Tech tools have the ability to engage students and they help catalyze tech skills growth by default. While other factors can help spur some improved student engagement and achievement, the obvious answer in the 21st century is technology. And, whether in a classroom, library, or afterschool makerspace, there is a compatible tech tool for just about everyone.
Recent issues with student attention have inspired teachers to incorporate more audiovisual elements, like podcasts and videos, into the classroom. Research shows that interacting with videos in class improves students' engagement and retention of STEM content, as well as increasing class satisfaction. Look inside for tips on using video elements in the classroom.
For educators, especially those who may be new to technology and STEM in general, the Makey Makey is an excellent starting point for your lessons. Besides immediately recognizing its catchy name, the Makey Makey is an extremely appealing teaching tool that boosts engagement and maximizes instruction. What does it help you teach? Just about anything you want.
The benefits of using robotics kits in education are far-reaching in both the short and long term. Of course, using robotics tools helps kids learn some of the most important coding concepts with methods kids can more easily understand. Now, robotics experiences are inclusive of almost all students and features of classroom robots more effectively meet everyone's needs.
The term artificial intelligence typically refers to the computer systems that are capable of efficiently completing tasks that should normally require the use of human intelligence. As educational leaders continue exploring some of the various avenues—popular or not—of bringing it into classrooms, the hope is that it extends educator efficiency and helps student achievement.
With the Blooket online review game, classroom teachers can transform an assessment with simple academic challenges, and help boost retention for students in any educational environment. Blooket also helps enhance their engagement and empowers K-5 instructors to facilitate authentic learning experiences in the classroom. So, this week, we're telling you all about it.
Sometimes, teaching kids about coding can get complicated. Even with all of these excellent coding solutions that are available for K-12 teachers and their students, it can sometimes feel challenging to pinpoint how exactly to start. So, in this post, we’re exploring the SpriteBox Coding platform, a CS app that educators can use to introduce coding in early elementary school.
If you haven't seen the full broadcast or you want to revisit some of the key topics we covered in the presentation, the full replay is still available. Some of the highlights include how the BirdBrain materials align to standards and offer a low floor and high ceiling for STEM education. As for leveraging the robots in SEL, we also discuss their close connections to those five pillars.
A professional learning network (a PLN) may traditionally consist of groups of colleagues or like-minded professionals who regularly communicate and collaborate (usually online) to help the members maximize their skill sets. A PLN in the education world involves teachers sharing resources, answering requests, or offering guidance and support while building relationships.
Besides creating their own virtual reality content, students can also use the CoSpaces Edu app to explore coding. Within this online platform, they can access this Blockly editor for drag-and-drop programming practice. Called CoBlocks, this visual language is simple for beginners and, as children get better at creating programs, they can move on to script-based languages.
