Education
Brain training can boost kids’ intelligence
Children who "train" their brain to increase memory can also boost their abilities to solve problems and reason, a new University of Michigan study indicated. Susanne Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, John Jonides and Priti Shah, all researchers in the U-M Department of Psychology, conducted the study. Read More
Next Generation Learning Challenge grant to U-M prof for ECoach physics aid
UM professor Timothy McKay has been awarded a grant from the Next Generation Learning Challenge, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations. The grants were awarded to 29 institutions for projects that improve learning and graduation rates through the use of technology. McKay, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics, will use new software to provide individualized expert coaching for thousands of students in large introductory physics courses. Known as ECoach, the system will provide thousands of undergraduate physics students with the advice, training and encouragement that they need to achieve at the highest levels. The one-year pilot program will be launched during the winter 2012 semester. The grant was for $249,000. "Too few students come to see me when I have office hours," McKay said. "This is what I would tell them if they were sitting in front of me, and I would like to reach them all." Read More
U-M faculty named Fulbright Scholars
Three U-M scholars from the Ann Arbor campus and one from UM-Dearborn were awarded U.S. Department of State Fulbright Scholar grants to conduct research abroad. The recipients are Farina Mir (Department of History), Pieter Smith, (Department of Chemistry), Molly Yunker, (School of Education), and William DeGenaro (Department of Language, Culture and Communication, UM-Dearborn). The Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. These prestigious grants provide funding for recipients to lecture or conduct research abroad for periods of two to 12 months in 140 countries. [Read more...]
Winners in Mobile Apps Challenge announced
It just got easier to find parking space on campus or to harvest power from your mobile phone using applications developed by U-M students and staff. Apps that let people create digital copies of their event tickets, organize task lists, and meet people with shared interests through location-based social networking are among the winners in the 2010 Michigan Mobile Apps Challenge. The competition was sponsored by Apple Inc., Google, Information and Technology Services (ITS), Computer Science and Engineering, and the Office of Technology Transfer. "We were really impressed by the quality of apps and the expertise of applicants this year," said Holly Nielsen, director of enabling technologies and services at ITS. "Creativity and ingenuity is thriving at U-M. This competition serves as an excellent platform for showcasing it." [Read more...]
U-M’s water theme semester explores ways to preserve and protect the Earth’s water
Water covers 70 percent of the Earth, makes up more than half of the human body and is necessary for life. But only 3 percent of Earth's water is fresh and less than 1 percent is available for human use. The University of Michigan's winter 2011 Water Theme Semester will give students and community members a chance to dive into the complex issues related to water. The semester is sponsored by U-M's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Program in the Environment, the Exhibit Museum of Natural History, the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and the Michigan Society of Fellows. [Read more...]
Innovative online game teaches scholarly research skills to undergraduates
Most undergraduates enter college with limited experience in scholarly research. Although 95 percent of 18-29 year olds use the Internet, according to a Pew Internet survey from May 2010, their knowledge of information resources often doesn't extend much beyond Google and Wikipedia. A team of researchers headed by professor Karen Markey and associate professor Victor Rosenberg at the University of Michigan's School of Information set out to address this issue by developing a game that teaches university-level scholarly research skills. Bibliobouts is an online, social activity that teaches players the skills they need to research academic papers. The game is generating enthusiasm among both students and educators and in 2010 won its developers the University of Michigan Provost's Innovation in Teaching Award. [Read more...]
The Cost of Education Wars
"Americans seem to be experts at starting and fighting wars over our children's education, rather than experts in building it," writes Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the U-Michigan School of Education in an opinion essay for the Huffington Post. "We are slipping rapidly into a new education war, this one about how to get better teaching for our nation's students. The good news is that we agree on something very important: Teaching matters." [Read more...]
Refrigerator ottoman, diabetic medication, party tracking app among 1,000 Pitches winners
Kristen Adamowski had the idea while lamenting the space in her dorm room. "I thought it would be awesome if I could save space by combining my ottoman and my refrigerator into one," said Adamowski, a freshman in the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Judges in the 1,000 Pitches business idea contest agreed, and on Sunday morning, Adamowski became one of 10 students to win $1,000 in the contest that attracted more than 3,000 ideas from students across the university. Students submitted their pitches through YouTube remotely or at pitch stations set up across campus. "It was incredible," she said. "Winning has given me that much more motivation to take the refrigerator ottoman idea further." [Read more...]
Social costs of school success are highest for blacks, U-M study shows
African American and Native American teens who do well in school suffer from a higher "nerd penalty" than white, Asian, and Hispanic youth, according to a new analysis. "The negative social consequences of getting good grades were particularly pronounced for black and Native American students in high-achieving schools with small proportions of students similar to themselves," said University of Michigan developmental psychologist Thomas Fuller-Rowell, the lead author of the study. [Read more...]