The reports are out and they’re conclusive. Teen anxiety and depression are at an all time high. There is something amiss in our children’s worlds and perhaps our adult ones as well. As psychologists look to explain the trends and help people cope, educators should look within our school walls and ask: Does modern education… Read More Education’s Role in Curbing Teen Anxiety
“Divergent thinking” was a term coined by psychologist J.P. Guilford in 1967. Guilford was an early proponent of the idea that intelligence is not a unitary concept, as many after him, like Howard Gardner, would also propose. Guilford was particularly interested in the fact that many creative people scored lower on standard IQ tests. He… Read More Crucial Creativity: The Case for Cultivating Divergent Thinking in Classrooms
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” - Ken Robinson We want our children to succeed in life - finding financial stability, deep life experiences and the actualization of their dreams. While exceptions exist, school achievement is considered a grand testing ground, a predictor of these hallmarks of… Read More Reframing Failure in The Classroom
“Part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, it were ‘reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.’” - Neil deGrasse Tyson Empathy is the key to encouraging prosocial behavior, limiting aggression, and diminishing social prejudice in our world. “To empathize is to civilize,” says Jeremy Rifkin,… Read More Teaching Empathy: Essential for Students, Crucial for Humanity
Educators have long touted the benefits of second language learning for U.S. students, but its necessity is regularly challenged. Critics like to point out that language learning should be an elective, at best, due to expense and time constraints for becoming proficient. They also argue that English is likely to remain the international lingua franca… Read More The Importance of Learning a Second Language