Welcome to the Chinese Imperial Examination

Today we explored the planet and expanded our neighborhood a little bit. Remember Hallmark #3: "We educate for and act on behalf of justice and peace in the world." Got to know the world if we're going to do that, right? So that's what NDNU educates for. What did the Chinese government educate for? There's a documentary series from China on the subject if you just can't get enough.

I've ordered small globe beach balls for the class, so we'll have something to play with next week, along with a visit to the Aztecs.

Now for Thursday's class, please read these two Scientific American articles on technology and education/learning, and answer the following questions (bring answers to class on Thursday).

• A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop

1. Cognitive Processes: What are you doing with information when you are taking notes by hand that you don't do when you are typing notes?
2. What other dangers are there with using laptops in the classroom?

• The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens

1. What are the advantages of reading on paper over reading electronic publications?
2. What are some explanations for the advantages?

Welcome to Plato's Academy

So in our class, women are from Sparta, and men are from Athens. Next Tuesday, we'll visit ancient China and the imperial examination system. 

In the meantime, for Thursday's class, please read this article on how poverty affects brain development. Bring your written answers the following questions with you to class:

1. "The Neuroscience of Poverty": List and describe the findings of three of the studies referenced in the article.
2. Based on the new scientific information, what educational and social policy changes could be made, according to the article? Do you have any suggestions?
3. The New Eugenics: What are the dangers of brain-poverty research without context?
4. How does the information in this article relate to our Call to Action experience?
5. Do you have any concerns about the article or the research it describes?

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/02/how-poverty-affects-brains-493239.html

----------------------

Please also remember that you have ten required posts to your blog/portfolio due over the course of the semester. Please review the assignment here. You probably have already competed blog post #1. If you attended the block party or go to one of the events suggested in class today (creative writers workshop, soccer game, etc.), you can knock out #5 right away and not have to worry about that one.

Perspectives on the Adolescent Brain

Today we watched two videos about the adolescent brain, Sarah-Jayne Blackmore's Ted Talk, and Dan Siegel's presentation for the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education. What did you learn from them? Do you think one video was better than the other, and if so, why? Where was the overlap, and how did their information or approach or purpose differ?

For Tuesday's class, get ready to go to school in ancient Greece. Also please review this helpful article on how to write an analysis paper because that's what we are going to do next. The article is designed for an American literature course, but everything in it is relevant for analyzing other sorts of writing, or films, or art, or you name it.

Welcome to the Eduba (Sumerian School)

Hope you all enjoyed making your own cuneiform tablets today. Here is a link to a very short video from Oxford about cuneiform writing and cutting edge technology. If you are curious to know more about the Sumerian flood story, check out this video.

 

Before our next class, please make sure that you have completed all of the assignments posted on this blog.  The pace will pick up after this week, and catching up will get much harder. I will also be much less lenient about missed, late, or incomplete work going forward. Best of luck!

Using Rubrics for Assessment and More

What are rubrics and how can they be used? Here are campus portal links to the rubrics that you will most often come across at NDNU:

• Written Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Information Literacy
• Oral Communication
• Quantitative Literacy (Math and Data Analysis)
• Hallmarks-Based Mission, Values & Engagement

Your assignment, due Tuesday, is to review the student essay you received in class today, using the written communication rubric above and the original prompt as your assessment guides. Mark up the essays with your comments and corrections as clearly and constructively as you can, and bring it to class with the completed rubric form.

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

What do you have a fixed mindset about? How can you promote a growth mindset in yourself and others?

Here's a link to the Ted Talk by Eduardo Briceno that we watched in class today. If you have 10 minutes, you might want to watch it again, or check out the Ted Talk by Carol Dwek, on "The power of believing that you can improve." Or check out the very clear article on the subject from New York Magazine: "How Not to Talk to Your Kids, The inverse power of praise," by Po Bronson.

Dorothy Stang Essay

Your next dangerous assignment is to transform one of your summer reading question responses into a cogent, persuasive, thesis-driven full essay. It is due in class and in turnitin.com on Thursday, September 8th. The TurnItIn Class ID is 13420316, and the password is fye2016mf. The full prompt for the essay can be found on the campusportal.