Category: Modern Research
-
How to Teach Grit and the Growth Mindset
Over the years we have written about grit and growth mindset here at Educational Renaissance. These are important areas of recent research that align well with the aims of our educational renewal movement. But one of the really tricky issues is whether we can teach grit and growth mindset. Is it the case that children…
-
Guiding a New Generation: Six Alternatives to College
In this series on college guidance, we have worked within the framework that most if not all students are destined to attend a four-year college. I began by questioning the current state of affairs in higher education. There is a massive educational-industrial complex that serves as the gateway to the industrial economy. However, many recent…
-
Why Gender Matters in Education
We often take for granted the givenness of the world we live in, that is, the things in life that are not questionable. For example, I have never questioned that the sky is blue or that I am the son of my parents. These aspects of reality strike me as matter of fact and have…
-
Reading for Meaning: Tapping into the Collective Unconsciousness
The story of Saint George and the Dragon is a classic tale of courage and faith. It tells the story of a brave knight, George, who saves a princess from being sacrificed to a dragon that has been terrorizing a small town. After slaying the dragon, George is celebrated as a hero and his bravery…
-
Low-tech Schooling: Avoiding the Shallows in a High-tech Society
Think back only a short while ago to how the transformation of schooling occurred rapidly in response to Covid-19. Materials were sent home and school was provided digitally through internet video services such as Zoom, Skype and Teams. Technology, and particularly screen-based learning, became ubiquitous. While we have since seen a return to on-site schooling,…
-
The Imitation Brain: Three Ways to Make the Most of Mirror Neurons
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Is it possible that imitation is also the pathway to learning? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, scientists at the University of Parma published a series of studies singling out neurons that respond both when accomplishing a certain action and also when observing others accomplishing a certain…
-
The Pathway to Mastery: Apprenticeship in the Classroom
A new book landed on my desk around the beginning of the school year. Robert Greene’s Mastery (New York: Viking, 2012) touches on a number of points that are worthy of exploration and consideration. It reads like a mix of historical biography and self help by a writer who is a master of his craft.…
-
Finding Flow through Effort: Intensity as the Key to Academic Success
At the intersection of challenge and skill, the state of flow emerges: a state of total immersion and enjoyment. Jason Barney’s book on flow, entitled The Joy of Learning: Finding Flow through Classical Education connects Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s study of flow with the classical Christian classroom. In this article I plan to build on Jason’s work…
-
Human Development, Part 3: Get in the Zone
It is a dangerous thing to become a Jedi padawan. The training and trials are extremely difficult; one might say almost impossible. Qui-Gon Jin tells Anakin Skywalker, “Anakin, training to be a Jedi is not an easy challenge, and even if you succeed, it’s a hard life” (from Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom…
-
Human Development, Part 2: All the World’s a Stage
That one essay – you know the one that got this whole educational renewal movement going – needs to be reevaluated. I am talking about the essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorothy Sayers. Her approach reminds me of Galadriel’s speech in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings movies, “Much that once…