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Did you know that most university graduates in Saudi Arabia are women? That’s something; even where they can’t drive a car and can’t go outside without a male guardian of some kind, they still beat the pants (or whatever they call them) off the Saudi guys at university. And not just in Saudi Arabia. In most countries, including almost all developed countries. In some Eastern European countries, about two-thirds of university graduates are women. Even in very traditional countries such as Japan, South Korea and Turkey, women are still 40-50% of university graduates. It’s starting to look like when you treat women equally to men, they end up outperforming them. We didn’t see that one coming right? To say that this is having huge social ramifications is an understatement. It means that many women can’t find men they want to marry since they are beneath the girl's educational level. It also means that an increasing number of men can’t even get jobs, or not good ones anyway. Not just in the US; everywhere. So why does this occur? It’s not culture because it’s happening everywhere. There have been numerous reasons adduced for the issue. One of these reasons is referred to as the feminization of education. These days most teachers are women. Does their gender affect the way they teach? When a boy is taught by a woman, is he mentally capable of receiving the cues that she is sending? Is the public school learning environment more suitable for a girl? Is the widely perceived "problem" of ADHD in boys actually really just a normal learning style for boys? The only conceivable reason is that it has something to do with how girls function mentally. In other words, it’s a problem for neuroscience. Is the problem that we view the neuroscience of boys and girls as being the same a fundamental problem? Should neuroscience be taught in two flavors, one being male, the other being female neuroscience? Is the idea that men are from Mars and women from Venus really true in the realm of neuroscience too? Whatever the case, the fact that boys are falling behind girls educationally is true just about no matter where you go in the world. And this is universally leading to poorer jobs and life outcomes for men. The disparity has other even more awful impacts. The problems in the Middle East are exacerbated by millions of uneducated young men whose best hope for a job is a living wage from ISIS. Or the Nusra Front. They will work for anyone who pays them and do whatever they ask no matter how ugly. Look at Boko Haram or the drug cartels in Mexico for more evidence, as if any more were needed. As far as the immediate problem with education is concerned, I think we need to think about some radical solutions. These would include: Boys should start school one or two years after girls, to address big differences in levels of maturity at the same chronological age. There should be a system of single sex schools, or single sex classes with the sexes separated by gender. Boys should generally be taught by men, not women Curricula should be designed differently for boys and girls; those for boys should focus on action and street learning; for girls more on book and team learning. Teacher education diplomas’ and degrees should be awarded based on a gender major, either male or female. That is you specialize in educating boys or girls, not both. But this post goes beyond that, to the area of neuroscience. Some conclusions and recommendations here too: The subject of neuroscience, for other than basic courses, should be divided into male and female specialties. You are a specialist in male or female neuroscience. Research should also be subdivided the same way. We should accept that research findings should separately address males and females. In many areas of study there can be no presumption that the neuroscience of a male is going to be the same as that for a female. We need to specifically encourage research into the differences between the neuroscience of boys and girls Conclusions from these studies should be incorporated into the practice of education, so as to improve the educational prospects of boys, and to see how we can improve the education of girls even further.            Read More

This post is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers in English Formative assessment, widely considered one of the most effective forms of assessment, is rooted in inquiry. Formative assessment uses feedback between student and teacher, during the course of learning, to inform instruction-identify what the student understands, where he or she is struggling and how curriculum should be adjusted. Schools across the country are tapping into assessment tools and strategies that can help them make better instructional decisions and close learning gaps. How do formative assessments function in the real world? According to a 2013 paper released by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), Formative Assessment that Truly Informs Instruction, successful formative assessments can be grouped into four strategy categories: Observations, Conversations, Student Self-evaluation and Artifacts of Learning. Observations. The goal of this strategy is to carefully examine students as they’re engaged in activities, identify strengths and challenges, and then use this information to create activities that can support learning. Tools used in observations include field notes, running records or miscue analysis; checklists and observation guides. Conversations. In this scenario, teachers probe for additional information through surveys, interviews or conferences. These discussions include information from general assessments or target specific aspects of the student’s learning. Self-evaluation. Teachers elicit student feedback on their own learning, encouraging and teaching students to monitor their own progress and identify learning needs. Tools used for self-evaluation include exit slips, rubrics and checklists, process reflections and student-led conferences. Artifacts of learning. Here, teachers work individually or collaboratively to review data about students - individual and groups - and outline future instruction. Data may include samples of student work, feedback from parents and other stakeholders, notes from classroom observations and student learning histories, and results from standardized tests. Together these strategies enable teachers to closely observe and perform ongoing analysis of student progress. The resulting data is invaluable. It provides a roadmap of what’s working, and indicates where more or different instruction might be necessary to support individual learners. How effective are assessment practices at your school or district? As you prepare for the new school year, it’s a good time to take stock of your assessment strategies and put together a game plan. NCTE offers the following checklist of the benefits of formative assessment to help you implement tools and practices that truly inform instruction and move learning forward. Formative assessments: Highlight the needs of each student. They do not view all students as being, or needing to be, at the same place in their learning. Provide immediately useful feedback to students and teachers. They do not wait weeks or months after assessment to deliver feedback. Occur as a planned and intentional part of the learning in a classroom. They do not always take place at the same time for each student. Focus on progress or growth—not just a number, score, or level. Support goal setting within the classroom curriculum. They do not occur outside of authentic learning experiences. Answer questions the teacher has about students’ learning. They do not set parameters that limit teacher involvement. Reflect the goals and intentions of the teachers and the students. They do not look like mini-versions of pre-determined summative assessments. Rely on teacher expertise and interpretation—not outsiders to score and analyze results. Occur in the context of classroom life. They are not an intrusion or disruption to the classroom. Focus on responsibility and care—not accountability. Inform immediate next steps. They do not focus on external mandates. Allow teachers and students to better understand the learning process in general and the learning process for these students in particular. They do not exclude teachers and students from assessing through the whole learning process. Encourage students to assume greater responsibility for monitoring and supporting their own learning. They do not leave students out of the assessment process. Consider multiple kinds of information, based in a variety of tools or strategies. They do not focus on a single piece of information.     Scaling formative assessment through professional development Formative assessments are a powerful lever for improving teacher practice and student learning. But sometimes you need a little help getting started or evaluating your current strategies to make them more effective. NCTE Professional Learning Services offers courses designed to help individuals, schools and districts remodel their approach to literacy instruction and grow capacity for effective assessment. NCTE also offers customized programming to schools and districts through its consulting services.       Related Posts: No Related Posts Formative assessment that closes learning gaps originally published by SmartBlogs

This month, SmartBlog on Education is exploring classroom design and management — just in time for the new school year. In the second of a three-part blog series, Lucien Vattel, founder and co-director of the PlayMaker School and CEO of nonprofit GameDesk, makes the case for play as the underpinning of education. BE playful. Dear one, be playful. No matter the challenge, no matter the disappointment, no matter the struggle: Be playful. Any obstacle or difficulty is an opportunity for playfulness. Maintain a playful spirit with others and always with yourself. A sense of play can smooth the ride and illuminate solutions not readily visible. Explore and experiment, keep your eyes open wide with wonder and be open to the mysteries that surround you. I affirm that education is best when built upon such notions of play. Play embodies our natural inclination to explore and experiment with objects and systems outside of us and integrate them first-hand into our psyche. Through educational play, we get to explore new ideas and come to know ourselves, as well as those around us in often-profound ways. Play takes us out of the conceptual and into the experiential. It allows us to see our actions and our reactions. With good facilitation we can see the choices we make and why we made them. This leads to a deeper understanding in the learner. Playful simulations can actively engage learners in difficult topics, by allowing them to experience the cause-and-effect relationship of their actions in a detailed and immersive environment, with the whole of themselves "attuning" to the concepts at play. Creative and spontaneous play plants seeds for healthy mental and social behavior. It sets the stage for a solid and experientially founded education where playfully developed self-beliefs set a positive and creative stage for academic development. It helps us safely play out theories, scenarios, ideas, and problem sets. It enables us to move beyond "what we know" and the "skills we possess" and into to who we are. Imagine this as a cornerstone of our education, empowering ourselves while allowing more freely creative growth, individually and collectively. Unfortunately, this is not the reality that our children live in today. Our high-stakes, test-driven culture is suppressing our children’s curiosity and squashing their imaginations and playful lens on life. We are not freed by our education, but conditioned by it. Conditioned for what? To what end, and at what price? When we are very young, play and learning are integrated seamlessly and in balance. As we grow older, our modern school system separates them. What does that say about us? A school needs to be a reflection and I would argue an enhancement of the world surrounding it. It has to be life and career reflective. Both of which maintain their reality within a schema of direct experiences. Direct experiences open us up and allow us to know the world first hand — its cultures, its ideas and its systems. Shouldn’t our educational paradigm fundamentally encompass and support that reality? The word "education" can be traced back to the Latin root words, "e" and "ducere." Together, "e-ducere" can mean to "to call forth from within." I affirm that the best way to educate is to provide an engaging, loving and playful context in which we are able to draw out from within ourselves. We should be allowed to playfully explore, create, build and participate in the creation of new thoughts and ideas. We should be placed in playful contexts to intermix those ideas, and manifest them into our world. Our learning should emerge naturally from within, through play. Playful learning can break down into a variety of different forms. There are open sandbox environments like Universe Sandbox or Minecraft, where one can virtually or physically build open-ended solutions, whether that be in the world of physics, earth science, architectural or genetic landscapes. You can have specific game-based experiences where the choices you make have a direct correlation to the concepts or process the game seeks to teach you. You can learn about civic action and political systems by role-playing through the various political and cultural systems. Collaborative play problem solving challenges allow students to play together though a set of challenges that help them arrive at a strategic solution together. The list of playful vehicles is endless. You can place a playful experiential lens of learning upon any form of content or instruction. Through a playful lens, every point of contact in our lives is an opportunity to discover something more, in conversation, in visual experience, in personal challenge and even in emotional pain. Every moment is a lesson and an opportunity to become more. If our teaching allows the learner to see that, and to know that, then the way they engage and interpret the world is forever changed. Our consciousness is at constant play with everything it touches, even when we sleep our dreams offer lessons to our subconscious mind. It never stops and it never ends. However, the difference between substantial intellectual, spiritual and physical growth and just surfing the edge of understanding is the level of awareness and the level of deep engagement we have in the experience. This awareness is best awoken through direct interactive experience. The facilitation and support of that experience by the older and wiser facilitators help maximize that potential. It is therefore important that we as a society develop a culture of teaching that accepts and practices this approach to learning. Read part one of this series. Lucien Vattel is CEO of nonprofit GameDesk. He also is the founder and co-director of thePlayMaker School, which takes a new approach to the way we teach and learn. Previously, Vattel was the associate director for Game Research at the University of Southern California for its CS Program in Games. While at USC he was the co-founder and designer of the master’s and undergraduate Game Degree programs. He can be reached via email at lucienvattel@gamedesk.org If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more.           Related Posts: Learning spaces: The subconscious teacher If life is a game, then education is play originally published by SmartBlogs