Closing the Gender Gap in STEM Fields With Stories

As a sophomore in high school, I paid 50 cents for an old book called The Story of Biochemistry at a flea market. It may sound like an odd pleasure-reading choice for any teenage girl, and particularly one like me, who called chemistry class “the bane of my existence.” Perhaps it was the pairing of the loathed subject with the word “story” that enticed me. In any case, the book lived up to its promise. I read it quickly and with excitement. I loved learning the stories behind the most important scientific discoveries of our past, which meant, of course, feeling their significance. I told my parents, “I would like chemistry if our textbook was like this.”

Making science classes more “like that” is also the suggestion of a recent Scientific American blog post, To Attract More Girls to STEM, Bring More Storytelling to Science. Its authors, teachers at a STEM-focused high school, argue that the reason for the gender gap in the STEM fields is not a shortage of girls with ability, but the failure of our science curriculum to engage their interest and kindle their passion. The remedy they propose—telling the stories of science—could lend the STEM fields some of the allure traditionally left to the humanities.

Plenty of resources are available to help infuse science storytelling into your classroom without ever hitting the flea market. Consider showing students episodes from Idaho Public Television’s History of Science series, or using the exciting lesson plans available from the University of Minnesota or the University of Florida.

Keeping Nonfiction Creative for Gifted Students

Some teachers fear that the Common Core State Standards’ emphasis on nonfiction will exacerbate a problem already noted in our education system: discouragement of creativity. In an Education Week article called “Inspiring Creativity Through Nonfiction Texts,” one teacher argues that this need not be the case, describing some of his own nonfiction assignments—which can include asking students to compare the Declaration of Independence and Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” In this spirit, we are sharing a few resources to help keep nonfiction materials fresh and thought-provoking for your gifted students.

Educurious offers a free unit, “Mining Personal Histories,” that gives nonfiction text the angle of personal interest that we often look for in literature.
The New York Times learning blog features suggestions for integrating its print and Web resources in your classroom in fun ways. This can include pulling in nonfiction articles to help students contextualize and understand a work of literature, as in the entry “Teaching The Great Gatsby With The New York Times.”
This National Writing Project article can help you turn a unit on creative nonfiction into practice writing the perfect college admissions essay.

Inspiring Reluctant Writers With Technology

Do you know a child who avoids classroom writing assignments at all costs but can spend an entire day texting friends or posting status updates? This LearningWorks for Kids article discusses how parents and educators should begin seeing these technologies as tools they can use to help students develop writing skills, rather than as mere distractions from “real” writing. A child who enjoys this form of self-expression can learn to value more rigorous writing exercises as well.

Consider assigning extremely short, unusual pieces alongside more traditional writing instruction. English professor Andy Selsberg offers several interesting ideas (such as “Describe the essence of a chalkboard in one or two sentences”) in his New York Times op-ed “Teaching to the Text Message.” The National Writing Project’s Mozilla Thimble application makes it easy to assign students a six-word memoir. You could also direct students to one of the many apps designed to engage struggling writers in creative expression.

Film Highlights Benefits of School Support for Troubled Students

Kids with emotional-behavioral disorders—which include depression, anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder— have the worst graduation rate of all students with disabilities. Research suggests that “zero-tolerance” disciplinary policies that rely on suspension are doing a disservice both to students with disabilities and to the school as a whole.

In the new documentary film Who Cares About Kelsey?, Dan Habib, Filmmaker in Residence at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, explores how schools can address this problem by adopting Response to Intervention frameworks like School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. The film follows the transformation of Kelsey Carroll from a likely high school dropout to a confident and successful young woman (now attending college) through school reforms that met her unique needs.

An 8-minute excerpt of Who Cares About Kelsey? is available here. To view the entire film, you can order the DVD or host a screening at your school.

For more information on how to support kids like Kelsey, check out our book, School Success for Kids With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.

Study Explores Effects of Technology on Child Development

A recent University of Glasgow study on the link between “screen time” and behavioral problems in young children has reignited discussion of the role of technology in childhood development. Although the study found no association between playing electronic games and antisocial behavior in children, and only a small increase in the likelihood of antisocial behavior for children who watch more than 3 hours of television a day, pediatricians still recommend caution. As Dr. Gary Small, director of the Longevity Center at the University of California at Los Angeles, points out, “We really don’t know the full neurological effects of these technologies yet.”

Some of the most interesting pieces that have recently appeared on the topic include:

The Child, the Tablet and the Developing Mind on the New York Times tech blog;
The Terrible Truth About Toddlers and Touchscreens on Wired;
The Touch-Screen Generation in The Atlantic; and
Television and Video Games Don't Create Maladjusted Children on EdWeek.

To read the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s guidelines on children and screen time, click here.

Teaching Gifted Kids Research Skills in the Internet Age

As English teachers are well aware, the simplicity of the Internet search engine offers students a tempting alternative to thinking critically through (not to mention composing their own!) research-based assignments. But of course, technology has not eliminated the need for basic research skills such as developing good questions and evaluating sources, and many gifted kids enjoy the hunt for information once they have learned these skills. Before throwing research projects their way, it is helpful to discuss the research process and the various pitfalls of Internet research. Check out the resources below for ideas on approaching this topic with students.

ReadWriteThink offers a free lesson plan on Teaching Internet Research Strategies.
Although the University of Pennsylvania’s “Creating Successful Research Assignments” pages are written for teachers at the college level, the tips are also appropriate for advanced high school students.
The National Writing Project features this article on teaching students research skills with an unusual assignment: a first-person historical account.

Have you developed any good strategies for getting your students to engage in genuine research? Be sure to share them in the comments section!

Identifying Creatively Gifted Students

We’ve all heard stories of famously successful, innovative adults who performed poorly in school. Classrooms do not always foster the gifts of the creative, eccentric student who seems to think unconventionally, only exerts effort in pursuits that he or she finds interesting, or has a personality that can be disruptive in school settings.

A research project at the University of Kansas, “Searching for Tomorrow’s Innovators: Profiling Creative Adolescents,” tackles this problem by studying the biographies of famous creative people in order to develop profiles that can reliably identify the creatively gifted. More reliable identification of this population certainly seems necessary—researchers noted that one third of students who fit the profiles for creative giftedness had never been identified for gifted programs. And recognizing and nourishing creative talent seems more important now than ever, as creativity is on the decline among American children and as states consider assessing schools on their ability to foster creativity. You can read more about the University of Kansas study here. For a more detailed guide to promoting creativity in your school, see our book, Educating for Creativity and Innovation.

Neurodiversity: A Focus on Strengths in the Special Needs Classroom

In a recent EdWeek commentary, Appreciating Special Education Students’ Diversity, former special education teacher Thomas Armstrong made a compelling call for a paradigm shift in special education away from a diagnosis of deficits and toward a model that focuses on students’ strengths. Citing research into the possible evolutionary benefits of ADHD, the creativity associated with mood disorders, and the interpersonal strengths found in people with intellectual disabilities, Armstrong advocates “neurodiversity," the idea that neurological differences should be respected rather than pathologized. Although the term was coined by autism activists, the concept can be expanded to include other special needs in the belief that celebrating neurological or developmental differences among people will generate better results in the classroom than labeling such differences as “disabilities.” To learn more about this approach, you can read the transcript from Armstrong’s online chat, “Understanding Neurodiversity to Build a Strengths–Based Classroom.”

Black History Month in the Gifted Classroom

Although there is no shortage of resources to facilitate great Black history lessons, it can be difficult to find the best material to use with your gifted students. We recommend AdLit.org's African-American History Month page as a guide to top lesson plans, websites, videos, and more. Scholastic offers the Black History Month: Everything You Need toolkit, which is especially useful for its breakdown of resources by grade level. And if you don't know where to focus with such a vast topic, remember that this year's theme is the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington. You can download The Meaning and Making of Emancipation, a free e-book that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with documents from the National Archives.

Great Apps for Students With Learning Disabilities

Although most educators and parents are aware that technology can help people with learning disabilities, effectively finding and utilizing the best technology is easier said than done. Luckily, the National Center for Learning Disabilities has recently stepped in to alleviate the problem, releasing a number of time-saving resources to help you locate the best apps for your students.

To get started, the articles "Assistive Technology: 10 Tips to Help Your Child Work Around a Learning Disability" and "There's an app for that! But is it right for you?" can help you learn what to consider as you begin familiarizing yourself with the latest available technology. Then, check out the website's top mobile app picks for specific learning disabilities:

For more in-depth instruction on using technology with special needs populations, see The Ultimate Guide to Assistive Technology in Special Education.