that-could-look-like-112891">animate children more</a> than the adults in power, and the free imaginations we usually attribute to children are needed to remake the world in light of the climate crisis. A key task of educators in the 21st century is to make such abstract concepts tangible. </p>
<h2>Springboard stories</h2>
<p>Storytelling offers a way through for the educator and every primary school teacher I’ve ever met seems to have a gift for it. I saw how powerful storytelling could be when I worked at the <a href="https://www.edenproject.com/">Eden Project</a> in Cornwall – the world’s largest indoor rainforest. Here, visitors learn about the natural world while immersed in it.</p>
<p>One teacher told a story about ancient Polynesians who travelled the Pacific taking plants they grew with them to use for medicine, food and clothing. He explained to the school group that this led to the dispersal of plants – like coconut-carrying palms and bananas trees – all across islands in the Pacific. “Your island is sinking,” he told the children. “You’re setting off to find new lands and changing your life. What plants would you take with you?” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291914/original/file-20190911-190044-c0tzl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tropical vegetation inside the Eden Project dome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tropical-vegetation-eden-project-corwnall-32421265?src=iVI7biya68wRjlU9vhFgOQ-1-3">Francesco Carucci/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With that thought, the children wandered off amid Eden’s rice plants, the banana and rubber trees that make tires and the <a href="https://www.edenproject.com/visit/whats-here/rainforest-biome">periwinkles that cure childhood leukaemia</a>.</p>
<p>Their lives might feel a million miles from those ancient travellers, but the dynamics are the same – we all rely on the natural world. It’s not just something pretty to look at, it’s vital for our survival. Stories can act as springboards that catapult young people into new ways of seeing, thinking and being in a constantly changing world. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/environmental-storytelling-can-help-spread-big-ideas-for-saving-the-planet-107621">Environmental storytelling can help spread big ideas for saving the planet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reading time</h2>
<p>Every primary school should amass a climate change book shelf. This could inspire an enduring love of nature and begin to build familiarity with ecological terms and concepts. A good example is Rob McFarlane’s <a href="https://www.thelostwords.org/">Lost Words</a> – something of a rescue mission for nature words that have been erased from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. The book introduces children to otters, conkers and kingfishers through poetry and beautiful paintings. </p>
<p>Books that deal more directly with environmental destruction and climate change are also needed. Lara Hawthorne’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43668915-the-alba-the-hundred-year-old-fish">Alba, the hundred-year-old fish</a>, tells the story of a beautiful coral reef that becomes a littered graveyard. Alba the fish gets stuck in a plastic bottle and is only saved by a little girl who recruits her community to clean up the ocean and release Alba.</p>
<p>Telling these tales could lead into discussions about helpful activities for outside the classroom. With a well-planned reading list, language can be a surprisingly effective bridge to the great outdoors, and a powerful motivator for taking care of it.</p>
<h2>From students to stewards</h2>
<p>Schools by the sea might read “Alba” before taking part in a beach clean. Teachers could help pupils record data in citizen science projects, like <a href="https://seagrassspotter.org/">spotting seagrass</a> along sheltered coastlines to help scientists understand where these underwater meadows are and protect them. Urban schools might find patches of ancient woodland, parks and gardens to <a href="https://www.opalexplorenature.org/">undertake surveys</a>. Here they might identify lichen and moss on trees to <a href="https://theconversation.com/mosses-and-lichens-come-to-the-rescue-in-battle-against-air-pollution-44470">measure air pollution</a> – where there’s more growing on tree bark, the air quality tends to be better. They might also dip test paper in ponds to understand local water pollution or plant trees and sow new wildflower meadows. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291916/original/file-20190911-190002-km7klx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lichen are natural air pollution monitors that children can measure to keep track of their local environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lichen-on-tree-180800033?src=D7HxxKH8srJG14cJbgbv0Q-1-12">Dark Moon Pictures/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also opportunities to explore nature within school grounds. <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/citizen-science/microverse.html">The Natural History Museum’s Microverse project</a> helps children identify the species that live on walls and in the little nooks and crannies of a playground, and the ecological roles they play.</p>
<p>Children may learn the effects of climate change in great detail throughout their time in school, but for the sake of hope, we need to take them through ways of mitigating those effects. </p>
<p>An ambitious climate change curriculum in primary schools could empower young people to understand the natural world and to see themselves as part of it, before giving them the chance to engage with and help it. It’s important, however, that the climate strike generation aren’t allowed to feel their efforts are hopeless – school should nurture their passions and help them shape the future they stand to inherit.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290123/original/file-20190829-106524-1w6rzla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of <a href="https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/covering-climate-partnerships.php/">The Covering Climate Now</a> series</em></strong>
<br><em>This is a concerted effort among news organisations to put the climate crisis at the forefront of our coverage. This article is published under a Creative Commons license and can be reproduced for free – just hit the “Republish this article” button on the page to copy the full HTML coding. The Conversation also runs Imagine, a newsletter in which academics explore how the world can rise to the challenge of climate change. <a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CoveringClimateNow">Sign up here</a></em>.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ria Dunkley receives funding from AHRC; British Council; ESRC & the European Commission. </span></em></p>By leading school children through the wonders of the natural world, teachers could help raise environmental stewards.Ria Dunkley, Lecturer in Geography, Environment and Sustainability, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1170222019-05-13T12:42:49Z2019-05-13T12:42:49ZWalk inside a plant cell or glide over a coral reef: three ways virtual reality is revolutionising teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274099/original/file-20190513-183080-1q9amgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7337%2C4912&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multicultural-schoolchildren-using-virtual-reality-headsets-1066240592?src=DIMAjOzBp_SQXlaDWqVYCg-1-5">LightField Studios/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve probably heard how Virtual Reality (VR) is going to change everything: the way we work, the way we live, the way we play. Still, for every truly transformative technology, there are landfills of hoverboards, 3D televisions, Segways, and MiniDiscs – the technological scrap it turns out we didn’t need. </p>
<p>It’s reasonable to approach VR with a degree of scepticism, but allow me to explain three ways in which VR can transform the way we learn, and why we, as psychologists, are so excited about it.</p>
<h2>1. Exploring the unexplorable</h2>
<p>VR has great potential as a classroom aid. We know learning is more effective <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3203047?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">when learners are actively engaged</a>. Practical lessons that encourage interaction are more successful than those where content is passively absorbed. However, certain topics are difficult to ground in meaningful tasks that learners relate to. </p>
<p>From the enormity of the universe to the cellular complexity of living organisms, our egocentric senses haven’t evolved to comprehend anything beyond the scale of ourselves. Through stereoscopic trickery and motion tracking, VR grounds counter-factual worlds in the plausible. For the first time, learners can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConversationUK/videos/756193357882340/">step inside these environments</a> and explore for themselves.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.plantenergy.edu.au">Researchers</a> are currently developing <a href="https://plantenergy.edu.au/outreach/vpc">Virtual Plant Cell</a>, the first interactive VR experience that’s designed for use in the classroom. Learners explore the alien landscape of – well – a plant cell. Wading through swampy cytosol, ducking and weaving around cytoskeletal fibres, and uncovering the secrets of the plant’s subcellular treasures: emerald green chloroplasts, where photosynthesis takes place, curious blobs of mitochondria, or a glimpse of DNA through a psychedelic nuclear pore.</p>
<p>The inner workings of the cell are grounded, allowing students to actively engage with the lesson’s content through meaningful tasks. They may work in pairs to give each other tours, or create a photosynthetic production line. Using intuitive gestures, students grab carbon dioxide and water molecules from around the cell, feeding them to chloroplasts to produce glucose and oxygen. With all the ingredients for active learning, the Virtual Plant Cell should be a particularly effective teaching aid. Indeed, preliminary data suggests it may <a href="https://culturecounts.cc/r/plant-energy-biology/2019/#0">improve learning over traditional methods by 30%</a>.</p>
<h2>2. VR for everyone and everything</h2>
<p>It’s not just the learning of “what” something is that VR can assist with, but also the learning of “how” to do something. In psychology, we make the distinction between declarative (what) and procedural (how) knowledge precisely because the latter is formed by doing and can be applied directly to a given task. Put simply, the best way to learn a skill <a href="http://www.cogprints.org/637/1/LearnbyDoing_Schank.html">is by doing it</a>. </p>
<p>Every learner’s goal is to cultivate a large enough range of experience that individual elements can be drawn upon to meet the demands of novel problems. To this end, a great deal has been invested into training simulators for high-risk skills such as flying and surgery. But there are many lower-risk skills which would benefit from simulation, there’s just been little reason to justify investment. That is, until now. </p>
<p>Advancements in mobile technology have led to high-definition VR sets for the price of a mid-range TV. Without the financial barrier, consumer-grade VR opens the door to improve skills training in settings where the real thing isn’t readily available.</p>
<p>One such example would be the <a href="https://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/virtual-landscapes/index.htm">Virtual Landscapes</a> programme we’ve developed at the University of Leeds. A vital part of any geologist’s training is to learn how to conduct geological surveys. Armed with a compass, GPS and a map, geologists must navigate unfamiliar terrain to make observations, ensuring they make the most of their time. VR simulation can provide this in real time, with all the tools they’d expect to have out in the field.</p>
<p>The advantages are twofold. Student absences from field trips become less of a hindrance with access to an accurate simulation. The challenges of surveying a mountainous region differ from those in a tropical rainforest. It may be easier to see where you’re going, but your choice of path will be more constrained. VR can present these different biomes without students having to visit all corners of the Earth. The learner’s experience is expanded, and they’re better equipped to tackle novel problems in the field.</p>
<h2>3. Wearing (a VR headset) is caring</h2>
<p>VR may also hold the key to driving positive behavioural changes. One way we know we can achieve this is <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-2409.2009.01013.x">by eliciting empathy</a>. VR uniquely allows people to experience alternative perspectives, even <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_milk_how_virtual_reality_can_create_the_ultimate_empathy_machine">being dubbed the ultimate “empathy machine”</a>. It’s a lofty claim, but early applications have shown promise.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204494">Stanford study</a> showed that participants who experienced becoming homeless in VR displayed more positive behaviour towards homeless people – in this case, through signing a petition demanding solutions to the housing crisis – than those who engaged with the same materials on a traditional desktop computer. This effect persisted long after the study ended. Perhaps by experiencing firsthand the challenges faced by vulnerable groups, we can share a common understanding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274100/original/file-20190513-183083-1f9menq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Virtual reality – an ‘empathy machine’ that could help people care more about climate change?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/high-angle-mother-polar-bear-cub-155217797?src=hvjbfXV8v6Icbj-W9fIwsg-1-15">FloridaStock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The power of VR to elicit empathy might be used to tackle an even wider range of social issues. We’ve been running VR outreach projects in schools to improve awareness around climate change. Through VR, young people have witnessed the melting of the icecaps, swam in the Great Barrier Reef to see the effects of receding coral on the ecosystem and rubbed shoulders with great primates whose habitats are being cleared by deforestation. Using VR, we hope to cultivate environmentally responsible behaviour before attitudes and habits become more fixed.</p>
<p>So there you have it. By bringing previously inaccessible experiences into the classroom, VR may accelerate the learning of abstract concepts, augment the acquisition of skills, and perhaps even be a force for social change. For now, the technological scrap heap can wait.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Pickavance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Virtual reality can allow teachers and students to explore coral reefs or the inside of cells without leaving the classroom.John Pickavance, PhD Researcher in Cognitive Science, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057602019-05-08T13:44:13Z2019-05-08T13:44:13ZCan you learn a language playing video games? What the research says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272225/original/file-20190502-103049-86eyx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Online gaming has become a concern for some parents in the past few years and there are worries children might become addicted, with negative effects on their socialisation. This has led some parents to think of creative ways to reduce gaming, <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d626/a69ee600b71a14901e87b171d241d19fb526.pdf">including</a> rationing the time children spend online.</p>
<p>It’s important to remember though, that not all the research into children playing video games paints a bleak picture. In fact, there is a growing body of research that suggests such worries might be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0270467612469077">unfounded</a> and that gaming could be an incredibly useful <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6967110">educational tool</a> which might actually make children <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6967110">more sociable</a>, not less. </p>
<p>In the same way that many schools use other forms of technology to get students more excited about learning – such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439880701511099?casa_token=1fpEPqAce0YAAAAA:F1IjRAi0ZjvAshQfYGkmnyAoRjK3uQsHrhG9Ag-35QR8lY3j61nT3TJffp-y0X_prYkKVw1UrQTtyw">interactive whiteboards</a> and <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jotlt/article/view/3084">tablets</a> – both of which seem popular with students, video games might also offer similar benefits. </p>
<h2>How gaming could help</h2>
<p>Language learning in particular seems a perfect place to try “gamified” classes. Some schools are already using <a href="http://guinevereproject.eu/">Minecraft in French classes</a> – the idea is that students work together to build a “learning zone” in the Minecraft space – finding new words to help them along the way.</p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/elea.2005.2.1.5">James Paul Gee</a>, a leading researcher in the area of video games as language learning tools, suggests that role-playing games such as <a href="https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/">The Elder Scrolls</a> series or <a href="https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/">World of Warcraft</a>, offer an ideal learning space for what he calls “at-risk” learners. In theory, there is just enough challenge, just enough support, just enough room for players to be themselves and, possibly most important, students have just enough “ownership” of the learning process. </p>
<p>“At-risk” language learners, by Gee’s definition, could be anyone. They may be learners with special educational needs, but equally they may also simply be learners who feel more vulnerable in a language classroom. Learning a language, after all, is a huge departure from some students’ comfort zones. Students, for example, can get nervous and inhibited in a classroom. Language learning researchers describe this as an “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/329101?casa_token=sfwzb150ywYAAAAA:abAqA_Auh_Z2Xr85xg-BhrW4O5yjtKg-115gyRYF1RZQ3IkldLP7GC7PXRDXt4ZHPKAGY2CBCpLNoWxUvhsjLKeJXoh23FLuzmYiJmqtGvDwM-2n-jRV&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">affective filter</a>” – a fear of making a mistake and losing face literally affects how far a student joins in the class. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272226/original/file-20190502-103049-17mkrcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gaming can take you out of yourself and lets you enter new worlds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My research specifically looks at language learning – a subject area that, certainly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050802549656?casa_token=E4UYTrXaSSUAAAAA:9FSHKYHtjYOBgUedWYncGqu0WxcTUsTn-uC8eoxjjdJFHscnXO86KiiPvUGzkO3XD0xd3FtUKJvY-g">in the UK</a>, appears to be one that students seem to endure <a href="http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.taylorfrancis.com%2Fbooks%2Fdownload%3Fdac%3DC2010-0-48306-2%26isbn%3D9781135378707%26format%3DgooglePreviewPdf&hl=en&sa=T&ct=res&cd=44&d=12163858754257455055&ei=llS_XOLXAoOqmgHZ7KGIBA&scisig=AAGBfm0R0uy3JU-TYn57dqE5bWjjLBfSRA&nossl=1&ws=1368x750&at=Teaching%20modern%20foreign%20languages%3A%20A%20handbook%20for%20teachers">rather than necessarily enjoy</a>. It builds on the ideas of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/calicojournal.25.2.175.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Philip Hubbard</a>, a leading researcher in the field of using technology to enhance language learning. He has previously suggested that while technology in classrooms is seen as useful there is no strategy for using it – and this is where my research comes in. What I’m aiming to do is find that strategy and try to answer the following questions: how video games might help, why some students might prefer playing a video game to being in class and what areas of language learning a teacher could improve with this technology.</p>
<h2>The power of gaming</h2>
<p>Video games, especially massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs) such as World of Warcraft, <a href="https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/a_realm_reborn/">Final Fantasy XIV</a> and <a href="https://www.runescape.com/community">Runescape</a> tend to cut through all the reasons for someone to be self-conscious. Players have to communicate <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1555412006286892">in real-time</a>, with no opportunity to agonise over what to say, or how to speak perfectly. </p>
<p>This real-time aspect of MMOs may sound terrifying for someone learning a language. But actually, a highly useful gamification study by <a href="https://www.learntechlib.org/p/112246/">Ian Glover</a>, a lecturer in technology-enhanced learning at Sheffield Hallam University, found that learners in general have a high level of extrinsic motivation when they game. In other words, students really want to chase levelling up, bonuses and rewards, which they define as excelling within a gaming space. </p>
<p>As a result, they may force themselves to become better at communicating so they can level up quicker – and this drive might go deeper still. Gamers are often encouraged to repeat levels several times, so that they can perform better.</p>
<h2>Building connections</h2>
<p>This is what the prominent motivation researcher, <a href="https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=180375">Zoltan Dörnyei</a>, describes as “directed motivational currents”. The concept implies that motivation, for some students, may be driven entirely by their personal view of what success entails. </p>
<p>This is important because if the commonly held theory that many students learn languages to “tick a box” needed for graduation is correct, then they may only be motivated to study just enough to pass. On the other hand, if success in the language classroom is aligned with success in a gaming space, then harnessing this drive may be a powerful way to foster continued interest in language learning and developing language skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272230/original/file-20190502-103063-12p9pfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students can earn points as they pass through different levels of the game.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Video games may also have the potential to help learners develop more complex social skills. This view is inspired by the Russian philosopher <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cblaBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=bakhtin+the+dialogic+imagination&ots=5IoS5FsFqy&sig=OjUSIDl5l8E0ywcNfJkRq7CsPP0#v=onepage&q=bakhtin%20the%20dialogic%20imagination&f=false">Mikhail Bakhtin</a>, who believed that truly meaningful communication came from negotiating cultural differences and finding solutions. </p>
<p>This happens a lot in a video game, as players try to find their roles, but more significant is what the negotiations seem to lead to: <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00220973.1991.10806579?casa_token=SKS7nhhZHn4AAAAA:wEX0hDX2mNypDAgYooqgvfrFFkuMDEt4aUpTxwtriFFLrwsZzjVMXvxFLobqDsowiIUuGtavWtIVUA">relatedness</a> – finding shared meaning and a sense of belonging. A <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/recall/article/learner-interaction-in-a-massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing-game-mmorpg-a-sociocultural-discourse-analysis/47512049EFFC60C2C8C01C75A176518A">study conducted in Japan</a> found that players seemed to play MMOs mainly for the purpose of forming social connections. </p>
<p>So will schools of the future all be learning languages through gaming? This remains to be seen, but given that the evidence suggests gaming can encourage social skills and teamwork – as well as incredible scope to share ideas and build knowledge – there may be a good argument for ditching the textbooks and logging into another world for a while.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Timothy McGuirk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Play video games and learn a language – a researcher explains why it might be possible.Christopher Timothy McGuirk, Lecturer in EFL (English as a Foreign Language), University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040342018-10-29T10:38:31Z2018-10-29T10:38:31ZWhy students need more ‘math talk’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240636/original/file-20181015-165897-1ch6oea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facilitated discussions about math can help kids learn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/student-sitting-their-desks-raise-hands-576868465?src=iU70ccid3BT0R2k4-SWpyQ-1-2">PanyaStudio/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/">Test scores</a>, <a href="https://www.parentcenterhub.org/report-cards-essa-fact-sheet/">school report cards</a> and <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/content/common-core-math-problem-hard-supporters-common-core-respond-problematic-math-quiz-went-viral_15361/">Facebook posts complaining about homework problems</a> often drive critiques of how math is taught in schools. </p>
<p>Amid the debates, it has become increasingly clear that one ingredient is necessary for success: opportunities for students to <a href="https://www.nctm.org/Research-and-Advocacy/Research-Brief-and-Clips/Benefits-of-Discussion/">talk about math</a>. Unfortunately, these are often lacking in U.S. classrooms.</p>
<p>We are both math education researchers. While we focus on different levels of the K-12 span, a common theme across our work is the role of talk in math classrooms – what talk can sound like, how talk impacts student learning, and how teachers can support math talk. </p>
<p>Want to support your student’s understanding of math? Talking will play a critical role. And a good place to start is to talk about math yourself.</p>
<h2>Why talking matters</h2>
<p>For some educators and researchers, learning math means coming to know and use terms and procedures in order to quickly solve problems. Others may prioritize learning the range of ways to solve a given problem. Others, still, point to the value of skills to solve problems that may come up in “the real world.” </p>
<p>Those are all important aspects of <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/9822/chapter/6">mathematical proficiency</a>, but we believe that learning to communicate about the subject is an equally important goal. </p>
<p>By “math talk,” we mean sharing, analyzing and making sense of math. Students might discuss their strategies for solving a problem, explaining not only what they did but also the reasoning behind their work. They can also make observations, pose questions and express uncertainties.</p>
<p>It’s also key for students listen to their peers – to understand what they did and respond with a comment or question. In the process, disagreements or errors might emerge. These are not things to avoid; rather, they are opportunities to extend learning. Engaging in math talk helps all involved understand the ideas at hand.</p>
<p>Research, such as <a href="https://mathsolutions.com/uncategorized/classroom-discussions-using-math-talk-in-elementary-classrooms-pdf/">the work led by education researchers Suzanne Chapin</a> and <a href="https://store.mathsolutions.com/mathematics-discourse-in-secondary-classrooms.html">Beth Herbel-Eisenmann</a>, has shown how math talk supports learning. It can improve memory and understanding; aid the development of language and social skills; and boost confidence and interest in math. </p>
<p>Learning math is not a process of acquiring a set of facts or procedures, but a process of becoming one who participates in a community that does mathematical work. People use math to collaborate and communicate with others. They make sense of problems that are interesting and complex. They justify their ideas and work to convince others of the validity of those ideas. They make sense of the justifications posed by others to understand, critique and build on their thinking. These skills are not reserved for mathematicians or engineers, but apply to wide range of careers. </p>
<h2>How to support math talk</h2>
<p>The classroom in which math talk is not supported is a familiar scene: desks in rows, a teacher presenting a new procedure, and students working individually, focused on copying problems, getting an answer, and doing so as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>There are many ways in which a teacher can foster a classroom rich in opportunities for math talk. One recommendation, from research in cognitive science, is the use of “worked examples” – problems that have been worked out by someone else, perhaps a hypothetical student – <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0031721716641651">to improve student learning</a>. For example, students can be presented with two different but correct strategies to a problem and be asked to compare and contrast them, looking for the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. As a class, students can compare their ideas and raise new questions, all facilitated by the teacher.</p>
<p>But math talk is not just something that can happen in a classroom. In our positions, we each often get asked by friends and family about how to help their children in math. Our answer? Talk more about math – and preferably not just about homework assignments. </p>
<p>Math can be found in anything in ways that are appropriate for different ages. Say you are out shopping: How many people are in the store? How high is the ceiling? How many beach balls would it take to fill up the room? How do you know? Taking the time to engage with your student around any of those questions is math talk. </p>
<p>Many of these questions might not have a readily available answer, and that can be a good thing. Talking about what you would need to know or do to find an answer is just as valuable, and likely even more valuable, than time spent with flash cards and apps with math “games” that only focus on speed with procedures. Blogs and social media have become spaces to share the ways in which you can be <a href="https://talkingmathwithkids.com">“talking math with your kids”</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tmwyk&src=typd">#tmwyk on Twitter</a>). </p>
<p>Whether in second grade or in an AP calculus classroom, mathematics achievement will continue to lag without value placed on math talk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Campbell receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johnna Bolyard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most math classrooms feature a teacher lecturing and students quietly working on problems. But research shows that a different approach would lead to better results.Matthew Campbell, Assistant Professor of Secondary Mathematics Education, West Virginia UniversityJohnna Bolyard, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1023722018-09-05T10:40:34Z2018-09-05T10:40:34ZSix ways that tablets really can transform teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234309/original/file-20180830-195322-hifggg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/back-school-concept-supplies-tablet-on-211402468?src=AxWOJ7ENfqj9Ay8Y09y02w-1-44">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holidays may be over – but the debate over young people and screen time continues. And as anxious parents prepare children for the start of a new school term, many will have concerns about what exposure to technology they will have in the classroom.</p>
<p>The UK education secretary Damian Hinds has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/07/uk-schools-silicon-valley-tech-industry-urged-foster-education-revolution">challenged the technology industry</a> to spearhead a classroom revolution. He wants more classrooms to take advantage of the gadgets and software available which enable pupils to go on “virtual trips” or “control robots”. </p>
<p>Hinds is right to see the potential that technology has to transform teaching and learning. High quality educational apps available on smart phones and tablets really can help raise attainment, and provide a unique learning experience. </p>
<p>Over the past five years, we have been conducting an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00009/event_abstract">international research project</a>
evaluating a series of educational apps developed by the British charity <a href="https://onebillion.org/">onebillion</a>. </p>
<p>These interactive apps are designed specifically to support early years numeracy and literacy skills. They are available in different languages and enable children to learn independently and at their own pace. There is even an “in-app” teacher who guides them through the curriculum-based content. </p>
<p>Children interact with the apps by touching, dragging, and dropping objects to answer questions. Their learning levels are then assessed through quizzes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sq0eN-axrLk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>So far, we have found many positive results from using these apps in early years education. Here are some of the things they can do: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Improve learning outcomes – these apps significantly raise attainment in key skills such as mathematics and literacy (when used alongside standard teaching methods). </p></li>
<li><p>Foster an inclusive learning environment – children with special educational needs and disabilities can learn effectively with these apps. This gives teachers a tool for providing high quality education for children with specific needs alongside mainstream classroom peers.</p></li>
<li><p>Support cognitive development – when using educational apps to acquire specific skills, such as mathematics, core cognitive skills can also develop. When children in Malawi used interactive maths apps on a daily basis for eight weeks, their attention and concentration skills also improved.</p></li>
<li><p>Promote development of non-cognitive skills – teachers in Malawi and the UK using the same interactive apps to support early mathematical and literacy skills, reported that children become more confident and independent in their learning.</p></li>
<li><p>Bridge home/school divides – these apps are also available for parents to download and are easy to use, so can support learning at home.</p></li>
<li><p>Equalise access – as these apps are available in different languages, are easy to use by teachers and parents, and promote self-paced learning, they can be used in different settings, equalising access to high quality education for all.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The apps are currently being implemented by <a href="https://vsointernational.org/">Voluntary Service Overseas</a> in Malawi in their flagship international development programme, <a href="https://unlockingtalent.org/">Unlocking Talent through Technology</a>. They have also been implemented in 15 schools across Nottinghamshire with <a href="http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52319/9/Math%202018-30648-001.pdf">promising results</a>. So far, children using the app for 12 weeks (for 30 minutes a day) were up to four months ahead of their peers. The app was particularly beneficial for children struggling with maths.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234831/original/file-20180904-45166-1nqyfq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Appy’ children at a school in Nottingham, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marc Faulder</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it’s not just about numbers. Educational apps can also be used by teachers and children to create their own imaginative content, and connect classrooms worldwide. <a href="http://jmilnereducation.wixsite.com/storiesofalifetime">Stories of a Lifetime</a> is a global literacy project run by Marc Faulder (in the UK) and Jason Milner (in Australia), which creates a library of local stories and myths, told by children in their own words and animations. Part of Apple’s “<a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/education/apple-distinguished-educator/">Distinguished Educators</a>” programme, it enables teachers across the world to share their children’s stories in way which promotes digital literacy, communication skills and a sense of identity.</p>
<h2>Teaching the teachers</h2>
<p>But while tablets have considerable potential to transform teaching, teachers themselves need to be <a href="https://enabling-environments.co.uk/">skilled and confident</a> in using this technology creatively. To revolutionise learning through technology, greater opportunities for professional development of teachers is needed. </p>
<p>Tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft and Google already offer introductory and specialised training for teachers in using tablet technology effectively in the classroom. But for technology to enhance learning universally, training should be an integral part of professional development. </p>
<p>Those currently in the profession, and those studying to become teachers, would benefit from being taught how to use apps and tablets to improve learning in all subject areas – even if that means the adults having a bit more screen time, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Pitchford receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Education Endowment Foundation, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy to support this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura A. Outhwaite receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to support this research.</span></em></p>A brief guide for teachers and parents on tech in the classroom.Nicola Pitchford, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of NottinghamLaura Outhwaite, PhD candidate in Applied Psychology and Education, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1011142018-08-13T20:17:14Z2018-08-13T20:17:14ZTen reasons teachers can struggle to use technology in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231446/original/file-20180810-30458-k7vt2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C991%2C588&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Integrating technology into the classroom can have huge benefits. But it's not always straight forward.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1102460816?size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Somewhere in a school near you, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1305047">teacher is struggling to handle</a> a query from a student whose laptop has a flat battery or another who’s watching a funny cat video on a phone. Perhaps the wireless internet connection is dropping in and out, or the electronic whiteboard is playing up.</p>
<p>While teachers are expected to integrate <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=policyinsights">technology into the classroom</a>, the reality can be very different.</p>
<p>Some of the issues teachers can face relate to the technology itself. Others relate to student or parent expectations, or whether there’s enough of the right professional development to help teachers become proficient in digital technology.</p>
<p>Without addressing these concerns, we risk creating a generation of students ill-prepared for a digital future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-support-quality-teaching-with-the-evidence-to-back-it-99022">Here's how to support quality teaching, with the evidence to back it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The pressure to become digital experts</h2>
<p>No doubt digital technologies can <a href="http://www.ijcrsee.com/index.php/IJCRSEE/article/view/73/120">enhance learning</a> through accessing information and improving communication, as well as providing self-directed and collaborative learning opportunities. ICT skills can also help develop <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/andrews/students-set-their-sights-studying-stem-schools">capable</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_68">future-ready</a> citizens.</p>
<p>So over the past <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf">decade</a>, teachers have been <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_68">expected</a> to integrate digital technologies.</p>
<p>Students might be “digital natives”, <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/48245/79838_1.pdf%3Bsequence=1">comfortable with and immersed in</a> technology, but they <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512001005">depend</a> on teachers to learn through digital means.</p>
<p>The curriculum requires teachers to develop students’ general <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/information-and-communication-technology-ict-capability/">information and communication technology</a> (ICT) capabilities across all fields of study, alongside the “<a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/technologies/">technologies</a>” curriculum.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KmpaeUR4kd4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s how teachers can integrate technology into the classroom.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Governments have prioritised getting digital technology into schools with large-scale programs such as <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/the_connected_classrooms_program_in_nsw,32307.html?issueID=12213">Connected Classrooms</a> in NSW and the national <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/digital-education-revolution-program-national-secondary-schools-computer-fund">Digital Education Revolution</a>. Pre-service teacher training programs have been advised to “<a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/action_now_classroom_ready_teachers_print.pdf">enhance</a>” initial teacher education by using innovative technology practices.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/general/australian-professional-standands-for-teachers-20171006.pdf?sfvrsn=399ae83c_12">Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership</a> (AITSL) also expects all teaching levels to effectively implement, use, model, lead and support ICT technologies.</p>
<h2>In practice, many teachers struggle</h2>
<p>Despite significant <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9424-2">resources</a> allocated to integrating technology in the classroom, many teachers have struggled with disruptions that devices can bring, had their work negatively impacted or have not used technologies effectively. And many pre-service teachers <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3523&context=ajte">perceive</a> introducing new technologies as a future teaching barrier.</p>
<p>Here are ten reasons teachers can struggle to use new technologies in the classroom.</p>
<h2>1. Introduced technology is not always preferred</h2>
<p>Technology isn’t always the answer. Pre-service teachers have reflected on having preferences for manual writing (compared to typing) and incidences of <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=703337210308872;res=IELAPA;type=pdf">doubling up</a> on time writing notes. Students can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2015.1026474">prefer reading print</a> and teachers can <a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/1830/">disengage</a> from introducing new technology when they don’t feel it adds anything extra.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-gimmicks-technology-in-schools-must-serve-a-purpose-43335">No gimmicks: technology in schools must serve a purpose</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Differing device capabilities and instructions</h2>
<p>When students are required to bring their own device to school, there can be large <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1305047">differences</a> in device capability, for example between what a cheap android phone can do compared with an iPad. Students may have difficulty writing on small devices over long periods. Teachers may need to give multiple <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED583080">instructions</a> for many different devices.</p>
<h2>3. It’s easy for students to be distracted</h2>
<p>Students <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0735633117690004?journalCode=jeca">regularly use</a> devices for social media, playing games, instant messaging, text messaging and emailing rather than for class work. </p>
<p>Students have been <a href="https://www.learntechlib.org/p/161202/">described</a> as “digital rebels” (accessing social media and texting), “cyber wanderers” (succumbing to virtual games) and “eLearning pioneers” (undertaking online studies during classtime).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/driven-to-distraction-bringing-your-own-device-to-school-could-hinder-learning-18239">Driven to distraction: bringing your own device to school could hinder learning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Technology can affect lesson time and flow</h2>
<p>Lessons are interrupted by regular <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1305047">negotiations</a> that reduce lesson time. This is related to students not putting screens down (during instructions), concealing screens from teachers’ view, pretending devices don’t work and devices being insufficiently charged.</p>
<p>Digital technology training and preparing lessons to include new technologies can also be <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9424-2">time consuming</a>. </p>
<h2>5. Teachers need more professional development</h2>
<p>There are nearly 300,000 <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4221.0">teachers</a> across Australia. They need access to ICT improvements for classroom <a href="https://eprints.usq.edu.au/29444/1/11.pdf">implementation</a> and to keep up with continuous technological advances. This needs to be regular, scaffolded and sustainable.</p>
<p>Yet, allocation of professional learning resources has been reported as <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Technology-Integration-High-Possibility-Classrooms-Jane-Hunter/9781138781337">sporadic</a> in scope and quality. </p>
<h2>6. Not everyone has technology at home</h2>
<p>Not all students or teachers use a computer at home, are frequent users, have sufficient data or <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0">internet access</a>. There is a digital divide of <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=policyinsights">reduced</a> computer literacy in students from Indigenous, lower socioeconomic or regional/rural backgrounds. </p>
<p>This creates challenges for teachers if they have to set different tasks for different students, or if they <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_68">avoid</a> setting homework with a digital component.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-digital-divide-is-not-going-away-91834">Australia's digital divide is not going away</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>7. Teachers need to protect students</h2>
<p>Immersion of students in digital technologies has created additional demands for teachers to <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1104426.pdf">protect</a> students’ behaviours <a href="http://acce.edu.au/sites/acce.edu.au/files/pj/journal/AEC_Vol_25_No_1LegalRisks.pdf">online</a> (safety, legal risks and privacy) and in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1305047">classroom</a> (theft and locking of devices).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-parents-and-teens-can-reduce-the-impact-of-social-media-on-youth-well-being-87619">How parents and teens can reduce the impact of social media on youth well-being</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>8. Not all teachers ‘believe’ in using technology</h2>
<p>A wide range of research has established that if teachers don’t <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-015-0014-3">believe</a> in using digital technologies they will fail to transform classes, align with learning goals and integrate technology into curricular content.</p>
<h2>9. Lack of adequate ICT support, infrastructure, or time</h2>
<p>Appropriate <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=policyinsights">access</a> to technical support (classroom, informally), availability of infrastructure (computer labs, software), policies (whether to administer digital homework) and time allocated to incorporate new technologies are major challenges for teachers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-online-will-australian-schools-and-students-be-ready-25327">NAPLAN online: will Australian schools and students be ready?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>10. Tensions between students and teachers</h2>
<p>There have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2017.1305047">tensions</a> from teachers confiscating “personally owned” devices, difficulties accessing power sockets and when students find <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=eRhWDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=+Teacher+as+expert+vs.+Diverse+knowledge+sources+technology&ots=UjOUrfitzy&sig=ET13Vs8LNI8gt7jQ1snipyvpxqc#v=onepage&q=Teacher%20as%20expert%20vs.%20Diverse%20knowledge%20sources%20technology&f=false">information</a> online that conflicts with what the teacher is teaching.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-kids-from-using-technology-is-counter-productive-37173">Banning kids from using technology is counter-productive</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What can we do to overcome these struggles?</h2>
<p>There is no single technological solution that applies for every teacher, every course, or every view of teaching. Integrating technology in the classroom is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9424-2">complex</a> and varied process for many teachers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231611/original/file-20180813-2909-ox7o72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professional development and creating a shared vision for ICT education is important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">marco antonio torres/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meaningful technology integration depends on more than device use. There are <a href="https://www.cdu.edu.au/sites/default/files/the-northern-institute/10.18793-lcj2017.21.02.pdf">important steps</a> to make sure integrating technology aligns with how you teach and what you are teaching.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Technology-Integration-High-Possibility-Classrooms-Jane-Hunter/9781138781337">Professional development</a> has tried to address teachers’ technology struggles. But much of it has been limited to one-shot or “one solution for all” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2016.1211523">strategies</a>.</p>
<p>We need an approach to ICT professional development with different <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2016.1211523">layers</a> to handle the many various situations teachers find themselves in and to handle varied levels of teaching experience and confidence.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9401-9">Developing</a> a common vision about the role of ICT in education with stakeholders and creating a shared community of practice is important. </p>
<p>Without holistic improvements to teacher support and training that address the many issues teachers face, there’s the risk of creating a generation of ill-prepared students for a digital future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendon Hyndman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Without addressing teacher concerns about integrating IT in the classroom, we risk creating a generation of students ill-prepared for a digital future.Brendon Hyndman, Senior Lecturer and Course Director of Postgraduate Studies in Education, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/963812018-05-23T15:02:24Z2018-05-23T15:02:24ZA shock to the system: how new teachers in Zimbabwe learn to do their jobs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218804/original/file-20180514-178768-li2tn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A great deal of teachers' learning also happens in the classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">World Bank Photo Collection/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a big difference between what prospective teachers learn at university and what they find when they enter the world of work. Some scholars have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671522.2015.1037336">called this</a> a “reality shock”, and pointed out that it could “account for the frustration, anxiety and self-doubt many early career teachers are thought to experience”. </p>
<p>Other researchers <a href="http://seas3.elte.hu/coursematerial/DavidGergely/Amos_Paran_2012_Language_skills_highlights.pdf">have found</a> that early career teachers who are just starting out often lack the subject knowledge that’s needed for effective teaching. There’s a discrepancy between the content they’re taught and the curricula they find already in place at schools. </p>
<p>And, in perhaps the grimmest description of all, some researchers have <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1134&context=gse_pubs">called teaching</a> an occupation that “cannibalises its ‘young’ and in which the initiation of new teachers is akin to a ‘sink or swim,’ ‘trial by fire,’ or ‘boot camp’ experience”. </p>
<p>Yet despite these very real challenges, some early career teachers have managed to effectively teach their subject and have remained in the profession. Given that their university training alone didn’t seem to be setting them up for this work, we wanted to know how early career teachers obtained the knowledge they really needed to succeed and even thrive.</p>
<p>Working with early career high school English language teachers from Zimbabwe, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323212870_Exploring_Beginner_Teachers'_Sources_of_Knowledge_for_Teaching_Literature_in_ESL_Classrooms">we found</a> that teachers obtained their knowledge about their work from three sources. First, they drew from theories of education they’d learned at university. They also explored the nature of their subject and built up knowledge from that. And they identified problematic areas in how their subject is usually taught, then found new and different ways to tackle these difficulties.</p>
<p>These findings emphasise teaching knowledge as emanating from personal, practical, reactional and contextual experiences. This means teacher preparation programmes might better prepare pre-service teachers by exposing them to multiple contexts which have the potential to develop their professional practice.</p>
<h2>Different ways of learning how to teach</h2>
<p>We worked with a group of early career teachers in Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo East district. They work at schools which we once reserved for white students before Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 and the education system was desegregated. Today the district is largely occupied by middle-class black people and a few white families.</p>
<p>We collected data using semi-structured interviews, conducted our own observations and had the participants keep reflection diaries. Then we analysed this material to identify common areas of knowledge and the sources of that information.</p>
<p>University study is not entirely without value for early career teachers. The participants in our research said they sourced some information from their academic courses and activities. This included general knowledge about psychology, sociology, learning and communication. They then reconstructed this knowledge into their personal philosophies and teaching styles. </p>
<p>The second source of knowledge was the very nature of English language as a subject. For example, when it came to the literature component of the subject, teachers said it was important to know about the history of literature since this informs its nature. This knowledge made them more aware of the scaffolds their pupils required to perform well in the subject. This knowledge was not easily accessible through comprehension of the university curriculum only. These teachers reinterpreted their theoretical knowledge into their contexts as means of enhancing effective learning. </p>
<p>The knowledge of the history and nature of their subject motivated these teachers to embrace specific teaching methods that facilitated problem solving, critical thinking, competencies, skills and values synonymous with someone who has studied in that area. They were aware of the robust ways in which knowledge is acquired in English learning.</p>
<p>Through this continuous process of refining their ability to teach a subject by paying attention to their context, the pupils and the curriculum objectives, the early career teachers become more than subject teachers: they were subject knowers.</p>
<p>Finally, the participants in our study learned to be better teachers by understanding which areas their pupils struggled to grasp. They reached this point by really getting to know what each of the pupils in their classes needed to be academically successful. Then they created teaching strategies that motivated their learners and boosted their self-esteem and efficacy.</p>
<h2>Implications for teaching</h2>
<p>Our study offers a deeper comprehension of how early career teachers develop and gain knowledge. It also highlights the symbiotic relationship between theoretical knowledge in teaching and the role of teachers in the construction of their teaching knowledge from classroom-based experiences. </p>
<p>Simply put, it’s not enough for teachers to get a degree and believe they’re prepared for life in a classroom. There should be more chances for teachers to develop skills as professionals on how to teach. This development process occurs only when teachers are nurtured in supportive school communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teachers who are just starting out often lack the subject knowledge needed for effective teaching.Nhlanhla Mpofu, Senior Lecturer, Sol Plaatje UniversityLizette J de Jager, Senior lecturer, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/952442018-05-21T11:00:10Z2018-05-21T11:00:10ZWhy teachers shouldn’t be afraid of other languages being spoken in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219731/original/file-20180521-14987-1jil0ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650547/SFR28_2017_Main_Text.pdf">20% of all primary school and 16% of secondary school children</a> in the UK speak languages other than English. And there are now <a href="https://www.naldic.org.uk/research-and-information/eal-statistics/eal-pupils/">more than 360 languages</a> spoken in British classrooms. </p>
<p>But more often than not, in mainstream schools in the UK, the “home languages” of children can be sidelined at best, and prohibited at worst. English is the language of the classroom – this is despite the fact that the <a href="https://downloads.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/UNCRC_united_nations_convention_on_the_rights_of_the_child.pdf?_ga=2.228699612.1785884647.1524135801-1697719341.1523519956">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> is clear that children from linguistic minorities should not be “denied the right” to use their own languages.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/B387%20ELTRP%20Report%20-%20Wardman_v6.pdf">my recent research</a>, I found there was often a lot of fear associated with the use of “home” languages among the typically white, monolingual demographic of the teaching profession. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://ealjournal.org/2018/03/05/attitudes-towards-multilingualism-and-multilingual-children-in-primary-schools/">my study</a>, which looks at educator’s attitudes towards multilingualism, one teacher I spoke with explained how she likes children to respond to the register in whatever language they choose, but anything more than this is frowned upon. </p>
<p>She also spoke about what she called “the inappropriateness of language” – claiming that children only use other languages when they want to be rude or exclude others. </p>
<h2>Not encouraged</h2>
<p>This teacher is not alone in thinking classrooms should be exclusively English speaking – and it <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244013507270">isn’t just the case in the UK</a>. Researchers have observed prohibition of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09658416.2013.863902">home languages of children in France</a>, where the thought of using any language other than French in the classroom was likened to “anarchy”. In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050.2013.877418">Greece</a>, Albanian speaking children are told that “here, we speak this language [Greek] that we all understand”. </p>
<p>Part of the problem, is most likely down to the fact that losing control of aspects of the learning process can be challenging for teachers. And it can take a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hundreds-of-languages-are-spoken-in-the-uk-but-this-isnt-always-reflected-in-the-classroom-82289">significant investment</a> of resources (both funding and time) to gain enough confidence to allow for other languages in your classroom. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218284/original/file-20180509-34027-gopc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools treat other languages as an obstacle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTUyNTg5NDE4MiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNjUzNjM2ODg0IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzY1MzYzNjg4NC9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwiQjVzNm9EdG5KU093cGJBZGwrZHlWVkhyWkhNIl0%2Fshutterstock_653636884.jpg&pi=33421636&m=653636884&src=ZVwb4nuKY3fjwpJQnSFvtg-1-15">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.francoisgrosjean.ch/myths_en.html">Myths also prevail</a> about how the use of a home language might delay transition to English and about the supposed negative effects of combining or mixing languages – known as “code switching”. Government rhetoric, as well as current policies that focus on “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/696993/Integrated_Communities_Strategy.pdf">British values</a>” rather than truly inclusive practices, also impact attitudes. </p>
<p>This leads most schools to follow the <a href="https://www.naldic.org.uk/Resources/NALDIC/Research%20and%20Information/Documents/Brief_summary_of_Government_policy_for_EAL_Learners.pdf">line of argument</a> that the responsibility for maintaining home languages lies with the minority language communities themselves. But <a href="https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-319228906.html">studies</a> have shown how hard it is for families to be solely responsible for “language maintenance”. </p>
<h2>Celebrating languages</h2>
<p>But while a monolingual ideology may be rife in UK classrooms, there is a good understanding of the <a href="http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/Mother-Tongue-The-Language-of-Heart-and-Mind">social and emotional benefits</a> for children using and maintaining their home language.
And there are increasingly positive stories demonstrating the innovative use of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13670050.2010.486850">multiple languages</a> in schools – including <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050903406335?scroll=top&needAccess=true">literacy</a> and <a href="http://clelejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Article-Emma-McGilp-CLELEjournal-Vol2.2-2014.pdf">cultural</a> projects that make the most of a classroom’s linguistic diversity. </p>
<p>Representing the views of a number of participants in my study, Lucy (a higher level teaching assistant and English as an additional language coordinator) said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Keeping their language is an extremely important characteristic. It’s part of their culture, it’s who they are, it’s what they are, it’s what makes them unique. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A number of people I spoke to were also keen to tell me about the benefits of celebrating other languages and cultures – which helps to foster multiculturalism and a better understanding of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalinguistic_awareness">languages and other cultural behaviours</a> in all children.</p>
<h2>The role of schools</h2>
<p>Initial findings in my current study suggest that some schools are taking great steps forward to help offer opportunities for children to use languages beyond English. This is despite changes and cuts to funding that now limit the support schools are provided with in this area.</p>
<p>Teachers are striving to overcome their worries about multilingual spaces and making excellent use of <a href="https://www.twinkl.com/resources/english-as-an-additional-language-eal/english-as-an-additional-language-eal-translated-resources">online resources</a> for curriculum based work in a range of languages – as well as providing <a href="https://ealresources.bell-foundation.org.uk">tailored teaching</a> materials for children that need them.</p>
<p>As an English as another language specialist teacher from the north-west of England explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’ve got rafts of young people who feel they haven’t been able to access the curriculum in the way others can … how are they going to view their society and their country? </p>
<p>It’s the long term impact on those people and on the community and that’s for everybody, not just a particular group of people because we are all part of the country, aren’t we?.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/330782/england-english-additional-language-primary-pupils/">numbers</a> of children speaking other languages in the classroom continues to rise, schools must do more to avoid the potential negative effects of language loss. By sharing resources, and getting involved with the <a href="https://naldic.org.uk">national association for English as an additional language</a> teachers and schools can better cope with the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870701599465">particularly diverse</a> linguistic setup of some classrooms. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>More evidence-based articles about <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/language-197?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Language">languages</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/youre-never-too-old-to-become-fluent-in-a-foreign-language-96293?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Language">You’re never too old to become fluent in a foreign language</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/emotions-shape-the-language-we-use-but-second-languages-reveal-a-shortcut-around-them-91281?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Language">Emotions shape the language we use, but second languages reveal a shortcut around them</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/speaking-dialects-trains-the-brain-in-the-same-way-as-bilingualism-59022?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Language">Speaking dialects trains the brain in the same way as bilingualism</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Cunningham has previously received funding from the British Council.</span></em></p>Encouraging other languages in the classroom won’t lead to ‘anarchy’.Clare Cunningham, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/957882018-05-07T20:11:26Z2018-05-07T20:11:26ZBeing able to adapt in the classroom improves teachers’ well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217217/original/file-20180502-153869-12vbofp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Adaptability has been highlighted as essential for teachers, given the constantly changing demands of teaching work.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every few months, there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-who-feel-appreciated-are-less-likely-to-leave-the-profession-89864">reports</a> about the prevalence of poor well-being and high attrition among teachers. These reports describe many teachers as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.02.010">stressed or burnt out</a>. Between <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0004944117752478">8% and 30%</a> of Australian teachers are choosing to leave the profession each year. </p>
<p>Alongside these issues are ongoing difficulties related to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_Employment_and_Workplace_Relations/Completed_inquiries/2010-13/teachinglearning/report/index">retention of quality teachers</a> in particular geographic locations (such as in remote areas) and subject areas (such as science).</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.04.015">study</a>, we examined one factor – teachers’ adaptability – and the extent to which it might help promote teachers’ well-being and reduce attrition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-suspending-or-expelling-students-often-does-more-harm-than-good-93279">Why suspending or expelling students often does more harm than good</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is adaptability?</h2>
<p>Experiences of change, novelty, and uncertainty are common to all humans. These include major events such as beginning school, moving out of home, and starting a new job. They also include more everyday events such as a change in job role, having to think of alternative transport when a flat car battery strikes, or having unexpected guests join for dinner. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217215/original/file-20180502-153888-158dyh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adapting, for a teacher may involve adjusting lesson pacing to better engage students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The extent to which we are able to adjust our thoughts, actions, and emotions in order to successfully respond to these types of situations is known as <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1037291112000088">adaptability</a>. This involves adjusting the way we think about the situation to consider different options, undertaking different actions to better navigate the situation, and minimising emotions (like anxiety or frustration) that may be unhelpful or distracting. </p>
<h2>Why is adaptability important for teachers?</h2>
<p>Just as general life is full of changing, new, and uncertain situations, so are our working lives — and especially the working lives of teachers. For example, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7459/ept/38.1.03">at work teachers regularly</a>: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>encounter a diverse range of learners to whom they must respond appropriately</p></li>
<li><p>face unexpected situations in the classroom or shifts in timetabling that they need to navigate</p></li>
<li><p>interact with with new colleagues, students, and parents</p></li>
<li><p>integrate new and changing knowledge from professional learning into their teaching practices. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>All of these situations require teachers to adapt in order to successfully navigate them. Adapting may involve adjusting lesson pacing to better engage students, minimising frustration when a lesson is not going according to plan, or adapting one’s approach to collaboration to work well with a new colleague. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217216/original/file-20180502-153869-nadjo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Findings showed that when teachers were more adaptable, they tended to report greater well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Adaptability is something teachers require on a regular basis and likely plays an important role in helping them to navigate the demands of their work. In our prior <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.03.003">research</a>, we found support for this. We found when teachers were more adaptable, they tended to report better well-being. </p>
<p>We also examined whether there were additional connections with students’ achievement. Results showed when teachers were more adaptable, and so had better well-being, their students had higher achievement. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-shouldnt-have-to-manage-behaviour-issues-by-themselves-schools-need-to-support-them-76569">Teachers shouldn't have to manage behaviour issues by themselves – schools need to support them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did we discover?</h2>
<p>In a new study, we asked 164 Australian secondary school teachers to rate their adaptability along with their experiences of work disengagement and their job commitment. </p>
<p>Work disengagement occurs when teachers continue to do their work, but they invest little or no effort; that is, they have largely “given up”. This is a negative experience for teachers and usually occurs when teachers feel they can do little to influence their workplace experiences. </p>
<p>Job commitment refers to teachers’ attachment to and personal identification with their workplace. When teachers have high job commitment, they tend to invest more effort into their work and are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2011.01.002">less likely to quit their jobs</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217218/original/file-20180502-153914-pjatub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Principal support was also an important factor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results showed when teachers were more adaptable, they tended to report lower work disengagement and, in turn, greater job commitment. For this finding, it’s possible adaptable teachers are better able to effectively navigate the constant change, novelty, and uncertainty that occur in teaching. This may help them avoid the feelings of helplessness that lead to disengagement. In turn, when teachers put in little effort and have largely “given up”, then it’s unlikely they would feel attachment to or personal identification with their job. </p>
<p>As an additional question in our study, we also looked at the role of principal support. Here, we asked teachers about the extent to which they felt the principal listens to teachers’ perspectives (such as inviting teachers’ input in decisions) and supports their initiative and innovation (such as providing teachers with choices in how they do their work). Our findings showed when teachers reported more principal support, they tended to be more adaptable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-emotional-workload-of-teachers-is-too-often-ignored-48013">The emotional workload of teachers is too often ignored</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How to support adaptability in teachers</h2>
<p>Adaptability has been highlighted as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7459/ept/38.1.03">essential for teachers</a>, given the constantly changing demands of teaching work. Our research has shown adaptability may also help teachers avoid feelings of disengagement and, in turn, avoid lower job commitment. And so adaptability may be one factor to consider in efforts to support teachers’ well-being and promote teacher retention. </p>
<p>Given principal support was also an important factor, our study provided some ideas for supporting adaptability in practice. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671003638543">Actions by principals</a> such as inviting teachers’ input in decisions, providing teachers with choices in curriculum and policy development, listening to teachers’ perspectives, and expressing confidence in teachers’ abilities have been highlighted as supportive of teachers’ sense of empowerment and belonging in the workplace. Together, these approaches may also help teachers to be more adaptable at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In part support of this project, Andrew Martin received funding from the Australian Research Council (Grant # DP0986689)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Granziera and Rebecca J Collie do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When teachers are more adaptable, they’re better able to respond to the changing nature of teaching, and navigate a complex workplace.Rebecca J Collie, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology, UNSW SydneyAndrew J Martin, Scientia Professor and Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW SydneyHelena Granziera, PhD Student - University of NSW, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/948502018-04-19T11:17:13Z2018-04-19T11:17:13ZA playful approach to learning means more imagination and exploration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215389/original/file-20180418-163962-14n971.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kid-playing-hopscotch-on-playground-outdoors-332743895?src=uRJ1tIoCFJivQroMqyu02Q-1-43">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Play in education is controversial. Although it is widely accepted that very young children need to play, as they progress through the school system, the focus moves quickly to measuring learning. And despite the fact that play is <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/57c1/6f405b49e6fa4e38e1725310902bb870ace8.pdf">beneficial throughout life</a>, supporting creativity and happiness, it is still seen by many in education as a frivolous waste of time, and not really relevant to proper learning. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/tes-talks-toanthony-pellegrini">article in the Times Educational Supplement</a>, educational psychologist Anthony Pellegrini argued that play in schools should be limited to the playground rather than the classroom. Play, by his definition, is carried out for its own sake (or “intrinsically-motivated”) and focused on an experience rather than an outcome (“process-orientated”). </p>
<p>Play should not be for the classroom, he contends, because school activities are teacher led, and therefore not intrinsically motivated. They are focused on an end product – the acquisition of skills and knowledge – rather than a process. </p>
<p>There is a great deal of common sense in what Pellegrini says. He highlights the distinction between the idea of play and simply making lessons fun by using games or toys. He believes there is a danger in using the latter approach solely to motivate learners because the motivation does not come from within. </p>
<p>His call for caution in the wholesale use of play in education, and a push for increased focus on learner motivation is also inherently sensible. However, his creation of a false binary between “play is good” versus “play is bad” is reductionist in the extreme. Most teachers recognise that the use of play, in its many forms, is far more nuanced. </p>
<p>Also, the conclusion that play has no place in the classroom is based on certain assumptions about the state of formal school education in the UK – namely, that it is currently fit for purpose. It accepts that a system of teacher-led, externally dictated curricula and regularly assessed learning is the best way to manage an education system and engage young people in meaningful learning.</p>
<p>But what if education was different? </p>
<p>Imagine instead a classroom where learning is dictated by students’ interests, exploration, curiosity and experimentation. Where learners work together to answer questions that are relevant and fascinating to them. Where they don’t expect to get everything right first time, but can learn from their failures, and delight in their discoveries. Where learning is based on skills and values, far beyond the limitations of testable knowledge, and evaluated by application rather than meaningless tests. Isn’t this, by definition, play?</p>
<p>But we live in the real world. Given the current focus (in the UK education system at least) on set content, memorisation and testing, play is evidently not suited to getting the best results in that context. And while there are notable examples of embedded play in schools, such as <a href="http://www.q2l.org/">Quest to Learn</a> in New York, a fundamental rethink of our current education system is unlikely in the near future. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that play must be confined to the playground. </p>
<h2>Thinking outside the ticked box</h2>
<p>There is an important distinction between play as an activity, and playfulness as an attitude. Playfulness is about being open to new experiences. It’s about imagining, a spirit of make-believe, exploring possibilities. </p>
<p>Playful learning approaches encourage the development of playful learners not just through the use of toys and games, or even play-based teaching approaches, but through the development of fundamental <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21594937.2017.1382997">playful values</a>. Playfulness is key to creating spaces for positive failure, something that the current education system ignores, with its relentless regime of <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/primary-assessment-report-published-16-17/">high-stakes testing</a> from an early age.</p>
<p>Many teachers fully appreciate the value of playful thinking but the school system doesn’t make it easy to support the change in mindset that playfulness engenders. They are limited by targets, tests, and inspections. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215406/original/file-20180418-163978-14b9hh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Splashiness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/feet-child-yellow-rubber-boots-jumping-668307886?src=NKpA0iOSXYpYy1LB1jgaDQ-1-16">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moving from a focus on play to playfulness, however, offers opportunities to rethink possibilities for school learning, even within this restrictive framework. The <a href="http://eduscapes.playthinklearn.net/">EduScapes</a> project at Manchester Metropolitan University, for example, has developed an approach to learning through collaborative design of an “escape room”. </p>
<p>An escape room is a game form where groups of players work together in the same physical space over a restricted time period to solve a variety of physical, mental and collaborative puzzles and achieve some overall objective (usually escaping the room). </p>
<p>Escape room design offers the opportunity for students to design something playful together, creating a product that can be tested but is not formally assessed. The group based design process aims to support productive failure through iterative testing, develop creativity and problem solving skills, and engender a spirit of play in students and staff alike.</p>
<p>This approach has been used for three years with sixth form students at Cheadle Hulme High School in Stockport as an annual enrichment project. David Woolley, the assistant headteacher, is a strong supporter of the project, which he describes as a “fantastic vehicle to build confidence, develop team working, problem solving, critical thinking and presentation skills in a truly fun and interactive way”. </p>
<p>This project shows that playful learning approaches are possible, and can be effective, but they have to be thoughtfully embedded within the constraints of the current education system. Play is not the problem, but playfulness might just be the answer. At a fundamental level, we need to rethink the systems that constrain teachers from being effective and playful – and create intrinsically motivating, meaningful environments which develop creative and resilient learners of the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Whitton receives funding from the European Union. </span></em></p>We shouldn’t save play for the playground.Nicola Whitton, Professor in Education, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/947062018-04-18T12:45:27Z2018-04-18T12:45:27ZFive ways artificial intelligence will shape the future of universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215205/original/file-20180417-163991-1i9no2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/accomplishment-ceremony-education-graduation-267885/">Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming many human activities ranging from daily chores to highly sophisticated tasks. But unlike many other industries, the higher education sector has yet to be really influenced by AI. </p>
<p>Uber has disrupted the taxi sector, Airbnb has disrupted the hotel industry and Amazon disrupted first the bookselling sector, then the whole retail industry. It is only a matter of time then until the higher education sector undergoes a significant transformation.</p>
<p>Within a few short years, universities may well have changed beyond all recognition. Here are five ways that AI will help to change and shape the future of universities and higher education for the better.</p>
<h2>1. Personalised learning</h2>
<p>Universities are already using AI algorithms to personalise learning and deliver content that is suited to the students needs and pace of learning – and this is only likely to continue. This idea is built on <a href="http://www.clomedia.com/2018/01/10/adapting-adaptive-learning/">research</a> that shows different people have different aptitudes, skills and orientations to learn when exposed to the same content and learning environments. </p>
<p>Offering personalised, adaptive learning platforms recognises the diversity that is part of any learning ecosystem. This will be a significant change for universities, as it moves away from the traditional model of “one module guide for all”. </p>
<p>It will see educators equipped with data sets to analyse and understand the needs of individuals. And work can be automatically adapted to the style and pace of learning for each particular student.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215207/original/file-20180417-163982-1dbtft7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Because everybody learns differently.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/shallow-focus-photography-of-two-women-in-academic-dress-on-flight-of-stairs-901964/">Pexels</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Moving beyond the classroom</h2>
<p>As educational AI develops, students will be able to study where they want, when they want and using whatever platform they want. This is likely to mean that tablets and mobile phones will become the main delivery methods.</p>
<p>Universities are already using AI-enabled smart building concepts to redesign learning spaces. Modern “smart” classroom spaces are now generally equipped with circular tables, laptops, flat screen monitors, multiple projectors, and whiteboards to encourage and support collaborative and engaged active learning.<br>
This helps educators move away from a traditional classroom set-up, to a more interactive style of working, to encourage deeper learning approaches. And this will start to include more hybrid methods of learning – such as both <a href="https://tile.uiowa.edu/content/about-tile">face-to-face and online</a> interactions.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yvEN4jJ4WUM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>3. Welcome to the smart campus</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/what-is-the-internet-of-things-google">The Internet of Things</a> also has the potential to transform universities into smarter places to work and learn. At its core, the technology is simple, it’s all about connecting devices over the internet and letting them talk to us, as well as each other. </p>
<p>Smart classrooms will also enhance the learning experience of the students. A classroom connected to the Internet of Things equipped can adapt to the personalised settings to prepare the classroom for different faculty members. Monitoring attendance and invigilating exams will also be automated and made much more robust.</p>
<p>This development in technology will also enable smart campuses to adopt advanced systems to automatically monitor and control every facility. Universities will be able to monitor parking spaces, building alarms, room usage, heating and lighting all very easily.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215206/original/file-20180417-163971-1mzc4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Say goodbye to traditional learning environments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/auditorium-chairs-classroom-college-356065/">Pexels.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Great customer service</h2>
<p>Universities are also using AI to streamline their processes, resulting in cost savings and better service levels – and this is something that is set to continue. A good example of this is Deakin University in Australia, which has partnered with IBM to be the first university worldwide to implement <a href="https://www.ibm.com/watson/">Watson</a>. Watson is a supercomputer developed by IBM that combines AI and sophisticated analytical software to answer users’ questions. </p>
<p>Watson’s main functionality is to replicate a human’s ability to answer questions. This functionality uses 90 servers with a combined data store of more than 200m pages of information and processed against six million logic rules. </p>
<p>Deakin’s aim is to create a 24/7 online student advisory service, that will improve the student experience. Integrated with their single interface platform and online personal hub, DeakinSync enables students to ask questions and receive instant online answers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pehHNkPYhj4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>5. Monitoring performance</h2>
<p>Another dimension of using AI innovations in universities will be the use of block chains. This will revolutionise how universities operate, as higher education institutions use this technology to automate recognition and the transfer of credits, potentially opening up learning opportunities across universities. </p>
<p>Universities can also use block chains to register and record the intellectual property rights arising from scholarly research. Copyright could be notarised at the date of publication and later reuse can be tracked for impact assessments. This will transform the way universities operate and help to demonstrate the true impact that academic research can have.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Artificial intelligence will transform universities. Here’s how.Nafis Alam, Associate Professor, University of ReadingGraham Kendall, Professor of Computer Science and Provost/CEO/PVC, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930882018-04-11T10:34:51Z2018-04-11T10:34:51ZThe dying art of storytelling in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214144/original/file-20180410-570-xpm5vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=nbZg2iGPDY3qcHXCMtvmBQ-2-57">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Storytelling may be as old as the hills but it remains one of the most effective tools for teaching and learning. A good story can make a child (or adult) prick up their ears and settle back into their seat to listen and learn.</p>
<p>But despite the power a great story can have, <a href="https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/2519/">storytelling has an endangered status</a> in the classroom – partly due to a huge emphasis on “<a href="https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswal/index.html">active learning</a>” in education. This is the idea that pupils learn best when they are doing something – or often, “seen to be doing” something.</p>
<p>Any lesson in which a teacher talks for 15 or more uninterrupted minutes would be regarded today as placing pupils in too passive a role. Indeed, even in English lessons teachers now very rarely read a whole poem or book chapter to pupils, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181204/110118.pdf">something which now worries even OFSTED</a>. </p>
<h2>Bringing history to life</h2>
<p>By contrast, teaching, particularly in the humanities, before the 1960s was heavily dependent on storytelling by teachers. A teacher would give a class, say, an account of the English Civil War, based on her own knowledge, reading and imagination. </p>
<p>The teacher would try to bring the febrile context, the battling causes, and the battles themselves to life. She might add an anecdote of her own visit to a village in which Charles I was said to have hidden out. The pupils would then write their own individual accounts of the history – the story – they had just heard, perhaps “from the perspective of a common footsoldier”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214141/original/file-20180410-577-a5x5m5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Storytelling can be a powerful tool for teachers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=nbZg2iGPDY3qcHXCMtvmBQ-1-85">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, this approach has many limitations. There was often very little scope for critical discussion and pupils were over-reliant on their teachers’ view of events. But we mustn’t lose sight of the value of what was happening in that history classroom. </p>
<p>Pupils had the chance to become deeply absorbed in a context that was utterly alien to them – and their life experience was extended. Their imaginations were able to stitch this exotic secondhand experience to their library of personal experiences. In their retellings, they were never “just” copying, but making sense and interpreting. </p>
<h2>Layered learning</h2>
<p>Influential educational thinkers such as <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674003668">Jerome Bruner</a> have recognised the deep, contextually embedded, multi-layered learning that a story enables as a form of knowledge in its own right. My colleague Matthew Reason and I have called this “<a href="https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/2077/">storyknowing</a>”.</p>
<p>And in this way, the storytelling of teachers and the storytelling of pupils can nourish each other – as I found in my long-term collaboration with secondary humanities teacher Sally Durham. </p>
<p>A story from me about my German mother-in-law’s World War Two experiences would trigger anecdotes from pupils and teaching assistants about their own relatives’ opposite perspective on the same events – until we had built a three-dimensional picture of the situation, and gained respect for each other’s experiential knowledge. </p>
<h2>A tree falls in the woods</h2>
<p>One day our topic was rainforest destruction. We asked the pupils to share their most powerful memories of trees and forests, until the classroom atmosphere began to feel almost “wooded”. I then told the story of an indigenous Indonesian chief who was approached by government officials to sell his people’s land for logging, to make space for poor tenant farmers. </p>
<p>The usually rambunctious pupils, without exception, listened avidly for 15 minutes, until I paused at a crucial point. They then experimented with their own endings to the story (many were by now confident storytellers). </p>
<p>At first these endings were optimistic, but as the pupils played out the tensions and power dynamics of the interactions between loggers, forest people, tenant farmers, experts and officials, the likelihood of the forest’s destruction hit them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214146/original/file-20180410-554-1lxp91k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Effective storytelling lets children get to the heart of the action, however complex the tale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=sAzpQi5gEfzFJGzZoVWk2A-1-2">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the group’s suggestion, we went online to research the work of organisations which support indigenous peoples worldwide to defend at least parts of their homeland. The level of complexity in the pupils’ stories and questions was such that we felt more like university lecturers than teachers of a “low ability” class of 12-year-olds. </p>
<p>What all this reveals is that we need to challenge the idea that pupils listening to a story are in a passive (or non-learning) role. As one of the pupils in the class I worked with explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s just – you know when you’re telling a story and some of us put our heads down like that [puts head down on folded arms] – it’s only because some of us do it to, like, picture the images in our heads (Joe age 12)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And as my story shows, the more complex the area of human experience, the more need there is for building knowledge through an exchange of stories. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-experts-who-put-storytelling-language-and-better-paid-teachers-at-the-heart-of-early-education-82346">The experts who put storytelling, language and better paid teachers at the heart of early education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Heinemeyer received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for her research into storytelling with young people.</span></em></p>Storytelling has endangered status in UK schools, partly due to a huge emphasis on ‘active learning’.Catherine Heinemeyer, Postdoctoral researcher and arts practitioner, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887762018-01-04T22:31:22Z2018-01-04T22:31:22ZBest of young adult fiction: Classic and revolutionary reads for 2018<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200869/original/file-20180104-26157-17pul45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tackling tough topics from racism and bullying to Indigenous identity and the holocaust, young adult fiction can challenge stereotypes and encourage critical thinking. Pictured here, an illustration from 'Skim' by Mariko Tamaki, the fictional diary of a depressed Japanese-Canadian girl. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Young adult (YA) fiction has come into its own. The past 20 years in particular have ushered in a new era of global prominence for the genre. </p>
<p>Twitter campaigns such as <a href="http://weneeddiversebooks.org">#weneeddiversebooks</a>, have advocated for changes in the publishing industry to produce literature that <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-great-reads-to-help-teens-become-critical-thinkers-88128">honours the diversity of young lives</a>. Readers’ choice awards, such as <a href="https://insideadog.com.au/blog/2017-inky-awards-shortlist-announcement">Inky Awards</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2017">Goodreads Choice Awards</a> have all boosted the genre. So have new <a href="http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/nyt-creates-separate-middle-grade-ya-bestsellers-lists/63047?red=as">YA-specific bestseller lists</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20468410?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">literary awards</a> such as the <a href="http://ggbooks.ca/#finalists">Governor General’s Literary Awards</a> in Canada and the <a href="http://www.ala.org/yalsa/printz">Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature</a> in the United States. </p>
<p>While series such as <em>Twilight</em> and <em>The Hunger Games</em> jump-started YA’s commercial success, many other titles offer deeply insightful and often humorous journeys into topics such as war, race, religion, sex and sexuality. These works offer young minds an antidote to the daily onslaught of social media feeds, encouraging deep and sustained engagement with contemporary issues — from the Black Lives Matter movement to bullying, homophobia and Indigenous identity. </p>
<p>Research has linked such books, and their bold treatment of difficult and uncomfortable issues, to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ882396">rich classroom conversations on topics of disability, immigration and racism</a>. Young adult fiction also facilitates <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40017169?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">identity development</a> among adolescents and offers potential for <a href="https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NW/article/viewFile/22784/26462">engagement with empathy</a> <a href="http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1071-sep2017/EJ1071Saying.pdf">and cultivation of critical thinking</a>. </p>
<p>As former teachers, and now education scholars, we suggest novels that we believe are must-reads for teens and <a href="http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2017/04/readers-advisory/leading-adults-to-ya-fiction-readers-advisory/">also their parents</a>. We showcase books from the U.S., Canada and Australia <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/819931?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">that empower</a> the <a href="http://www.academia.edu/34414435/Opportunities_for_Advocacy_Interrogating_Multivoiced_YALs_Treatment_of_Denied_Identities">too-often silenced voices</a> of young people.</p>
<p>A focus on Anglophone fiction is of course narrow in scope. In the Canadian context alone, Quebecois literature is <a href="http://www.academia.edu/2221634/Brisson_G._and_Rogers_T._2012_._Reading_Place_Bodies_and_Spaces_in_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_Adolescent_Literature._Childrens_Literature_in_Education._doi_10.1007_s10583-012-9180-5">gaining traction</a> for its <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/too-different-and-too-familiar-the-challenge-of-french-canadian-literature">valuable</a> yet <a href="http://lithub.com/five-great-contemporary-quebecois-writers/">routinely overlooked North American perspectives</a>. Nevertheless, we wanted to highlight diverse and award-winning texts for young adults that have cemented the genre’s newfound cultural significance. </p>
<p>These books <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/822056">broaden understandings of contemporary adolescent experiences</a> and <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/2512d37d55673f059b150f5a5ecbe17f/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41436">subvert commonly held stereotypes</a>, as well as being commercially successful. They are modern classics that have revolutionized the genre — through their thoughtful reflections on humanity, agency and redemption.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062498533/the-hate-u-give"><em>The Hate U Give</em></a></h2>
<p>Written by Angie Thomas. (2017, Harper Collins.)</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200825/original/file-20180104-26145-1vmtco7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lauded as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/books/review/black-lives-matter-teenage-books.html?_r=0">tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement</a>, Angie Thomas’s debut novel is as much a call to social justice as it is an intimate story of a young Black woman’s struggle to belong. </p>
<p>Commuting between her Black neighborhood of “Garden Heights” and her predominantly white suburban high school, 16-year-old Starr never quite feels like herself. When she witnesses the murder of her unarmed friend at the hands of a white police officer, she is compelled to make a choice — about who she is and who she wants to become.</p>
<p>This novel could be set anywhere, but Starr’s surprisingly funny account of activism is uniquely her own. As Thomas says: “I think that’s the big takeaway from the book, is that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/02/26/517305270/the-hate-u-give-explores-racism-and-police-violence">Starr realizes her voice matters</a>.” There <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20468410?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">are not enough books so unapologetically honest and timely</a> and this is one to be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/whe.20496/full">savoured and discussed</a>. </p>
<h2><a href="https://houseofanansi.com/products/skim"><em>Skim</em></a></h2>
<p>Written by Mariko Tamaki. Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. (2010, Groundwood Books.)</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200829/original/file-20180104-26142-1shw7oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Skim</em> is an inventive and highly praised (see below) graphic novel. It is set in an urban, private school for girls that is a staging ground for the journey of an increasingly depressed 16-year old Japanese-Canadian girl. Skim identifies as “goth” (it’s the ‘90s) and is uncertain of her sexuality and place in the social world of her peers.</p>
<p>Skim’s sardonic diary entries on bullying, homophobia and racism among her peer culture are deepened through a series of grey-toned comic panels that lighten as an unlikely friendship with a former antagonist develops. </p>
<p>The result is a <a href="http://www.tcj.com/the-jillian-tamaki-interview/2/">deliberately ambiguous</a> and uniquely compelling story of a particular time and place with universal resonance.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/693208.The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part_Time_Indian"><em>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian</em></a></h2>
<p>Written by Sherman Alexie. Art by Ellen Forney. (2009, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.)</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200833/original/file-20180104-26151-1lmqo24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In his <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2007_ypl_alexie.html#.WjHLuSOZN25">acceptance speech for the National Book Award</a>, Alexie references, “that gorgeous loneliness and that splendid isolation” of his first encounter with a book about a child of colour. This sentiment perfectly encapsulates the underlying tension in his semi-autobiographical narrative — of a ninth grade Indigenous boy’s decision to be educated off the Spokane Indian Reservation.</p>
<p>The protagonist — called Arnold at his school and Junior at home — infuses the novel’s diary entries with cartoon-doodles and sarcastic reflections on his life. </p>
<p>But through his comic veneer of anecdotal zit-popping and girl-ogling emerges the constant strain of reconciling individual ambition with loyalty to cultural community. </p>
<p>Alexie’s novel reveals the exquisite beauty of being able to tell your own story — even when the path there seems unimaginable or very lonely.</p>
<h2><a href="https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/196153/book-thief#9780375842207"><em>The Book Thief</em></a></h2>
<p>Written by Markus Zusak. (Reprint edition 2007, Knopf Books for Young Readers.)</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200836/original/file-20180104-26154-1ieqygr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This <em>New York Times</em> bestseller is narrated by Death — so that readers experience an everyday German perspective of the Holocaust with excruciating poignancy and compassion. </p>
<p>Leisel is a young girl growing up during the Second World War who befriends Max, a complicated Jewish man hiding in the basement of her foster parents’ house. Through this relationship and her own resilience, Leisel develops into a person Death comes to admire.</p>
<p>Zusak <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-_8QIdm4hA">initially imagined his narrator differently</a> but realized Death would tell the story <a href="http://images.randomhouse.com/teachers_guides/9780375842207.pdf">“…to prove to himself that humans are actually worth it.”</a> </p>
<p>While potentially challenging for young readers, rarely will they find a book so well worth the investment.</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-58243-321-9"><em>A Complicated Kindness</em></a></h2>
<p>Written by Miriam Toews. (2007, Vintage Canada.)</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200837/original/file-20180104-26154-13ctlo8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Winner of the <a href="http://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists">2004 Governor General’s Award for Fiction</a> and shortlisted for the <a href="http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/about/past-winners/">Giller Prize</a>, Miriam Toews’ wry, often discouraging account of small town life was not initially marketed as a young adult novel. However, it has <a href="http://cla.ca/wp-content/uploads/YA_Award-Past-Winners.pdf">since been lauded as a coming-of-age story suitable for teens</a>.</p>
<p>Narrator Nomi’s Mennonite village home is far from spiritually inspiring. At 16 she finds herself living alone with her father after both her mother and sister run off, anticipating a lifetime of drudgery working at the local chicken plant. As she notes, “there are no bars or visible exits.”</p>
<p>Yet despite its bleakness — exacerbated by Nomi’s frequent drug use and tragic blend of dry wit and self-loathing — Toews’ <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/a-complicated-kindness-1.3991966#more">now classic Canadian narrative</a> is ultimately about faith, self-reliance and choosing to believe in the promise of the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theresa Rogers has received funding from academic granting organizations for research on young adult literature. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Hamilton is a member of the Children's Literature Association and Vancouver's Children's Literature Roundtable.</span></em></p>Five novels for young adults that boldly tackle tough issues - from racism, to Indigenous identity and the Holocaust - to cultivate critical thinking in the classroom and at home.Theresa Rogers, Professor of Education, University of British ColumbiaCaroline Hamilton, PhD student in Language and Literacy Education, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866572017-11-24T16:23:45Z2017-11-24T16:23:45ZWhat Quaker schools can teach the rest of the class about equality, mutual respect and learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194802/original/file-20171115-19841-hgw79c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/education-students-people-knowledge-concept-497545879?src=JOrTe_54k1hWW9qGynBlGQ-1-11">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The head of England’s schools inspectorate <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielmans-speech-at-the-birmingham-school-partnership-conference">believes</a> that British values, including tolerance, openness to new ideas and mutual respect, should form a central part of school education.</p>
<p>Amanda Spielman, the new Ofsted chief, said the education system has a “vital role in inculcating and upholding” these values. She went on to praise one school which promotes inclusiveness, and another where a “values-focused” thought each day informs teaching.</p>
<p>But the very subject of teaching values in school can be problematic. Whose <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-spectre-of-british-values-and-education-policy-39102">values</a> are really being taught? How will a school’s performance of this duty be <a href="https://theconversation.com/promoting-british-values-opens-up-a-can-of-worms-for-teachers-27846">measured</a>? Others think we should step back from the question of “British” values and focus on helping children <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-british-values-should-be-folded-into-character-education-52131">develop a “virtuous” character</a>. </p>
<p>But what happens when an entire school culture is seen by its students as promoting equality, mutual respect and inclusiveness? </p>
<p><a href="https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/en/projects/how-students-learn-within-a-quaker-school-environment(58a06ee3-9e6a-4559-89c5-de2380907179).html">New research</a> reveals a significant relationship between Quaker school values and their students’ engagement with learning opportunities. Quaker schools are not common (there are ten in the UK and Ireland, 100 in the US), but they exist in 15 countries around the world. Some are very well established and highly thought of – both the Clintons and the Obamas sent their children <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/11/10/which-washington-area-school-will-barron-trump-attend/?utm_term=.1b3b1ca4b40f">to a Quaker establishment</a>, Sidwell Friends School, from the White House.</p>
<p>There are several things which make the English Quaker schools involved in the research distinctive. First, they all hold a “Meeting for Worship” which looks similar to a traditional school assembly in which the whole school gathers. Everyone sits in silence and all have the opportunity to address the room. This practice underscores another distinctive feature, which is that Quaker schools assert that everyone is equal. Schools try to reflect this in the way they listen to students and encourage positive relationships between year groups and between students and staff. </p>
<p>Although independent, Quaker schools rarely admit students based on academic selection. Quakers believe there is “something of God in everyone”. They actively encourage inclusiveness and stress that each student will grow and develop in their own way. </p>
<p>Yet counter-intuitively, students often perform very well in exams and the schools punch above their weight in <a href="http://www.aquakereducation.co.uk/bootham-students-on-the-up/">academic results</a>. So do aspects of the Quaker school culture contribute to students’ successful learning? </p>
<p>We found that students who were more likely to study without being told to and who enjoyed and took more interest in their subjects were the ones who also saw their schools as places characterised by friendliness, an equalitarian ethos and somewhere they rarely felt pressured. These students also tended to value the Quaker practice of silence and the weekly all-school Meeting for Worship, in which anyone can share a thought or express an opinion. </p>
<p>Interviews with students revealed how friendly relationships create strong bonds of trust, grounded in mutual respect and the Quaker belief in equality (perhaps surprising given that only 3% of students and 8% of teachers at the schools come from a Quaker background). Students recognise teachers as supportive and “on their side”, which leads to honest conversations about their studies and feeling of increased responsibility for their own learning. </p>
<p>One Year 10 boy said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you have a good relationship with the teacher or you are more friendly, then it is easier for you to get into the subject and learn more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A girl from Year 9 told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think the Quakerism influences us a lot. I think that’s what gives a lot of the friendly environment because you know that you’re equal whoever you are. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Meeting for Worship was seen as providing an opportunity to reflect, contributing to the relaxed atmosphere of school. But it also confirmed the place of students’ voices and the importance of community. This helped students feel they can be themselves, and supported to do the best they can – although this “best” was not confined to examination performance. </p>
<h2>A working relationship</h2>
<p>According to one female student, the friendly atmosphere “helps you learn more, because you feel under less pressure to understand [the subject] straight away”. </p>
<p>Interviews with teachers confirmed the perspectives of students. They felt there was a focus on providing a wide and varied education, which was not defined principally in terms of exam grades. Many teachers referred to their sense of freedom to teach students as individuals, without feeling pressured by evaluations.</p>
<p>“The children are allowed to be themselves, but we are as well,” said one. “Everyone is welcomed and tolerated so it is a very accepting environment, and that makes for a very pleasant environment to teach in.”</p>
<p>Several factors linking back to the Quaker belief in equality and their practice of open worship, appear to help explain the relationship between students’ willingness to engage with learning and their lack of anxiety in relation to study, as well as their ability to make the most of the support offered by teachers. In particular, there seems to be a relationship between the inclusive ethos of the schools and an orientation towards educational engagement in students.</p>
<p>In seeking to explain these relationships, we’ve come to see that inclusiveness may be important to education because learning is really about being open to receive “the other”. Curriculum content is one of these “others”. Students who have been encouraged to practice inclusiveness towards fellow students – and have seen this role modelled in their teachers – become more disposed to receive the “otherness” of new learning opportunities.</p>
<p>Spielman may be on to something in her desire to see values play an important role in school education. But the challenge will be to help schools adopt cultures where those values are authentically – and visibly – practised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Newton received funding from one of the Quakers involved in the project. </span></em></p>When it comes to engaging young people in their school studies, inclusivity means a lot.Nigel Newton, Assistant researcher, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/863772017-11-16T22:09:53Z2017-11-16T22:09:53ZFourteen signs your daughter may have ADHD<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194857/original/file-20171115-19789-fgxfrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does your daughter forget or misplace things all the time? Is she the classroom helper? Assessment scales for ADHD have tended to use data from boys so the signs of ADHD in girls may not be what you expect. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When asked to describe a typical child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), most people would describe a young boy who climbs on things, is impatient and does not do what he is told. Few people would describe a bubbly young girl with lots of friends, who works hard to get good grades. </p>
<p>It may be, however, that the girl does experience ADHD symptoms that interfere with her daily life — and that these symptoms are overlooked by the adults around her. </p>
<p>Undiagnosed ADHD has long-term consequences including <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cch.12380">an increased likelihood of engaging in risky behaviours</a> — such as unprotected sex and substance use — as well as <a href="http://www.addvance.com/help/women/daughter.html">academic underachievement and low self-esteem</a>. Perhaps most alarmingly, girls who struggle with ADHD for a long period of time <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cch.12380">can suffer from mental health problems</a>. </p>
<p>As a psychologist in clinical practice, I used to see many older girls and adult women with ADHD who had already been prescribed medication to treat anxiety and depression. Early diagnosis then is vital. </p>
<h2>Assessment scales use data from boys</h2>
<p>Individuals with ADHD exhibit three main clusters of symptoms: hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. Although three times as many boys are diagnosed with ADHD in childhood than girls, the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1087054711416909">diagnostic rates in adults are more equally divided between males and females</a>. This suggests girls go unnoticed when they are younger. </p>
<p>As a disorder traditionally seen as affecting males, and with males referred more often for a diagnosis, research to assess ADHD has been based on samples largely consisting of boys. It has been argued that the rating scales developed to assess ADHD have been <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1087054711416909">based on the behaviours observed in the mainly male research samples</a>. </p>
<p>ADHD can look different in girls than boys. A boy who is hyperactive might have trouble sitting in his seat in the classroom — so he sits with one knee on the seat and one foot on the floor. It is likely, given his constant shifting and unequal balance on the seat, that the back legs of the chair will eventually lift up and the chair pitch forward causing the boy to fall to the floor.</p>
<p>In contrast, a hyperactive girl may be out of her seat but have taken on the role of classroom helper, wandering around to different desks. A teacher completing a rating scale might rate the boy higher on hyperactive questions than the girl because the second example is not seen as disruptive. Thus, girls do not score as high as boys on these scales and are underrepresented because they do not meet criteria for a diagnosis.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194862/original/file-20171115-19789-10ujki4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does homework take your seemingly studious daughter longer than it should?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not only do symptoms of ADHD look different in boys but boys also have a tendency to be more hyperactive and impulsive than girls. Because hyperactive and impulsive behaviours are more disruptive in the classroom, teachers are more likely to notice boys as a problem and refer them for attention challenges. </p>
<p>Lastly, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20121">symptoms of ADHD in girls are sometimes masked because they work hard to meet adult expectations</a>. Without meaning to, adults have different expectations of girls than boys. In my clinical experience, adults expect girls to be tidy and organized, achieve good grades and to be easygoing. In turn, girls are more likely to want to obey social norms and not cause trouble. They will work extra hard to achieve success by staying up late to finish homework or tidying their rooms when asked. </p>
<p>Sometimes, when adults encounter girls who have difficulty meeting their expectations but the girls are agreeable, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Understanding_Girls_with_AD_HD.html?id=rpLgAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">they excuse the behaviours by describing the girls as “ditzy,” “dramatic” or “artsy.</a>” </p>
<h2>Signs that your daughter might have ADHD</h2>
<p>There are many symptoms of ADHD shared by both boys and girls. The following are examples of how they can manifest in girls:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Homework takes longer than it should. She forgets about it or is distracted by surfing the internet or texting her friends and ends up staying up late the night before an assignment is due to finish it.</p></li>
<li><p>She is an inefficient student. While she appears to study for tests, her performance does not seem to match the time spent studying.</p></li>
<li><p>She has weak reading comprehension. She can get facts from a text but does not make links between the ideas she reads. She misses details in instructions on assignments and tests.</p></li>
<li><p>She struggles with friendships because she does not read social cues or follow conversations. Peers start to reject and isolate her or make fun of her.</p></li>
<li><p>She forgets things she needs (e.g. dance shoes or soccer cleats). This is a classic sign but agreeable girls with ADHD will often have friends or adults who compensate for them (for example sharing a pen because she doesn’t have one).</p></li>
<li><p>She misplaces her things regularly (for example her phone, keys or bank card).</p></li>
<li><p>She talks, and talks and talks.</p></li>
<li><p>She does not run and climb about like boys but is the classroom helper and is social and chatty in class. </p></li>
<li><p>She has lots of friends because she is fun to be around but when she tries to organize activities she seems anxious and indecisive. Her friends help her make decisions, find her things and keep her organized.</p></li>
<li><p>She has great ideas and wants to start acting on them right away but does not finish projects or follow through.</p></li>
<li><p>She is chronically late or is not ready when she needs to be.</p></li>
<li><p>She channels hyperactivity by being involved in many extracurricular activities like swimming, school clubs and soccer. </p></li>
<li><p>She does not seem to learn from consequences.</p></li>
<li><p>She has wide swings in mood. One moment she is on top of the world and the next moment she is crushed because of a casual comment that is taken as harsh criticism.</p></li>
</ol>
<p><em>If you think your daughter might have ADHD, you should consult with a psychologist or pediatrician who is familiar with ADHD and can provide an in-depth assessment.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meadow Schroeder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Assessment scales for ADHD have been developed using mostly male research samples. As a result, the behaviours indicating ADHD in girls may not be what you expect.Meadow Schroeder, Assistant Professor of Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/822892017-08-21T13:16:08Z2017-08-21T13:16:08ZHundreds of languages are spoken in the UK, but this isn’t always reflected in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181669/original/file-20170810-27688-7fpcof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not all about English.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11761250/More-than-300-different-languages-spoken-in-British-schools-report-says.html">300 different languages</a> are now spoken in British schools. And in England, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017">over 20%</a> of primary school children use English as an additional language. </p>
<p>This equates to over 900,000 children for whom English is not their first language. These children might have been born in another country, their parents might speak another language to them at home, or they might just know a few words of another language because their grandparents immigrated to England a long time ago. But just like any other pupil, they attend schools across the country, speak (or learn to speak) in English and participate in the national curriculum. Yet the fact these children also bring with them a rich understanding of another language and culture can often go unnoticed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/watch-15-celebrities-speaking-in-other-languages">Bilingualism is something we usually celebrate in adults</a> yet not always in the classroom, where English is usually prioritised. This is despite the fact that many communities in Britain, speak more than one language. </p>
<p>In the 2011 British Census, for example, 4.2m people reported having a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/language/articles/languageinenglandandwales/2013-03-04">main language other than English</a>. And just over half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one other language in addition to their <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf">mother tongue</a>. </p>
<h2>Lack of linguistic diversity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/schools/support-for-languages/thought-leadership/research-report/language-trends-2016-17">Research</a> shows that some children never have the opportunity to use their home language at school. And in some cases, their teachers might not even know they speak another language. </p>
<p>In the absence of school or community support, these children can sometimes end up <a href="http://www.cal.org/heritage/pdfs/briefs/what-is-language-loss.pdf">losing their home languages</a>. This is something that may be particularly true in highly monolingual areas which experience less immigration. </p>
<p>The problem then is that these areas – where English is the only language spoken – become even more monolingual. All while other areas of the country grow and celebrate their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/oct/30/-sp-londons-tube-languages-visualised">linguistic diversity</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181671/original/file-20170810-27677-p79ckx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most classrooms just teach in English.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite all the <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_4_reasons_to_learn_a_new_language">benefits</a> that can come from having access to other languages, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09500782.2017.1295981">research</a> shows there are a number of factors that may prevent teachers from feeling able to incorporate home languages into their classrooms. For example, there exists what has been described as a “<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj2vLrQ4aHVAhUFXBoKHS0fAWQQtwIIVzAJ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DISpQasr4He0&usg=AFQjCNH0k_n-B5EOwBdLnjxAJLnsKdmoAQ">monolingual mindset</a>” whereby English schools have a long history of being monolingual and prioritising children’s progression in the English language. And promoting language learning in a country where a global language is spoken can be a <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/schools/support-for-languages/thought-leadership/research-report/language-trends-2016-17">hard sell</a>. </p>
<p>Teachers are also under a lot of pressure to meet targets in English – just in the same way that pupils are under pressure to achieve in English. As a result, this can leave little room for individual variation, or for dedicating time to <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Succeeding_in_Diversity.html?id=8y4_qb1vzfYC">celebrate the linguistic diversity</a> that exists within our schools. </p>
<h2>How to create a multilingual community</h2>
<p>Given that embracing other languages in school could be a great way of providing much needed linguistic and cultural education for the rest of the class, more could and should be done to make the most of these linguistic and cultural resources.</p>
<p>Even if a school doesn’t have any pupils using English as another language, chances are there are other languages being used in the wider community – and that could be utilised within local schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181670/original/file-20170810-27635-xjk90i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children should be encouraged to embrace other languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But this idea of children or parents taking control of the learning seems to be one that some <a href="http://www.educatejournal.org/index.php/educate/article/view/174/171">teachers can feel uncomfortable with</a> – as this means having to put their trust in the child and perhaps become the language learner themselves. Findings from our own <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09500782.2017.1295981">research</a> also show that significant investment would be required to give teachers the confidence and willingness to feel comfortable with this. </p>
<p>But investing in more multilingual classrooms could help to open new doors for all. And this could be as simple as a child reading stories in their home language to the rest of the class, or parents coming in to school to work with all the children using their language. Teachers could even widen the learning out to ask all the class to label parts of a flower (for example) in two languages, with the help of a bilingual child.</p>
<p>By using their languages in an “official” school environment, children would be able to see that there is a place for languages other than just English in school. And that their skills as a bilingual speaker are valued.</p>
<p>Recognising and encouraging bilingualism could also mean that monolingual children see positive examples of language learning. They would also hear the languages of their community and learn to appreciate linguistic diversity at a young age – vitally important in current climates of segregation and separation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why language diversity should be celebrated in schools.Elizabeth Bailey, PhD Candidate, University of YorkEmma Marsden, Senior Lecturer, Department of Education, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.