Are teachers asking too little of minority students to help them excel?

Black and Latino students who are overpraised and undercriticized for their work may be victims of a “positive bias” that could hinder their ability to achieve, says research from Rutgers University at Newark. Teachers demonstrated positive bias toward minority students when they were presented with a poorly-written essay—actually written by the research team—and were told that the student who had written it was either black, Latino, or white. Teachers were also told that the student would receive their comments and feedback directly.

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Boomers and Matures may benefit from playing their grandkids’ games.

A collection of studies from Germany, Australia, Spain, and other nations have found that seniors may enjoy cognitive and physical benefits from playing video games, particularly those that involve exercise. The research, chronicled in the bimonthly peer-reviewed Games for Health Journal, also says that additional benefits include socializing and just having fun.

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Male scarcity at university affects female career and family goals.

Expert Q&A

As the number of available men decreases, the number of females pursuing higher education and a lucrative career path increases, says research from the University of Texas at Austin (UTSA) and the University of Minnesota (UM) has found. Researcher Kristina Durante, PhD, assistant professor of marketing at UTSA and study coauthor Vlad Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at UM, examined the mating, educational, and career habits of college students. Durante kindly answered some questions, exclusively for demodirt.com, about this fascinating finding.

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Programs targeting bullying often overlook online aggression.

While online aggression has been making many headlines, how does online bullying compare to the traditional schoolyard bullying that many adults remember from their childhoods? Despite many similarities, cyberbullying and traditional bullying are not the same, meaning the intervention programs targeting bullying must focus specifically on online aggression, says Canadian research. There is a common misconception that anti-bullying initiatives address online aggression, says Jennifer Shapka, PhD, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia.

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