Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

3 essential tools to make elementary science easier

Key points:

  • Interactivity and engaging resources can make science more approachable
  • Elementary school teachers need easy-to-use science tools that will grab students’ attention

During my time as a kindergarten teacher, I learned three major lessons about our youngest learners’ relationship to science. Specifically, I learned that elementary school students are predisposed to being excited to learn about their world, are naturally curious about how the world of nature works, and benefit highly from learning about the STEM/STEAM-related professions they might someday consider pursuing.  

My current role as a PreK-12 science curriculum specialist affords me the opportunity to work alongside a variety of elementary school teachers as they plan engaging lessons and activities for their students. Often, I hear that science is set aside for various reasons. While I recognize the critical importance of developing math and literacy mastery, we must ensure our elementary level learners are well-rounded and prepared with the scientific skills needed for future success. So, I see it as part of my role to provide the teachers I serve with easy-to-use resources and instructional supports they need to easily “sneak” scientific concepts into their lesson.…Read More

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Can GPT-4 and TikTok usher in a new learning frontier?

Key points:

  • Combining AI and video platforms could spur engaging and interactive content
  • Still, considerations around access and equity, along with misinformation, should be taken seriously

In recent years, the digital landscape has witnessed significant changes, and as an AI language model, I have been observing these transformations closely. One of the most prominent developments is the rise of TikTok, a short-form video-sharing platform that has become a cultural phenomenon. This rapid growth has led me to consider the potential of combining my capabilities as a language understanding and generation model with the appeal of TikTok to create a unique, engaging learning experience for students.

TikTok’s short video format makes it an ideal platform for this approach, allowing educators to deliver focused lessons that students can easily consume and remember. By integrating my AI-generated content, these lessons can be customized to each student’s learning preferences, ensuring a personalized learning experience.…Read More

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Riverside Insights and Thrively Team Up to Help Children Discover Their Inner Genius

ITASCA, Ill. – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today announced a partnership with Thrively, a personalized learning platform for K-12 students aimed at helping children everywhere discover their inner genius. The partnership will enable educators to discover students’ unique strengths, interests and aspirations to build the skills they need for success in the classroom and beyond.

Adding Thrively to Riverside Insights’ offerings provides educators engaging resources to complement Riverside’s researched-backed assessments and insights. The Riverside Insights’ CogAT(R) (Cognitive Abilities TestTM ) measures verbal, quantitative and nonverbal reasoning skills, providing multiple perspectives on cognitive abilities and student potential for learning. The Thrively assessments, also research-based, help students develop self-efficacy and confidence to unlock their strengths, learning styles, habits and personality. Riverside and Thrively assessments, used in combination, maximize student understanding and engagement and create a comprehensive strengths-based profile for students K-12.

“Riverside Insights and Thrively share the same goal of giving all students the tools and confidence they need to thrive in the classroom and succeed in life after graduation,” said Matt Tebbe, Group General Manager, Riverside Insights. “Our research-based assessments empower educators with the knowledge to help each learner, while the Thrively platform helps to unlock the students’ potential and increase overall classroom engagement.”…Read More

Take a peek inside this teacher’s Escape Room learning challenges

Escape rooms are engaging for people of all ages—they require durable skills such as creativity, critical thinking, determination, and the ability to work in groups to solve challenges. It makes sense that educators would craft their lessons around the concept of an escape room—and that’s just what high school educator Lynn Thomas has done.

In this Q&A with eSchool News, Thomas details how she found inspiration to create escape room learning opportunities and the benefits she sees for her students–and she offers a look at a new ChatGPT challenge she’s created.

eSN: What gave you the idea to structure learning activities in an escape room-style challenge? …Read More

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Harnessing edtech for deeper science engagement

Throughout my career as a science educator in Colorado, Washington, and now in Florida, I’ve collaborated with many tremendous educators to solve the challenge of engaging students in science. Over time and through trial and error, we’ve learned the importance of engaging students in relevant content that is meaningful to them, engaging them in monitoring their own learning, or engaging them through strategies that make learning accessible.

However, I believe the most important factor in achieving a high level of student engagement in science is providing opportunities for students to participate in active learning experiences. As the K-12 science coordinator in a medium-sized school district in Central Florida, it is a critical part of my team’s work to find and create these opportunities and share them with teachers across the district.

There are five examples of these active learning experiences that stand out as effective strategies to achieve student engagement through relevancy, self-monitoring of learning, and accessible learning for every student:…Read More

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STEM learning offers unique rewards, despite challenges

The positive impacts that U.S. public schools and their communities enjoy from STEM programs were underscored in a new survey conducted among some of the nation’s leading middle and high school STEM educators. Nearly 60 percent of teachers indicate that although teaching STEM is challenging, it offers educators unique rewards by engaging their student’s curiosity and enhancing their motivation, according to Samsung Solve for Tomorrow’s “The State of STEM Education” survey.

Additionally, the study finds that STEM education has been insulated from controversial issues (35 percent), with 65 percent reporting that local school boards and communities are either “generally supportive” of STEM in their school or that the success of the STEM program has been a “solid positive” with the community.

Teachers also told us that implementing the problem-based learning (PBL) techniques utilized in their Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM projects helped counteract the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education at their schools. Among respondents, 46 percent agreed that by helping students see that their work can have an impact outside of the classroom and in their communities PBL has been a strong antidote to COVID-induced feelings of isolation, helplessness, and anxiety about the state of the world.…Read More

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6 ways to help reluctant readers become booklovers

Not everyone loves to read. Even in schools with strong reading cultures, some students just don’t feel the spark—yet.

Through helping reluctant readers find books that capture their imaginations, teachers and librarians can ignite a newfound enthusiasm for reading in students.

Here are six strategies for engaging hesitant students:…Read More

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DPS STEAM Launches Innovative Discovery Education Program

DENVER, CO – The Denver Public Schools STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, PE, Health and Media Literacy) Department is excited to announce the launch of a new initiative with Discovery Education which will help educators district wide provide K-12 students with innovative and engaging multilingual learning experiences and resources.

“We are thrilled to bring Discovery Education’s digital resources to our students,” said Nadia Madan Morrow, Chief of Academics of Denver Public Schools. “This initiative will help us enhance and enrich the educational experiences of our K-12 students, while also empowering our teachers with tools and resources to enhance the district’s adopted curriculum.”

Discovery Education, a worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place, offers K-12 educators a range of digital tools and resources that support the design and delivery of exciting educational experiences every day. The program includes science simulations, STEM connection videos and activities, virtual field trips and more!…Read More

Wayside Publishing and Nualang Partner for World Language Education

Freeport, Maine – Wayside Publishing announces the launch of Nualang within Learning Site®, Wayside’s digital learning platform. This pioneering collaboration brings advanced technology to the world language classroom, providing learners with opportunities to practice their listening and speaking skills in a safe, confidence-building environment.

“As Wayside Publishing grows, we continue to expand our range of creative and time-saving technologies for educators—ones that also provide students with engaging and supportive learning-enhancement tools,” says Wayside President Greg Greuel. “This partnership shows Wayside’s commitment to enhancing how we deliver products for the world languages education community. Initially, Nualang will be available for the readers connected to the EntreCulturas Companion Reader Edition, and we will continue to expand its availability for other languages and products.”

“We see immense potential with our partnership with Wayside Publishing. At Nualang, we take pride in our technological innovation. Our tools give Wayside the ability to bring content to life with digital conversation exercises that are linked to their products,” says Greg Cawley, CEO of Nualang. “Together, we provide an engaging and comprehensive language learning experience that seamlessly integrates with Wayside’s Learning Site® and reaches a wide audience of world languages educators and students.”…Read More