Education

Current Event and Research Assignment Instructions

Rationale: It is important for professionals to be conversant on current issues within their particular fields. In order for educators to operate as advocates for K12 students and to collaborate within the community for improved schools, an awareness of trends and issues is vital. The intent of this assignment is to increase that awareness and to contextualize it in the body of professional knowledge.

Alignment with Measurable Learning Outcomes: This assignment aligns with the following outcomes: 

· MLO: A – As students summarize and analyze current events in light of research on the same topics, they are demonstrating writing skills and exhibiting worldview principles.

· MLO: D – Because articles are to align with course concepts, this activity will increase understanding of neuroscience and brain research as applied to differentiated instructional principles.

· MLO: E – Engagement with current events and research in light of course concepts will require candidates to consider implications of individual student differences. They will make evaluative judgments regarding actions of educators and educational institutions related to K12 student differences. 

Specific Guidelines

In this assignment, you will summarize a current event article and a related research article on the same topic. You will then synthesize this information with course concepts.

Part 1 – Current Event: Find an online current event article that was published within the past five years. It should be on the topic of education and should illustrate a concept addressed in this course. You can find this kind of article on any news website. If you do not see a link for education news on the news website, search “education.” Using the template provided in Blackboard, write a summary of the current event. Details are provided in the template. Below are links that might help you find an article. 

· Education-specific news media

o EducationNews.org

o Education Week 

· TV news websites

o ABC News: Education

o BBC News: Education

o CBS News: Education

o CNN: Education Archive 

o FNC (Fox News): Education

o NBC News: Education

· Periodicals

o Boston Globe: Education Page

o Huffington Post: Education Page

o New York Times: Education Page

o US News & World Report: Education Page

o Wall Street Journal: Education Page

o Washington Post: Education Page

· Internet Sources

o Google News: Education

o Yahoo! News: Education

Part 2 – Research Article: Go to Education Journals and search for a research article that addresses the topic of the current event that you selected in Part 1. Ensure that the article was published within the past five years and has not been used in any previous assignments. Using the template provided in Blackboard, write a summary of the article. Details are provided in the template. 

Part 3 – Synthesis and Implications: Write a paragraph per details in the template synthesizing information from at least three sources: (1) the current event, (2) the research article, and (3) course materials, e.g., textbook, video presentation, or biblical principles. Discuss implications for educators based on this information. 

Submit the Current Event & Research Assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 6.