Education technology
Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools
1.revampv. to change something in order to improve it and make it seem more modern修改，翻新，改进
相关搭配：
revamp practice 技改实践
technical revamp 技术改造
revamp scheme 改造总结，改造方案
IN 1953, B.F. Skinner visited his daughter’s maths class. The Harvard psychologist found every pupil learning the same topic in the same way at the same speed. A few days later he built his first “teaching machine”,which let children tackle questions at their own pace. By the mid-1960s similar gizmos were being flogged by door-to-door salesmen. Within a few years, though, enthusiasm for them had fizzled out.
1.黑色划线部分为which引导的定语从句，修饰先行词“teaching machine”。
2.tackle questions处理问题，解决问题
tackle v. to try to deal with a difficult problem 类似表达还有：deal with, solve, resolve, settle, work out, figure out等。
3.a door-to-door salesman挨家挨户上门的推销员
4.flog v. to sell something 出售，卖（熟词僻义）
Since then education technology (edtech) has repeated the cycle of hype and flop, even as computers have reshaped almost every other part of life.One reason isthe conservatism of teachers and their unions. Butanother is thatthe brain-stretching potential of edtech has remained unproven.
1.hypen. attempts to try to make people think something is good or important by talking about it a lot on television, the radio etc.〔通过传媒〕大肆宣传
2.flopn. a film, play, product etc. that is not successful （电影、戏剧、产品等的）失败之作（与上一段辨别）
3.阐释两方面原因时，划线句式可以运用到写作中。
Today, however, Skinner’s heirs are forcing the sceptics to think again. Backed by billionaire techies such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, schools around the world are using new software to “personalise” learning. This could help hundreds of millions of children stuck in dismal classes—but only if edtech boosters can resist the temptation to revive harmful ideas about how children learn.To succeed, edtech must be at the service of teaching, not the other way around. （观点句）
1.skepticn. someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs 怀疑者，疑论者（外刊评论高频词）
2.backed by此处为动词back的过去分词backed作非谓语，具体来说是作条件状语，backed与主语school是被动关系
3.revivev. restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state 重演
4.at the service of服务于，为……服务
Pencils down
The conventional model of schooling emerged in Prussia in the 18th century. Alternatives have so far failed to teach as many children as efficiently. Classrooms, hierarchical year-groups, standardized curriculums and fixed timetablesare still the norm formost of the world’s nearly 1.5bn schoolchildren.
1.hierarchicaladj. if a system, organization etc is hierarchical, people or things are divided into levels of importance 按等级划分的；等级制度的
2.standardized curriculum标准化课程
3.划线句式可运用到写作和英汉翻译中：sth. is/are/become(s) still the norm for….
……仍是常态。
eg. Short term contracts are now the norm with some big companies. 签订短期合同是目前一些大公司的惯常做法。
Too many do not reach their potential. In poor countries only a quarter of secondary schoolchildren acquire at least a basic knowledge of maths, reading and science. Even in the mostly rich countries of the OECD about 30% of teenagers fail to reach proficiency in at least one of these subjects.
OECD全称：Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
经济合作与发展组织 （简称：经合组织）
That share has remained almost unchanged over the past 15 years, during which billions have been spent on IT in schools. By 2012 there was one computer for every two pupils in several rich countries. Australia had more computers than pupils.Handled poorly,devices can distract. A Portuguese study from 2010 found that schools with slow broadband and a ban on sites such as YouTube had better results than high-tech ones.
1.红色字体划线部分为过去分词，作条件状语，其实相当于if引导的条件状语从句：If devices arehandled poorly, they can distract.
What matters is how edtech is used.One way it can help is through bespoke instruction. Ever since Philip II of Macedon hired Aristotle to prepare his son Alexander for Greatness, rich parents have paid for tutors. Reformers from São Paulo to Stockholm think that edtech can put individual attention within reach of all pupils. American schools are embracing the model most readily. A third of pupils are in a school districtthathas pledged to introduce “personalised, digital learning”. The methods of groups like Summit Public Schools,whose softwarewas written for nothing by Facebook engineers, are being copied by hundreds of schools.
1.红色划线部分为：what引导的主语从句作主语，how引导表语从句作表语。
2.区分through与by表示方式时的具体用法，through后跟名词或名词短语，而by后跟动词ing形式。
3.bespoke instruction因材施教
4.a school district学区
5.红色划线的that和whose引导的都是定语从句，前者修饰先行词a school district，后者修饰Summit Public Schools’
In India, where about half of children leave primary school unable to read a simple text, the curriculum goes over many pupils’ heads. “Adaptive” software such as Mindspark can work out what a child knows and pose questions accordingly. A recent paper found that Indian children using Mindspark after school made some of the largest gains in maths and reading of any education study in poor countries.
The other way edtech can aid learning is by making schools more productive. In California schools are using software to overhaul the conventional model. Instead of textbooks, pupils have “playlists”, which they use to access online lessons and take tests. The software assesses children’s progress, lightening teachers’ marking load and giving them insight on their pupils. Saved teachers’ time is allocated to other tasks, such as fostering pupils’ social skills or one-on-one tuition. A study in 2015 suggested that children in early adopters of this model score better in tests than their peers at other schools.
1.overhaulv. to change a system or method in order to improve it全面改革〔制度或方法〕
eg. All the community’s decision-making institutions need to be overhauled.
社区的所有决策机构都需要进行彻底改革。
2.one-on-one tuition一对一辅导
Pay attention at the back
Such innovation is welcome. But making the best of edtech means getting several things right. First, “personalised learning” must follow the evidence on how children learn. It must not be an excuse to revive pseudoscientific ideas such as “learning styles”: the theory that each child has a particular way of taking in information. Such nonsense leads to schemes like Brain Gym, an “educational kinesiology” programme once backed by the British government, which claimed that some pupils should stretch, bend and emit an “energy yawn” while doing their sums.
1.pseudoscientificadj. 伪科学的
2.backed by=supported by (上文出现过)
A less consequential falsehood is that technology means children do not need to learn facts or learn from a teacher—instead they can just use Google. Some educationalists go further, arguing that facts get in the way of skills such as creativity and critical thinking. The opposite is true.A memory crammed with knowledge enables these talents.（观点句）William Shakespeare was drilled in Latin phrases and grammatical rules and yet he penned a few decent plays. In 2015 a vast study of 1,200 education meta-analyses found that, of the 20 most effective ways of boosting learning, nearly all relied on the craft of a teacher.
1.critical thinking批判性思维
2.crammed with过去分词作后置定语修饰memory。
3.drillv. to teach students, sports players etc by making them repeat the same lesson, exercise etc many times教〔某人〕反复练习
eg. The team were well-drilled . 该队训练有素
4.penv. to write something such as a letter, a book etc, especially using a pen
〔尤指用钢笔〕写
a song penned by George Clinton 乔治·克林顿写的歌
The second imperative is to make sure that edtech narrows, rather than widens, inequalities in education. Here there are grounds for optimism. Some of the pioneering schools are private ones in Silicon Valley. But many more are run by charter-school groups teaching mostly poor pupils, such as Rocketship and Achievement First—or Summit, where 99% of graduating pupils go on to university and laggards make the most progress relative to their peers in normal classes. A similar pattern can be observed outside America. In studies of edtech in India by J-PAL, a research group, the biggest beneficiaries are children using software to receive remedial education.
1.imperativen. something that must be done urgently 紧急的事
2.optimismn. 乐观主义
optimist 乐观主义者 optimistic 乐观的
3.laggardn. someone or something that is very slow or late 落后者，迟钝者
Third, the potential for edtech will be realised only if teachers embrace it. They are right to ask for evidence that products work. But scepticism should not turn into Luddism[A1] . A good model is São Paulo, where teachers have welcomed Geekie, an adaptive-software company, into public schools.
Luddism[A1] 注：卢德主义，是指对新技术和新事物的一种盲目冲动反抗。
卢德主义出现于工业革命初期，那时候的工人对于大机器生产的出现认识不足，盲目地认为是大机器的出现使自己丧失了就业，于是憎恨大机器，开始破坏这些新出现的机器设备，以换取就业。
1.embracev. [ formal ]to eagerly accept a new idea, opinion, religion etc. 欣然接受，乐意采纳〔新思想、意见、宗教等〕
2.skepticismn. 怀疑主义 skeptic 怀疑者（上文出现过）
3.adaptive-software自适应软件
In 1984 Skinner called opposition to technology the “shame” of education. Given what edtech promises today, closed-mindedness has no place in the classroom.
1.opposition to注意介词使用，be opposed to 反对
2.givenprep. taking something into account考虑到，鉴于
①Given the circumstances, you’ve done really well. 鉴于这种情况，你已经算是处理得很好了。
②Given that the patients have some disabilities, we still try to enable them to be as independent as possible. 虽然考虑到病人有生理上的不便，我们还是尽量让他们自立。
以上就是本期的外刊学习笔记，大家是否收获满满？
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