A Principal's Reflections
NOVEMBER 10, 2024
As my Aspire Change EDU consultant team and I visit classrooms on a routine basis, we strive to lead administrators, coaches, and teachers in reflecting on their practice using questioning techniques. The majority of these often revolve around engagement, and it is quickly realized that when students are compliant, it is because the adult is doing all the work or talking.
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 7, 2024
The Ancient Artistry of Ochre Mining in Eswatini The Lion Cavern at Ngwenya, Eswatini, holds groundbreaking evidence 1 of humanity's earliest intensive ochre mining practices, dating back 48,000 years. This remarkable find suggests not only a profound commitment to artistic and symbolic expression but also the beginnings of human impact on the environment.
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TeachThought
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
What Are The Best Questions For Teaching Critical Thinking? by Terry Heick What are the different types of questions? Turns out, it’s pretty limitless. I’ve always been interested in them–the way they can cause (or stop) thinking; the nature of inquiry and reason; the way they can facilitate and deepen a conversation; the way they can reveal understanding (or lack thereof); the stunning power of the right question at the right time.
Passion for Social Studies
NOVEMBER 29, 2024
Teachers have a huge goal: to prepare students for the real world! This includes helping them to become informed, empathetic, active, and responsible citizens. While all teachers feel this pressure, social studies teachers have a bit of added stress. They are responsible for preparing students with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities to know why this is important.
World History Teachers Blog
NOVEMBER 20, 2024
Here is a terrific site that features biographical stories of specific slaves, slave owners, and traders. It comes from the same people who created the "Slave Biographies: The Atlantic Database Network." You can read dozens of short sketches about specific slaves like Felisberta who was born in 1820 in Central West Africa. She was a household slave and wet nurse who served a wealthy family in Southeastern Brazil.
NCHE
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
After Valencia Abbott’s school day ended, we met to discuss her experiences as a history teacher. At the top of our time together, we discussed a quote from an article she recently wrote: “ When students sense that you are all-in for them, they are more likely to give you their best in the classroom.” “That’s not something that came about because I was in the classroom,” Valencia said.
Sapiens
NOVEMBER 12, 2024
Archaeological evidence and Oral Histories show people in what is today Ghana lived sustainably for millennia—until European colonial powers and the widespread trade of enslaved people changed everything. ✽ It’s the year 2065. West Africa’s cool seasonal rains wake Abena. She rides her bike to work, where she pushes investment in cultivating insects as renewable protein sources.
Social Studies Network brings together the best content for social studies educators from the widest variety of thought leaders.
Political Science Now
NOVEMBER 15, 2024
As part of an ongoing series examining Contributions of Scholars of Color , the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Department conducted a a second set of oral history interviews during the 2024 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting held in Los Angeles, California. This collection of interviews contributes to a continuous project that seeks to amplify the scholarship and the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the profession and investigate t
Passion for Social Studies
NOVEMBER 15, 2024
Are you always searching for ways to make your lessons more engaging? Similarly, are you constantly trying to get students to be active in the thinking process? Honestly, both of these questions make teaching overwhelming! Teachers want students to enjoy school and be the ones thinking, but there is a lot to get through! There are so many standards and not enough time to teach everything.
World History Teachers Blog
NOVEMBER 29, 2024
One of my favorite sites for teaching medieval cities like Mali, Calicut, and Quanzhou is called Sites of Encounter in the Medieval World. It comes from The University of California at Davis and includes lessons with primary sources, maps, charts, and graphs. The lesson on Calicut, for example, explores the importance of the spice trade in food and medicine and even includes medieval recipes.
The Hechinger Report
NOVEMBER 3, 2024
Those of us who worked with high school students in the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic decision overturning race-conscious admissions can’t profess shock over news showing decreases in enrollment among Black and Latinx students across many college campuses, especially those considered competitive for enrollment. We saw this coming. Last year we saw too many highly qualified students shy away from applying to schools because they were sent a message that they wouldn’t get in without affirma
Cult of Pedagogy
NOVEMBER 24, 2024
Listen to my interview with Megan Sumeracki ( transcript ): Sponsored by Alpaca and The Gilder Lehrman Institute This page contains Amazon Affiliate and Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What’s the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org?
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 23, 2024
Neanderthals, often regarded as robust and resourceful survivors of the Ice Age, have left yet another clue to their remarkable ingenuity. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence 1 of a 65,000-year-old hearth in Gibraltar that may have served as a "glue factory," used to produce tar for hafting weapons and tools. This discovery not only predates the arrival of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) in the region by 20,000 years but also highlights the Neanderthals' sophisticated engineering and teamwork.
Teaching American History
NOVEMBER 5, 2024
Every presidential election year revives questions about our system of voting through the Electoral College. Teachers tell us that students find this the most perplexing feature of our constitutional system. Below, we offer an explanation of why the Electoral College exists, how it works, and what happens when the electoral count in any state is contested.
ED Surge
NOVEMBER 11, 2024
In 2024, if you want to make a dinner reservation, you’re very likely to open an app on your phone, input a few details and then filter your results to see which restaurants have availability for your party size, date and time. If you want to find child care, on the other hand, good luck. In most states, you can visit a website and see a map of providers in your area, along with some basic information about them — ages served, operating hours, quality rating — but details about their enrollment
TCI
NOVEMBER 12, 2024
Civic education is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, yet recent evaluations reveal significant gaps in how it is taught across the nation. High-quality civics and U.S. history instruction is essential for developing informed, engaged citizens who can navigate the complexities of modern society. However, recent studies indicate that many states are falling short of providing students with the educational foundation needed for active civic participation.
The Hechinger Report
NOVEMBER 18, 2024
Like learning to read by third grade, taking eighth grade math is a pivotal moment in a child’s education. Students who pass Algebra 1 in eighth grade are more likely to sign up for more advanced math courses, and those who pass more advanced math courses are more likely to graduate from college and earn more money. “Algebra in eighth grade is a gateway to a lot of further opportunities,” said Dan Goldhaber, an economist who studies education at the American Institutes for Research, in a recent
World History Teachers Blog
NOVEMBER 27, 2024
Should we throw out everything we’ve learned about the Silk Roads? The writer William Dalrymple thinks that we should in this fascinating essay for the Guardian titled "T he Silk Road still casts a spell, but was the ancient trading route just a Western invention? " He notes that the term “silk road” was a Western invention popularized by a Prussian geographer in 1877 and did not appear in English until 1938.
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 22, 2024
The Maya civilization is celebrated for its monumental architecture, intricate calendars, and cultural sophistication. However, new research highlights their lesser-known mastery of aquaculture. Archaeologists have uncovered 1 a 4,000-year-old network of fish-trapping channels in Belize's Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, suggesting early Maya communities engineered entire wetlands to sustain large populations.
Teaching American History
NOVEMBER 19, 2024
“To be a good member of your community, you really have to understand why people do the things that they do,” says Bryan Little, who teaches both on-level Government and AP Government at McPherson High School in McPherson, Kansas. “That’s why good teaching about citizenship involves students in an intentional study of human behavior.” Bryan Little, the 2022 James Madison Foundation Fellow for Kansas completed his MAHG degree in 2024.
ED Surge
NOVEMBER 7, 2024
How often do you come in contact with a conspiracy theory? Maybe on occasion, when you flip through TV channels and land on an episode of “Ancient Aliens.” Or perhaps when a friend from high school shares a questionable meme on Facebook. How confident are you in your ability to tell fact from fiction? If you’re a teen, you could be exposed to conspiracy theories and a host of other pieces of misinformation as frequently as every day while scrolling through your social media feeds.
TCI
NOVEMBER 4, 2024
Engaging students is about more than just presenting content. It’s about creating an environment where they actively participate in their learning. This involves encouraging students to talk, debate, and collaborate with their peers, turning passive listening into dynamic interaction. By integrating classroom discussion strategies that promote movement, speaking, and listening, educators can foster critical thinking and deeper engagement with the material.
The Hechinger Report
NOVEMBER 25, 2024
In the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the news was filled with partisan language and misinformation about the basic ways our country functions and how elections work. Many adults, as well as the vast majority of my high school-age peers, don’t seem to understand how government works and as a result don’t trust it. That’s why I’m convinced that we as a nation have to prioritize civics education in schools to encourage civic engagement, empathy and critical thinking to sustain
Sapiens
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
New archaeological research reveals insights into the first-known seafarers to brave ocean crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands more than 50,000 years ago. This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. ✽ In the deep human past , highly skilled seafarers made daring crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands.
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 25, 2024
The origins of the Armenian people, long entwined with the narratives of ancient historians, have undergone a significant re-evaluation thanks to groundbreaking genetic research. A whole-genome study 1 challenges Herodotus’ theory that Armenians are descendants of Phrygian settlers from the Balkans, providing new evidence that reshapes our understanding of the region’s deep genetic history.
Teaching American History
NOVEMBER 12, 2024
When Deputy Provost Marshall Silas Soule left his home late in the evening of April 23, 1865, to investigate reports of gunfire, he did not know it would be his last day on earth. Perhaps he was thinking of Hersa, his wife of twenty-two days, as he patrolled the streets of Denver. Maybe he was rethinking his recent testimony before a Congressional committee investigating the Sand Creek Massacre in southeastern Colorado.
ED Surge
NOVEMBER 22, 2024
As the legislative election in France approached this summer, a research team decided to reach out to hundreds of citizens to interview them about their views on key issues. But the interviewer asking the questions wasn’t a human researcher — it was an AI chatbot. To prepare ChatGPT to take on this role, the researchers started by prompting the AI bot to behave as it has observed professors communicating in its training data.
World History Teachers Blog
NOVEMBER 28, 2024
Here are some fascinating Islamic art and architecture threads from the Arabic Art House Bayt Al Fann. They include threads about Islamic calligraphy, Islamic gardens, unique mosques in Africa, the dome interiors of mosques worldwide, and the use of geometric patterns in Islamic art. These threads, which I have saved as pdfs, could work well in a unit on Islam in World History.
The Hechinger Report
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
As might be expected of someone working toward a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine, Jocelyn Ricard has impressive credentials. There are scholarships — Knight-Hennessy and, last year, a Ford Foundation Fellowship — and publications in journals like Nature Neuroscience and The Lancet Psychiatry. Plus, Ricard has done research at Yale and Cornell; and in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Berlin; and elsewhere.
Political Science Now
NOVEMBER 18, 2024
In the APSA Public Scholarship Program, graduate students in political science produce summaries of new research in the American Political Science Review. This piece, written by Jack Wippell, covers the new article by Yamil Ricardo Velez and Patrick Liu, “Confronting Core Issues: A Critical Assessment of Attitude Polarization Using Tailored Experiments.” Do opposing arguments really change minds, or do they harden beliefs?
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 28, 2024
In an extraordinary glimpse into the distant past, fossilized footprints unearthed 1 in Kenya reveal two ancient hominin species coexisted and shared the same landscape 1.5 million years ago. These footprints, preserved on what was once a muddy lakeshore, offer groundbreaking evidence of Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei traversing the same terrain, potentially within hours of one another.
Sapiens
NOVEMBER 19, 2024
Fifty years ago, the remains of an Australopithecus afarensis ancestor, named “Lucy” by archaeologists, rewrote the story of human evolution. This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. ✽ On November 24, 1974 , on a survey in Hadar in the remote badlands of Ethiopia, U.S. paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray found a piece of an elbow joint jutting from the dirt in a gully.
ED Surge
NOVEMBER 4, 2024
As Alexandra Delano prepared to moderate a civil discourse event for fellow students at Providence College in anticipation of the presidential election, some people quipped “good luck with that” or “you’re brave for that.” They predicted that the event, whose blue and red flier read “There’s an election in two weeks? Let’s talk about it!,” would be tense.
TeachThought
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
What Does It Mean To Be A Reflective Teacher? by Terry Heick Reflection is a fundamental tenet of learning; it is also, therefore, a fundamental part of teaching. Why it happens is a matter of humility. But how and when it happens–and with whom–is less clear. This is partly because there are multiple sides to reflection–length, width, and depth.
The Hechinger Report
NOVEMBER 27, 2024
Hello! I’m traveling back from the Bright Start International Conference where I spent the last few days learning about early childhood policies, systems and best practices worldwide. This week’s newsletter comes to you from Caroline Preston, Hechinger’s managing editor, who writes our climate and education newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
World History Teachers Blog
NOVEMBER 30, 2024
Teaching the French Revolution? Was it just ten years of senseless killing? That's what columnist Peggy Noonan suggested in an essay for the Wall Street Journal. Two historians, Mike Duncan, a revolutionary history podcaster, and David A. Bell, a history professor at Princeton, took Noonan to task on Twitter for not knowing her history. Both historians suggest that the revolution, while horrifically violent, made significant contributions to the world.
Anthropology.net
NOVEMBER 13, 2024
Uncovering Tool Use in Early Hominins A recent study 1 into the hand bones of Australopithecus afarensis — the species that includes the famous "Lucy" — suggests that early hominins may have been adept at using tools more than 3 million years ago. Researchers from the University of Tübingen have found that australopithecine hands exhibited the necessary muscle attachments for complex object manipulation.
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