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Autism advocate Temple Grandin explains why we need education tailored for autistic minds

In her 2022 bookVisual Thinkers: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think In Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions,” animal behavior scientist and autism rights advocate Temple Grandin described how there are different types of intelligence. Some people are gifted mechanically, Grandin pointed out; others at mathematics and abstract thinking; still others at the arts; and so on....

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US test scores fell during the pandemic — but experts say don’t blame school closings

Shot of a student struggling in a classroom Getty Images/Kobus Louw

When the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in early 2020, public school officials were suddenly and unexpectedly forced to make life-and-death decisions. As the American death toll mounted (more than 1 million at the time of this writing), states across America closed their schools....

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You’re a genius, you just don’t know it: Temple Grandin on how “visual thinkers” see the world

Dr. Temple Grandin speaks outside of the US Patent and Trademark Office on April 3, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images

When animal behavior scientist and autism rights advocate Temple Grandin was beginning her career in livestock, one of her goals was to make the slaughtering process more humane for cattle....

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Overworked school superintendents are hesitant to take on the role of public health officer, too

Students and teacher in school during COVID-19 pandemic, wearing masks Getty Images

Most humans aspire to be leaders; few think deeply about the anxiety that comes with leadership. Superintendents, who lead school districts, are the public faces of their schools, which might be rewarding; yet they also provide the public with someone to blame in the event that something bad happens....

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Students didn’t just learn nothing during school closures — they actually regressed, study says

new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the pandemic caused “the largest disruption to education in history” — and children are suffering from learning loss as a result.

The study, which was co-authored by researchers affiliated with the University of Oxford, analyzed national examinations that occurred in the Netherlands both during and after their school lockdowns....

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The “mortality gap” is growing: College-educated Americans live longer than those without degrees

Two Princeton University economists, one a Nobel Prize winner, released a study on Monday that highlighted the important way education level relates to lifespan — namely, that the two-thirds of Americans without bachelor degrees have been dying younger since 2010. By contrast, the life expectancy of those with bachelor degrees has increased over the past three decades....

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Bullies aren’t all sociopaths — most are just trying to climb the social ladder, study says

If you were ever bullied as a child or teenager, the chances are that you were told at some point that bullies deserve your pity: That they have low self-esteem, are victims of abuse themselves or are acting out of mental illness.

Yet a new study reveals that a large number of bullies act as they do in order to gain status among their peers — and that in trying to climb the social ladder, they will often target their own friends....

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We asked American teachers how they teach kids about what Trump is doing

Teachers, Erin Kelly, left, and Dana Lespierre, lead a second grade class in a lesson teaching good citizenship. At Burgundy Farm Country Day School in Alexandria, Virginia, teachers are using the presidential election to educate students about things such as citizenship and character traits. With the issues surrounding the 2016 election, some teachers have avoided discussing the election altogether, while others have assigned students to watch the debates....

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Erno Rubik on why his famous cube is a “metaphor” for the human condition

Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images

For years I have harbored a shameful secret: I once helped solve a Rubik’s Cube, but it was entirely by accident, and I’ve been too proud to ever try to complete the puzzle again.

I wish I could brag and say I mastered the puzzle of the Rubik’s Cube through sheer cerebral power....

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The pandemic presents colleges and universities with a no-win situation

Students of economics and business studies sit in a lecture hall, observing the distance rule, and wait for the exam to begin Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic has presented American colleges with a seemingly no-win dilemma: Do they resume in-person learning — which, if done wrong, could put thousands of students at risk — or only conduct classes remotely, exacting a financial toll on said colleges and diluting the on-campus college experience many students desire?...

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