Interesting ArticlesHow Libraries Are Becoming Modern MakerspacesThey’ve long served as communal gathering spots, but these civic institutions are becoming gateways to technological tinkering.
BY THE NUMBERS: THE RISE OF THE MAKERSPACEOver the past decade, makerspaces have exploded in popularity all over the globe—user-reported numbers show nearly 1,400 active spaces, 14 times as many as in 2006. Also called hackerspaces or innovation labs, these establishments act as communal workshops where makers can share ideas and tools.
Why Making and the Arts Need Each Other to Survive and Thrive in SchoolsWhen the visual and performing arts, the musical and recording arts, and the theatrical and graphical arts are seen as mere luxuries or add-ons within the walls of a school, powerful forces are thereby prevented from transforming routine schooling into a renaissance of learning. But who has the time or the funding to allow that to happen?
What Makes a Great Makerspace?As schools across the country are demonstrating, makerspaces aren't just about technology. They're about giving outlet to students' creativity. Spaces can be as elaborate as sophisticated machine shops or as simple as libraries converted to support hands-on learning.
Horizon Report: Coding, Makerspaces Coming Soon to All K-12 Schools“Wicked” challenges, described as “those that are complex to even define, much less address” include closing the achievement gap and figuring out how best to personalize learning. Solvable problems, on the other hand, include rethinking teachers’ roles and creating real-world learning problems and experiences to students.
Combine Maker Activities and STEM LessonsYou may be familiar with maker spaces. In one form or another, hands-on teaching has always involved kids in “making.” Today’s new focus on maker spaces is taking making to a whole new level.
Epic Guide To Game Based LearningGames are fun. We can use them to teach. It isn’t that hard. Game based learning excites learning in my classroom. It can ignite your classroom too. In this post, I’ll share what I’m doing in my classroom. Additionally, I’ll give you 100+ of my favorite game based learning resources. These links and ideas will jumpstart your journey.
Failing Forward: Students Reflect on Almost Escaping #BreakoutThe situation was this: Working with another English teacher and his students, we facilitated two competing games of Time Warp with two Breakout kits. From the very first second, the students were into the game, finding puzzles, solving codes, and working together. It was some of the best and most efficient teamwork I’ve ever seen in a game.
7 GREAT NONPROFITS CHANGING THE FACE OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNINGMany of the organizations, which are listed alphabetically, have free tools, research, case studies, and resources that can seamlessly be utilized and implemented at the district and school levels. All of these organizations are shifting the needle and rocking professional learning nationwide.
Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk"What makes me enjoy talking the most," explains Milo, a Year 3 student, "is that everybody’s listened to you, and you’re part of the world, and you feel respected and important."
Oracy -- the ability to speak well -- is a core pedagogy at School 21, a London-based public school. Making Tech Her Story: Increasing Girls' Interest in ITWith today’s youth growing up as digital natives, it may come as a surprise that girls’ interest in technology jobs lowers by 30 percent after they enter high school. For those girls who are uninterested in tech careers, 69 percent attribute not knowing where career opportunities are as a main factor for their waning interest.
President Obama Pushes Innovation ‘Frontiers’ in STEMThe Frontiers Conference brought together global researchers, business leaders, technologists, philanthropists and local innovators to discuss how to keep Americans on the cutting edge of innovation with next-generation science and technology that will help improve lives. More than 700 innovators across academia, industry, government and civil society will participate in the conference, according to a White House fact sheet on the event.
How Schools Can Help Notice and Serve the ‘Quiet Kids’By understanding how to reach introverts, she said, teachers can get at those other issues. Because if they don’t start to look past the students with their hands up, “we’re all gonna miss out on a lot of brilliant ideas.”
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New Sites for TeachersFirst Thanksgiving Reader's TheaterUse these transcripts of interviews with historical interpreters from Plimoth Plantation as inspiration for Thanksgiving reader's theater. They'll help introduce your students to life in the 1620s in the New World.
Annenberg LearnerTeacher resources and professional development across the curriculum
FigmentWhere writers write, meet, create, share and connect!
Scholastic Daily StartersFun facts, activities and brain games to get you warmed in the morning!
Pixar in a Box by Khan AcademyPixar in a Box is a behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. You will be able to animate bouncing balls, build a swarm of robots, and make virtual fireworks explode. The subjects you learn in school — math, science, computer science, and humanities — are used every day to create amazing movies at Pixar. This collaboration between Pixar Animation Studios and Khan Academy is sponsored by Disney.
WriteReader: Children as CreatorsIn 2013 WriteReader in collaboration with several researchers specializing in IT and learning for children published the first version of the WriteReader iPad App. During the next two years the WriteReader App was further developed to be able to run on other devices browsers and was localized into several languages. Today WriteReader is sold in more than 40 countries and children have globally in total created more than 1 million books with WriteReader.
Safe, Smart and SocialWe provide digital citizenship assemblies and social media safety training to schools, educators and parents. We show students 8-18 years old how to think about their future and use social media as a positive portfolio of accomplishments to shine online.
Next Vista for Learning: Soaring Creativity Video ContestWe at NextVista.org work to help students and teachers share creative approaches to learning, and as part of that effort, we invite you to take part in this educational video contest. Those who have participated in our contests before will be familiar with the general format: mix creativity and clarity, and good things happen!
Google Tips & TricksQuickShare ScreenshotI take thousands of screenshots every year. This is an essential part of a blended classroom. When I want students to use digital resources I will include screenshots of what the students need to click on within the directions document. I share with students things I see on the web using screenshots. Screenshots are also great for giving students feedback of their work. Of course, my blog here is full of screenshots.
5 AWESOME GOOGLE DOCS, SLIDES, AND SHEETS TEMPLATES TO USE WITH STUDENTSEvery day we are finding awesome uses for Google Apps, whether it’s collaboration, individual creation, or perhaps a mix of both. With the volume of people working within the Google Apps ecosystem, why reinvent the wheel when many visionary educators have created great templates for students to use as a springboard for their work.
Getting Started with Google Expeditions and Virtual RealityYou’ve heard the hype, but are you ready to bring virtual reality or VR to your classroom? Getting started with Google Expeditions and virtual reality can sound complicated, so I’ve decided to break it down for you in this article. Let’s cover the basics so that you can prepare to bring virtual reality into your classroom. This post is part one is a new series to help you learn more about virtual reality and how to bring Google Expeditions into your classroom.
10 Downing Street10 Downing Street, the home of British prime ministers since 1735, vies with the White House as being the most important political building anywhere in the world. Behind its iconic black door, the most important decisions affecting Britain for the last 275 years have been taken.
Five new ways to reach your goals faster with G SuiteOne of the core promises of Google Docs is to help you and your team go from collecting ideas to achieving your goals as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why last month we launched Explore in Docs, Sheets and Slides — with machine intelligence built right in — to help your team create amazing presentations, spreadsheets and documents in a fraction of the time it used to take.
20 Chrome Extensions, Web Apps, and Add-ons for MathAs awesome as Google tools are for students, teachers, and schools, sometimes they can lack a feature or tool you need for your specific subject area. A common area for this concern is in mathematics. Math teachers may sometimes feel that their content and specialized symbols aren’t always so easy to transfer over from the convenience of paper and pencil to the uniqueness of a digital environment.
See What's New from the Tango TeamTango lets you see more of your world. Just hold up your phone, and watch as virtual objects and information appear on top of your surroundings. So no matter where you are, there's always a richer, deeper experience to engage with, explore and enjoy. You'll see.
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