TIM SMITS FOR SPECTRUM Originally published on Spectrum The Research on Autism and Development (RAD) Laboratory is located in a Tetris-like maze of brown wooden buildings, not far from the main campus of the University of California, San Diego. The lab itself is a nondescript warren of small beige rooms. But everything […]
How could your local library best serve your family’s and community’s needs? By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn We have in our society two types of publicly supported institutions whose explicit purpose is education—schools and libraries. How different they are from one another! The primary difference is this: Schools are places of forced […]
Students’ sense of belonging at school is linked to how well they do at school. Shutterstock A report released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), the managers of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Australia, explores Australian students’ sense of belonging. This has been shown to play a big part in […]
A view of the 1,700 solar panels on the roof of Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. Over the course of the year, these panels provide more than enough energy to power the school. CHRIS BERDIK FOR THE HECHINGER REPORT DRESSED IN PASTEL pink and green for an early spring day, […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn Psychiatric emergencies and youth suicides rise sharply with the school year. I am not in the mood today – bored teenager boy sitting by the wall We get very upset by school shootings, as well we should. Every such instance is a national tragedy. We […]
By the time children are five, they should show preference for a particular hand and be able to work with others. from www.shutterstock.com Parents often have different expectations for their three- to five-year-old children when they attend an early learning centre. Some parents expect their child to engage in academic […]
SIMON POTTER/GETTY IMAGES FOR SOME PEOPLE, summer means warmer weather and outdoor activities. But what about the kids that are out of school? What will they do all summer? For most parents, they just want their kids to do something other than video games or watching endless videos. So for you, […]
Attending an elite university appears to play a comparatively small role in determining a graduate’s starting salary. Shutterstock As the deadline for applications for mid-year admission to university approaches, prospective students face two important choices: what to study, and at which university. If past experience is any guide, places at the Group of […]
When it comes to self-directed learning, one of the biggest concerns brought up by those not practicing it is the perceived lack of teaching: people can’t learn things on their own, goes the common thought, they need to be measured and tested, they need that feedback! Of course, people can learn things on […]
The message from autistic activists is clear: “nothing about us without us”. Philosophographlux/flickr Autistic people have been routinely misunderstood, ignored, and excluded for decades – including from campaigns designed to promote awareness of autism itself. But this is beginning to change. Autistic self-advocacy organisations and autistic activists have long criticised […]