I subscribe to many blogs and other RSS feeds to try to stay up-to-date. In a previous post, I noted how RSS feeds from organizations such as NASA, Scientific American, and the National Science Foundation provide summaries of current issues and interesting topics in science.
There are many other resources that can give us up-to-date information on issues related to teaching and learning. I particularly like the Inside School Research blog from Education Week. It includes brief summaries of current research with a link to the full report or study. Recent topics include independent-study schools, teacher mobility, the value of frequent quizzes, cell phones in the classroom, and value-added measures.
I also like the ASCD (Association for Curriculum and Supervision) Inservice blog. Recent topics include Tracking “Makes You Feel Like You’re Not Smart”, Hypotheses: They’re Not Just for Science Anymore, Practice, Practice, Practice (Or: Homework, Homework, Homework?), Middle School Math and the Achievement Gap with links to reports or book chapters with more details.
I’ve also started to follow some interesting “tweets” on Twitter. Yes, I know that people post trivial and mundane information (I’m eating lunch. I’m at the beach.), but I’ve found some interesting folks to follow (e.g., NSTA’s Lab Out Loud guys) as well as organizations such as NSTA, ASCD, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that provide leads on interesting information. And I’ve started to tweet with some of my own “finds.”
Of course, you don’t have time to read everything, but when you can get summaries or abstracts to skim, you can pick and choose what is relevant.
Please share any of your favorites!