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.

Friday 5: How esports engages students

Key points:

Academic esports programs aren’t simply a group of students sitting in a classroom playing video games. Rather, teams and tournaments promote collaboration, critical thinking, communication skills, and offer inclusive environments that welcome students from all backgrounds and with all abilities.

How can schools create esports programs and teams?

Conversations around the benefits of esports have centered on collegiate and secondary levels, but recently, the conversation has expanded to include elementary esports, too. Like any new venture, this is something that takes time to fully understand. The beauty is that there is a room full of experts to journey alongside their teacher. It is incredibly powerful when the classroom is flipped and students have an opportunity to share their passions and expertise with their teacher. Here are 6 tips to start an elementary program.…Read More

Infusing PBL with edtech to enhance collaboration, critical thinking

Key points:

Project-based learning (PBL) helps prepare students for college and beyond by actively engaging them in meaningful, relevant projects. In many situations, students will work on these projects for weeks or months at a time, which helps them develop deeper content knowledge when attempting to answer complex questions and resolve real-world problems.

With advances in digital tools, many teachers are finding that using edtech tools in PBL enhances projects by providing direct access to greater sources of information and by allowing students to collaborate more easily. Some believe that leveraging the right technology is one of the best ways to support students during PBL activities.…Read More

Friday 5: K-12 computer science trends

Key points:

K-12 computer science is essential, not just for students who may pursue computer science or STEM fields in college or the workforce. Computer science principles give students critical computational thinking skills that will serve them in any career field or professional endeavor.

Let’s take a look at K-12 computer science trends and where computer science education is heading across the country:…Read More

Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd for Middle School Receives All-Green Rating from EdReports

BURLINGTON, NC – Leading school science supplier Carolina Biological Supply Company announced that its Certified Version of OpenSciEd for grades 6 to 8 received all-green ratings from non-profit EdReports. The organization provides free reports and reviews online that help K-12 educators evaluate math, language arts and science instructional materials because high-quality content matters to teachers, to kids, and to their collective future. The materials are rigorously evaluated for alignment to standards and usability by teams of educators. EdReports’ content reviewers consist of outstanding classroom educators, district coaches, and state content leaders who deeply understand college-and career-ready standards and the importance of high-quality instructional materials. Read the full report on EdReports.org.

            In simple terms, the all-green rating from EdReports means that the Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd meets expectations for all three categories of review: Designed for the Next Generation Science Standards* (NGSS); coherence and scope; and usability. It further demonstrates that the enhancements Carolina made to its version of the program also meet expectations for alignment and usability.

  “As a non-profit science developer, OpenSciEd intentionally created an open-source science curriculum so that teachers could edit and adapt and localize the content for their students,” said Jim Ryan, Executive Director of OpenSciEd. “By making the OpenSciEd for grades 6-8 curriculum easier to use last year, the Carolina Certified Version paved the way for teachers to make these changes, while maintaining the high quality of the instructional materials. Working with Carolina as a certified partner resulted in another excellent version of our curriculum.”…Read More

The exposure gap is blocking students’ ability to envision future careers

Key points:

Students have the aptitudes (or natural talents) for the nation’s most in-demand career fields –including healthcare, manufacturing, technology, and finance– but they are not inclined to pursue those occupations due to a profound lack of exposure, according to The 2024 State of the Future U.S. Workforce Report from tech provider YouScience, which aims to solve the skills gap crisis for students and employers.

The report includes analysis of anonymized data from more than 540,000 YouScience Aptitude & Career Discovery assessments completed by U.S. middle and high school students across all 50 states in 2023.…Read More

The 5 best ways to celebrate CTE Month 2024

This post on CTE Month originally appeared on iCEV’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

Key points:

As a career and technical education (CTE) teacher, you know the importance of preparing students for the workforce–no matter which CTE career cluster or pathway they follow.…Read More

Savvas Learning Company Acquires Outlier.org 

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY — Savvas Learning Company, a next-generation K-12 learning solutions leader, today announced that it has acquired Outlier.org, an edtech startup that has created a portfolio of high-quality, turnkey, online college-level courses that enable high school students to earn dual credit while never having to leave their school building.  

Outlier.org combines cinematic video and charismatic professors with the best in modern, evidence-based teaching techniques to virtually transport the student to a college lecture hall. Its diverse catalog of award-winning courses in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences are taught by hand-picked, world-class instructors from NASA, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and other top institutions.  

“There’s a growing demand for dual-enrollment and dual-credit opportunities for high school students across the country,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company, noting, however, that school administrators have long faced challenges when considering these programs for their students, such as limited course offerings, along with costly transportation and other logistical issues. …Read More

Trends and challenges impacting CTE in 2024–and beyond

Key points:

In 2024, career and technical education (CTE) is not simply an alternative for students whose future plans don’t include college. It’s a fundamental part of the K-12 experience and a viable career pathway for many students.

CTE lets students understand the relevance of what they’re learning in school. It exposes them to career pathways they might not have known about otherwise. It prepares them for rich and rewarding careers in high-paying, high-demand jobs, whether they go on to attend college or not.…Read More

3 ways to build engagement in STEM classrooms

Key points:

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in awe of science, space, and the world around us. And, after watching Star Wars and Star Trek for the first time, I was hooked. I decided to become a teacher in part to share this passion–my dad, who taught chemistry at Phoenix Community College for 33 years, was my inspiration.

While many of my physics and astrophysics students at Chaparral High School here in Scottsdale Unified School District are already science enthusiasts, I understand how important it is to continue to find new ways to keep them inspired and engaged. The same is true—and arguably more important—for students who are less interested in science and STEM fields. Engagement, after all, is a critical contributing factor to students pursuing a STEM pathway in college and in the workforce.…Read More

Tennessee’s Hardeman County Schools Begin New Year with New Digital Resources Supporting College and Career Readiness 

Charlotte, NC —Tennessee’s Hardeman County Schools (HCS) today announced a new phase in its partnership with global edtech leader Discovery Education that is bringing new digital resources to students districtwide. Thanks to this new collaboration, teachers and students across HCS will have access to a suite of award-winning digital products that prepare students for college and careers and nurture their inherent curiosity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and all other subjects. 

Located in Southwest Tennessee, HCS’s approximately 250 educators serve nearly 3,300 students daily, providing a high-quality education in a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment that builds foundations for lifelong learning. These foundations include academics, social emotional skills, technological competencies, and career awareness. 

To support this mission, HCS sought a suite of flexible, standards-aligned digital learning resources that were easy to integrate into instruction and had a proven record of engaging students in STEM education and stoking curiosity in all other subjects. Following a careful review of available resources, HCS selected the following products for use in district classrooms: …Read More

3 ways to support special education students with college and career readiness

Key points:

There are more than 140,000 special education (SPED) students in the state of Washington. Often, these students don’t have access to the same level of resources that are available to general education students. While we have made great strides in how we support students receiving special education services, there are still equity gaps that exist in areas like college and career planning. 

Special education students can be perceived as being unable to succeed in general and advanced level high school classes, engage in challenging job training, or succeed in postsecondary education. Often, these low expectations are fostered by previous educational experiences that teachers, school counselors, and parents had during their own K-12 education. Special education students should have their ambitions, interests, and talents acknowledged and encouraged, while also taking into consideration the learning supports needed for them to succeed. …Read More