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Eric.ed.gov – The Cognitive Science behind the Common Core

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Raising academic standards has been part of the education policy discourse for decades. As early as the 1990s, states and school districts attempted to raise student achievement by developing higher standards and measuring student progress according to more rigorous benchmarks. However, the caliber of the standards–and their assessments–varied greatly from state to state. For example, Massachusetts adopted some of the highest standards and most challenging exams in the country and has some of the highest-achieving students in the nation. On the other hand, Mississippi set a low bar, and the state’s students are often ill prepared for college and careers. Recognizing that the previous patchwork system did not work, a group of bipartisan governors and state superintendents came together to develop a shared set of more rigorous,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Math Anxiety: Can Teachers Help Students Reduce It? Ask the Cognitive Scientist

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: How does the mind work–and especially how does it learn? Teacher’s instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such knowledge often serves teachers well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on? Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field of researchers from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, and anthropology who seek to understand the mind. In this regular “American Educator” column, we consider findings from this field that are strong and clear enough to merit classroom application. This month’s issue discusses math anxiety. Math anxiety is not limited to a minority of individuals nor to one country. International comparisons of high school students show that some students in every country are anxious about… Continue Reading