Academy for Mathematics & English, Dwyer Building
245 Conception Bay Highway A0A 1G0 Bay Roberts, NL, Canada

Let's promote TRUE math understanding! Students are often taught to memorize math steps, without actually understanding the underlying mathematics. This is a problem. One solution is to encourage *higher order thinking* by using comparison models e.g. "comparing multiple correct strategies, comparing confusable problem types, and comparing correct and incorrect strategies." This works! New research reveals that "incorporating these types of comparison problems resulted... in greater conceptual knowledge and procedural flexibility than the control groups." If you want to promote true *understanding* of mathematics, then the *comparison model* technique works wonders! And it's fun! https://phys.org//2021-01-comparison-multiple-strategies-m

Looking out at our society, we are plagued by vast amounts of misinformation, conspiracy theories, science denial, and other forces that are threatening our society, said Jal Mehta, a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-author of In Search of Deeper Learning. We need inquiring citizens to make good decisions about our democracy, and to take on big challenges like climate change, education, health care, poverty, and more. While there... are many ways to cultivate a love of learning in your children, here's one easy one: Researchers have found that a strong predictor of childhood flourishing is the ability of families to share ideas or talk about things with their child that really matter, said David Grodberg, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at the behavioral health platform Brightline. For example, creating family rituals around shared activities like playing board games or reading or maybe at the dinner table, listening to each other and talking about ideas and interests together. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca//how-to-raise-kids-who-love-

Do smarter teachers make smarter students? How do teachers' cognitive skills impact student performance, country-wide? It turns out, the answers are, YES & SIGNIFICANTLY, respectively. (Just one of the reasons why our tutor candidates have to successfully pass through a gauntlet of skill assessments and screening processes before they can join our ranks.) "We find that teachers’ cognitive skills differ widely among nationsand that these differences matter greatly for stud...ents’ success in school. An increase of one standard deviation in teacher cognitive skills is associated with an increase of 10 to 15 percent of a standard deviation in student performance. This implies that as much as one quarter of the gaps in average student performance across the countries in our study would be closed if each of them were to raise their teachers’ cognitive skills to the level of those in the highest-ranked country, Finland." https://www.educationnext.org/do-smarter-teachers-make-sma/

Although it's tough to find a silver lining in these dark days of the pandemic, doctors are noticing one very positive trend among kids: there is a significant "decrease in common respiratory illnesses, including the flu, colds, and RSV. Experts credit that to practicing safety health measures like hand-washing, social distancing, and mask wearing." On the flipside, there has been an obvious uptick in mental health issues among kids, including elevated rates of depression and anxiety. https://www.parents.com//the-pandemic-is-leading-to-a-dec/

Many parents are wondering, "When will kids be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine?" Well, Pfizer's vaccine has been authorized for those 16 and above; Moderna's vaccine has been authorized only for those 18 and above. For those under 16, clinical trials are currently underway. According to Emily R. Levy, M.D., Pediatric Critical Care Specialist and Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist at Mayo Clinic:... We have extended the age group that we’re testing these in to include kids. Depending on the exact vaccine, I think the Pfizer one now is enrolling kids over 12. Some of the other ones have gone down to 5 years of age. The current hope is that at the very least a vaccine variation for kids 12 to 16 years old will be available by the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. https://www.keyc.com//clinical-trials-underway-develop-ch/