NPR/TED Staff
Stories
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Olympia Della Flora: Can Small Classroom Tweaks Help Kids Better Cope With Emotions?
After months of struggling with one particularly challenging elementary school student, principal Olympia Della Flora realized it was the classroom setting that needed to change ... not the child.
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Liz Kleinrock: How Can We Broach Hard Conversations In The Classroom?
When one of Liz Kleinrock's fourth grade students made a cringeworthy comment about race, rather than change the subject, she chose to turn the moment into a teachable one — and start a conversation.
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Jacqueline Woodson: What Is The Hidden Power Of Slow Reading?
Novelist Jacqueline Woodson is a slow reader. Taking her time lets her savor each word brings her closer to each story, and it lets her pay respect to her ancestors who weren't allowed to read.
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Thomas Curran: How Can We Teach Kids To Accept Imperfection?
Many students feel unrelenting pressure to be ... perfect. Social psychologist Thomas Curran warns that striving for perfectionism isn't just impossible — it's also dangerous to children's health.
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Julia Sweeney: How Does A Person Go From Believer To Atheist?
When two young Mormon missionaries knock on performer Julia Sweeney's door one day, it touches off a quest to completely rethink her own beliefs.
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Lesley Hazleton: Is Doubt Essential To Faith?
Writer Lesley Hazleton calls for a new appreciation of doubt and questioning as the foundation of faith — and an end to fundamentalism of all kinds.
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Greg Tonkinson: How Does Doubt Fit Into Faith?
In 2010, a life-changing event challenged the way ordained minister Greg Tonkinson related to God. Having dedicated his life to his faith, Greg had to rethink the way he saw God's plan.
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Alain De Botton: What Can Atheism Learn From Religion?
Alain de Botton suggests a "religion for atheists" that incorporates religious forms and traditions to satisfy our human need for connection, ritual, and transcendence.
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Devdutt Pattanaik: Are There Any Universal Beliefs and Truths?
Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West and shows how these two different sets of beliefs about God, death, and heaven cause us to misunderstand one another.
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Deinse Herzing: Do Dolphins Have A Language?
We know that dolphins make distinctive clicks and whistles. But is that a language? Researcher Denise Herzing thinks it might be — and for the past 35 years — she's been working on unlocking it.