The angry, polarized state of American politics came up a lot in the news media over the weekend as we all tried to make sense of Saturday's tragic shooting in Arizona (e.g., here's a view from Europe). So when I happened to watch Brene Brown's 20-minute TED talk last night about "The Power of Vulnerability," I was surprised and grateful for her reference to politics at the end. It was a big ah-ha … [Read more...] about After a tragic shooting, help from a social work researcher
Search Results for: "social norms"
Cyberbullying: What I’ve learned so far
A sequel to "Notes from a conference on bullying," posted last week.... Cyberbullying incidents don't happen in a vacuum. I'm saying this because I keep running into signs that adults do think they are events that somehow happen in a vacuum or come in out of the blue. However, since Facebook activity is a reflection of users and their lives – and much of the focus of most teens' lives is … [Read more...] about Cyberbullying: What I’ve learned so far
The learning power of a virtual world
It's definitely not a flashy video production, but if you're interested in learning about a virtual world that 6.4 million kids aged 8-15 (68% girls, average age 12.5) like because it challenges them in math and science and expects them to be smart, watch this interview about Whyville.net at Discover magazine. Founder and CEO of Whyville parent Numedeon Inc., Jim Bower – who is also a professor of … [Read more...] about The learning power of a virtual world
The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!
Readers, this is turning out to be a series on digital citizenship, because the "Jessi Slaughter" story powerfully illustrated why and how much this baseline online-safety education is needed. Yesterday in Part 1, I looked at the kind of online behavior that citizenship lessons need to address and how we can help our children avoid it. Today: the goal of citizenship instruction, which hopefully … [Read more...] about The goal for digital citizenship: Turn it into a verb!
Major obstacle to universal broadband & what can help
Last week Chairman Julius Genachowski unveiled the children-and-family part of the FCC's universal broadband plan, designed to enable, among other things, 21st-century education. There's just one problem: Schools have long turned to law enforcement for guidance in informing their communities about youth safety on the Net, broadband or otherwise, and the guidance they're getting scares parents, … [Read more...] about Major obstacle to universal broadband & what can help