A’ndrea Fisher facilitated a video call with a class in Canada to help her first-grade students in Texas gain diverse perspectives. Students shared state and national symbols during the call as well as symbols they created to represent their class. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Finding Similarities Across Cultures
By Elaine Larson What do fresh water availability, climate change, the future of energy, air quality, land management, and the search for life in space have in common? They are all topics investigated through a comprehensive new collection of online lessons for middle and high school Earth and environmental science classrooms, developed with funding from NSF and in partnership with The Concord Consortium, a prominent … Continue reading The High-Adventure Science Collection
EDUCATION After years on the back burner of the nation’s educational agenda, civics is making a comeback, with a number of states mandating new classes or assessments and a burgeoning national push for high-school seniors to pass the exam required of new citizens. (Wall Street Journal) Use the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards to guidance helping students prepare … Continue reading Civics Moves Up in Class
UNITED STATES The Common Core State Standards have vaulted into the national consciousness lately thanks to some high-profile dissenters, like Louis C.K. (“Kids teachers parents are vocally suffering.”) and Stephen Colbert (“Common Core testing is preparing students for what they’ll face as adults—pointless stress and confusion.”) NPR wades through the confusion by answering questions about the standards. (NPR) Love them or loathe them, we can … Continue reading Common Core FAQ
By Homa S. Tavanger, educator and author of Growing Up Global and The Global Education Toolkit An ongoing communication with an enthusiastic social studies teacher in a large Midwestern school district ended abruptly when she emailed me: “due to NCLB [No Child Left Behind] corrective action our district will need to channel our professional development time and funds toward this goal. I’m so sorry that … Continue reading How ANY Classroom Can Become a Global Classroom—In Five Easy Steps
