The sleep needs of adolescents

HISD is considering moving HS start times EARLIER next year (look down toward the middle). But recent research implies that high school students do better later in the day; apparently puberty shifts the 'chronotype' of adolescents to an 'evening preference'. Some districts have shown improvement in student participation and behavior with later times. Other studies have shown a correlation between sleep deficit and reduced creativity and performance.

Of course changing start times for high school students also impacts school faculty and staff, and parents and families. Students may find it difficult to have after-school jobs, long extra-curricular activities, or away-games against schools in other districts. Nevertheless, it appears that with enough planning, the overall effects can be positive for all involved.

I recommend you read the article from the March 2011 issue of "Educational Researcher." Some of the references in the article may be available online if you can't get the link above; please see below.

• Black, S. (2000). A wake-up call on high-school starting times. Education Digest, 66(4), 33–38.
• Blatter, K., & Cajochen, C. (2007). Circadian rhythms in cognitive performance: Methodological constraints, protocols, theoretical underpinnings. Physiology and Behavior, 90, 196–208.
• Bonnet, M. H. (2000). Sleep deprivation. In W. C. Dement (Ed.), Principles and practice of sleep medicine (3rd ed., pp. 53–71). Philadelphia: Saunders.
• Cajochen, C., Blatter, K., & Wallach, D. (2004). Circadian and sleep-wake dependent impact on neurobehavioral function. Psychologica Belgica, 44, 59–80.
• Cajochen, C., Khalsa, S. B., Wyatt, J. K., Czeisler, C. A., & Dijk, D. J. (1999). EEG and ocular correlates of circadian melatonin phase and human performance decrements during sleep loss. American Journal of Physiology, 277, 640–649.
• Carskadon, M. (1999). When worlds collide: Adolescent need for sleep versus societal demands. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(5), 348–353.
• Carskadon, M. (2002). Adolescent sleep patterns: Biological, social, and psychological influences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Carskadon, M. A., & Acebo, C. (2005). Intrinsic circadian period in adolescents versus adults from forced desynchrony. Sleep, 28(Abstract supplement):A71.
• Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. (1998a). School start time study. Final report summary.
• Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. (1998b). School start time study. Technical report: Vol. II. Analysis of student survey data.
• Chandler, M. A. (2009, January 6). Fairfax plan would delay high school start at no cost. Washington Post.
• Crowley, S. J., Acebo, C., & Carskadon, M. A. (2007). Sleep, circadian rhythms, and delayed phase in adolescence. Sleep Medicine, 8, 602–612.
• Dahl, R. E. (1999). The consequences of insufficient sleep for adolescents: Links between sleep and emotional regulation. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 354–359.
• De Gennaro, L., Ferrara, M., Curcio, G., & Bertini, M. (2001). Visual search performance across 40 h of continuous wakefulness: Measures of speed and accuracy and relation with oculomotor performance. Physiology and Behavior, 74, 194–204.
• Dement, W. C., & Vaughan, C. (1999). The promise of sleep: A pioneer in sleep medicine explores the vital connection between health, happiness, and a good night’s sleep. New York: Delacourt.
• Dinges, D. F., & Kribbs, N. B. (1991). Performing while sleepy: Effects of experimentally-induced sleepiness. In T. H. Monk (Ed.), Sleep, sleepiness and performance. Human performance and cognition (pp. 97–128). Oxford, UK: John Wiley.
• Edgar, D. M., Dement, W. C., & Fuller, C. A. (1993). Effect of SCN lesions on sleep in squirrel monkeys: Evidence for opponent processes in sleep–wake regulation. Journal of Neuroscience, 13, 1065–1079.
• Fischer, F. M., Radosevic-Vidacek, B., Koscec, A., Teixeira, L. R., Moreno, C. R., & Lowden, A. (2008). Internal and external time conflicts in adolescents: Sleep characteristics and interventions. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2, 17–23.
• Giannotti, F., Cortesi, F., Sebastiani, T., & Ottaviano, S. (2002). Circadian preference, sleep and daytime behaviour in adolescence. Journal of Sleep Research, 11, 191–199.
• Kirby, M., & D’Angiulli, A. (2009). Timing (not just amount) of sleep makes the difference: Event-related potential correlates of delayed sleep phase in adolescent female students. In N. A. Taatgen & H. van Rijn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
• Kryger, M. H., Roth, T., & Dement, W. C. (Eds.). (2000). Principles and practice of sleep medicine (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
• Kubow, P. K., Wahlstrom, K. L., & Bemis, A. E. (1999). Starting time and school life: Reflections from educators and students. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 366–371.
• May, C. P. (1999). Synchrony effects in cognition: The costs and a benefit. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 6, 142–147.
• May, C. P., Hasher, L., & Foong, N. (2005). Implicit memory, age, and time of day: Paradoxical priming effects. Psychological Sciences, 16, 96–100.
• Millman, R. P., Working Group on Sleepiness in Adolescents/Young Adults, & AAP Committee on Adolescence. (2005). Excessive sleepiness in adolescents and young adults: Causes, consequences, and treatment strategies. Pediatrics, 115, 1774–1786.
• Mitru, G., Millrood, D. L., & Mateika, J. H. (2002). The impact of sleep on learning and behavior in adolescents. Teachers College Record, 104, 704–726.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005a). Changing school start times: Arlington, Virginia.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005b). Changing school start times: Denver, Colorado.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005c). Changing school start times: Fayette County, Kentucky.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005d). Changing school start times: Jessamine County, Kentucky.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2005e). Changing school start times: Wilton, Connecticut.
• National Sleep Foundation. (2006). Sleep in America Poll.
• Noland, H., Price, J. H., Dake, J., & Telljohann, S. K. (2009). Adolescents’ sleep behaviors and perceptions of sleep. Journal of School Health, 79, 224–230.
• Owens, J. A., Belon, K., & Moss, P. (2010). Impact of delaying school start time on adolescent sleep, mood, and behavior. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164, 608–614.
• Petros, T. V., Beckwith, B. E., & Anderson, M. (1990). Individual differences in the effects of time of day and passage difficulty on prose memory in adults. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 63–72.
• Schmidt, C., Collette, F., Cajochen, C., & Peigneux, P. (2007). A time to think: Circadian rhythms in human cognition. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24, 755–789.
• Taylor, D. J., Jenni, O. G., Acebo, C., & Carskadon, M. A. (2005). Sleep tendency during extended wakefulness: Insights into adolescent sleep regulation and behavior. Journal of Sleep Research, 14, 239–244.
• Wahlstrom, K. (2002). Changing times: Findings from the first longitudinal study of later high school start times. NASSP Bulletin, 86(633), 3–21.
• Wahlstrom, K. (2010). School start time and sleepy teens. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 164, 676–677.
• W.A.K.E.: Worried About Keeping Extra-curriculars. (n.d.). Disruptions.
• Wright, K. P., Jr., Gronfier, C., Duffy, J. F., & Czeisler, C. A. (2005). Intrinsic period and light intensity determine the phase relationship between melatonin and sleep in humans. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 20, 168–177.
• Wrobel, G. D. (1999). The impact of school starting time on family life. Phi Delta Kappan, 80, 360–364.
• Yoon, C., May, C. P., & Hasher, L. (1999). Aging, circadian arousal patterns, and cognition. In D. Park & N. Schwartz (Eds.), Cognitive aging: A primer (pp. 151–170). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

The cost of public education

A friend has re-posted some charts from a CATO Institute article on costs associated with public education. As you can probably guess, the article has a particular point it's trying to make; I'd like to point out some things that might be helpful before you read it.

The article refers to data collected from the NCES 2009 Digest. When you notice that the number of public school employees is growing at a faster pace than the number of enrolled students, it would be helpful to know the breakdown in the increase of employees - how many are teachers, staff, administrators, etc. That's available in this table from the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) which shows that at least between 1990 and 2007 teacher salaries represent a pretty constant 61% of expenditures. Other subgroups (administration, staff, food services, transportation, etc.) keep pretty constant ratios as well.

How does this compare to private/religious school staffing at the same level? You can actually test that with this table, which shows that the number of teachers in the public sector rose 50% between 1980 and 2009 - but so did the number of teachers in private schools. The number of students has increased by roughly 26%. The net effect has been to drive down student/teacher ratios from 18.7 to 15.3 in the public sector; in the private sector the ratio went from 17.7 to 12.8.

On the bottom chart in the CATO article: As the source says: "Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools include current expenditures, interest on school debt, and capital outlays." Capital outlays include new technology, internet access, textbooks and materials, laboratories, school buildings, etc. Schools would, for example, save a huge amount of money by replacing obsolete Windows and Macintosh computers with state-of-the-art Linux machines. Table 182 confirms the graph; expenditures per pupil doubled from 1980 ($5695/student) to 2009 ($10,041/student).

But compare that to private schools: table 27 shows an increase in overall private school expenditures (in constant dollars) of 150% between 1980 (est. $20B) and 2009 (est. $50B). That compares to the public schools which increased 130% over that period, from $262B to $600B.

Does the increase in costs raise scores? chart 123 shows the scores stay pretty constant from 1992 through 2007. The overall scores for private schools are higher per grade; but that may be an effect of a self-selecting population. More interesting are the jumps from 4th to 8th grades (keeping in mind these are comparing apples to oranges to some extent, as students move around). Public schools increase the scores by 50 points over 4 years (a 1994 4th grader to a 1998 8th grader), and so do the private schools. As a percentage, the public schools raise scores 25% over the 4 years, while private schools raise them a little over 20%. That's an interesting result given the popularity of the new "value added" calculations used to assess teachers and schools.

Moving students from public schools to private schools would apparently increase the number of teachers required to maintain their low student/teacher ratio. How will that drive down the cost of education, other than by paying teachers individually less? Would increasing private school costs and lowering public school costs reduce the price of education overall - or would it instead shift the cost more directly to parents and reduce the cost to taxpayers without children? It would be a policy decision to decide if that's equitable - spreading what would essentially be the same cost over a smaller group of people.

OurCourts is now iCivics

I've written before about Justice O'Connor's OurCourts initiative which develops games and curricula for middle and high school students; the idea is to deliver lessons about the Constitution and our form of government in a more compelling fashion. My kids have pre-tested the games; but so have I, and they're pretty fun. The foundation is now called iCivics, and has expanded a bit; even if you visited them before, please check them out again, as they've added more content, especially for teachers.

Calculus, the musical

Our family went to see Calculus, the musical when they were in town a year or so ago. It's an amusing play describing Newton's route to calculus, including old tunes updated with math lyrics. Some examples include:

• 5 Sizes of Numbers (In the style of: The Beatles - In My Life)
• The Limit’s Alright (In the style of: The Who - The Kids Are Alright)
• Differentiabul (In the style of: They Might Be Giants - Istanbul(Not Constantinople))
• Power Rule (In the style of : Petula Clark - Downtown)
• Under The Curve (In the style of: Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Under the Bridge)
• and a favorite: L’Hôpital(I have Calculus in the Heart) (In the style of : Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart)

At their web site they have some new albums for sale, and they say they're ready to come around on tour again. I'd love to figure out how to bring them to Houston, either to Rice or to a local high school. Anyone interested?

Project proposal - please vote

Please check out and vote for a new proposal at Mozilla's Drumbeat site. It's project which will create an interface which will allow educators to bring together disparate teaching materials online. This should allow teachers to create curricula from content available world-wide; allow authors to contribute more easily to a global educational corpus; and allow researchers and entrepreneurs to use the materials in innovative new ways. I urge you to look through the materials and give it your vote, to help convince Mozilla to fund the proposal.

Full disclosure: I am related to the project author.

Houston ISD Magnet Program survey - admissions criteria

I wrote earlier about Houston ISD's questionnaire about its magnet programs; in particular about the survey question on funding. Another such question asked about how students should be admitted to magnet programs.

The magnet programs at HISD exist both to cluster students with similar interests, skills, and abilities, and to allow students from under-performing schools to attend programs outside their HISD zone. In a perfect world, every student who wanted to attend a magnet program would; however, there are a limited number of programs, and a limited number of students the programs can admit. Therefore there needs to be some way for a program to admit a fraction of its applicants.

One thing that makes this a little more complicated is that HISD has a parallel program called "Vanguard" which targets a subset of the children who are identified as "gifted and talented." I think the idea is generally sound - it's easier to provide a centralized accelerated academic program in a small number of schools than it is to have a separate such program in each of schools. I'll address each program (Vanguard, magnet) for each grade level (elementary, middle, high school).

Elementary school

• Vanguard

  HISD uses a battery of tests to determine which students are identified as "gifted and talented"; within that population, a further set of tests determine which students qualify for the "Vanguard" program. I'm not sure the data convince me these second tests are effective - it's not clear that all the students chosen for the programs end up thriving in them, nor is it clear that the students excluded from such programs would not have done better as participants. If the second battery of tests does not effectively differentiate between those populations, then perhaps admission to a Vanguard program at this level should be by lottery from the pool of "gifted and talented" applicants.
  

• Magnet

  I believe most magnet programs at this level accept applicants by lottery. This seems pretty fair.
  

Middle school

• Vanguard

  At this level HISD has more data about its students, based on grades, test scores, and teacher evaluations. It may have enough information to be able to tell which students would benefit from accelerated Vanguard programs. If so, selection based on these criteria would be appropriate. If the data are not enough to be able to rank students, then perhaps a threshold to apply plus a lottery among the qualified would be better and would allow more students to participate. Some students might not thrive in such an environment and may choose to leave it; programs should actively recruit new students for open spots in 7th and 8th grades to replace them.
  

• Magnet

The Magnet schools at this level are impressive - foreign language, performing and visual arts, etc. Students are likely to self-select at this point, so it may be that a lottery is reasonable as a selection process. On the other hand, it may be better to use the screening processes that high school programs use, below. Students can further be clustered in the school by aptitude for acceleration, if appropriate.

High school

• Vanguard

  By high school, the district should have enough data to be able to determine which students will do well in a Vanguard/accelerated program. Students will also self-select at this level, since these programs will typically include an expectation that students take a decent number of IB or AP courses and exams. The pressure to have a high GPA may convince students not to attend unless they're sure they'll succeed. Therefore, at this level the schools should probably have open admissions or a lottery of all candidates who qualify based on grades and test scores.
  

• Magnet

  The Magnet schools at this level are really incredible - foreign language, performing and visual arts, science/medical, engineering, even a school with a flight program. If the program has some minimum ability requirements it should test for them (language fluency or aptitude, science/math scores or grades, performing ability, etc.) Like the Vanguard programs above, students will likely self-select at this point, so programs should probably have open admissions or a lottery among all who qualify. The assumption is that anyone applying to such a school will be interested enough to succeed if they have the skills to do so.
  

Since one of the goals of the magnet program is to allow students to "escape" an under-performing they're zoned to, perhaps at each level some preference should be given to an applicant who is zoned to such a school. There also, frankly, should be more magnet programs!

Houston ISD Magnet Program survey - funding magnet programs

Houston ISD is conducting a survey of parents and teachers about its magnet program, sending out questionnaires and holding town hall meetings around the city. The survey they sent out asks a number of thought-provoking questions; I'm curious to know how they collate and respond to the submissions they receive. I wonder if they will hold a subsequent round of discussions so we can react to each others' responses.

One question asked how you would recommend funding the programs at magnet schools; they give three suggestions: (1) equal funding by school; (2) funding by pupil; (3) differential funding by type of program. They give only a small box for the response, so I thought I'd elaborate on my submission here:

Each paradigm has its merits and demerits.

• Funding by pupil has the problem that programs with few pupils, especially starting programs, may not have enough baseline funding to hire the personnel necessary to get established.
  
• Funding "by program type" implies differential funding - do STEM schools get more than music/arts schools? How about Vanguard/Gifted schools? Do we decide there are a small number of "types" and assign funding amounts to them? How would an innovative new "type" of program get established and funded?
  
• Finally, while equal funding per school sounds fair, it can be attacked as providing inordinate funding to schools with small magnet populations. It might also under-fund popular programs with a large number of applicants.
  

Perhaps a "tiered" system makes sense. Schools with 1 - 100 magnet students would receive some baseline amount; schools with 101 - 200 get more; and perhaps a per-capita allowance for every student over 200. That might be supplemented by service-based funding for things like after-school programs, or grants of initial capital to do things like purchasing art supplies and tools, musical instruments, gymnastics or dance items, etc.

Healthy School Lunches

My family has really enjoyed Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a television show centered on changing the food available for school lunches in an American town, Henderson West Virginia. As much as I appreciate our Houston Independent School District, the food vendor we've been acquainted with, Aramark, has provided absolutely unpalatable food for the student lunches. My kids pack a lunch every day, so they don't have to eat school food.

I'd love to find a group of like-minded parents at my kids' schools, who would be willing to work on changing the food in HISD. My kids would benefit greatly from a warm, healthy lunch, especially one with a vegetarian option. I'm worried, though, that HISD is too huge for a small group of parents to move; it would take a very dedicated set of individuals to take on this effort. In the mean time, maybe what we need to do is help pass federal legislation to provide incentives to schools to experiment with providing healthier meal choices to students.

If any parent or group is interested in coordinating a district-wide effort to improve school lunches at HISD, please let me know; I'd be willing to be a liaison to the schools my kids attend.

University of Houston Law Center Tuition Increases 2010 - 2011 (Coda)

The fee schedule for UHLC 2010/2011 has been posted. If you compare last year's fees to this year's for returning resident students, there's about a 12% increase, which was reportedly negotiated down from the original request.

It's not as big an increase as I reported earlier but it's still large, and for incoming resident students, even larger (on the order of 26%). I worry that part of the negotiation was to ask for another increase in the near future; I hope that second request, if it comes, is more than two years away.

University of Houston Tuition Increases 2010 - 2011

I'm attending University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) as an evening student, since the Fall 2009 semester. The proposed tuition increases at the University of Houston in general and at the Law Center in particular are a big concern to me. As you can see on page 4 of these materials presented to the Finance Committee of the UH Board of Regents at their meeting on 10 February 2010, the Law Center is proposing a 40% increase in resident tuition for students who joined in Fall 2009 and Fall 2008. The increase for the class entering in Fall 2010 is even greater; for residents, the increase is 65%, and for non-residents, 132%. Yes, if I am reading it correctly, that's the increase, not the resulting tuition as a percent of the current rate.

I understand the need to increase tuition as state funding drops and expenses go up. The campus-wide rise seems to be pegged at a little less than 4%, which seems reasonable, especially as it's paired with an increase in student aid, and a rise in the maximum income a family can earn while still qualifying for the Cougar Promise of free tuition. The Regents and the administration have a duty as stewards of our tuition to spend that wisely on education: to fund research and programs to enhance learning, and to attract and retain great faculty. I wouldn't have any objection to an increase of that magnitude.

I do, however, object to the purpose stated in the Justification for the increase at the Law Center: Support for advancement to top 30 school status including faculty salaries and new facilities. Let me address each element separately:

1. Advancement to top 30 status. The Law Center administration may argue, much as Dr. Rupp did at Rice University almost 20 years ago, that a top tier university should be charging top tier tuition rates. I won't address the merit of that decision; it seems to have worked out more or less well at Rice, and it would be possible to gather data on how that increase affected the demographics there. Assuming arguendo that raising tuition for incoming students is acceptable because they've not yet decided to turn down offers elsewhere, I submit that incorporating such a "prestige premium" for current students is unconscionable. Students currently attending UHLC relied on the Fall 2008/2009 tuition scale when they made their decisions (in many cases) to move to Houston and turn down offers from other schools. The time and money these current students have already invested in a career at UHLC were made relying, perhaps in large part, on the cost of that education. It's not enough to offer to offset the increase with expanded access to student loans; that merely pushes the problem to after graduation, when it becomes even more difficult (for example) to decide to enter a public interest position, or to go into practice for one's self (perhaps in one's small home town). And it certainly doesn't do anything for those who may be paying for their education themselves.

2. New facilities. Heaven knows UH needs to rebuild the Law Center; just last week, during the heavy rains, we had water leaking in, and some ceiling tiles soak through and drop to the floor. This sounds dramatic, but it's not surprising for a building its age. Nevertheless, new buildings should be built with funds from a capital campaign which solicits contributions from alumni (and even current students). Even after such fund raising there will be a significant amount which will need to be financed; however, that should reasonably be added to the tuition of the students who will be enjoying the new facilities. It makes no sense to force current students to start paying for a building we'll never see or use.

   One could argue that a new Law Center campus would add to the school's reputation and prestige, and that such improvements would be to our benefit in our careers. However that benefit would also accrue to alumni and to the future students using the facilities. We current students would be in the strange position of being compelled to pay for the new facilities (unlike alumni) while never receiving the benefit of the new building (as would future students).

The Board of Regents meets on Tuesday 16 February 2010 to vote on the proposed tuition increases. Law Center alumni on the board include Jarvis V. Hollingsworth of Bracewell Giuliani; Nandita V. Berry of Locke Lorde Bissell and Lidell; Nelda Luce Blair of The Blair Firm; Jacob M. Monty of Monty Partners; and Carroll Robertson Ray of Andrews and Kurth. I hope they take all these considerations into account and choose to vote against increasing tuition for current students at their alma mater.

Teaching the law

As we raise our children to become informed and active citizens, I think it's important they have an understanding of how the legal system works. They should become familiar with the rights and responsibilities they have under current law, and know how laws operate and are created. This knowledge will help them evaluate their rights and responsibilities, and give them some guidance as they inevitably wonder how to change the system.

Professor Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld, in a an influential (but a bit dense) work in 1919, analyzed how laws operate. His description attempted to resolve the ambiguity around the term "rights" (as used by different, other philosophers) by presenting laws as a realization of 8 foundational concepts (right, no-right, duty, privilege, power, disability, immunity, liability), used as both opposites and correlatives. A Unified Theory of Law by lawyer John Bosco, available at the amazing Connexions knowledge repository, takes Hohfeld's Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and distills it to a simpler structure, which can hopefully be more easily understood by middle and high school students. The core of the concept is the "Periodic Table of the Law", which takes the three independent variables of legal construction and demonstrates the nine components of the three possible types of law.

Another site called Our Courts is designed to present legal concepts to middle school students through interactive games and instructions for classroom volunteers. The site was developed by an organization whose board is led by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The site is currently organized around two interactive (Flash) games: Supreme Decision, which walks a player through a Supreme Court case, the issues involved, and an analysis of each; and Do I Have a Right? (DIHAR), which helps students understand some of the rights secured by the amendments to the US Constitution.

The materials are well organized and compelling; the content is complete and engaging, and the presentation is appealing. The games are supported by teacher materials and volunteer guides so practitioners and parents can easily bring these civics lessons into classrooms. The games are well designed: they're informative at the right level (middle school); they include randomized events, so it's possible to play more than once without being bored; there are enough variables (especially in DIHAR) to play with so kids can make decisions such as upgrading the office or individual lawyer desks; and the game benefits (points) are directly and proportionately related to the goals, so success is rewarded, and failure counts gently against you. Their team clearly had access to game play designers who know what they're doing.

I encourage you to go check out these resources!

Geometry software

One of my children is taking Geometry this year, which is turning out to be a lot of fun. We have a nice compass and a good ruler, but even with these good tools construction can be a little tedious, especially for complicated problems. Geometry software is a good compromise because it can take some tedious compound operations and do them in one click; these are things you pick up early on (construct a perpendicular to a line, perpendicular bisector to a segment, parallel lines, reflection about a line, etc.) and do them later as a single step.

UPDATED to add:This article from Science Daily talks about how using Geometry software helps students play with construction concepts more readily than with paper and tools. It also suggests that the software is helpful to teachers, and that it's important to students to learn to use both the software and the physical tools.

I've heard that Geometer's Sketchpad is well regarded by math teachers. I love Key Curriculum Press textbooks; their materials and problem sets are compelling and fun. However, this piece of software doesn't work for our family for two reasons:

1. It won't run on Linux (only Mac OSX or MS Windows), and
2. it's not free software.

Luckily, there are good alternatives!

• C.a.R. and C.a.R.metal. C.a.R. stands for "Compass and Ruler"; it's a program which lets you perform all kinds of constructions using those tools. The array of available options is initially a bit daunting; it's very helpful to go through the tutorials first. You can set up a problem and have a second person solve it; the software will report if you get the right answer. The software will also allow graph a function for you; it's more intuitive in C.a.R. than in C.a.R.metal, but it's possible in both.
• Another interesting piece of software is Geometria. It's designed specifically around the presentation and solution of construction problems. To use it you must create a problem to be solved, then convey the problem to a student. As the student works on the problem, each step is recorded in a history log on the left side; this is useful for documenting a proof based on the construction steps. This program is not as free-form as the others, so I've not played with it much; still, I can see this being very useful for a teacher, who can create one problem and hand it out to the class. I also expect it won't be long before there's a collection of problems you can download for your class. You can try a demo online; I'd keep another tab with the documentation open while you're using it.
• Finally there's GeoGebra, a slick tool which does a good job of both geometry and algebra. It can be used on the web here if you want to try it out. It's got the best support for plotting functions and equations of the three; unfortunately, it's not entirely free software (the software/program is free, released under the GNU Public License, but the on-screen messages, which are translated into different languages, are not).

I like Key Curriculum Press; if you do too, want to support them financially, and have MS Windows or Mac OSX, go ahead and get a copy of Geometer's Sketchpad. Even so, you might want to play with the software packages above. They're all well written, and it's fun to play with a compass and ruler and see what you can construct.

Intelligent Design

Today I attended a lunch time talk on Intelligent Design. It was billed as a discussion between two speakers, so I was looking forward to a debate. Instead, it was like the opposite of a hockey game; I went expecting a fight and a nuanced agreement broke out.

The first speaker described the theory of Intelligent Design (ID) in simple terms: it's like looking at phenomena (like Mt. Rushmore) and declaring "that was obviously designed". Because, of course, first impressions are important and determinative, like seeing the face of the Madonna on a cheese sandwich.

He then argued that ID was not science, and should not be described as an alternate to evolution; ID theory is a discussion about origins of biological complexity, which could be changed and optimized by natural selection over time. In fact, ID could be billed as an alternative to atheism, so it could be brought into school in a philosophy class.

For some reason, both speakers compared ID proponents (Discovery Institute) to Galileo - a bearer of revolutionary new ideas who is being prematurely vilified. Perhaps we should give ID its opportunity to mature, at which point it will be accepted as new scientific theory?

The problem with this comparison is that Galileo was proposing a new theory which better explained how the universe worked; ID can't provide any guidance on how to study new phenomena or move the state of engineering or production forward. You can't take the concept of intelligent design and use it as an axiom for any new hypotheses or theories. In addition, Galileo wasn't trying to use state power to sell his new theory to school children; he (and all the other scientific revolutionaries they like to compare to) had to convince adults of the correctness and utility of his ideas.

Finally, the first speaker suggested ID be brought into schools as an exercise to teach children how to think critically. If children are presented with ID and with evolution, perhaps they'll do research, discuss the relative strengths of the ideas, and make up their own minds. Except that anyone who's taught or even been around at least K-8 students realizes that they're just not equipped yet with the background and knowledge (never mind the desire or readiness) to think critically about science or math. They're in foundation-laying mode, where they need to learn tenets and facts which are commonly accepted and from which they can make more sophisticated conclusions. ID gives them no tools for that, and at that developmental stage, it's inappropriate.

This argument is also hardly convincing for bringing ID into high schools either. There are so many other classes (social studies, English, etc) in which critical thinking can be taught, using so many other interesting topics, historical or from current events. Students don't need the false controversy of ID vs Evolution to develop critical thinking skills.

The second speaker asserted that it's wrong to dismiss the idea of an intelligent designer because science, by its nature, is never complete; it has room for new theories. The rebuttal to that assertion is that the concept of an intelligent designer by its nature precludes further scientific inquiry (except, perhaps, into the nature and/or existence of the designer). If you decide there is an intelligent designer who is responsible for any "irreducible" complexity, you complete all your theoretical systems with the God closure.

Random thought: can you imagine ID applied to math? Let's see, that concept is irreducibly complex, so I guess an intelligent designer just gave it to us. Move along!

The second speaker also made a reference to the possibility that keeping ID out of school curricula is potentially censorship. That doesn't seem like a reasonable assertion; I don't think anyone is attempting to stop ID personnel from promulgating their ideas in public debate, or in private schools, or even as a topic of current events. What ID antagonists object to is making ID instruction mandatory in publicly funded schools, especially in the science classroom.

In all, I found no compelling argument for mandating ID instruction in public schools. The theory of "intelligent design" is not science; it's the opposite of science, and as such does not belong in that curriculum. And if it's just a debate topic or a current event, it doesn't need to be part of any state-sanctioned curriculum.