Last Month, Los Angeles Dodger Clayton Kershaw signed a $215 million dollar contract to become the highest paid pitcher in Major League Baseball history. A product of Highland Park High School, Kershaw has amassed quite a resume during his first six seasons in the league. Debuting on the mound atRead More

Soon after video games made the leap from the arcade to the personal computer, educational video games were introduced in schools. 1985 saw the release of Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego – the former designed to teach children about American history, the latter made toRead More

Earlier this fall, in between writing for Thesis and teaching two community college classes, I enrolled in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): “Central Challenges in American National Security, Strategy, and the Press.” The urge, while mostly compulsive, was driven by the immediate, fluid state of the international climate (SyriaRead More

As teachers have been put under increased pressure to “teach to the test” and boost their students’ performance scores, curricula have been grossly condensed. Depth of knowledge is sacrificed for cursory breadth of knowledge, and in lieu of spending additional time on a given subject to foster discussions, encourage creativeRead More

Having decided to write an article about different learning styles and then having realized I knew nothing about the topic, I conceded that a little bit of background reading would be more than helpful.  Lost on a discursive path of search results and suggested reading links, I ended up onRead More

I do a lot of test prep tutoring, and it amazes me how similar my students’ concerns are regardless of age, gender, skill foundation, and even the test they’re taking. This is for them. An open letter to the kids taking standardized tests: You are somewhere in the middle ofRead More

by: Erin Howland   In my junior year of high school, my AP European History teacher became demonically possessed by the idea that creating a restaurant would be the most fun and effective way to learn about Renaissance culture. The assignment was to use one 8.5x11in paper and to drawRead More

Working with young children is vastly different from working with middle school or high school aged students in that younger children are fundamentally at an earlier developmental stage. Their sources of motivation and ability to work independently differ greatly from older students. In our experiences at General Academic, we haveRead More

Students with ADHD pose unique challenges to parents and educational professionals. Their sensitivity and awareness of multiple activities, rather than to environmental stimuli, negatively affects their ability to learn. The common definition of ADHD is heightened awareness of or sensitivity to environmental stimuli, which results in limited alertness to theRead More

Fresno State University in Freso, California is implementing tighter restrictions on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and treatment.  Students requesting the diagnosis and the associated stimulant drugs must now submit to two months of testing before being considered for diagnosis.  Securing the diagnosis is just the first step.  IfRead More

In here new book, “Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting,” author Pamela Druckerman writes about her research and observations of French parenting.  She writes that French parents don’t coddle their children as they teach their children how to wait, to delay gratification, and to liveRead More

An article in the Wall Street Journal today talks about time management, specifically how to save an unproductive day.  The same tips that work for career professionals can also apply to students: Set an agenda for the day’s activities Keep notes of what you accomplish during the day Plan theRead More

A new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics warns parents against allowing their children to overly indulge in energy and sports drinks.  The study warns that energy drinks usually contain large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants that interfere with sleep, raise anxiety, and increase the risk ofRead More

Most studies show that teenagers need 9.25 hours of sleep a night but regularly only manage about six hours on a school night.  The result is that teens are chronically fatigued and perform worse on tests than when fully energized.  Researchers suggest that teenagers avoid caffeine six hours prior toRead More

A five year study just published out of South Korea shows that some form of autism was present in 1 out of 38 children or 2.64%.  This rate is more than 2.5x what researchers previously thought to be the case in the United States (there’s no reason to believe thatRead More

New research is dispelling the old myth that monolingual children have an advantage over children who grown up speaking two languages.  The reason is that children who actively use two languages have more active minds since the brain is always sorting out different input and output signals.  The report suggestsRead More