Cultural Whiplash

Slaying the Learning Gap and Effects of Socio-Economic Status in American Education Corbin Campbell 2013 (from research conducted Oct. 2011)   The learning gap has infiltrated the minds of American educators and parents, making everyone wonder why there’s a gap at all, and what it means. I address this issue in a previous post. In this article, I suggest some possible solutions as indicated by research I’ve reviewed. It’s entirely possible that conflicting research exists, as well. There is a noteworthy plethora of learning initiatives and research innovations being tested to better understand the process of learning. Such a wide range of approaches is not likely to occur in many countries in the world, and is a welcome perspective for developing curricular and educational policy. Perhaps someday this approach will arrive at a ‘best for every student’ solution (perhaps a soon-to-be outdated mode of thinking is that what works for students in one place doesn’t wo...

There is another possible cause for the learning gap, which is that class time for younger students significantly exceeds their patience and attention span. Optimizing class time so that it feels more like play than work is critical to keeping students involved in learning activities. It is very easy for teachers to lose students' attention, which has been more than adequately demonstrated by various studies. In classes that are geared for 'average' students, above and below average students are often stuck twiddling their thumbs while waiting for the next assignment or teacher assistance. It may even be argued that these above and below average students become experts in twiddling their thumbs, so that at some point 'below average' students are constantly demanding and receiving teacher time and attention while 'above average' students get a pat on the back and bother their peers (until they get in trouble). It is important to pair above...