EdNews: BYOD, STEM, Arts Integration (Weekly Roundup)

It's hard to keep up with the endless stream of education news and research that hits the Web every day.

To help you stay in the know, Edutopia is launching a weekly roundup of blogs, news, and other useful resources that come across our desks. Each week, we'll be on the lookout for recent stories that are interesting, inspiring, and have people talking. We'll also let you know about important policy decisions that might affect you, practical ideas for your classroom, and hopefully we'll have a few funny surprises along the way.

We'd love your help. Please let us know if we've missed a must-read in the comments section, or you can contact me on Twitter (@EducationMatt), where I tweet interesting links to stories I'm reading throughout the week.

• Are Schools Prepared to Let Students BYOD? (8/26/12)
  By Peter DeWitt, Education Week
  

  As more schools strive to embrace technology, some are taking a BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) approach. Here, Dewitt raises potential questions to be considered, but ultimately, he makes the point that BYOD and technology integration shouldn't just be buzz philosophies -- they must become tenets of modern education.

• No, Algebra Isn’t Necessary — and Yes, STEM Is Overrated (8/27/12)
  By Roger C. Schank, Washington Post
  

  Last month, The New York Times created quite a stir when they asked if algebra was necessary. Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham was quick to reply in the Washington Post, "Yes, it is." This week, Schank, a fellow cognitive scientist, offered his rebuttal. Expecting algebraic reasoning skills to transfer to real life is absurd, he wrote. Instead, we should encourage students to follow their interests and teach reasoning skills specific to what engages them.

• From STEM to STEAM: Science and Art Go Hand-in-Hand (8/22/12)
  By Steven Ross Pomeroy, The Scientific American
  

  Although STEM learning is important, something's missing, Pomeroy writes. And it's the arts. He notes that great scientists have always held a strong interest in the arts -- creativity and scientific thinking go hand-in-hand. (Check out Edutopia's new Schools That Work feature on arts integration.)

• YouTube Trends: Politics And Pop, Yes, But Education And Science, Too (8/28/12)
  by Neda Ulaby, NPR.org
  

  YouTube may still be the world's one-stop-shop for Justin Bieber videos, but there's an interesting trend going on: it's a great tool for educators. Educational video viewings are up by 70 percent, NPR's Ulaby reports. (Check out Edutopia's YouTube channel.)

• What if you Flipped Your Faculty Meetings? (7/7/12)
  By Bill Ferriter, The Tempered Radical
  

  This blog was posted a month ago, but got quite a bit of back-to-school buzz last week. Ferriter makes the point that if you want to help teachers flip their classrooms, there's no better encouragement than flipping the monthly faculty meeting. He lays out suggestions and reasons to flip these meetings.

• It's Time to Re-Think the U.S. Education System (8/27/12)
  By Tammy Erickson, Harvard Business Review
  

  Students who are 11 to 13 years old are considered members of the "Re-Generation," and Erickson writes they are experiencing a disconnect between the world they live in and their classroom experiences. Here, she shares what she's learned from Re-Gen students -- from texting, to their relationships with authority figures, to an earlier awareness of the global landscape -- and suggests ways that these changes can influence the way they are educated.

Quick Hits: Other Interesting Things Around the Web

• The 4 Big Reasons You Should Try Mobile Learning - Edudemic
• Educators Evaluate 'Flipped Classrooms' - Education Week
• 60 Ways To Use Twitter In The Classroom By Category - TeachThought
• Starving the Future - NY Times
• A Master List of 500 Free Courses From Great Universities - OpenCulture