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Keep it simple: Attention must be paid
How do teachers get the attention of easily distracted "digital natives?"

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 22 min read
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Sorry, kid, your robot friend is about to die
Moxie, sold as a social-emotional support robot, is about to "die."

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 14, 20241 min read
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Only disconnect: Edtech is bad for learning
"Which computer should we buy?," asked the school administrators. "How are you planning to use the computers?," said the Apple sales rep....

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 13, 20242 min read
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Too much tech: Devices distract students, don't support learning
Schools are wasting time and money on ed-tech that doesn't improve learning and distracts students.

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 21, 20242 min read
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Phone-free schools: Can it be done?
California is getting on the no-phones-in-class bandwagon , reports AP. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants school districts to restrict students’...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20241 min read
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Post-Covid kids are unfocused, poorly behaved and -- surprise! -- learning less
Student behavior hasn't recovered from the pandemic, says a federal survey of public schools.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 24, 20241 min read
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'We are talking 4- and 5-year-olds who are throwing chairs, biting, hitting ... '
Covid toddlers are now in school, and teachers say many are not doing very well, report Claire Cain Miller and Sarah Mervosh in the New...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 2, 20242 min read
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No phones, no Moms, just kids playing in the park
Parents should band together to "say 'no' to smart phones and social," writes Laura Yuen in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She dreams of...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 23, 20242 min read
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How a middle school kicked the phone habit
Smartphones are a major classroom distraction, say nearly three-fourths of high school teachers and a third of middle school teachers in...

Joanne Jacobs
May 5, 20242 min read
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Japan uses more adult diapers than baby diapers
A Japanese company will stop making diapers for babies and shift production to adult diapers, reports the BBC. Adult diapers have been a...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 30, 20242 min read
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Childhood's end
Phone-centered childhood is a disaster, writes Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic. In the early 2010s, "adolescents in rich countries traded...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 24, 20243 min read
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Teens love their smartphones -- but some say it's 'peaceful' to be phone-free
Seventy-two percent of teenagers say they often or sometimes feel "peaceful" when they're without their smartphones, according to a Pew...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20242 min read
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'For All Mankind' celebrates courage, competence, resilience
I'm a fan of the Apple+ series For All Mankind, which imagines an alternative reality in which the Soviet Union reaches the moon first,...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 29, 20242 min read
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The Finnish miracle is finished, but why?
Finland! Finland! Finland! Twenty years ago, Finland's top-of-the-world PISA scores made it "the most widely celebrated and imitated...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 18, 20242 min read
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Present and paying attention: Smartphone detox is worth it
Smartphone detox is difficult, but worth it, writes Seth Lavin, principal of a Chicago middle school. After his school equipped...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 14, 20242 min read
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Truancy is the 'new normal' -- and a growing business
Tracking down absent students and persuading their parents to get them to school every day is a booming business, writes Alex MacGillis...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 10, 20242 min read
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Ban phones in school: The experiment with kids' minds has failed
Smart phones are making students less smart, writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Student achievement has been falling around the world...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read
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It matters how kids read: On-screen reading doesn't build comprehension
It doesn't matter what kids read as long as they're reading, people often say. Maybe so. But for "developing readers," leisure reading...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 15, 20231 min read
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Mom knows everything: Apps let parents track kids' schoolwork -- and drive them crazy
If only parents were involved in their children's education, teachers said, students would do so much better. If only teachers...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 5, 20232 min read
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Fourth-graders are finding PornHub
Online porn is easily available to kids, addictive and destructive, writes Isabel Hogben, a runner-up in The Free Press's high school...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 3, 20231 min read
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