Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Discovery Education and its Corporate Partners Offering Free Resources for Families to Keep Learning Alive All Summer 

Charlotte, NC ) — To keep students engaged in learning while on summer break, Discovery Education and select partners have created free dynamic digital resources for students and caregivers to use at home. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. 

The following selection of family activities that connect families to engaging learning experiences anywhere learning is taking place:  

Build the Change: Take the power of play beyond the classroom with collaborative activities that inspire students and families to learn through play by solving creative challenges as a team while exploring their own local environments with these activities from Build the Change, a program by the LEGO Group’s sustainability team. …Read More

GameMaker Introduces Free Space Rocks Tutorial for Schools and Educators

Dundee, Scotland — GameMaker, the fast and friendly cross-platform game development engine, has introduced Space Rocks – a comprehensive new game design tutorial and lesson program for teachers and educators. 

“Space Rocks makes it easier than ever for schools and educators to introduce game design lessons to help boost student engagement and support STEM learning,” said Frank Moody, education liaison lead at GameMaker, adding: “Not only are the CSTA standards-based lesson plans and materials absolutely free to use, but so is the latest version of GameMaker for Educators. Game on!”

Space Rocks has been developed in line with CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) standards, providing the perfect introduction to computational thinking concepts and game design principles. The tutorial provides all the written and video-based learning materials required to help students learn how to use GameMaker and create their own asteroid shooter game, in just three lessons. …Read More

Lumio and Canva for Education Announce All-New Integration to Bring Immersive Digital Learning to Life

CALGARY, AB – Lumio, the digital learning tool used by millions of teachers and students worldwide, is pleased to announce its integration with Canva for Education. This new integration allows teachers to seamlessly add Canva designs to Lumio, merging the power of Canva’s visual communication platform with Lumio’s ability to add interactivity for engaging, dynamic lessons.  

The integration offers educators’ free access to export and upload Canva lessons, presentations, and other materials into Lumio to create interactive lessons with game-based activities, formative assessments, and more. Educators will also be able to access libraries from both Canva and Lumio to explore thousands of high-quality, ready-made templates and infographics.

“The Lumio team is excited to roll out our integration with Canva for Education,” said Dan McMahon, Lumio Vice President of Software. “This collaboration reinforces our commitment to inspiring creativity, saving teachers’ time, and creating an active learning environment that is accessible and collaborative for all.”…Read More

Bringing robots to early education classrooms in rural Nevada

Key points:

As part of our educational outreach to the community, PBS Reno createdCuriosity Classroom for preschool through 4th-graders. The program, which is free to schools and districts, uses on-air, online, and print resources to help parents, caregivers, and childhood educators prepare children for success.

As we were researching trends in STEAM education to update our program, we noticed that robots were at the forefront, but most of the opportunities only existed for middle and high school students. Here’s how we’re bringing robots to younger students in rural communities.…Read More

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COVID learning loss likely to linger without intensive work

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for a free weekly newsletter to keep up with how public education is changing.

Just as COVID hit some communities much harder than others, schools across the U.S. suffered disparate academic losses in the wake of the pandemic.

But new research points to a surprising finding: Students within the same district seemed to experience similar academic setbacks, regardless of their background. In the average district, white and more affluent students lost about the same amount of ground in reading and math as Black and Hispanic students and students from low-income families.…Read More

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Certell’s Poptential™ Addresses 21st-Century Wars With Free Memorial Day Teaching Resources

INDIANAPOLIS (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Poptential™, a family of free social studies course packages from Certell, provides rich content to teach the importance of Memorial Day, including material on the U.S. involvement in 21st-century wars. Click to tweet.

“While today’s high school students weren’t yet born when the United States was attacked on 9/11, the War on Terror resulting from that day has been in the news for most of their lives,” said Julie Smitherman, a former social studies teacher and director of content at Certell, Inc. “More than 7,000 U.S. service men and women lost their lives during this protracted war, so it’s important to understand how it came about.”

The Memorial Day holiday honors American soldiers who have died in combat and has been observed annually since 1971 on the last Monday of May. Poptential’s American History curriculum features bell ringers, mini-lessons, and multimedia content to engage and teach students about the U.S. involvement in 21st-century wars, including the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the resulting War on Terrorism, the occupation of Afghanistan and the Iraq war. Lessons include:…Read More

3 ways ChatGPT can reduce teachers’ workloads

Everybody’s talking about ChatGPT and how it’s going to impact K-12–and generally not in positive terms!

Granted, ChatGPT might make writing that 11th-grade essay on symbolism in “The Great Gatsby” a whole lot easier (which, to be fair, does make grading a whole lot harder). Aside from that, there are real positives to our new AI pal, and overworked teachers can embrace it as the gift that it is: a free personal teaching aide. The one who sketches out the lesson plans and assessments, finds source materials, and just generally carries out the grunt work.

In other words, ChatGPT can save teachers a whole lot of time.…Read More

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Free Resources for Mental Health Month from Discovery Education 

Charlotte, NC — To help educators nationwide observe Mental Health Month, Discovery Education is presenting a curated collection of free standards-aligned resources empowering educators to support student mental health. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.  

Established in 1949 by Mental Health America and observed each May, Mental Health Month raises awareness and educates the public about mental illnesses and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness. This year’s theme, “Look Around, Look Within,” encourages communities to explore and understand how factors like education and the environment impact mental health. In recognition of Mental Health Month and the 2023 theme, Discovery Education presents the following collection of resources in collaboration with partners: 

Virtual Field Trip 
Grades 3-5 …Read More

New, Free Digital Experience Offers All Students Invaluable Career Readiness Opportunities

BOSTON, MA – Kids today do not feel adequately prepared to make informed, confident decisions about what they want to do after high school. Research shows that more than 65 percent of students feel they would have benefited from more career exploration in middle and high school. An additional study states that less than half of Gen Z respondents said they had enough information to decide what pathway was best for them after high school. To improve career readiness outcomes for students, American Student Assistance® (ASA), a national nonprofit that changes the way kids learn about careers and navigate a path to postsecondary education and career success, today announced the expansion of its free suite of digital resources that advance career readiness by launching EvolveMeTM.

The EvolveMe platform gives teens access to and rewards them for completing high-quality, professional career experimentation activities and building transferable skills they can apply to any job. This is done through interactive online videos, quizzes, games, and mini-lessons or quests that help them develop life skills while enabling them to explore careers, build their networks, and actually experiment with jobs. Through the mobile experience, students are rewarded for completing these tasks and earn points to redeem for gift cards to their favorite retail, restaurant, and/or entertainment brands. They can also track their progress and accomplishments through fun and dynamic visuals within the platform. For instance, they can see their personalized tree grow as it sprouts unique flowers and creatures each time they complete an activity.

Co-created with a nationwide panel of middle and high school teen advisors who provided feedback on design, site features and functionality, and user experience (UX) – alongwith quantitative validation based on feedback from more than 4,600 additional young people, EvolveMe helps kids ages 13-18 prepare for their individual career journeys. Since more than 90 percent of teens have access to smartphones and mobile devices, ASA’s suite of digital experiences provides an equitable way to ensure all youth can explore career possibilities that match their interests — as early as middle school –  and test and try in high school. They can access hands-on opportunities, network with career professionals, and build transferable, career-ready skills they’ll need to succeed in the workforce.…Read More

Poptential™ From Certell Offers Content on Tax Day for High School Teachers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — As Tax Day approaches, Poptential™, a family of free social studies course packages, offers instructors media-rich content to teach key concepts about taxation in the United States. Click to tweet.

Poptential course packages boost student engagement by using a variety of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including those taken from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources.

Tax Day ordinarily falls on April 15 each year; however, this year the federal tax deadline for individuals to submit their tax returns and pay taxes owed on 2022 income has been moved to April 18.…Read More

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