Guest blogger Cheryl Young remember the legacy of Amelia Earhart on her birthday. Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blog is in honor of Amelia Earhart’s birthday, July 24, 1897. The author is Cheryl Young, educator, founder of Young Education Services (YES) and biographer of Elizabeth Strohfus, WWII pilot. read more  Read More →

Editor’s Note: Our guest blogger this week is Eric Brunsell, who is the facilitator of both the STEM group on Edutopia as well as the bi-weekly #scichat (more below). Dr Eric Brunsell, facilitator for Edutopia's STEM group, introduces a new science chat on Twitter, #scichat. Published to RSS 2010-06-12 15 5 off No Off read more  Read More →

New York City’s experiment in differentiated instruction relies heavily, but not exclusively on technology to adapt lessons to individuals. Personalized learning has been a lot on our minds at Edutopia lately. We just launched some major coverage on Forest Lake Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina –- a kind of “little school that could” for differentiated instruction. It’s an earnest, humble place (except for... 

As we head into summer vacation and schools are shuttering their doors for three months, we should be rethinking how summer can become the “third semester” for 21st Century learning. At a conference in Washington last week, a colleague was surprised to hear that the long summer break dates back to our agrarian society and the need for young folk to help their families bring in the crops. Today, the vast majority of students don’t... 

What do you want video games to do for you? If you’ve ever tried to pry a child away from some video game that seems to exert more influence over him than you could ever hope to, you might have asked yourself: Why can’t we get a force this captivating in schools? What do you want video games to do for you? Published to RSS 2010-06-01 14 computer games, online simulation games, video games 5 off No Off read more  Read More →

Editor’s Note: This week’s guest blogger is Joan Weber, the facilitator for Edutopia’s Arts/Music/Drama group and moderator of the weekly #artsed chat on Twitter. Her post this week covers the highlights’s of No 2010-05-28 13 5 off No Off read more  Read More →

When we visited YES Prep North Central in Houston last spring, students in the junior class were already talking about their Senior Signing Day . On that day, amidst much fanfare, they would become the first in their families to enroll in college. 5 off No Off read more  Read More →

Ron Berger has been lugging a 100 pound black suitcase around the country for the past 20 years. It contains his personal treasure: a collection of poems, art work, scientific studies, field guides, and books created by K-12 public school students. Now Berger, Chief Program Officer of Expeditionary Learning Schools, is seeking to lighten his load by digitizing his personal collection and other outstanding examples of project work. 5 off No Off... 

It has become an article of faith in the Washington thinktankocracy that teachers are the most important factor in their students’ success. That’s not an entirely bad thing. What professional doesn’t want to be thought important? But think-tank dwellers often draw the wrong conclusions from this claim. Most of their talk about teachers focuses on how to fire the bad ones, hire the good ones, and pay the really good ones. Too few... 

During the holiday break, I always take some time to reflect on the past year and recharge for the work that’s ahead in the next. This year is no different, except that I wanted to tap into the Edutopia community and see how each of you take time to reflect and recharge — just leave a comment below to share how you’ve helped change education in 2009, and your tips for recharging for 2010. How have you helped change education this... 

Last week, I attended a conference in Washington, DC, organized by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning . The Schools That Work case study about SEL was presented at the 2009 Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning conference. 5 off No Off read more  Read More →