The beginning of a new term is always a busy time, but I did not want to let our first week back go by without posting a few recent finds that I hope you will find interesting and/or intriguing.

• “Do kids learn from video games?” a recent blog post from Daniel Willingham (@DTWillingham) reviewing some recent research on the topic. The comments that readers have posted are interesting as well.
• Another good read from Daniel Willingham – “Students should be taught how to study” that explores the most common study techniques students use and how ineffective their top methods really are. His post also points to an article that appeared on the American Psychology Association website about “Smart Studying.”
• A blog post from one of the fellow educators I follow on Twitter (@okmbio) who also uses a flipped classroom model. “Dear Points….We need to break up. Inspired by @MrPicc112”  An interesting read for anybody who keeps a gradebook based on points.
• Following our most recent faculty in-service day, I posted some thoughts about the format. In subsequent conversations with colleagues, we have discussed the need to have time at the end of an in-service day to sit down with peers and hammer out how to turn what we just heard/learned into concrete lesson plans. Serendipitously, a post from Chris Wejr (@MrWejr) titled “Rethinking the Traditional Conference Model” that speaks to the very same thing showed up in my Google reader the next day.