For a long time a battle has been waged about TV viewing and school kids. The newest study looks at 4,500 students in 15 Hampshire and Vermont middle schools.

The basic findings state that students who watch TV or play video games on school nights do worse in school. Strangely, weekends do not seem to be an issue if kept under 4 hours a day. This survey was based not on actual scores but by asking questions about how the kids felt about their performance.

This study backs up previous studies that looked at children who have TVs in their rooms. It calculated that there is a 8 point hit to both math and language arts scores as opposed to their fellow students without TVs in their rooms.

What parents can do about TV watching can be found at the American Academy of Pediartics

Link to the summary at News Day

Technorati Tags: Teaching-helps

After last week's news of an ad supported textbook there begins a new front. The Global Text Project now brings WIKI like books to the textbooks to the classroom.

The project will start with 2 books "Business Fundamentals" and an introductory "Information System" but has the goal of 1000 books. Since these books are online the text will always be up to date because new chapters will be added and old revised as needed. Students and others can add to the text and students that use the text are expected to add in some way to the text.

"Students can be used to localize a text. For example, a student in Kenya could add an example of a local small business' marketing success. This would give local readers more connection with the text and also readers in other countries would extend their knowledge of regional and cultural differences. Student scholarships will assist us to achieve localization."

The goal is mainly for the developing world as opposed to the US and Europe but how long until these types of text can be utilized here.

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Slashdot has an interesting article article about a university student that needs information on how to deal with the fine line between allowing students to skip class and download the podcast but allow the good students to utilize the podcast and lean more about the lecture. This is an interesting problem and comes to all teachers who want to help the students who are willing to learn but not enable the ones that are looking for a quick way out. How exactly does one do it?

Is it really so bad for the student to watch the podcast instead of going to class? Will the bad student actually download the podcast and watch it anyway? I'm not sure what is the answer is but it will become more of a problem as the years go on.

Technorati Tags: Teaching-helps

Well it had to happen at some point. Freeload Press of St. Paul has taken the lead on converting hard-bound textbooks to electronic versions, but the twist is that they are also adding ads to the text.

With over 100 schools using these textbooks this may be the wave of the future. School systems can save a lot of money this way. A side effect might be to maybe break the deadlock of California and Texas controlling the textbook content.

Problems with the idea are noted by the article, 'the reading difficulty is created by Freeload’s use of PDF images, which retain the printed page’s layout without reformatting. Navigating around a single superwide, supertall page requires lots of clicking and zooming and patience. The company will soon use improved software that can automatically adjust the text so it is more legible, said Tom Duran, a founder of Freeload Press and its chief executive.'

Full Article

Technology is being integrated into everything. As electronic devices become more accepted, it will continue to work its way into the classroom.

A few months ago I heard about a Apple's new method and was not thrilled. But going over their information I'm starting to understand the method and overall its pretty interesting.

Here is the entire article for your pleasure: http://www.apple.com/education/solutions/podcasting/

For those that are wanting to check out new technology, Apple has a Podcasting instruction that you can register for. Here is the location http://www.apple.com/education/resources/podcastingvideos/