Education Next – Robert Pondiscio
“If you caught your pediatrician Googling “upset stomach remedies” before deciding how to treat your child and home-brewing medications over an office sink, you might start looking for a new pediatrician. So how would you feel if you learned that Google and Pinterest are where your child’s teacher goes to look for instructional materials? Well, brace yourself, because that’s exactly what’s happening. And no, your child’s teacher is not an exception. A new study from the RAND Corporation finds that nearly every teacher in America—99 percent of elementary teachers, 96 percent of secondary school teachers—draws upon “materials I developed and/or selected myself” in teaching English language arts. And where do they find materials? The most common answer among elementary school teachers is Google (94 percent), followed by Pinterest (87 percent). The numbers are virtually the same for math.”(more)