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Three research-based lessons to improve your mentoring
Some scientists are truly extraordinary mentors. Take, for example, professor Charlotta Turner, a chemist at Lund University in Sweden, who in 2014 received a text from her Ph.D. student telling her that he might not finish his thesis in time. When she learned that her student, Firas Jumaah, was in fact hiding with his family in an Iraqi factory as armed members of the Islamic State group roamed the streets outside, she leapt into action and worked with the university’s security chair to arrange a daring rescue operation. But for every heroic mentor, there are just as many horror stories about bad ones.
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How UT-Austin’s Bold Plan for Reinvention Went Belly Up
Gregory L. Fenves had heard the calls for change, and he pledged to act. Standing before a quiet auditorium in the fall of 2016, the University of Texas at Austin’s president detailed a path forward: Project 2021. In five years, he said, the university wanted most of Austin’s students to be able to enroll in revamped degree programs. Project 2021, officials would later say, would incorporate state-of-the-art online classes. Redesigned curricula. An academic calendar that included short courses outside of traditional semesters.
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No one likes the SAT. It’s still the fairest thing about admissions.
The 33 hedge fund managers, Hollywood actresses, CEOs and other well-connected parents indicted this month didn’t just allegedly commit fraud or pay bribes to get their kids into elite schools. Authorities say they also hired ringers or “tutors” to increase their children’s scores on the SAT and ACT standardized tests that colleges use to make admissions decisions. Some have responded to the scandal by arguing that it proves standardized testing is useless at best and deeply unfair at worst, concluding that it should be eliminated once and for all.
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Trigger Warnings May Not Do Much, Early Studies Suggest
For years, trigger warnings have been the subject of impassioned academic debate: Do they protect people from distress or encourage fragility? The warnings, which alert individuals to disturbing material, have been talked about, used and promoted on college campuses and elsewhere for more than a decade, but little was known about how well they work. Now, a pair of recent studies suggest that they may have little effect at all.
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Counting Other People’s Blessings
Envy: it's an unflattering, miserable emotion. And it's universal. All of us, at some time or another, will experience that feeling of wanting what someone else has, and resenting them for having it. Of course, like all human emotions, envy has a purpose. It's a tool for social comparison, one that can alert us to imbalances in the social hierarchy. Sometimes, these feelings of envy can prompt us to improve our lives, says Harvard social psychologist Mina Cikara. "If you have more than what I have, I may be inspired by what you have," she says. But envy can also turn malicious, causing us to feel resentment, rage, and a desire for revenge.
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How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging
Consider a student in an introductory math class — let’s call him Alex. Alex had some unpleasant experiences with math in high school. When he got to college, he tested into a math course below the level that would count toward his general-education requirements. He is thus feeling wary about the semester, and resents having to “waste” expensive college credit on a course that he is unlikely to enjoy and that won’t get him any closer to his degree. To have any hope of learning the material, Alex needs to actually involve himself in the course. He needs to direct his attention to the lecture and the problem sets.
