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Microsoft supremo Bill Gates wants to fit school students with mood bracelets to measure how interested they are in their lessons. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is spending $1.1 million (£700,000) testing galvanic skin response bracelets to see if they can measure whether students find their teachers engaging. The move is part of the billionaire’s mission to evaluate and improve the quality of teachers, which has already included controversial initiatives such as fitting classrooms with video cameras. The bracelets measure how well the skin conducts electricity, which varies with its moisture level. Sweat glands are controlled by the nervous system so skin conductance can be used as an indication of emotional response. Some US teachers and commentators have been less than impressed with the plan. ‘Why would anybody spent money on this when some school systems can’t afford to pay their electric bills?’ Education blogger Valerie Strauss wrote in the Washington Post. ‘The obsession with measurement in data and school reform has reached nutty new heights.' Teacher Anthony Cody, writing in Education Week, commented: ‘The wonderful thing about having human beings as teachers is that we are naturally empathetic. We do not need galvanic skin sensors to detect when our students are drowsy or disinterested -- we can look around the room in an instant and know!’ | 
