Flickr: UTC Library “These are kids that get separated from friends that they used to attend elementary school with, and it is a scary time for them and they are filled with nerves. I wanted to make it more comfortable and help them understand it’s not as scary as they originally thought by helping them [...]
By Ifanyi Bell Ifanyi Bell has been a classroom teacher and a filmmaker, and currently develops and produces educational media for web-based, digital asset repositories at KQED. I was 13 years old in high school when this ad came out. As a young man, I was captivated by this optimistic depiction of a world where [...]
Adding to the pile of reading for work and for pleasure, I’d like to add this video to watch: Sugata Mitra’s TED Talk presentation, as pointed out by Huffington Post, which begs the question: “In the world’s richest country - indeed, in all ‘Westernized’ societies - what are our (pitiful?) excuses, again, for not putting computers in the [...]
“Even within the United States, the best schools are not the most tricked-out ones,” writes Amanda Ripley in a Slate article called “Brilliance in a Box” posted yesterday. Here’s more: “In most of the highest-performing systems, technology is remarkably absent from classrooms,” says Andreas Schleicher, a veteran education analyst for the Organization for Economic Cooperation [...]
What if each student had her own teacher at school? Would she benefit from individual attention, progressing at her own pace, learning the way that best suited her? Clearly, it’s economically and physically impossible to provide each student a separate teacher, but technology can be a powerful tool in helping that process along. In today’s [...]
By Sara Bernard Storytelling is taking on all kinds of new forms in the Web 2.0 era. Now, thanks to a range of new software, students can not only flex their writing wings, but do it together, by creating group-led e-books, fictional stories, blogs, op-eds, and petitions, and, in some cases, see their edits and [...]
By Sara Bernard The Internet is crammed with collaborative projects for kids, from music-making to drawing, mashups to Wikis, “pen” pal partnerships to citizen science. Some sites are designed specifically for students and teachers to connect across oceans; some just work well for that. The good news is that while some sites charge fees, most [...]
Veteran teacher, blogger, and educational technology expert Will Richardson was recently interviewed by Edweek. There are so many, but here are some of my favorite quotes: “I look at my kids’ tests all the time—it’s just factual stuff. You know, “What was the third ship that Columbus sailed?” I can’t stand it, because it doesn’t [...]
By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Tracy DeMarco By Katie Stansberry I was in the middle of a lecture on blogging today when an all-too-familiar sound broke the flow of my presentation – the mechanical music of a ringing cell phone. To make the situation all the more annoying, the phone belonged to me. Despite [...]
A Q&A with Mike Looney, Vice President of Vertical Markets at Wolfram|Alpha. Q. For those who don’t know about the company, tell us about Wolfram Alpha and the products that are used in the education space. Wolfram|Alpha is a “computational knowledge engine” which we sometimes refer to as an “answer” or “fact” engine. You pose [...]
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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