How Can Your Librarian Help Bolster Brain-Based Teaching Practices? Flickr/Kevin Harber Inquiry-based learning has been around in education circles for a long time, but many teachers and schools gradually moved away from it during the heyday of No Child Left Behind. The pendulum is beginning to swing back towards an inquiry-based approach to instruction thanks to standards such as Common Core State Standards for math and English Language Arts, the Next Generation Science Standards and the College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. Transitioning to this style of teaching requires students to take a more active role and asks teachers to step back into a supportive position. It can be a tough transition for many students and their teachers, but turning to the school librarian for support could make the transition a little easier. “The inquiry process is brain-based from beginning to end,” said Ratzen, a former teacher, current librarian and adjunct professor in an edWeb webinar. The inquiry learning formula: Related
Guide to Preventing Plagiarism | Accredited Schools Online Students, particularly those in college, are expected to adhere to rigorous codes of conduct that stress academic integrity, including prohibitions against plagiarism. Steering clear of plagiarism, however, can be more difficult than it seems and the consequences can be severe. Fortunately, it’s a problem educators are devoting quite a bit of energy to, and there are new resources available to help students avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism. Read on to learn about practical preventative measures. What Is Plagiarism? In theory, plagiarism is a fairly simple concept: it involves stealing the words and/or ideas of another without attribution or acknowledgment. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: The act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person. Council of Writing Program Administrators: In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original material without acknowledging its source. Summary:
Wikipedia: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki In August 1945, during the final stage of the Second World War, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in human history. Background Pacific War Main article: Pacific War As the Allied advance moved inexorably towards Japan, conditions became steadily worse for the Japanese people. Preparations to invade Japan Even before the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945, plans were underway for the largest operation of the Pacific War, Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. U.S. Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese; they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō, accordingly. The Americans were alarmed by the Japanese buildup, which was accurately tracked through Ultra intelligence. Air raids on Japan A B-29 over Osaka on June 1, 1945
21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons Libraries have existed since approximately 2600 BCE as an archive of recorded knowledge. From tablets and scrolls to bound books, they have cataloged resources and served as a locus of knowledge. Today, with the digitization of content and the ubiquity of the internet, information is no longer confined to printed materials accessible only in a single, physical location. Consider this: Project Gutenberg and its affiliates make over 100,000 public domain works available digitally, and Google has scanned over 30 million books through its library project. Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge. From Library to Learning Commons Printed books still play a critical role in supporting learners, but digital technologies offer additional pathways to learning and content acquisition. Photo credit: Francis W. Transparent Learning Hubs
The punishable perils of plagiarism - Melissa Huseman D’Annunzio The following are excellent resources for teachers and students regarding plagiarism and the proper citation of sources: The OWL at Purdue (Online Writing Lab) Here you'll find numerous articles on topics such as Contextualizing Plagiarism, Authorship and Popular Plagiarism, Copyright, Collaborative Authorship, Avoiding Plagiarism, Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Quoting, and using MLA and APA citations. Also, you can find extensive Research and Citation Resources on topics such as Conducting Research, Using Research, APA Style, MLA Style, and Chicago Manual of Style. The Plagiarism Spectrum: Instructor Insights into the 10 Types of Plagiarism TurnItIn, the study’s authors, polled both higher and secondary education instructors in order to produce this White Paper. Style Guides: - APA style for documentation is used in many of the social and behavioral sciences. - The rules of APA Style are detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Turabian:
BBC ON THIS DAY | 9 | 1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki 1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki American forces have dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki - the second such attack on Japan in three days. The bomb was dropped by parachute from an American B29 Bomber at 1102 local time. It exploded about 1,625 ft (500m) above the ground and is believed to have completely destroyed the city, which is situated on the western side of the Japanese island of Kyushu. In a statement issued from Guam, General Carl A Spaatz, Commander of the US Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, said: "The second use of the atomic bomb occurred at noon, August 9, at Nagasaki. "Crew members report good results. Important port American airmen flying many miles from Nagasaki have said smoke from fires in the city was rising 50,000ft (15,240m). Nagasaki is one of Japan's most important ports providing vital access to and from Shanghai. Three days ago a similar device was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Japan's largest island, Honshu.
Teaching Information/Research Skills in Elementary School | Langwitches Blog This post title is “Teaching Information/Research Skills in Elementary School”, but this post is as much for adults and older students. Many adults are overwhelmed with the quantity and new kind of media that is available and accessible through technology. Older students in High School and College might not feel overwhelmed, but have never been taught how to navigate, evaluate, save and retrieve the information that they are seeking. How and what kind of information skills do we need to start teaching in elementary school, that will grow and expand with our students as their grow older? What do teachers need to know in order to introduce and guide their students in a criticalefficienteffectivelysafeethical way as they navigating through the sea of information available? We need to help students develop these kind of information skills: locating informationevaluating informationlearning from informationusing (remix) information All About Explorers is well thought through. Reactions tend to vary.
Lines on Plagiarism Blur for Students in the Digital Age “Now we have a whole generation of students who’ve grown up with information that just seems to be hanging out there in cyberspace and doesn’t seem to have an author,” said Teresa Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University. “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.” Professors who have studied plagiarism do not try to excuse it — many are champions of academic honesty on their campuses — but rather try to understand why it is so widespread. In surveys from 2006 to 2010 by Donald L. McCabe, a co-founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and a business professor at Rutgers University, about 40 percent of 14,000 undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences in written assignments. Perhaps more significant, the number who believed that copying from the Web constitutes “serious cheating” is declining — to 29 percent on average in recent surveys from 34 percent earlier in the decade. Ms. Photo Ms. In the view of Ms.
BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima 1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, USS Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date. An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The President said the atomic bomb heralded the "harnessing of the basic power of the universe". President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies would completely destroy their capacity to make war. The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to avoid utter destruction, the President said.
Teaching Adolescents How to Evaluate the Quality of Online Information An essential part of online research is the ability to critically evaluate information. This includes the ability to assess its level of accuracy, reliability, and bias. In 2012, my colleagues and I assessed 770 seventh graders in two states to study these areas, and the results definitely got our attention. Unfortunately, over 70 percent of the students’ responses suggested that: Middle school students are more concerned with content relevance than with credibility They rarely attend to source features such as author, venue, or publication type to evaluate reliability and author perspective When they do refer to source features in their explanations, their judgments are often vague, superficial, and lacking in reasoned justification Other studies highlight similar shortcomings of high school and college students in these areas (see, for example, a 2016 study from Stanford). Start of newsletter promotion. Subscribe now End of newsletter promotion. Dimensions of Critical Evaluation Prompting
Talking plagiarism with students Today I spent some time with students discussing the issue of plagiarism. It’s an important issue to discuss, and one that I would prefer to cover at the start of the year rather than nearer the end of it, but I take heart from the fact that we are having these important discussions with our student population. I thought I’d share some of the resources I used to put my presentation together. In the Australian Curriculum students develop ethical behaviour as they learn to understand and act in accordance with ethical principles. Understanding the need to behave with academic honesty certainly is an ethical understanding our students need to have. The definition of plagiarism I used came from the Smartcopying website, an excellent source of information about copyright for Australian schools and TAFE institutions. “Plagiarism occurs where a student uses someone else’s ideas or words in their work and pretends they are their own. Like this: Like Loading...
The Decision to Drop the Bomb Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Josef Stalin meet at the Potsdam Conference. They discussed the post-war order and peace treaty issues. America had the bomb. Now what? When Harry Truman learned of the success of the Manhattan Project, he knew he was faced with a decision of unprecedented gravity. American soldiers and civilians were weary from four years of war, yet the Japanese military was refusing to give up their fight. A "mushroom" cloud rises over the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, following the detonation of "Fat Man." For Truman, the choice whether or not to use the atomic bomb was the most difficult decision of his life. First, an Allied demand for an immediate unconditional surrender was made to the leadership in Japan. Regardless, on August 6, 1945, a plane called the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. AJ Software & Multimedia This map shows the range of the destruction caused by the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima.
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