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The Finnish miracle is finished, but why?
Finland! Finland! Finland! Twenty years ago, Finland's top-of-the-world PISA scores made it "the most widely celebrated and imitated...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 18, 20242 min read
7 comments


Present and paying attention: Smartphone detox is worth it
Smartphone detox is difficult, but worth it, writes Seth Lavin, principal of a Chicago middle school. After his school equipped...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 14, 20242 min read
2 comments


Truancy is the 'new normal' -- and a growing business
Tracking down absent students and persuading their parents to get them to school every day is a booming business, writes Alex MacGillis...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 10, 20242 min read
4 comments


Ban phones in school: The experiment with kids' minds has failed
Smart phones are making students less smart, writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Student achievement has been falling around the world...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read
6 comments

It matters how kids read: On-screen reading doesn't build comprehension
It doesn't matter what kids read as long as they're reading, people often say. Maybe so. But for "developing readers," leisure reading...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 15, 20231 min read
1 comment


Mom knows everything: Apps let parents track kids' schoolwork -- and drive them crazy
If only parents were involved in their children's education, teachers said, students would do so much better. If only teachers...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 5, 20232 min read
5 comments


Fourth-graders are finding PornHub
Online porn is easily available to kids, addictive and destructive, writes Isabel Hogben, a runner-up in The Free Press's high school...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 3, 20231 min read
1 comment


Easy come, easy go: Googling is bad for learning
Students don't need to learn facts, educators have been saying since the Cro-Magnon first learned to search the Internet. "They can just...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 12, 20232 min read
2 comments


U.S. schools devalue academics, celebrate failure
Are you excessively cheerful? Did you turn your frown upside down and now it's stuck that way? David Steiner will remove your...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 28, 20233 min read
0 comments


Set a bot to monitor a bot: Is the TA hallucinating?
Are two bots better than one? Georgia Tech is hoping its old-tech AI tutoring bot will keep its new-tech AI chatbot from "hallucinating,"...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 28, 20232 min read
0 comments


Virtual Reality meets financial reality
Unable to afford Apple's new augmented reality headset, a Harrison, Arkansas man "has found the next best thing by "duct-taping his...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 9, 20231 min read
0 comments


Inside the frog: Is VR learning for real?
Cleveland students are using virtual and augmented reality to learn about frogs from the inside out, report Carmen Blackwell, Susan...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 9, 20232 min read
5 comments


Out-of-control students, overwhelmed teachers
Student misbehavior is driving teachers crazy -- and out of teaching write Leslie Bienen, a health policy consultant, and Christina...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 5, 20232 min read
7 comments


This time it isn't hype: How AI will change education
Like the web browser and the smartphone, AI will transform society, writes John Bailey on The 74. It's not quite there yet, but it's...
Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20232 min read
2 comments

Gates: AI bots will teach reading, writing -- soon
AI chatbots will be teaching reading and writing in 18 months, predicts Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Artificial intelligence will be...
Joanne Jacobs
May 2, 20231 min read
2 comments


Who gets tech internships?
"Big tech" internships offer excellent pay, challenging work and valuable networking opportunities, writes Natasha Singer in the New York...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 11, 20231 min read
5 comments


Many students need tutoring, but few are getting it
Intensive tutoring is the best way to help students who suffered learning setbacks during the pandemic, but school districts are...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 20, 20232 min read
2 comments


'They're here for the Wharton brand, a 4.0 GPA and to party'
Cheating has become the norm for college students, writes Suzy Weiss on Free Press. "Remote learning" during Covid lowered standards and...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 28, 20231 min read
1 comment


Catching ChatGPT cheaters is tough: Is it bursty?
Open AI's program to catch chatbot cheaters is very unreliable, write Armin Alimardani and Emma A. Jane on The Conversation. The company...
Joanne Jacobs
Feb 26, 20232 min read
7 comments

When the best paper in the class was written by a bot
Professors are changing the way they assess students to make it harder for students to use artificial intelligence to generate essays,...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 18, 20231 min read
1 comment
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