Are Early Investments In Computer Skills Rewarded In The Labor Market?

The paper assesses the relationship between investments in computer skills by adolescents and earnings at age 26. The heaviest investors earned 9 to 16 percent more than otherwise equivalent NELS-88 classmates. The payoff to early computer skills was substantial in jobs involving intense and complex uses of computers; negligible when computers were not used at work. It was non-gaming use of computers outside of school that enhanced future earnings, not playing video/computer games—which lowered earnings. Children in low SES families invested less in computer skills and thus benefited less from the job opportunities generated by the digital revolution

Math empowerment: a multidisciplinary example to engage primary school students in learning mathematics

This paper describes an educational project conducted in a primary school in Italy (Scuola Primaria Alessandro Manzoni at Mulazzano, near to Milan). The school requested our collaboration to help improve upon the results achieved on the National Tests for Mathematics, in which students, aged 7, registered performances lower than the national average the past year. From January to June, 2016, we supported teachers, providing them with information, tools and methods to increase their pupils’ curiosity and passion for mathematics. Mixing our different experiences and competences (instructional design and gamification, information technologies and psychology) we have tried to provide a broader spectrum of parameters, tools and keys to understand how to achieve an inclusive approach that is ‘personalised’ to each student. This collaboration with teachers and students allowed us to draw interesting observations about learning styles, pointing out the negative impact that standardized processes and instruments can have on the self‐esteem and, consequently, on student performance. The goal of this programme was to find the right learning levers to intrigue and excite students in mathematical concepts and their applications. Our hypothesis is that, by considering the learning of mathematics as a continuous process, in which students develop freely through their own experiments, observations, involvement and curiosity, students can achieve improved results on the National Tests (INVALSI). This paper includes results of a survey conducted by children ‐’About Me and Mathematics‘

Technology Solutions for Developmental Math: An Overview of Current and Emerging Practices

Reviews current practices in and strategies for incorporating innovative technology into the teaching of remedial math at the college level. Outlines challenges, emerging trends, and ways to combine technology with new concepts of instructional strategy

Coming Out of the Dungeon: Mathematics and Role-Playing Games

After hiding it for many years, I have a confession to make. Throughout middle school and high school my friends and I would gather almost every weekend, spending hours using numbers, probability, and optimization to build models that we could use to simulate almost anything. That’s right. My big secret is simple. I was a high school mathematical modeler. Of course, our weekend mathematical models didn’t bear any direct relationship to the models we explored in our mathematics and science classes. You would probably not even recognize our regular gatherings as mathematical exercises. If you looked into the room, you’d see a group of us gathered around a table, scribbling on sheets of paper, rolling dice, eating pizza, and talking about dragons, magical spells, and sword fighting. So while I claim we were engaged in mathematical modeling, I suspect that very few math classes built models like ours. After all, how many math teachers have constructed or had their students construct a mathematical representation of a dragon, a magical spell, or a swordfight? And yet, our role-playing games (RPGs) were very much mathematical models of reality — certainly not the reality of our everyday experience, but a reality nonetheless, one intended to simulate a particular kind of world. Most often for us this was the medieval, high-fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), but we also played games with science fiction or modern-day espionage settings. We learned a lot about math, mythology, medieval history, teamwork, storytelling, and imagination in the process. And, when existing games were inadequate vehicles for our imagination, we modified them or created new ones. In doing so, we learned even more about math. Now that I am a mathematics professor, I find myself reflecting on those days as a “fantasy modeler” and considering various questions. What is the relationship between my two interests of fantasy games and mathematics? Does having been a gamer make me a better mathematician or modeler? Does my mathematical experience make me a better gamer? These different aspects of my life may seem mostly unconnected; indeed, the “nerd” stereotype is associated with both activities, but despite public perception, the community of role-players includes many people who are not scientifically-minded. So we cannot say that role-players like math, or math-lovers role-play, because “that is simply what nerds do.” To get at the deeper question of how mathematics and role-playing are related, we first need to look at the processes of gaming, game designing, and modeling

Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children's Learning and Health

Based on a literature review and interviews with digital learning experts, explores how digital games can foster skills and knowledge for better academic performance and health. Makes recommendations for government research, partnerships, and media

School Poverty Concentration and Kindergarten Students' Numerical Skills

Schools that enroll disproportionately high percentages of pupils from low-income families are widely believed to have negative consequences for student performance. Prior research has investigated the relationship of school poverty and outcomes in numerous ways, but the basic proposition is that school composition affects student learning, such that otherwise similar students realize different levels of achievement in schools with different proportions of low-income. This paper updates and extends the research on compositional effects in several respects. First, we extend the research to the early elementary level of schooling. Second, the data needed to assess the relative importance of individual and school factors have not been available and the mechanisms that mediate the school-level effect independent of student background factors are thus not clear. This paper draws upon nationally representative data on kindergarten pupils and the schools they attend to estimate both the overall impact of school poverty on mathematics achievement and its impact on a variety of other school and schooling-experience variables that may in turn affect student learning. Finally, this paper analyzes the effects of high poverty schools on several schooling variables hypothesized to affect student achievement.

Integrating Technology With Student-Centered Learning

Reviews research on technology's role in personalizing learning, its integration into curriculum-based and school- or district-wide initiatives, and the potential of emerging digital technologies to expand student-centered learning. Outlines implications

The Education and Miseducation of Boys in Cultural, Political, and Christian Perspective

The trend of higher male achievement at of all levels of education has reversed in the last twenty years, in almost every major country except Japan, sparking global political and social debate about this intriguing phenomenon. Several cultural trends may contribute to this swing, including, but not limited to, a recent vibrant call for equity education for girls; shifting social norms of traditionally held views of masculinity and male dominance in the job market, academia, and society; delayed maturation physically and cognitively of the average male; teacher competence in the science of educating boys; school structures that are antithetical to the needs of boys; and the complex dichotomy between the demands of school life and the psyche of males. Whatever the causes, evidence demonstrates many boys exhibit behaviors antithetical to school success with significantly higher diagnoses rates of mental health disorders, failure and dropout rates, referrals for disruptive behaviors, and juvenile delinquency. The authors contend that school systems must put forth more intentionality regarding the education of boys, as well as girls, through training and supervision of all educators in gender-friendly methodologies, increased recruitment of male teachers, and redesign of the school day to provide opportunities for boys to fulfill their need to move, compete, and lead