Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. She's worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported, produced and blogged on health, climate change and local news for KQED in San Francisco.
With the onset of the Common Core State Standards, which teachers are expected to implement next year, and the growth of blended learning, the role of digital resources both for instruction and assessment has come under close scrutiny. The quickly shifting landscape is leaving many Internet Technology directors worrying that they won’t be able to [...]
A consortium of science and education organizations has released the first set of science standards since the original set prepared by the National Research Council and the American Association for Advancement in Science 15 years ago. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) aim to incorporate the scientific community’s understanding of science as it has grown [...]
Nine universities are testing CourseSmart technology that lets professors track their students’ progress in a digital textbook. The product goes further to package individual information about each student that a teacher can use to intervene throughout the learning process. Source: Nytimes SAN ANTONIO – Several Texas A&M professors know something that generations of teachers could [...]
Responding to worries that school is not preparing students for the jobs of the future, there’s been a concerted effort lately to emphasize the importance of learning STEM subjects. President Obama made a pitch for STEM in his State of the Union address this year saying, “we’ll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges [...]
This article points to an interesting experiment going on at Harvard to provide online Humanities courses with the dialogue that’s so crucial to those subjects. The question will be, is it sustainable to ask alumni to contribute in this way? On the other hand, maybe they’ll love it. “One of the challenges of ‘massive open [...]
Getty Bestselling author and educational expert Alan November’s new book Who Owns the Learning?: Preparing Students for Success in the Digital Age compiles lessons learned over 30 years of educational experience. Beginning with his first teaching job, November began to realize that the most powerful education happens when students take ownership of their learning and [...]
You will change history. That’s the core message of author Brad Meltzer’s TED-Ed talk. Even famous change-makers — like Martin Luther King — had concerns like everyone else. They worried about failure and were lonely sometimes, but that didn’t stop them from changing history. Meltzer sets out a simple path for each person to change [...]
Getty Technology has often been called a democratizer in education, allowing students from all backgrounds to access the same resources and tools. Others see potential for technology to do great harm, widening an already substantial achievement gap related to issues of equity. Access to technology costs money and some fear lower-income schools and students will [...]
Jamie Nast/Flickr Helping students learn how to learn: That’s what most educators strive for, and that’s the goal of inquiry learning. That skill transfers to other academic subject areas and even to the workplace where employers have consistently said that they want creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers. Inquiry learning is an integrated approach that includes [...]
Scientists are always uncovering new ways into how people learn best, and some of the most recent neuroscience research has shown connections between basic survival functions, social and emotional reactions to the world, and creative impulses. Students’ social and emotional reactions to learning are imperative to feeling motivated to learn and to their ability to [...]
Ready, Set, Read! Summer Fiction Ideas for Kids of All Ages
Reading high-quality fiction may serve a larger purpose than preparing students for college and tests. Several recent studies show that reading great literature makes individuals more empathetic. Here’s a great list of fiction books for kids of all ages, recommended by those who know best — librarians.
Six Great Online Games for Summer Learning
By Almetria Vaba Summer can be a great opportunity to leverage a child’s interest in specific subjects, like science or history, with their fascination for digital games. PBS LearningMedia, launched a year ago, has a robust collection of free interactive games to experiment, manipulate, and investigate. Amusement Park Physics How do physics laws affect amusement [...]
74 Creative Ways to Stop Summer Brain Drain
Keep kids’ brain muscles flexed with fun learning exercises. This year’s Summer Learning Series features 10 Awesome Outdoor Learning Ideas, 10 Fun Indoor Learning Projects, Four Ways to Prepare for College This Summer, and to round out the numbered lists, all these ideas.
Keep Learning and Making: 10 Fun Indoor Summer Projects
Summer’s here and along with valuable time spent outdoors learning and embarking on adventures, kids can use downtime at home to keep those brain circuits exercising indoor, too. To that end, here are 10 ideas for indoor learning opportunities.
10 Awesome Outdoor Summer Learning Ideas
Thinkstock By Jennie Rose Summer can be a mixed bag, a combination of relief from the stress of school, followed by boredom, the bugaboo of a creative mind. The break from school offers a chance to carve out enriching, fun projects and beat the doldrums brought about by summer loafing. The warm weather is a [...]
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