July 26, 2014

Girls Get Curves

A Hollywood actress and renowned math expert says girls can do anything, from excelling at math to reaching their highest goals. Then, getting rid of bad habits can help us. But can adding a few good habits change your life for the better?

Episode Segments:

InfoTrak: Girls Get Curves Danica McKellar is an actress, education advocate, and author of Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape . Ms. McKellar majored in mathematics at UCLA, and now encourages middle-school girls to excel in math. She explained the reasons that girls mistakenly believe that they cannot be both popular and smart, and how math skills can improve their overall self-confidence. She also explained how basic geometry can apply to everyday life.
Embed Code
InfoTrak: Breaking the Habit Habits shape every aspect of our lives, often in ways we do not recognize. Charles Duhigg, investigative reporter for the New York Times and , author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Businesss ummarized the results of recent scientific research that explains why habits exist and how they can be changed. He said tweaking even one habit, as long as it's the right one, can have staggering effects. He also explained how and why companies carefully study consumer habits.
Embed Code
InfoTrak: Among the Poor Jonathon Kozol has been working with low-income children in inner-city schools for nearly fifty years. He talked about his experiences at a school in one of the poorest sections of New York City. He believes that because of vast differences in funding from one area to another, the nation’s schools remain unequal and deeply segregated.
Embed Code

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Danica McKellar Best known for her roles on The Wonder Years and The West Wing, Danica McKellar is also a three-time New York Times bestselling author, internationally-recognized mathematician and advocate for math education. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in Mathematics, Danica has been honored in Britain's esteemed Journal of Physics and the New York Times for her work in mathematics, most notably for her role as co-author of a ground-breaking mathematical physics theorem which bears her name (The Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem). Danica's Website

Jonathon Kozol is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the United States. He has been working with children in inner-city schools for more than 40 years. [1]. Kozol graduated from Noble and Greenough School in 1954,[2] and Harvard University summa cum laude in 1958 with a degree in English Literature. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. He did not, however, complete his Rhodes, deciding instead to go to Paris to learn to write fiction and nonfiction from experienced authors such as William Styron, Richard Wright, and others who were living in Paris at the time. It was upon his return that he began to tutor children in Roxbury, MA, and soon became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools. He was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem, as described in Death at an Early Age, and then became deeply involved in the civil rights movement. After being fired from BPS he was offered a job to teach for Newton Public Schools, the school district that he had attended as a child, and taught there for several years before becoming more deeply involved in social justice work and dedicating more time to writing. Kozol has since held two Guggenheim Fellowships, has twice been a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and has also received fellowships from the Field and Ford Foundations. Kozol also has worked in the field of social psychology. Kozol is currently on the Editorial Board of Greater Good Magazine, published by the Greater Good Science Center of the University of California, Berkeley. Kozol's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships. Jonathon's Website

Charles Duhigg Charles Duhigg is a staff writer at the New York Times and author of the recently published book The Power of Habit about the science of habit formation and its applications among individuals, companies and societies. Charles' Website