A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
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Blog Entries
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is teaming up with two law schools (and presumably a lot of twenty-something computer programmers) to create civics education video games. At the Games for Change conference yesterday, she announced a project to develop interactive on-line games that let students "engage in real legal issues"--and, in the process, learn how courts work. ...
I couldn't swing a cat over the past few days without hitting a reference to the virtues of performance assessment--thanks in large part to the Coalition of Essential Schools' effective promotion of National Exhibition Month, which "promote[s] and celebrate exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment" ...
In the first installment of our interview with best-selling author Dave Eggers, Eggers told us about 826 National, the network of community-based centers he co-founded to help students with their expository and creative writing skills.
In this second installment, Eggers describes his strategies for motivating reluctant writers. These strategies include:
...
In a few days, a new and expanded edition of Richard Louv’s best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods, will hit bookstores around the country. Louv’s book has fueled an international movement to combat what he calls “nature deficit disorder,” children’s growing alienation from the natural world. (Louv’s term for the disorder is quickly catching on, turning up in major newspapers, on television, and even in a February cartoon by Bloom County creator Berke Breathed.)
A quotation from our recent telephone interview with Louv elegantly captures the thrust of his argument: “[T]he message we’re sending kids is that nature is in the past and probably doesn’t count anymore, the future’s in electronics, the boogeyman lives in the woods, and playing outdoors is probably illicit and possibly illegal.” ...
In observance of Earth Day 2008, veteran science teacher Kenny Luna cooked up a clever way to
get young students thinking about the impact they have on the environment every day. In a few short months, he has managed to get thousands of school children in schools across the country to take on the "Great Copy Machine Epidemic of 2008."
In his own words:
When more than 23,000 school kids at 30 schools in 13 U.S. States and the Island of Curacao participated in The Great Copy Machine Epidemic of 2008, they took a step towards reducing both deforestation and global warming by going without photocopies in classes for a day.
But they also had fun while "diagnosing" which contagious disease they believe has been causing school photocopy machines everywhere to chew up trees and spit them out at such an amazing rate. They dressed copiers up with the disease of their choice to create awareness of the problem among students, teachers, parents and staff throughout the day. ...
Gary Swick has become something of a legend--not only at the Illinois high school where he teaches
science, but also among environmental educators nationwide. A winner of the prestigious Milken Educator Award, Swick regularly gets his students into the field, where they actually help protect the environment while they learn science. In one case, his students' careful observation of conditions at a nearby river prompted a City Council to adopt a construction site erosion control ordinance.
In our interview, Swick listed many benefits of environmental education. Among them: Students become better stewards of the world they inhabit; Reluctant or struggling students become much more engaged in science when they can do authentic work in the field.
Perhaps most important, Swick has turned his high school students into evangelists for the environment. They put on "energy fairs" to carry their message of energy conservation and green living to elementary school children and others across their state. He and his students travel to these fairs in a school bus (they call it a "cool bus") they have reengineered to run on biofuels--which can include grease and other waste from the school kitchen. ...
Where There's a Will, There's a Way
If you haven't heard of Will Steger, you should have.
He mounted the first unsupported dogsled expedition to the North Pole, the longest unsupported dogsled trek
in history (1,600 miles through Greenland), the first dogsled expedition across Antarctica (all 3,471 miles) and the first Antarctic crossing on foot (!). Along the way, he has witnessed at close hand the dramatic effects of rapid climate change in some of the world's remotest places. He recently spoke with Public School Insights about his ongoing work to share the impact of climate change with K-12 teachers and students nationwide. ...
I recently interviewed Simon Hauger, a math teacher at West Philadelphia High School's Academy of Applied and Technical Sciences. Hauger and his students in the Academy have grabbed headlines over the past few years by building the world's first high-performance, environmentally-friendly cars. Their cars consistently win top honors at the Tour de Sol, a prestigious national green car competition. In fact, Hauger and his urban students have repeatedly bested teams from universities like MIT. Their story is incredibly inspiring. (Click here for PublicSchoolInsights.org's account about the Academy's program.)
In the interview, Hauger offers a ringing endorsement of programs that bring hands-on learning into the school day. He describes his own program's genesis, some of the obstacles it has faced, his work with community partners, and lessons he and his students have learned along the way. It's truly worth a listen.
Hauger also poses a very interesting question: If a bunch of high school students in impoverished West Philly can create a high-performance car that gets over 50 miles to the gallon, why won't the major car companies? ...
We at the Learning First Alliance are breaking out our gaters, gortex and field glasses to celebrate the approach of Earth Day on April 22nd.
Because we agree with the truism that we should not cram all our environmental concern into a single day, we have planned several weeks of events focusing environmental education. (No, we don't think three weeks suffice either, but we're taking this admittedly short time to honor people who devote themselves to environmental education year-round.)
So, stay tuned to Public School Insights through the rest of April for interviews with and profiles of leading environmentalists and educators. Highlights will include exclusive interviews with: ...
Documentary filmmaker Robin Smith has produced an award-winning film, Come Walk in my Shoes, that "follows the Honorable John Lewis on an emotional pilgrimage to the churches, parks and bridges where young people played a pivotal role in the struggle for equality and voting rights."
In observance of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, I spoke with Smith about her film, its reception in middle and high schools around the country, and the importance of teaching American youth about the struggle for civil rights. At a time when we commonly describe American youth as disaffected and disengaged from their communities, Smith argues, the history of the civil rights movement offers a powerful reminder to young people that they can change the world. ...
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