Ami Albernaz reports for The Boston Globe on a new study co-authored by Prof. John Gabrieli that finds that income disparity affects brain development in children. “The findings add a biological perspective on what it means to come from a lower socioeconomic background,” says Gabrieli.
To help give her students a better understanding of the brain, Prof. Nancy Kanwisher shaved her head and had a student draw the different regions of the brain on her head, reports Melissa Malamut for Boston Magazine. Kanwisher explains that she saw her technique as a way to “discover basic components of the human mind.”
Research by Prof. John Gabrieli demonstrates that poverty can have a negative impact on the adolescent brain, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. “When researchers at MIT scanned the brains of some 54 students, they found high-income students (in comparison with lower-income peers) have thicker cortex tissue in areas of the brain linked with visual perception and knowledge acquisition,” Hays writes.
MIT has launched the Online Education Policy Initiative to investigate and make recommendations about the future of online learning, Inside Higher Education reports. The initiative “will over the next nine months release reports, host workshops and lecture series, and eventually make recommendations about online learning.”
A team of MIT researchers has found that the brain’s cortical thickness differs between low-income and high-income teenagers, reports Lyndsey Layton for The Washington Post. “The thing that really stands out is how powerful the economic influences are on something as fundamental as brain structure,” said Prof. John Gabrieli.
Anya Kamenetz reports for NPR on a new MIT-Harvard study examining data compiled from two years of courses offered by edX. Researchers found that a large number of Greek and Spanish citizens took MOOCs, leading them to wonder if austerity measures in these two countries led students to “look online for an education alternative.”
A new MIT-Harvard study examining two years of edX courses found that nearly 40 percent of online learners are teachers, reports Kirk Carapezza for the PBS NewsHour. The findings have researchers wondering how to better design online courses "to meet teachers’ needs.”
MIT and Harvard have released a comprehensive new report examining MOOCS offered by edX over a two-year period, reports Carl Straumsheim for Inside Higher Ed. The researchers found that while more than half of total enrollment was in edX computer science courses, “learner demographics and intent vary by the courses they take.”
A study examining courses offered through edX, the nonprofit learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, found that teachers are enrolling in MOOCS in large numbers, reports Casey Fabris for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Of the 200,000 participants who responded to a survey about teaching, “39 percent of them said they were current or former teachers.”
In an article for The New York Times, Paul Krugman examines how MIT-educated economists came to assume such a prominent position in policy-making today. “Analytically, empirically, the MIT style has had an astonishing triumph,” writes Krugman.
Students in course 2.009 not only learn about the process of creating new products, but also how to pitch their invention, writes Boston Globe reporter Stefanie Friedhoff. According to Prof. David Wallace, the course covers “how you make a product in the real world, with engineers and designers and business people all working together.”
“Researchers at Yale, MIT, and Notre Dame found that the repeal of blue laws in various states was associated with a 5 percent drop in church attendance,” reports Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. The repeals also led to a one percent drop in voter turnout, the study found.
Washington Post reporter Danielle Paquette writes about a new study, co-authored by MIT Professor Frank Levy, examining the value of a college degree. The researchers found that the “investment of a college education is generally better for those who graduate — and on time — from a school with healthier resources.”
David Wessel reports for The Wall Street Journal on new research by Professor Frank Levy that indicates that while for most students college is still a good investment, it can be a risky move for some, in particular males who do not attend elite schools. The researchers conclude that college is "a stepping stone, not a ticket, to the middle class."
A study by co-authored by a team of MIT economists found that financial aid boosts enrollment and persistence, reports Inside Higher Ed. The researchers found that “the effects of the aid in encouraging enrollment and boosting persistence were especially pronounced among nonwhite students and students with lower grade point averages and standardized test scores.”