Anticipatory Socialization in the Elementary Classroom At Elementary Division, ATDP invites its students into the academic community through play, through romantic engagement. Researcher Susan Engle (2005) captures our goal and context perfectly when she describes children as: …budding experts who absorb information and ideas from experts within their culture, and who practice, amassing strategies, information, […]
Read More →Metacognition Among ATDP Math Students
Research has shown that successful math students use sophisticated thinking skills when they solve challenging math problems. These thinking skills, known as metacognition, include choosing how to solve problems based on their mathematical strengths and weaknesses, planning and monitoring the steps they use to solve a problem, and being aware of what they know and what […]
Read More →Instructors Cultivate Metacognition in SD Math Courses
What happens to research findings? Are they used by anyone other than researchers seeking to conduct more research? At ATDP, researchers seek relevant knowledge and teachers evaluate its applicability with an eye toward potential classroom benefits. For example, over the past few years, Secondary Division Mathematics Instructors have worked to facilitate students’ metacognition, based on […]
Read More →Rekindling the Joy of Learning in Secondary Education
When children first begin to learn, they seem to enjoy the process—and so do parents. Just as mastering first steps delights new toddlers and their parents, starting school a big deal: children rush home to tell their parents what they are learning, eagerly reciting the alphabet or counting numbers. Most parents share their children’s joy […]
Read More →Giving to ATDP
Looking at our students and their outstanding accomplishments, as well as our teachers and the joy they derive from working with students who love to learn, we know these are “the best of times.” Seeing in ATDP so diverse a group of young people, who otherwise are unlikely to have met, learning together and forming […]
Read More →Geoff Quan: Filmmaker
We extend our heartiest congratulations to ATDP alum Geoff Quan, who was recently invited into Film Independent’s prestigious Project:Involve film mentorship program as a director. A long-time member of the ATDP family, Geoff attended courses at both Elementary and Secondary Division—everything from Math Analysis to Shakespeare—and later went on to earn a degree in Cognitive […]
Read More →Former SD Instructor Gemma Whelan Launches Novel
Several hundred ATDP alumni share exciting memories of their experiences in Gemma Whelan’s Shakespeare as Theatre classes at ATDP. I particularly enjoyed the performance put on by students in her “Teenagers in Shakespeare” class, which featured actors playing their parts while up (fairly high) in the branches of campus trees. [Yes, this was done both […]
Read More →Friends Donate in Memory of Dr. Gary Griffin
This past spring, ATDP lost one of its best friends when Dr. Gary A. Griffin passed away. Dr. Griffin was an internationally respected educator, former dean at the University of Illinois, professor emeritus at Teachers College, Columbia University, and passionate advocate of rich learning for all children. Upon his passing, his sister Dena Griffin requested […]
Read More →Supporting Rural Education From Berkeley to China
by Cary Lin, ATDP alum and former TA (writing from Guiyang, China) Every day I wake up to the sight of rice paddies in mountainous and landlocked Guizhou Province, China, and it seems that I really could not be further away from the breezy hills of the Bay Area. As a 2010-2011 Fulbright grantee based in […]
Read More →A Lifelong Community
by Aaron Liao, former ATDP student, mentor, TA, and instructor My name is Aaron Liao. I live in Newport Beach, CA and work for Microsoft as a Technical Account Manager and Evangelist in Hollywood. I occasionally present at conferences, give talks at college recruiting events, and share my experiences working in tech with a variety […]
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