^CategoryEducation

Fall College Campus. University student dorm with autumn leaves

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post

Author
News
Date
September 18, 2023

Categorized
Education}

Where Are All the Men?

_{Physicist Lawrence Krauss notes that men are vanishing from the sciences} _{News

September 18, 2023

2

Education}

Noted physicist Lawrence Krauss wrote an article in Quillette noting how men are vanishing from science and academia. Despite the perception that STEM and related fields are male dominated, Krauss shows how, due to decades of affirmative action programming and cultural shift, that’s no longer the case. He writes, As April Bleske-Rechek and Michael Bernstein have shown, while men still occupy three quarters of STEM positions (despite the fact that the percentage of women in STEM has more than doubled since 1980), the situation is precisely reversed in the fields of health, education, administration, and literacy. While massive efforts are underway to correct the imbalance between men and women in STEM, there have been no concomitant efforts to increase the numbers Read More ›

Group of college students studying in the school library, a girl and a boy are using a laptop and connecting to internet

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 18, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bloomberg, ChatGPT, critical thinking, education, Learning, Plagiarism, Plough}

Teachers Gear Up for a New Year – and ChatGPT

_{Due to ChatGPT's popularity, many schools are seeking ways to integrate the technology into their learning environments.} _{News

August 18, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

GPT-3, released by OpenAI in November, swiftly undermined the integrity of many a student’s academic work. Professors across disciplines have had to contend with how to discern machine vs. human-generated work. Now, with a new school year underway, that challenge remains. Due to ChatGPT’s popularity, many schools are seeking ways to integrate the technology into their learning environments. But the question of how to do this remains murky. Bloomberg reports, But professors and administrators seeking to integrate generative AI into their curriculums are left with a big question: How? They need to find the right middle ground, said Steve Weber, vice provost of undergraduate curriculum and education at Drexel University. Educators can’t completely prohibit use of the tool and neglect to teach it, but Read More ›

aerial perspective of a crop circle with mathematical symbols

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 17, 2023

Categorized
Education, Mathematics, Politics, Psychology

Tagged
Arabic origin math terms, California Math Framework, Colin Wright, Gender fluidity claims, Jerry Coyne, Joanne Jacobs, Kari Kokka, Math culture wars, Max Eden, Private vs. public truth, Richard Dawkins, Rochelle Gutierrez, Toni Airaksinen}

Does Deep Social Change Underlie the War on Math?

_{Why is the universal language of science sinking under the weight of claims about trauma and privilege?} _{Denyse O'Leary

August 17, 2023

6

Education, Mathematics, Politics, Psychology}

Citing a recent article in the journal Urban Education aimed at “healing practices through the use of Social Justice Mathematics.” education watchdog Joanne Jacobs notes a trend, aimed at California schools, toward turning math class into a soap opera: … Another problem read: “I have US$100. I owe 1/4 of my money to my mom, 2/5 to my grandmother, and 4/10 to my brother. Do I have enough money to pay everyone back? How much money should each person get?” After students calculate that this woman owes more money than she has, they watch a video of a single mom struggling to make ends meet. They are then asked questions like, “What are some feelings that you are having when Read More ›

Shelves with books in a bookstore. Education and development. Blurred. Horizontal photo. A great background for your design.

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 6, 2023

Categorized
Education

Tagged
academia, Arts and Culture, Conservativism, Culture, History, John Locke, Joseph Loconte, Liberalism, National Review, Politics, religion, The King's College, The Left, The West, Western literature}

Don’t Censor Western Books

_{For thousands of men and women, the Western canon served as a lifeline} _{Peter Biles

August 6, 2023

3

Education}

The King’s College, a longstanding evangelical Christian college in Manhattan’s financial district, announced financial shortcomings in February, and as of this month, canceled fall classes and laid off a majority of its faculty members. King’s is small, but its students have historically been driven, smart, and ambitious. With a goal of transmitting the spiritual riches of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the next generation, the college saw students go on to elite graduate schools and take influential roles in journalism, law, academia, and the arts. While the details of King’s seemingly ultimate demise is complicated, Joseph Loconte, a former history professor at King’s, writes that its death spiral is reflective of something deeper and endemic in the West. For so many Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 27, 2023

Categorized
Education, Mathematics, Politics

Tagged
Florida and textbooks, Francis Su, G H Hardy, Hidden Figures (2016 film), Hitler’s & Stalin’s Misuse of Science (Frontline 2024), James B. Meigs, Math problems and political messaging, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Steven Tucker, Textbooks, War on math}

The War on Math Becomes a Fight Over Textbooks

_{Florida, for example, rejected 54 math textbooks of 132 submitted by publishers on account of political content} _{Denyse O'Leary

July 27, 2023

7

Education, Mathematics, Politics}

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a piece about the war on math, basically an effort to entrench the idea that there is no such thing as reality apart from politics. A slogan for various wars on math has been 2 + 2 = 5. That proposition originated in the totalitarian Soviet Union. It found its way into 1984, in which George Orwell (1903–1950) repudiated totalitarianism, and resurfaced in recent years in the current American education elite. One tactic used that is more subtle than outright messing with the number system is the inclusion of political issues in math problems. Current affairs writer Steven Tucker explains how it works: If you were an author of school textbooks Read More ›

young asian business team people meeting in office

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
May 15, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
academia, Academic writing, AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Gary Smith, Journals, Large Language Models (LLMs), science, Writing}

The Death of Peer Review?

_{Science is built on useful research and thoroughly vetted peer review} _{Gary Smith

May 15, 2023

8

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

Two years ago, I wrote about how peer review has become an example of Goodhart’s law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Once scientific accomplishments came to be gauged by the publication of peer-reviewed research papers, peer review ceased to be a good measure of scientific accomplishments. The situation has not improved. One consequence of the pressure to publish is the temptation researchers have to p-hack or HARK. P-hacking occurs when a researcher tortures the data in order to support a desired conclusion. For example, a researcher might look at subsets of the data, discard inconvenient data, or try different model specifications until the desired results are obtained and deemed statistically significant—and therefore Read More ›

A holographic head representing modern technology / ai floats in a classroom setting. Created with generative ai

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatbots, ChatGPT, critical thinking, education, Learning, LLMs}

Text Generators, Education, and Critical Thinking: an Update

_{The fundamental problem remains that, not knowing what words mean, AI has no critical thinking abilities} _{Gary Smith

March 1, 2023

7

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

This past October, I wrote that educational testing was being shaken by the astonishing ability of GPT-3 and other large language models (LLMs) to answer test questions and write articulate essays. I argued that, while LLMs might mimic human conversation, they do not know what words mean. They consequently excel at rote memorization and BS conversation but struggle mightily with assignments that are intended to help students develop their critical thinking abilities, such as Lacking any understanding of semantics, LLMs can do none of this. To illustrate, I asked GPT-3 two questions from a midterm examination I had recently given in an introductory statistics class. Both questions tested students critical thinking skills and GPT-3 bombed both questions. I was hopeful Read More ›

Book of Wonders: A Magical Book who makes dreams come true - Digital Art Design, unique illustration concept | Generative AI

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
February 3, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI, critical thinking, David Brooks, education, Human exceptionalism, Literature, NYT, Students}

What Can’t A.I. Do? Quite a Lot, Actually

_{NYT columnist David Brooks makes a list of uniquely human skills that students should develop in college} _{Peter Biles

February 3, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

In an increasingly artificial world, how are we to remain human? New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an opinion article this week seeking to answer that question. Brooks notes some of the benefits of “machine learning,” but also lists some of the characteristics artificial intelligence will forever fail to embody. “A.I. will probably give us fantastic tools that will help us outsource a lot of our current mental work,” he writes. “At the same time, A.I. will force us humans to double down on those talents and skills that only humans possess.” Uniquely Human Traits What are some of these “talents and skills” that people should intentionally develop in the age of A.I.? Brooks says an incoming college student Read More ›

Cherry trees in full bloom at the University of Washington campus

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post

Author
Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk
Date
January 30, 2023

Categorized
Education

Tagged
academia, Charles Goodhart, Corporate Lab, COVID-19, Nature, research, RNA, Scientific research}

Goodhart’s Law and Scientific Innovation in Academia

_{Many university researchers are leaving academia so they can actually get things done} _{Gary Smith and Jeffrey Funk

January 30, 2023

6

Education}

British economist Charles Goodhart was a financial advisor to the Bank of England from 1968 to 1985, a period during which many economists (“monetarists”) believed that central banks should ignore unemployment and interest rates. Instead, they believed that central banks should focus on maintaining a steady rate of growth of the money supply. The core idea was that central banks could ignore economic booms and busts because they are short-lived and self-correcting (Ha! Ha!) and should, instead, keep some measure of the money supply growing at a constant rate in order to keep the rate of inflation low and constant. The choice of which money supply to target was based on how closely it was statistically correlated with GDP. The Read More ›

Generative AI illustration of cute little robot reading assignment on paper during exam at school

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 26, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI, AI at College, business, Campuses, ChatGPT, GPT-3, higher education, MBA, mind matters, NBC, Plagiarism, Robert J. Marks}

AI Can Pass the MBA Exam, Wharton Professor Says

_{In the wake of ChatGPT uproar, its abilities (and limits) are becoming better understood} _{News

January 26, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

OpenAI’s ChatGPT passed the Master of Business Administration (MBA) exam according to a news report from NBC. Professor Christian Terwiesch of Wharton, who conducted the research and authored a paper on the matter, said that the bot scored somewhere in the B range on the exam, and that this has major implications for education. The report is just another in a flux of news and concerns about AI invading the spheres of education and academia. Terwiesch wrote, [The bot’s score shows] remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants.” Despise its apparent advancement, the bot did Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 16, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
academia, AI, ChatGPT, Dr. Anthony Bradley, education, institutions, Oral Culture, Plato, Socrates, The King's College, Universities, Writing}

What Students Lose by Embracing Easy Tech Like ChatGPT

_{AI systems not only pose a problem for teachers, but will compromise intellectual excellence and moral virtue} _{Peter Biles

January 16, 2023

4

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

We’ve heard a lot about ChatGPT and its wonders and gaping pitfalls. Among the dangers it poses is academic cheating and corner-cutting. It’s no secret that the new bot makes Comp 1 a whole lot easier for a typical incoming freshman. Some universities and schools are banning the AI system outright. Teachers wonder how they will be able to discern plagiarism. Other voices chide the alarmists and call for students and teachers to use ChatGPT as a classroom aid. But one area that has gone a bit underdiscussed in the conversation is ethics. Dr. Anthony Bradley of The King’s College tweeted this a few days ago, Students are writing papers using AI. Colleges are scrambling to combat it. We Read More ›

intellectual property. light bulb with chain

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 3, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Censorship, Education, Science

Tagged
Chicago Principles, College Fix blog, Free Expression Statement at MIT, Hakeem Oluseyi, Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University students and censorship}

MIT Takes Steps Toward Meaningful Free Expression

_{The most significant line: "We cannot prohibit speech that some experience as offensive or injurious"} _{News

January 3, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Censorship, Education, Science}

Anyone familiar with the campus scene today knows that many disciplines are dedicated to anything but open inquiry. The academy is full of true stories about Canceled profs and students. Not “failed” students and profs, notice, but Canceled. Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (the famous MIT) appears to be breaking the mold by adopting free speech principles by a faculty senate vote of 98 to 52. A key passage: At the intersection of the ideal of free expression and MIT community values lies the expectation of a collegial and respectful learning and working environment. We cannot prohibit speech that some experience as offensive or injurious. At the same time, MIT deeply values civility, mutual respect, and uninhibited, wide-open debate. In fostering Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 8, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Education, Philosophy

Tagged
Charles W. Calomiris, Pano Kanelos, Tom Bartlett, University of Austin 2022, University of Austin and intellectual freedom}

How’s the University of Austin Coming? It’s Actually Happening

_{The “intellectual freedom” university continues to take shape in a world of “death to free speech”} _{News

November 8, 2022

4

Censorship, Education, Philosophy}

A very cautious article at Chronicle of Higher Education about the University of Austin fills in the rest of us. U Austin has come a long way since it was mocked at The New Republic as allegedly seeking to be “higher education’s premier institution of monetizing moral panics.” A couple of observations from senior Chronicle writer Tom Bartlett: The pioneer faculty have the money to get started: Chatter aside, the University of Austin is starting to take shape in the year since its raucous rollout. Curriculum is being developed. The accreditation process is underway. A deal for land in the greater Austin area is being hammered out. The university has lured several professors away from other universities and plans to Read More ›

A sad young female student sitting at the table, studying.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 1, 2022

Categorized
Education, Mathematics, Neuroscience

Tagged
Barbara Oakley, Fred Bech, Kumon math, Mathematics education (difficulty learning math), Mathematics education and practice, Neuroplasticity and learning new skills}

Can We Rewire Our Brains To Be More Fluent in Math?

_{An artsy who flunked math — but later became an electrical engineering prof — says yes} _{News

November 1, 2022

5

Education, Mathematics, Neuroscience}

Barbara Oakley, a self-confessed math phobe, nonetheless became a professor of electrical engineering at Oakland University in Michigan, as well as an author. In 2014, she offered some secrets: at Nautilus. Be warned: Her secrets are not “Forget homework!” or “Math is a tool of oppression!” No, this is quite a different message. It’s about neuroplasticity, the ways our brains adapt to our circumstances, to give us the tools we need. But to adapt, the brain needs practice: Japan has become seen as a much-admired and emulated exemplar of these active, “understanding-centered” teaching methods. But what’s often missing from the discussion is the rest of the story: Japan is also home of the Kumon method of teaching mathematics, which emphasizes Read More ›

Teenage boy doing homework using computer sitting by desk in room alone

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
October 31, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education

Tagged
AI critical thinking skills tested, Critical thinking skills and AI, Education and online homework, Featured, GPT-3 and school essays, Jeremy Roschelle}

What Does AI in Education Mean for Critical Thinking Skills?

_{Students, as reported at Motherboard, are increasingly using GPT-3 and other text-generator programs to write essays for them} _{Gary Smith

October 31, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Education}

The COVID pandemic pushed a lot of school coursework to the internet, with an increased reliance on true/false and multiple-choice tests that can be taken online and graded quickly and conveniently. Not surprisingly, once questions went online, so did answers, with several companies posting (for a fee) solutions for students who would rather Google answers than watch Zoomed lectures. To fit into a true/false or multiple-choice format, the questions are generally little more than a recitation of definitions, facts, and calculations. Here, for example, are three statistics questions I found at a question/answer site: Question: True or false: A group of subjects selected from the group of all subjects under study is called a sample. Answer: True Question: You are Read More ›

industry 4.0 concept: Man is holding product and teaching robot arm the points with control panel ( teach pendant ) on smart factory production line background. Selective Focus.

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks and Keri Ingraham
Date
October 26, 2022

Categorized
Education

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, education, Job Displacement, Learning}

Preparing Students to Work in an Artificial Intelligence World

_{Robert J. Marks and Keri Ingraham

October 26, 2022

5

Education}

Technology innovations are rapidly changing the nature of work. Advancements in artificial intelligence are especially transforming the workforce landscape at an accelerating rate. Jobs of tomorrow will not resemble those of decades past, nor even those of today. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
Date
October 4, 2022

Categorized
Economics, Education, Peer Review

Tagged
Cross-disciplinary studies, Data science and data mining, Disciplinary boundaries, Hyper-specialization in research, J. Robert Oppenheimer, John Maynard Keynes on economics and human nature, Principal components regression, Research and overspecialization, Researchers' reading demands, Retraction rate in esteemed journals, Ridge regression, Stepwise regression}

The Hyper-Specialization of University Researchers

_{So many papers are published today in increasingly narrow specialties that, if there is still a big picture, hardly anyone can see it} _{Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith

October 4, 2022

5

Economics, Education, Peer Review}

The Bible warns that, “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Nowadays, the endless making of books is dwarfed by the relentless firehose of academic research papers. A 2010 study published in the British Medical Journal reported that the U.S. National Library of Medicine includes 113,976 papers on echocardiography — which would weary the flesh of any newly credentialed doctor specializing in echocardiography: We assumed that he or she could read five papers an hour (one every 10 minutes, followed by a break of 10 minutes) for eight hours a day, five days a week, and 50 weeks a year; this gives a capacity of 10000 papers in one year. Read More ›

solving algebra equation on whiteboard in classroom

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 19, 2022

Categorized
Education, Mathematics

Tagged
Mathematics (war on math), Mathematics and racism claims, mathematics education, Mathematics testing, War on math}

The War on Math Is Becoming an Entrenched Ground War

_{If math skills are rooted in white supremacy, as alleged, one current solution is tests that don’t require math skills} _{News

September 19, 2022

5

Education, Mathematics}

When we first started talking about the war on math, many readers may have thought we were joking. No. The war on 2 + 2 = 4 is getting some pushback but it continues. The basic idea is that the rules of math are rooted in white supremacy. Last December, the question was mooted at USA Today, “Is math racist?” The context was proposed changes to math education: After Ebri switched to emphasizing real-world problems and collaboration, her students, most of whom are Black, improved their scores on Florida’s math exam in 2020-21 – even with 1 in 3 learning from home. But other, bolder recommendations to make math more inclusive are blowing up the world of mathematics education. Schools Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 14, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Education, Ethics

Tagged
Anti-cheating software effectiveness, Dave Tomar, Debora Weber-Wulff, Proctorio}

Study: AI Fails To Catch Cheaters on an Exam

_{In a test of the Proctorio system, students who were told to try to cheat found a variety of ways to fool the system} _{News

September 14, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Education, Ethics}

Is AI the answer to student cheating on tests? Not that you’d know it from a recent study of AI detection system Proctorio at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Proctorio tracks students’ eye movements and body language while taking exams to flag “suspicious” behavior. So, as Vice tells it, 30 computer science student volunteers were told to take a first year exam that that system supervised. Six were told to cheat, five were told to act suspiciously without really cheating, and the rest were told to just write the test: The results confirmed that Proctorio is not good at catching cheaters. The system did not flag any of the cheaters as cheating. Some used virtual machines, a known Read More ›