Social discussion of CS in K-12

["Israel, Maya" <misrael AT illinois.edu>]

Dear all,

I can’t remember which of you I spoke with about this book, but I am currently reading a book called “The End of Average” by Todd Rose. He’s one of the UDL proponents at Harvard and writes both from his academic research as well as experiencing failure when he was in school (he dropped out of school with failing grades in high school and somehow made a remarkable recovery and is now a Harvard professor of neuroscience). NPR just did an interview with him, so I thought I would share the link with you.

In any case, I’m only 4 chapters into the book, but I find that it is written in a conversational style, which I appreciate and it articulates why Universal Design for Learning is so critical for academically diverse learners. I would love to chat with folks once they have either read the article and/or the book. All of you who know me well know that UDL is at the heart of my research and although it is not a perfect instructional framework and simplifies what we know about the brain greatly, it does provide a powerful framework that teachers as well as technology and curriculum developers can use to meet the needs of a much wider range of learners than are typically met in traditional classrooms, even those who use differentiation. 

Here’s the link to the NPR interview: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/16/465753501/standards-grades-and-tests-are-wildly-outdated-argues-end-of-average?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160216

I hope you have a wonderful day. Take care,

Maya

Maya Israel, Ph.D.
Department of Special Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

276B Education Building
1310 South 6th Street
Champaign, IL 61820
misrael AT illinois.edu 
http://education.illinois.edu/sped/people/misrael