K-12 Articles

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Don L Wright @ Wednesday, 10th January 2007 @ 5:18 PM

For many children going to school can be a challenging experience. Fear and insecurity can often cause great kids to act in less than positive and constructive ways. It has been estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear of being harassed or attacked by another student. Bullying, targeted viciousness, and violence in our schools have become a national concern. In 2004, Orchard Elementary School in Orem, Utah found itself with an especially difficult 6th grade class.... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Wednesday, 10th January 2007 @ 5:11 PM

The secret to a winning science fair project is finding a project you will love doing. Here are some important tips to help you find just the right project: DO choose an exciting topic that will interest and challenge you. It will be much more fun doing something you like. DON'T be afraid to try something new. Just because it has not been done before is no reason for you not to do it. DO spend a lot of time doing background research. The more you understand about your s... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:07 AM

I recently interviewed two students in the same class to get an idea of how they were handling their science fair projects. And the differences between the two were remarkable. Student A who we will call Johnny (no real names, please), had a whole team behind him. His mother is a teacher and his sister is an A student who twice won science fair project awards. His father is an engineer and was once a technical writer. How can a student like Johnny do poorly with a support team like th... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:06 AM

Much has been said and argued about music affecting the growth of plants. Back in 1973 it was reported that geraniums grew faster when they were played Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. In 1991 someone reported that he had stimulated plants to generate more protein by playing audible notes which produced vibrations occurring in molecules during protein formation. Another experimenter reported that young bean plants subjected to heavy metal music grew faster than those subjected to soft c... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:06 AM

There are two opinions regarding esp. Those who believe in it, and those who do not. Many believe that there are some people, often called psychics who can receive the thoughts of others, or make determinations beyond the normal senses (smell, touch, taste, hear, see). ESP generally falls into four categories: Telepathy - a person's awareness of another's thoughts, without any communication through normal sensory channels. Clairvoyance - acquiring knowledge of an event... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:06 AM

Will environmentally friendly anti-freeze work as well in your car as commercial products? Most automobile engines require water to control their temperatures from getting too hot as they run. Way back when, this was difficult because a car's engine runs at a temperature that is greater than the boiling point of water. So if water was put into a hot engine it simply boiled off and had to be replenished with constant stops to re-supply. The invention of the radiator partially cured th... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:05 AM

It is generally understood that coffee, tea and soft drinks will elevate your blood pressure, and that elevated pressure could lead to a heart attack or a stroke. Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. It has been known to produce undesirable side effects such as nervousness, insomnia, irregular heart beat, high blood sugar and cholesterol levels, excess stomach acids and heartburn. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and can cause mild alertness, heightened anxiet... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:04 AM

Oh dear, your days of peace and quiet are over. Your child will be creating a science project for the school science fair. Your kitchen will become a laboratory with messy chemicals and gooey liquids. Your living room will become a staging area for display boards, charts and graphs. Your computer area will be covered with pages and pages of research material. Is all this chaos really worth it? Yes! Even though scientists and engineers are held in high esteem, America is suffering f... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:04 AM

Bacteria grow in a wide variety of conditions. They may be found on the tops of mountains, the bottom of the ocean, in the stomachs of animals, and in the frozen ice of Antarctica. In terms of evolution, bacteria are thought to be very old organisms, appearing about 3.7 billion years ago. One feature that has enabled them to spread so far, and last so long is their ability to go dormant for extended periods of time. Some bacteria cause disease, but most bacteria are helpful. Bacteria are ... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Mort Barish @ Monday, 8th January 2007 @ 11:04 AM

You can't always believe what the advertising tells you. And when it comes to batteries, it's easy to become confused as to which is the best battery for the price. You don't have to trust in the ads anymore. Stop paying top price for a second-rate product. You can do this simple experiment and find out for yourself. With all of the toys, flashlights, portable radios and other devices that rely on battery power, making certain that you get the best battery for the price will n... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Kelvin Ho @ Thursday, 21st December 2006 @ 3:26 PM

There are still some people who fail to take advantage of one of the most entertaining and simple to use interactive performances of modern times. That is, until they pick up their first audio book. Transferring the mundane to the wonderful, audio books can make images unfold like a blossoming flower. The combination of mental and audio imagery, paired with a fertile imagination brings characters and plots to life. Listening to dialogue with all its nuances and reflections allows a re... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Ray La Foy @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 4:36 AM

No one can tell you what's right for your children and what's not. You know them better than anyone else possibly can. With that said, however, when it comes to knowing if a private school is the right environment for your child, the task is anything but easy. This will, or at least should, involve very careful consideration as both private schools and public ones can offer big benefits and some downfalls, too. Making the choice between private schools and public ones is a perso... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Ray La Foy @ Wednesday, 6th December 2006 @ 3:22 AM

Even if they're not the most expensive or prestigious, private schools can offer a lot of advantages over public schools. Parents will find the environments at most private schools are a little more conducive for learning and the population size tends to be a little more manageable, too. Plus, there are private schools that cater to special interests, such as religion, arts, literature, technology and more. Before you discount private schools because of the potential costs, consider ... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Tuesday, 5th December 2006 @ 11:23 AM

Even though you are a good student, have you had the chance to be riding home on a school bus and dreading the moment when you would have to hand your report card over to your mom and dad? What may have made it worse was that you saw it coming. After several low test scores and times when your professors seemed to be speaking in some secret language, you were pretty sure that your grades for the quarter would be a C, D or possibly worse. You have the opportunity to avoid having the same ... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Sunday, 3rd December 2006 @ 7:51 PM

Many students feel that listening is merely hearing. But as many of us know, merely letting words pour into our ears is not listening. Yet, listening is the most used technique of learning. To assist you in becoming a better listener, you should consider a set of rules called LISAN. The letters of this mnemonic device stand for the key words in five rules for successful listening: Lead, don't follow--Anticipate what's going to be said Ideas? Look for them more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Sunday, 3rd December 2006 @ 5:24 PM

A geometry tutor has a particularly difficult job. While algebra is often said to be the first truly abstract mathematical discipline that most students encounter, geometry (which is usually taught the year after algebra is taught) requires that the student begin learning to apply the relatively abstract concepts learned in algebra to real life problems involving shapes and volumes. Geometry is a very applied mathematical science and, as such, any college or university program in the na... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Friday, 1st December 2006 @ 2:13 PM

According to Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff and Sandee E. Hathaway, B.S.N., the authors of What to Expect the Toddler Years, the rate of language development can vary greatly from toddler to toddler. Some speak as early as eight months, some as late as two years. Studies have shown that earlier speech is not an indicator of higher intelligence. In fact, toddlers who begin talking later in life may have an easier time with larger words, phrases, and sentences, due to their greater ... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Tuesday, 7th November 2006 @ 10:23 PM

Does your student have endless hours of homework each night? Is there no time left over for family time? If so, don't feel like you are alone. In the past twenty-five years, homework assignments have risen by 51% according to a 2004 study at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. That is an average of 12 extra hours of homework per week! How do you get the time back for your family to spend together? Teachers do want feedback from parents especially on the topic of homework. Here a... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Monday, 30th October 2006 @ 5:16 PM

If your child has just been diagnosed with a learning disability, he or she may be feeling a little bit iffy about their self-esteem. This may be due to the overwhelming (but untrue) notion in our society that scholastic difficulties severely limit a person's possibility of success in the work world. Of course, this is quite simply not true. There are plenty of well-known individuals with learning problems who have gone on to accomplish great things in their careers. Here are a few such... more...

Culture and Society » Education » K-12 | By Jane Saeman @ Saturday, 28th October 2006 @ 10:16 AM

As more and more attention is paid to mathematical education, calculus, which was once only taught to the most mathematically inclined high school students, is quickly becoming a staple of high school mathematics education. If your student is having a difficult time making the transition to calculus based mathematics, it might be a good idea to consider hiring a calculus tutor to give your student a little extra guidance and attention. Let's face it--calculus is a pretty hard subj... more...