Monitor
Extraordinary, positive changes are happening all around the world and are often overlooked. Come in and get inspired as we showcase the uplifting news stories you might have otherwise missed.
Updated: 1 year 34 weeks ago
Teaching 21st Century Skills
For decades, the emphasis in public education has been on making sure that students can read, write, and do math. But can they apply those skills in a real-world scenario, such as designing a bridge? Can they identify what information they need and use digital tools to find it? Those are some of the capabilities known as "21st-century skills". In a knowledge economy, the reasoning goes, the ability to articulate and solve problems, to generate original ideas, and to work collaboratively across cultural boundaries is growing exponentially in importance. The challenge for schools is to find ways to shift from traditional rote learning and teach these skills, while still doing due diligence to the three R's. The good news about 21st-century skills, advocates say, is that they can be integrated into core subjects.
How We Think About Risk
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? Almost everyone feels the temptation to answer "10 cents" because the sum $1.10 so neatly separates into $1 and 10 cents, and 10 cents seems the right price for a ball relative to a bat. In fact, more than half of a group of students at Princeton and at the University of Michigan gave precisely that answer -- that wrong answer. The right answer is: The ball costs a nickel. "People are not accustomed to thinking hard and are often content to trust a plausible judgment that comes quickly to mind," observes Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. In this fascinating article Kahneman parses the roles of emotion, cognition, and perception in the understanding of business risk. (PDF, ~100kb)
What Will Change Everything?
Every year, John Brockman -- who runs the nonprofit Edge Foundation in New York -- asks a gaggle of forward-thinking people a provocative question. This is the Edge Annual Question for 2009: "What will change everything?" Writer David Bodanis suggests that some kind of massive technological failure would be game-changing. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, says that reinventing industry to have less impact on the environment will alter the way we live. And Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at MIT, looks forward to the day when robots will serve as companions to humans. Here are a few other intriguing replies...
Bella & Tarra: The Odd Couple
When elephants retire, many head for the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn. "Every elephant that comes here searches out someone that she then spends most all of her time with," says sanctuary co-founder Carol Buckley. It's like having a best girlfriend, Buckley says -- "Somebody they can relate to, they have something in common with." But perhaps the closest friends of all are Tarra and Bella. That would be Tarra the 8,700 pound Asian elephant. And Bella. The dog. Most of the stray dogs at the sanctuary want nothing to do with the elephants and vice versa. But not this odd couple, as seen in this touching video. In fact, when Bella was left immobile with an injury for three weeks, Tarra refused to leave.
Disabled Guitarist Finds A New Sound
Imagine that your hands shook so badly that you couldn't lift a glass of water. That's what life is like for millions of Americans who suffer from essential tremor disorder. The condition is rarely fatal, but it can be devastating if you're a musician. Guitarist Richard Crandell found that out the hard way. Crandell was diagnosed six years ago with essential tremor disorder. An estimated 10 million Americans live with the condition, which affects fine motor coordination. In Crandell's case, his hands shake when he tries to write, use a computer or play difficult passages on the guitar. But the Oregon-based musician has found another way to continue composing and performing.
The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions
As we put the holidays behind us and dig out from underneath all of the wrapping paper, many of us turn to the New Year's celebration to engage in a ritual that any visiting alien might be puzzled by -- New Year's resolutions. Why do humans pick a single point in time each year to try and change certain things in their life -- behaviors, attitudes -- make resolutions about them, and then proceed to fail at them within a month's time? From a psychological perspective, it might be interesting to ask what exactly determines how many goals people set and how successful they are. Researchers Mukhopadhyay and Johar did just that and came to some interesting conclusions.
Sara Tucholsky's First Home Run
In a small town in the middle of Washington State, in a field inside a chain linked fence, in a game fewer than a 100 people saw, a home run was hit -- not memorable for the distance it traveled or the game it decided, but for the meaning it carried. Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement. ESPN reports on an unforgettable expression of sportmanship.
