The Best Of Our Knowledge

Whenever we hear the word fake these days, the mental reflex is to think the word news. But fakes have been a part of society, well pretty much forever. It’s the history of fakes that we’re talking about today with Dr. Lydia Pyne, a writer and historian of science, and currently a visiting researcher at the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her new book is called “Genuine Fakes – How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff”.

In 2016, Dr. Monique W. Morris examined the experience of black and brown girls in school with her book “Pushout - The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools”. We spoke to her about the book when it came out. Now she’s back with a further exploration of the experience of young girls of color in school with her follow up called “Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues – Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls”.

So you’ve just figured out how to survive in college and now it’s time to take on the business world. That presents a whole new bucket of issues.

Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about navigating the dos and don’ts of workplace culture for someone just getting started.

See Advice From Someone Else's dad HERE!

We’ll also hear from a history major who decided to travel before jumping into business, and spend an Academic Minute with language and nationalism.

We love our devices. Phones, tablets, games, fit bits…there’s a gadget or gizmo to keep us busy at all times. But is that helpful?

Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear how our devices may be disrupting development, and how to respond.

We’ll also hear about a new online poll school, and spend an Academic Minute with some interesting yays and nays.

Video games are everywhere. The industry continues to grow, and the games themselves do serve a purpose.

Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet Jane McGonigal, a game designer who creates games that educate and heal. You can listen to Jane's TED Talks Here and Here.

A city as unique as New Orleans is bound to have a colorful history. Next time on The Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about the characters who created this unique American city.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute reporting on disasters.

I’m Bob Barrett…that’s this week on The Best of Our Knowledge.

More students than ever are taking AP classes in high school. That means more ambitious goals for many schools. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, a conversation about the past, present and future of advanced placement classes.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute looking for critters and stuff in your water.

If you attend college looking for vocational training, you may end up with a degree, a certificate, and maybe a special badge in empathy. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, a conversation about digital badges.

We’ll also hear about reports and programs focusing on preventing gun violence in school, and spend an Academic Minute with a mass shooting database.

Advances in technology over the past decade or two have been amazing, rapid, and for many of us, terrifying. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about a new book of terrifyingly awesome technology for students.

We’ll also talk about new training for ordering medical tests, learn how mental illness can lead to deportation, and spend an Academic Minute embracing students with disabilities.

The state of higher education the in US has changed dramatically since the end of World War II. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, 75 years of American higher ed.

We’ll also talk schools partnering for a nursing degree, and spend an Academic Minute learning to apologize.

Here’s a quick quiz, who was the architect of the New Deal? Easy? You’d think so, however it appears 18% of you think the the answer is AOC, not FDR. Today on The Best of Our Knowledge, the somewhat depressing results of a survey about the state of civics education in the US.

We’ll also talk about the 100th anniversary of a major scientific breakthrough, and spend an Academic Minute building a tavern.

With the start of the new school year, many colleges and universities are putting a new emphasis on student safety. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, common sense, technology and new laws help promote student safety.

We’ll also talk about the successes of school integration, and spend an Academic Minute improving schools with input from students.

A teacher in Baltimore thinks one solution to his city’s failing schools is tapping an underused asset: the students. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, a conversation about the Baltimore Algebra Project.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute with basic math, and how it might delay your college graduation.

There is a feeling in the academic community that the quality of writing from today’s students is not what it should be. But is it a deeper problem? Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear why improving the quality of writing may need to start with the death of the five-paragraph essay.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute shining a light on women…literally.

Students try lots of different methods to prepare for tests including mindfulness. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, a look at how test prep is changing.

We’ll also hear how some New York students published a book to help Alzheimer’s research, visit a hospital pathology lab and spend an Academic Minute searching for an autism biomarker.

With all the social and political issues facing the country can universities be a big part of the solution? Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll look at one road map to a solution that includes a lot of generous thinking.

We’ll also see if you can learn funny with a founding member of The Kid in the Hall, and spend an Academic Minute hearing women’s voices from the past.

The United States constitution has been written and argued about for over two centuries. And there are some who think a lot of those arguments are being put to the test as we speak. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, a constitutional scholar tells us how he thinks the old document is doing.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute thinking about the next election.

Florida is not exactly the biggest travel destination in August, but we like to take the road less travelled here. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk a university diversity officer who is taking on new duties.

We’ll also hear about a tuition guarantee at a state university, a mental health mandate and spend an Academic Minute saving coral reefs.

American colleges and universities are sometimes called ivory towers, self-contained communities with high minded ideals. But they are still run by people, and people can be pretty awful sometimes. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk to a pair of researchers who say there are growing cracks in higher ed’s ivory tower.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute with parity in the potty.

A celebrated educator who once led the University at Albany, New York passed away this month. She also co-hosted this program for about a decade. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we remember Dr. Karen Hitchcock.

You can find some of Dr. Hitchcock's commentaries for WAMC here.

We’ll also have a conversation about freedom of speech on campus with the president of a college in Massachusetts…and we’ll spend an Academic Minute trying to define meat.

A pair of researchers traveled the country to find an innovative high school that engaged their students. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll learn what they found and how they say the U.S. school system can be remade.

We’ll also look at the future of common core and spend an Academic Minute with adults and kids and their thoughts on religion.

One of the biggest challenges a new doctor faces comes right at the beginning: medical school. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about continuing education with a doctor who changed from a traditional to an alternative approach.

We’ll also meet the new leader of a literacy program, grow a summer school garden, and spend an Academic Minute at the farmer’s market.

The longtime president of a northern New York university is calling it quits and looking back on the changes he’s worked through. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, an exit interview from SUNY Plattsburgh.

For those of you keeping score at home, we’re celebrating a little anniversary today. This is the 1500th edition of The Best of Our Knowledge. That's over 28 years of TBOOK fun! To celebrate, we’re looking back in our archives, and up to the sky. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk with Dr. Paul Sutter about cosmic voids, a whole lot of nothing in space.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute exploring hundreds of small planets.

The SAT will soon feature a new score, your adversity index. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about what this means for college admissions.

We’ll also learn about school based health centers, talk to some robots with vision and spend an Academic Minute preventing someone from hacking into your DNA.

We hear a lot about young people achieving early success. But is that putting pressure on all the non-prodigies out there. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about students who are late bloomers.

We’ll also find some free meals for kids in summer and spend an Academic Minute looking for affordable child care.

I think we can agree that working for social change takes passion, and Bettina Love has that and more. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk to Dr. Love about abolitionist teaching, both in and out of the classroom.

We’ll also open up a time capsule and spend an Academic Minute with women in politics.

One of the president’s most controversial appointments to his cabinet has become one of his longest tenured. Next time on the Best of Our Knowledge, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute making a decision. I’m Bob Barrett…that’s this week on The Best of Our Knowledge.

After decades of visiting and evaluating schools across the country, one education researcher has some ideas. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about preparing yesterday’s schools for tomorrow’s students.

We’ll also get into the debate over school start times, and spend an Academic Minute getting some tech into the classroom.

Dementia can take a life of learning and memories and toss them away forever. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about dementia with the Alzheimer’s Association and a physician who became a caregiver.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute with the science of learning.