Faculty and staff from across UW–Madison’s School of Education are routinely quoted or make their voices heard in newspapers, magazines, and online news media outlets. Similarly, these experts are often interviewed and showcased on a range of local, national, and international podcasts, radio, and television news reports.
For the latest examples, visit our “In the News” archives.
Stamm discusses ‘Kids, Sports, and the Concussed Brain’ with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta
Julie Stamm appeared on CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta’s podcast “Chasing Life” in October for an episode titled, “Kids, Sports, and the Concussed Brain.”
Stamm — who is the author of the book, “The Brain on Youth Sports: The Science, the Myths, and the Future” — told Gupta that concussions aren’t something to be brushed off.
“I often use the term concussion because it’s just so commonly used in sports, especially. But it is a traumatic brain injury, and it’s often classified as a mild traumatic brain injury — and even that feels like it minimizes the injury,” said Stamm, an assistant clinical professor with the School of Education’s Department of Kinesiology. “We’re not worried about somebody having bleeding on the brain and having it be a critical, life-threatening thing in that moment. But it still can have very significant consequences, lasting symptoms, and can very much disrupt someone’s life. So, it is a serious injury.”
Stamm offered five tips to raise awareness about concussions
- Concussions can happen without losing consciousness
“Less than 10 percent of concussions result in a loss of consciousness,” Stamm said. - Concussions can occur without a direct hit to the head
“A blow to the body that causes the head to move back and forth, like whiplash, can cause a concussion because the brain moves within and hits against the skull,” Stamm said. She explained that this is why helmets cannot prevent all concussions. - Don’t overlook less obvious concussion symptoms
“These include difficulty sleeping or not sleeping enough, being apathetic, or being overly emotional,” Stamm said. - Update your treatment playbook
“While we used to say that rest is best following a concussion, we now know that light exercise is helpful for concussion recovery,” Stamm said. - Avoid impacts in sports
“Minimizing or eliminating impacts in practice or delaying the start of full-contact versions of sports until a child is older are strategies that not only help to reduce concussion risk, but also to minimize the consequences of repetitive brain trauma in sports,” Stamm said.
News outlets across nation spotlight CCBC’s work
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) received a range of media attention for its work from news outlets across the country this past fall.
On Sept. 26, CCBC Director Tessa Michaelson Schmidt was quoted in a report from ABC News5 in Cleveland, Ohio, about the growth of Hispanic representation in children’s books. According to the article, which cites the CCBC’s Diversity Statistics, 7 percent of children’s books sent to the CCBC this year have been “about the Latino community.” This is compared to just 2 percent in 1994.
On Oct. 11, Megan Schliesman, a CCBC librarian and assistant director, spoke with USA Today about the banning of books in children’s libraries. The article discusses a website that includes a book rating system often used by political activists to target books for removal from libraries.
Rating books “implies there’s something inherently dangerous or disturbing about certain kinds of content. … That idea that there is this rating system that can set a standard that applies to every family in a community is completely untrue, completely uninformed,” Schliesman told USA Today.
And in December, Scientific American reported how children’s literature is becoming increasingly diverse, “helping more kids than ever to see themselves in their favorite books. Of the thousands of kids’ and teens’ books reviewed (by the CCBC) in a 2022 analysis, about 45 percent had a nonwhite author, illustrator, or compiler, up from 8 percent in 2014.”
Administratively housed in the School of Education and also supported by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the CCBC serves as a resource to Wisconsin schools, teachers, librarians, and others interested in children’s and young adult literature. The center’s Diversity Statistics document books for children and teens it receives annually by and about Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color.
In other reports
- Robert Enright, a pioneer who launched the scientific study of forgiveness, joined CNN’s “Chasing Life” podcast with Sanjay Gupta for a Dec. 5 episode to discuss the physical and psychological benefits of forgiving others. Enright holds the Aristotelian Professorship in Forgiveness Science in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology.
- Erica Turner, an associate professor with the Department of Educational Policy Studies, appeared on two podcasts (“The Integrated Schools Podcast” and the “New Books Network” podcast) and one radio program (WORT-FM’s “A Public Affair” program) this past fall to talk about her award-winning book, “Suddenly Diverse: How School Districts Manage Race and Inequality.”
- John Rudolph in September appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Morning Show” to discuss his new book, “Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should).” Rudolph argues the American science curriculum needs to shift away from its current focus on content memorization toward a new aim of building students’ understanding of what science is, how it works, and why it’s smart to trust scientific experts. Rudolph is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement professor with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
- At the start of the academic year, David Williamson Shaffer shared his expertise on artificial intelligence and the changing landscape of education with several media outlets. He spoke with Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate, WTMJ, to explain how artificial intelligence will be an important tool in schools and workplaces moving forward. He added that school-wide or classroom bans of tools like ChatGPT will not serve students well. A better approach, he said, is to start to integrate AI into instructional practice. Shaffer is the Sears Bascom Professor of Learning Analytics and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences with the Department of Educational Psychology.