Constance Steinkuehler on Interest-Driven Learning
Game-based learning scholar Constance Steinkuehler talks about her research on online video games and literacy, and explores how motivation and engagement can skyrocket when students are passionate about the subject matter.
Singapore’s 21st-Century Teaching Strategies
By cultivating strong school leadership, committing to ongoing professional development, and exploring innovative models like its technology-infused Future Schools, Singapore has become one of the top-scoring countries on the PISA tests.
Finland’s Formula for School Success
Early intervention and sustained individual support for every student are keys to educating the whole child in Finnish schools. This video has been produced in partnership with the Pearson Foundation.
The Future of Learning, Networked Society
Can ICT redefine the way we learn in the Networked Society? Technology has enabled us to interact, innovate and share in whole new ways. This dynamic shift in mindset is creating profound change throughout our society. The Future of Learning looks at one part of that change, the potential to redefine how we learn and educate. Watch as we talk with world renowned experts and educators about its potential to shift away from traditional methods of learning based on memorization and repetition to more holistic approaches that focus on individual students’ needs and self expression.
‘Unschooling’: Home learning the future of US education?
There’s class warfare in the U.S., but it’s nothing to do with social status. Teachers there are walking out in their thousands, demanding better pay and conditions. And as schools see a marked decline in staff and standards, more and more families are taking the concept of homework to its ultimate conclusion.
The Million E-Books Movement: An African Revolution
Literacy is a critical driver of prosperity (OECD International Adult Literacy Survey 1994-98), and reading inspires and empowers. Yet in much of the world, children have access to a vanishingly small range of books. Fifty percent of schools in sub-Saharan Africa have few or no books (SACMEQ II), slowing learning and societal advancement. And imagine what children miss if they never discover a favorite book about dinosaurs or space exploration.
Worldreader is a US and European non-profit whose mission is to make digital books available to children in the developing world, so millions of people can improve their lives. As of June 2012, they have put over 200,000 e-books - and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them – into the hands of 1,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa.
In order to join the movement, please visit their “Million Books” portal.
Students Show Off Their Solutions To World Problems At Google Science Fair
As kids, we hoped to be astronauts, rocketeers and atom cracking physicists, where limitation knew no bounds. Google wants to foster this spirit, providing a science fair for a group of selected geniuses from all around the world. Among the many projects being showcased include a project from Swaziland where two 14 year old boys have developed a mechanism to provide hydroponic farming methods to extremely poor villages. Potential prizes for the winners include $50,000 and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
Delaware Department of Education Technology Tests New Edutech System
Delaware is one of the first states in the nation to switch to online student assessments (Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System) from the old bubble sheet testing system. The new system gives school districts greater flexibility in scheduling the test, allows teachers to better track students’ progress, and the new test is more time efficient. Delaware is also proud of eLearning Delaware, an online professional development program for educators.
Students synthesizing bacteria to create islands out of garbage
The ocean is full of crap, and it’s our fault. We’ve been dumping crap into it for centuries, so it’s not surprising that some areas boast 335,000 pieces of floating junk per square km. Cleaning it all up by hand isn’t feasible, so a group of students are trying to engineer synthetic bacteria to do the job instead.
The bacteria will be customized with three genetic ‘modules’: module one is detection, which uses a human oestrogen receptor that binds to different types of plastics. Once the bacteria finds itself some plastic, the aggregation module kicks in, inducing the bacteria to to extrude a sticky substance. Gradually, all of the little tiny bits of sticky plastic will glom on to each other, forming ‘islands’ that float up to the surface and can be easily collected and recycled, or stuck to each other to make a giant garbage island that is apparently suitable for habitation by monkeys.
Social Media Week Supports Alternative Education
Skillshare, the learning marketplace where anyone can learn anything from anyone else willing to teach, is teaming up with Social Media Week to launch the School of Emerging Media and Technology.
