Top 10 Characteristics of a 21st Century Classroom
Top 10 Characteristics of a 21st Century Classroom
As education advances with the help of technology, it becomes very clear that the modern day classroom needs are very different from the conventional classroom needs.
The evolved 21st century classroom is a productive environment in which students can develop the skills they will require in the workplace and teachers are facilitators of their learning. The focus of a 21st century classroom is on students experiencing the environment they will enter as modern day workers and developing their higher order thinking skills, effective communication skills, collaboration skills, making them adept with using technology and all other skills that they will need in the 21st century workplace.
New invisibility Cloak Device Can Hide Almost Anything
Hats off to scientists at the University of Rochester in New York, who have managed to produce a cheap ‘invisibility cloak’ effect using readily available materials and a lot of clever thinking. Through a combination of optical lenses, any object that passes behind a certain line of sight can be made to disappear from view.
Read MoreThe Evolution of the Desk
“Evolution of the Desk” is an initiative borne out of the Harvard Innovation Lab. The goal is to illustrate the impact that technology has had on our lives over the last 35 years. A cluttered desk, complete with a rolodex, a file cabinet, and a fax machine, transforms into a much cleaner, simpler surface consisting of only a laptop and a mobile phone. Of course, some things in life – like the sun – are everlasting, so the shades persist throughout the years.
Read More‘A’ Is for Apps: Teachers Share Top Digital Tools of the Trade
Nestled between Julia Auster’s fantasy football app and Facebook Messenger is a relatively new bucket of apps: the education tools she uses in the French classes she teaches at Robert Adams Middle School in Holliston, Mass.. Auster isn’t alone. (…)
Read MoreLack of Sleep Increases Risk of Failure in School Among Teens
For adolescents, adequate sleep is crucial for proper growth. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that teens need a little more than nine hours of sleep each night. Previous researches have highlighted how lack of sufficient sleep puts teens at the risk of cognitive and emotional difficulties, disciplinary problems, negative moods and lack of attention at school.
Read MoreEmbracing Student Creativity with a Wonder Shelf
As a high school math teacher, it was important for me to create a learning space that welcomed on-demand wonder and exploration. I knew that I planned to have a few essential hands-on math tools, and in the last few years, I also knew that I needed to have other items that were essential for providing kids more creative freedom. With a few containers, manipulatives, and supplies, along with some technology, I created a space that my students would go on to name “the wonder shelves.”
Read MoreSix Alternatives To Book Reports
When I was a kid, I hated book reports. I hated filling out a form describing what I read. I wasn’t a fan of artsy crafty alternatives, like cereal box projects or dioramas. What I did love, though, was geeking out on what I read. I loved arguing about who was better, what they should have done, etc. I loved making mash-ups and fan fiction. So, with that in mind, I have created some visual writing ideas that are alternatives to the standard book report. This allows students to explore their favorite trends in books.
Read More8 Tips to Create a Twitter-Driven School Culture
Twitter is one of the most powerful tools that you can use for your professional development — 24/7. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of educators around the world are currently using Twitter to connect, share, and collaborate. While it’s fantastic that educators are flocking to Twitter, many of them still feel even more alone and isolated within their own school and district.While it’s fantastic that educators are flocking to Twitter, many of them still feel even more alone and isolated within their own school and district. There’s an unfortunate inverse trend I’ve noticed in education: the more connected you are on Twitter, the less support and collaboration you tend to have within your school.
Read MoreHattie Ranking: Influences & Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement
John Hattie developed a way of ranking various influences in different meta-analyses according to their effect sizes. In his ground-breaking study “Visible Learning” he ranked those influences which are related to learning outcomes from very positive effects to very negative effects on student achievement. Hattie found that the average effect size of all the interventions he studied was 0.40. Therefore he decided to judge the success of influences relative to this ‘hinge point’, in order to find an answer to the question “What workAs best in education?”
Read More5 Tools for Helping Students Find Creative Commons Images
Photos, logos, graphics and images are an important part of any multimedia creation that students produce. A few well placed, high quality images can transform class work from amateur to spectacularly professional. So, unless you plan on taking your own photographs or creating your own artwork, finding legitimate Creative Commons images is an essential digital skill. To help students (and teachers) navigate and understand the often confusing space that is digital copyright, here are five tools that we recommend using to to search, reference, attribute and download Creative Commons images.
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