This week we round up student responses on three Picture Prompts.
What’s Going On in This Graph? | Oct. 19, 2022
How has the foreign-born share of the U. S. population changed over time?
Prior Knowledge and Retrieval Practice
By Althea Need Kaminske
A few weeks ago I wrote about the effects of prior knowledge on new learning. I reviewed research which found that students who had stronger prior knowledge of a topic were more likely to remember more new information on that topic (1). This suggested a “rich-get-richer” effect, where it is easier to learn new information if you already know something about it.
One of the challenges to studying the effects of prior knowledge on learning is that it is difficult to control in an experiment. In the Witherby and Carpenter (2021) paper that I described in my previous post, they simply asked participants to take a quiz that assessed their prior knowledge (1). So while they identified who had strong prior knowledge they did not manipulate prior knowledge. One of the limitations of this is that we don’t really know how they came by this prior knowledge. It’s possible that the cooking and football experts had some unknown characteristic that contributed to both their cooking/football knowledge and their ability to learn information within that domain. This highlights one of the trade-offs that happen when we conduct research on complex topics. Prior knowledge takes a long time to develop, and our development of that knowledge is based on many factors. This makes it difficult to manipulate!
I was therefore really interested to see a recent study that attempted to do just that – manipulate prior knowledge in order to examine its effects on learning. First I’ll go over the design and results of this study, then I’ll compare how they defined and measured prior knowledge in this study compared to the other one.
The Experimental Design and Procedure
Buchin and Mulligan (2022) wanted to better understand how retrieval practice is affected by prior knowledge (2). Participants were trained over the course of three days on historical geology (geologic time, minerals, rocks, and isotopic dating) and sensation and perception (color perception, auditory perception, cutaneous senses, and chemical senses). They were randomly assigned to learn about three of the four topics either within the domains of historical geology or sensation and perception. In this training phase they read passages with graphics and multiple-choice knowledge checks. Each lesson took about 45 minutes and participants went through one lesson a day.
After three days of learning about these topics, they were given four short passages on topics within their domain during a learning phase. Three of the topics were ones that they had received previous training on, and one was on a topic that they did not learn about in training. Thus, they had higher prior knowledge on some of the material, and lower prior knowledge on other material. Then, they either restudied these topics or they practiced retrieval with them.
Finally, two days later they took a final test on both historical geology and sensation and perception. The final test contained questions that were classified as Retention (questions that were identical to what appeared during the learning phase), Near Transfer (questions that were similar to what was studied during the learning phase), or Far Transfer (questions over information that was initially studied but never restudied or retrieved).
Testing Phase: Test over all domain topics that includes Retention, Near Transfer, and Far Transfer questions.
Should Aaron Judge Be Considered the New Home Run King?
Judge just set the American League record, without the taint of performance-enhancing drugs. Is he now the “true” home run champ?
New Sneakers
What do you think of these sneakers? What message do you think their designers are trying to communicate?
Word of the Day: scion
This word has appeared in 128 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
Top Fake News Stories of 2022
Thanks to technology, news is in the palm of your hands 24/7. In seconds, you get real-time updates on any event anywhere in the world. Information is at our fingertips. As people become more media-savvy and want to be the first to “break the news”, it’s becoming harder to tell what real news is and what is fake. The year is slowly coming to an end, and we’ve put together a list of Top Fake News Stories of 2022/here’s a look at what didn’t happen in 2022.
What Is Fake News?
Fake news is different from news stories about allegations. Fake news is understood to be news stories that are false, that is, they are entirely lies and are fabricated. They have no verifiable sources, facts or quotes from any spokesperson or authority figure to validate what is being said and shared in the article or social media post. Fake news aims to mislead and deceive the reader.
Top Fakes News Stories of 2022
o The Oscar Slap
Fake: After the 94th Academy Awards where eventual winner Will Smith got on stage and slapped host Chris Rock for a tasteless joke about Smith’s wife, photos went out claiming the slap was staged and that Rock was wearing a pad on his cheek.
Truth: Chris Rock was not wearing a pad. The slap was not staged in any way. Will Smith took offense to the joke about G.I Jane referenced alopecia joke and after sitting down, went on to hurl expletives at Chris Rock, who remained on stage.
o Vaccine booster shots increase likelihood of death
Fake: A video of a doctor from Tennessee, USA, Dr. Richard Urso told lawmakers in the state that individuals who received covid-19 booster shots were more likely to die from the coronavirus.
Truth: The Associated Press reported on this fake news and stated that researchers disputed the vaccine claim with verifiable studies that showed the opposite to be true.
o Venezuelan migrants deported from Martha’s Vineyard
Fake: PolitiFact reported on a fake news incident where, in a recent Instagram post, it was claimed that 50 migrants who had been flown into Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts had been deported. The post on IG was accompanied by a bus that supposedly carried them off the island. This “humanitarian crisis” post was widely shared on Facebook
Truth: A local government or municipality cannot deport any person/s. The truth is alternative plans were made by the state government to provide food and shelter to the migrants on the mainland as the island does not have capacity nor additional resources to adequately accommodate them.
o Russia’s War on Ukraine
Fake: In Russian media, they refer to their invasion on neighbours Ukraine as a “special military operation”. Russia’s tight control of the media and restricting what is disseminated to its people to be more supportive of the war. Further to this, their fake news focuses on negotiation talks, concessions being made, the role and influence of the USA in the conflict and no reporting on casualties.
Truth: What is taking place between Russia and Ukraine is a war with many fatalities. An article in The Conversation highlights how fake and real news is being reported globally, but specifically in Russia and Ukraine.
o Florida bans ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ novel in schools
Fake: The state of Florida banned several popular titles on its “Banned Book List” from schools, the most noticeable on the list being ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Lee Harper. Other titles were said to be, “A Wrinkle in Time,” “The Giver,” and “Of Mice and Men.”
Truth: Thousands of people shared the Banned Book List on social media and deliberately misled people into believing this was fact. Florida’s Deputy Press Secretary for the Governor, Jeremy Redfern, clarified this to AP that no such list exists, saying “The state sets guidelines regarding content, and the local school districts are responsible for enforcing them”. Although it had been temporarily removed in the Palm Beach County District, it was returned to the classrooms. What they were not able to control however is the availability of the book in all districts.
The danger in fake news is in how quickly it spreads. Like the famous saying, “A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.” – Mark Twain
How to Spot Fake News
If there is news, there is bound to be fake news also making the rounds. The burden falls on you as the user to not only spot fake news but take responsibility to not share and spread it further.
- Verify the source. Inspect the web address you’re viewing the article on. A small spelling error may alert you to the truth of the site and what they are reporting.
- Double check with other sources. Read other reports from reputable media outlets. Has anyone been quoted in the article? And whom have they quoted?
- Use a fact-checker site. There are several sites you can use to check if the news story is real. These include Snopes, PolitiFact, Fact Check and BBC Reality Check.
- Check images. Lots of images used in these articles have been doctored, altered, edited, and manipulated in one way or another. Google’s Reverse Image Search tool allows you to check where various images originate from and whether it’s been altered.
- Satire or parody. These types of articles and posts often go over people’s heads and they believe them to be true. Satirical posts are not fake news but are just satire.
- Be informed. The best weapon against misinformation Is information. We need to become digitally savvy and learn what we can about media, news, and information.
The tool that is used to spread fake news also employs the tools we can use to fight fake news. That is, digital literacy. And making sure this reaches as far and wide as the fake news spreads.
How to Teach With the Art and Artifacts in Our New Book,‘Coming of Age in 2020’
Work by teenagers — photos, comics, diary entries, charts, texts, recipes and rants — tells the story of an unforgettable year.
Coming of Age in 2022: Show Us What It’s Like to Be a Teenager Now
Submit a photo, cartoon, graph, chart, screenshot, illustration or any other visual piece that documents your life. Dates: Oct. 12 to Nov. 16.
Coursera appoints COO and CRO in new executive leadership structure
By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO Coursera
In 2017, I came to Coursera for the same reason that has attracted over 100 million learners, 275 university and industry partners, and 7,000 institutions to our platform to date: a fundamental belief in the power of education. We’ve made substantial progress by embedding this belief within our mission and our commitment as a Certified B Corporation to transform lives through learning.
As the world continues to change, a new era of learning and work is emerging. And we’ve continued to expand the products and services we offer and the regions in which we operate to help more and more learners advance their education, careers, and ultimately, thrive in this new digital economy. To meet the demands of this evolving landscape, I’m excited to announce a few changes to our organizational structure that will simplify how we operate to serve customers and grow the business.
Effective Oct. 1, 2022, Shravan Goli, formerly Coursera’s Chief Product Officer and Head of Consumer Revenue since 2018, has assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer. Combining product management, engineering, design, data, services, and business operations under one team, Shravan will be responsible for delighting customers with an end-to-end learner, customer, and partner experience and doing so with operational excellence and leverage.
Additionally, Leah Belsky, formerly Coursera’s Chief Enterprise Officer and a Courserian since 2015, has assumed the role of Chief Revenue Officer. With formal organizational responsibility for overall revenue, Leah will be responsible for managing our three segments – Consumer, Enterprise, and Degrees – enabling Coursera to more effectively identify and pursue opportunities for global revenue growth across segments and regions.
As we continue to grow and expand the size and scope of our business, this structure will help simplify and clarify the responsibilities for creating products and services that meet the needs of our customers and managing revenue growth. Shravan and Leah have been driving forces of Coursera’s growth for several years, and we’re excited for them to step into these critical leadership roles.
