Items to Share: 18 August

Education Focus

• The subtle work of designing instructional materials - Daniel Willingham Interesting "case-study", yet again reinforcing the need to anticipate unintended consequences.

• How being called smart can actually make you stupid | Neurobonkers | Big Think   A good introduction to Dweck and mindset theory.

• Who’s afraid of lesson observations? | Pragmatic Education Depressing collection of teacher reactions to being observed, by superiors as well as Ofsted. Obviously a biased sample--people don't volunteer such comments online unless something has really got to them--but nevertheless evidence of bullying incompetence on the part of observers, and how to use the activity to drive down standards as well as morale. And of course a total misunderstanding of what good teaching consists of...

• ... but perhaps these pieces go some way towards restoring the balance: The Art of Mingling Practice and Theory in Teaching  Interesting discussion of exactly what it says, and its implications for teacher education. Part of a series on the artistry of teaching; latest is on The Wisdom of Practice.

• The Case against Michael Gove | Scenes From The Battleground  "Bad teaching becomes, not a problem that managers are powerless to prevent, but often something that managers enforce and even where they can’t enforce it, it will be required for promotion." 

• How to discover a new species of carnivorous mammal | Webs of Substance  Reflections on the news story about the discovery of the Olinguito, and what it says about learning science (and in general) "I have no idea how systematic Mr Helgen’s discovery was; did he rigorously examine every old draw[er] in the museum or did he happen to serendipitously open one of them and get a funny feeling? We may find out in the coming days. However, this is largely irrelevant. Good organisation may or may not have helped. Extensive expert knowledge was essential." 

• Motivating Goalposts | Sam Shepherd's Blog Reflections on the different motivators for ESOL students and their implications for teaching.

• A-levels: from grade inflation to reforms | Full Fact   Useful background material from the invaluable Full Fact site.

Other Business

• Why academics can’t write  "Social scientists commonly justify their use of big words by saying that ordinary language is hopelessly vague and that social scientific terminology, although it might be awkward, is at least precise. However, the opposite is true: ordinary words usually convey much more information than the big words of the social scientists, especially when used to describe ordinary actions." Provocative piece by Michael Billig.

• Flashmob Performs The Beatles’ ‘Here Comes the Sun’ in Madrid Unemployment Office | Open Culture  One way to cheer people up!

• The Business Habits of Highly Effective Terrorists | Foreign Affairs  Leadership and management in the terror business--fascinating.

• Confessions of a Cellphone Holdout - WSJ.com  and related Facebook is bad for you: Get a life! | The Economist "Those who have resisted the urge to join Facebook will surely feel vindicated when they read the latest research." 

• The DLR Forecast « The Dabbler  DLR = Docklands Light Railway