Yep, you read that right. Take them and leave them. Alone.

Lenore explains it best in her blog:

The crime rate in America is back to where it was in the early ’70s. Crime was going up then, and it peaked around 20 years later. By the mid ’90s it was coming down and continues to do so. So the strange fact — very hard to digest — is that if YOU were playing outside in the ’70s or ’80s, your kids today are safer than you were! I know it doesn’t feel that way. In fact, here’s an interesting poll about how the majority of people feel crime is going up when actually its going down. But anyway, the point is:

Most of us used to play outside in the park, without our parents, without cell phones, without Purell or bottled water and we survived! Thrived! We cherish the memories! And if you believe the million studies that I’m always publishing here, kids are healthier, happier and better-adjusted if they get to spend some time each day in “free play,” without adults hovering.

I know there will be shrill voices insisting, “Predators are gonna love this holiday!” but keep a level head. Crime is down. Awareness is up. There is safety in numbers, which means getting kids outside again, together. This won’t happen until we actually start DOING IT.

She makes a great case about how we (Americans) are hovering over our kids too much. Let them play outside! Have you walked around in your neighborhood recently? I have, and I don’t see what I remember from MY childhood, which was a bunch of kids running around playing games together. We played hide-n-seek, kick the can, Red Rover, and more. Do kids still play those games outside?

I’m JUST as guilty as the next paranoid mom. But, I think I know why. When I was in elementary school, a girl in the grade above mine was raped and murdered on her way home from school. I knew her well and was friendly with her family. Did it traumatize me? You bet. And, our community changed the very day that happened. Parents kept their kids home after that day. (The murderer was never caught, so that didn’t help relieve parental anxiety.) There was a definite shift in the way kids were treated. No more walking home from school…no more playing outside. It’s sad, really, because another incident never happened and the kids were the ones to suffer.

But, as Lenore herself says, “Free-Range Kids never says there is no risk in the world, only that the risk is small and worth taking, as it always has been. The trade-off is kids who make up games, who solve problems, who discover nature and get moving (to coin a phrase). Kids who don’t need a screen to entertain them. Playing outside, on their own, is what kids all over the world do. We have forgotten how vital and wonderful it is.”

So, let’s embrace this day and get our kids back outside in neighborhoods.

[Via Motherlode / NYTimes]

Photo

It might be hard to get your senior to look on the bright side if they aren’t getting good news in the mail. But, this might help. Here is some sage advice from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger:

Don’t let rejections control your life. To “allow other people’s assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake,” says Mr. Bollinger, a First Amendment author and scholar. “The question really is, who at the end of the day is going to make the determination about what your talents are, and what your interests are? That has to be you.”

And, Ted Turner really helps keep it all in perspective:

“A rejection letter doesn’t even come close to losing loved ones in your family. That is the hard stuff to survive,” Mr. Turner says. “I want to be sure to make this point: I did everything I did without a college degree,” he says. While it is better to have one, “you can be successful without it.”

Thanks to Lenore at Free Range Kids for the link!

Photo

In addition to the winner’s art appearing on Google.com on May 27, 2010, they’ll also receive a $15,000 college scholarship, a laptop computer and a $25,000 technology grant for their school.

Not too shabby.

The theme this year is “If I Could Do Anything, I Would…” and doodles must be submitted by March 31, 2010. It’s great that Google celebrates creativity in kids. If you’ve got a young designer or doodler at home, this could be a fun project.

I collected anecdotal evidence to support my theory when, as a grad student, I tried to teach elementary education majors some rudimentary physics labs. The class, which was a light version of Physics 101, designed just for elementary education majors, was required for the degree. Many of the students would put the class off until their final semester, and viewed it as a major obstacle to graduating. They had poor attitudes, because the subject was “so difficult”, and besides, “when would they ever use it”? They came into the class convinced that the subject, and the necessary math, was too hard, and they couldn’t do, and they’d never use it as a teacher. Let me rephrase that: they thought that physics, the basic science behind everything in the universe, was not only impossible, it was unnecessary, to learn. These people now teach our children.

Now I have some research to back me up in what I have always found fairly obvious. Sian L. Beilock, an associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago, headed a study which suggests that a teacher’s own anxiety about math can influence students, and even cause them to have math anxiety as well. Worse, there seems to be a gender bias, which causes young girls with female teachers who have math anxiety to buy into the stereotype that girls aren’t as good at math as boys, and to be more likely to develop math anxiety themselves than their male classmates. It gets worse:

Girls who grow up believing females lack math skills wind up avoiding harder math classes, Hyde noted.

”It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology,” she said.

Holy cow, do you see what’s going on here? Young girls develop math anxiety, then grow up to be elementary education majors, then pass on that same math anxiety to other young girls, who then avoid studying science and engineering. This is a vicious cycle!

What can we do? One idea might be to recognize that this cycle doesn’t necessarily exist in all countries. Asian students have outperformed Americans in math, which could, in part be due to the way they are taught. In some Chinese elementary schools, students are taught math by specialized math teachers. That makes sense to have math taught by teachers who specialize in, and are therefore good at, it. But in the current American elementary school model, all subjects are taught by a single teacher, with the occasional exception of art, music, and/or phys ed.

Another option would be for American elementary schools to stress math more, and to spend more time on it, sooner. My Little Skeptic Boy loves math, and is pretty good at it (for a 6-year-old) but his math papers from Kindergarten contain no real math. Lots of pattern recognition, and sorting, and groups, but apparently they are saving the actual math of 1 +1 = 2 until they are older and “can handle it”. My opinion is that math isn’t hard, it is just new. Just like learning a foreign language, it can seem an insurmountable task at first, but over time, with enough exposure and practice, it can become second-nature. If our kids were exposed to math early, and repeatedly, it would become familiar and comfortable.

Since changing the American education model is a big task, probably our best option, as parents, is to work on math at home. Helping with homework is key. Reviewing homework, to make sure your child understands what they are studying, is a must. But, beyond that, let’s make math part of everyday life, instead of just that one subject we dread at school. Here’s how:

• Watch your language. Don’t talk about how bad you are at math, or how impossible math is. Never say, “Your math homework is too hard for your old Mom.” Kids might think, “Gosh, if my folks can’t do it, I’ve got no hope!” Instead, you might say, “I’m not sure how to do that problem since it has been so long since I was in your grade, but I’m sure I could do it back then, and I can probably look it up on the internet to remind myself now.” If it is truly beyond you, approach it from the angle that it is new to you, and you and your child need to seek help from a tutor or teacher who is already familiar with that subject.
• Show kids that math is everywhere. Handsome Skeptic Husband explains to our kids what baseball batting averages mean, he tells them how soon we will be somewhere based on how fast we are driving, and if we will be there in 15 minutes, he asks them to figure out what time it will be when we get there. When at the grocery store, he asks Little Skeptic Girl to tell him which is the better buy: a 12-pack of 12-ounce cola, or an 8-pack of 16-ounce cola if they are the same price. At dinner, we ask Little Skeptic Boy how many rolls we can each have if there are four of us, and eight rolls.  We point out math in everyday life.
• Make math a multimedia experience. There’s a lot more music, videos, and books about math than you might at first realize. In the music category, you can’t beat  They Might Be Giants’ Here Come the 123s, but there are many other options for songs about numbers, counting, addition, etc., to be found at Songs for Teaching. Educational videos about math are abundant, as well, and I love the classic Schoolhouse Rock videos. Two of my favorite kids’ books are Sir Cumference and One Hundred Hungry Ants, but middle-school kids should all read Math Doesn’t Suck, and Kiss My Math by TV’s Danica McKellar.
• Make a game of it. Play games with your kids and let them play games by themselves that either use math, or teach math-related skills. Kids can play Sudoku and Leapster Jedi Math by themselves. You can play Set and Mastermind with them.
• Get advice for more. Go to The Math Mom website, to get ideas for how to “present math to your kids as candy”.

This new study helps explain why there might be more math anxiety among girls than there ought to be, but maybe we can help repair the damage at home.

More ideas on what we can do? Leave them in the comments!

Luque said the project was made of an empty half-liter Gatorade bottle with some wires and other electrical components attached. There was no substance inside.

Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School was initially put on lockdown while police investigated, then eventually evacuated. The “bomb” was x-rayed and the student’s house was searched. All turned up nothing, and the item appeared to be what the student claimed: a homemade motion detector.

Authorities decided not to discipline the child but did recommend counseling for the boy and his family. Not sure what anti-social, pro-science behavior they’re trying to counsel for, but that sure was generous of the school, huh?

The worst part about this story (other than the hysteria, invasion of privacy, and the unnecessary search of the home) is that the Vice Principal obviously has no clue what’s being taught there. Didn’t they ask the child what is was? Request a demonstration? Talk to the science teacher or the parents? You have to wonder about a school where the educators and administrators jump to such elaborate conclusions.

[Via BoingBoing]

My oldest daughter just started pre-school last week. Phew! And so ended a stressful eight months of applications, interviews, play dates, and worrying. Here are some observations about our experience. Call it, “Two Atheist Skeptics Go Pre-School Shopping.”

Yes, Interviews
Our city was very competitive for pre-school slots, so the schools really had the advantage. And, they put their applicants through the paces. Most of the schools had orientations, long applications, parent interviews, and toddler play dates as part of their selection process.

The parent interviews were really the worst part. You knew they were judging everything about you, which made it incredibly awkward. Did I talk too much? Did my husband talk enough? Did we ask the right questions? Was there spinach in my teeth? The play dates were also stressful because you knew it was important for your child to make a good impression. But, how exactly? What were the schools looking for during this fifteen minutes of observation? The monitors had clipboards in hand and continued to take notes throughout the play date. What were they writing? If my kid takes a toy from another kid, are we off the list? The purpose of the play date never ceased to mystify us.

It became more difficult over time to take the complicated process seriously knowing it’s all for pre-school. I mean, it’s not Harvard we’re applying to. It’s a place where three- and four-year olds spend a few hours running around every day. Geez, lighten up, people.

Who Took the Cheese?
Pre-schools are no exception to misinformation and woo. Just because the word “school” is in the title doesn’t mean some of the people in charge aren’t crackpots. One particular place we considered was a “cheese-free” school. They had banned cheese for kids–not for allergy reasons, but rather for nutritional reasons. The school claimed new reports had come out saying kids shouldn’t eat cheese. My husband and I exchanged a quick “WTF?!” look at this announcement.

I couldn’t find any mentions of said anti-cheese reports, but I did find plenty of nutritional information that said cheese is part of a healthy diet for pre-schoolers. From the USDA Food Pyramid recommendations for pre-schoolers:

Choose fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese. If you choose milk or yogurt that is not fat-free, or cheese that is not low-fat, the fat in the product counts as part of the discretionary calorie allowance.

What were these people talking about? Fine if you don’t want your kid to have cheese, but the entire school can’t have cheese? Scratch that place off the list.

Snacks and Prayers
In the middle of our pre-school adventure, we decided to move from the city out to the suburbs. So, our search began anew in a different location, where new obstacles presented themselves. It was very difficult to find a pre-school in the ‘burbs that was secular. I did a lot of research into options and the choices were limited. (I’ve heard similar complaints from other rational parents in different parts of the country.)

So, my husband and I had long discussions about how much religion was tolerable in a pre-school. (Him: None. Me: Would prefer none, but a little religion won’t scar her for life.) Was a prayer before snack a big deal? Could we watch our daughter participate in a holiday Baby Jesus production? What about a school that was inside a religious structure, but not affiliated with the religion?

I should explain a bit about our trepidation. We don’t want to shield our kids from religion their whole lives, or brainwash them against it. Instead, we want them to make their own decisions and explore whatever religion they feel necessary at the appropriate time. However, we don’t want to send them to “school” to learn, and then tell them that what school teaches is wrong. For instance, say our daughter learns to recite a prayer before snack time at school, and then wants to continue that practice at home. So, we have to tell her it’s not what we do at home? This counter-programming seemed to conflict with our notion of “school.”

In the End
It came down to two secular schools, both of which were two to three times more expensive than the religious schools. So, we chose one and our daughter seemed happy there in her first week.

We walked away from the whole experience with a wish list. First, open good secular schools and use a lottery for admission. Second, don’t charge an arm and a leg for it. Third, let them eat cheese.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: Jeremy Barwick

If you read other skeptical or science blogs you have already heard about this, but just in case you haven’t here is a thumbnail sketch. 

Young Earth Creationists and believers in Intelligent Design have been trying to have creationism / intelligent design taught in science classrooms for decades. The creationists are quite clever at changing their tactics to slowly chip away  at science standards. From an article on CNN.com,

 ”The controversy over the teaching of intelligent design came to a head in Pennsylvania, where the Dover School Board voted that ninth-grade students must be read a statement encouraging them to read about intelligent design. A federal judge said the board violated the Constitution in doing so because intelligent design is religious creationism in disguise and injecting it into the curriculum violates the constitutional separation of church and state.”  

So, the creationists started calling it “Intelligent Design”  instead of Creationism and are pushing for “Academic Freedom.”

Unfortunately, in Texas they have been successful.  One of their tactics is to add seemingly innocuous language to the science education standards that then can be used to eliminate excellent science textbooks on a technicality and get creationism friendly books into the classroom.  These amendments to the science standards undermine the idea that life of Earth derives from a common ancestry and other major principles of evolution. It would also possibly effect the teaching of plate tectonics, radioactive decay, the age of the earth and how the solar system developed. 

School board chairman Don McLeroy, is quoted as saying,

“I’m a skeptic. I’m an evolution skeptic. I don’t think it’s true. You need to present other ideas to the kids.”

His position is pretty darn clear!  You can see videos on youtube of Don McLeroy talking about his version of evolution. It’s difficult to believe the things that come out of his mouth.

There are 15 members on the Texas School Board, 7 of them are creationists/ Intelligent designers.

Here’s some background for you: Little Skeptic Boy is five, has four wiggly teeth, and wants Hulk Smash Hands for Christmas. He loves science, as do I, so the other day we had a detailed discussion about the big bang. Next year he starts public school kindergarten, but for now he attends one of the highest-rated preschools in the area, that just happens to be at a Lutheran church in the bible belt. Then today we had this conversation:

Little Skeptic Boy: My teacher said it, but she’s wrong!!

Me: Said what, baby?

LSB: She said there was no big bang. She said that God created the universe. But she’s wrong and you’re right!

Me: Uhhhhh…

OK, now let’s not freak out here. Maybe his version of the conversation isn’t exactly what happened. After all he’s only five, and not a reliable witness. Maybe he shouted out that the big bang created the universe, and she replied along the lines of, “Well, the big bang didn’t create the universe, God did.”

Wait, is that any better?

So, it looks like I have three choices. I can take him out of the preschool, which would break his heart. I can do nothing, leave him in the preschool, and deprogram him later. Or I can have a talk with his teacher.

I don’t know, though. What might come out of my mouth?

• “How dare you lie to my child about the basic foundations of physics?”
• “So, are you guys young-earthers? ‘Cause that’s crazy!”
• “Feel free to teach my kid all about the bible, but don’t ever contradict me again.”

Now, if this were public school, I’d be absolutely up in arms. But, this is a private preschool that I chose, and if I’m not happy with it, we can leave. Or we can ignore this and go on. After all, he’s so young he probably won’t remember anything he learns there. Or…

Am I overreacting?