Why do district leaders create brand-new positions for people or re-assign existing employees to vastly different roles? Well, technology can have lots to do with that and the effectiveness with which teachers can weave it into their school’s curriculum and everyday projects can do a lot for a student’s future, helping to equip them with both hard and soft skills.
Though Instructables has been around for quite a while now, it’s still a very valuable resource for STEM teachers or any educator who is looking for some inspirational project ideas. Instructables is home to an online library of various projects completed by students, teachers, hobbyists, and everyone in between.
After setting tech tools up, sliding in some batteries (if necessary), and turning it on, some educators are often left wondering ‘what comes next?’ For that reason, we’ve been big advocates of creating easy-to-follow starter activities for teachers to use in the classroom and now we’ve taken that initiative a step further!
When kids are sitting back, being spoken to, and completely passive about the content they’re absorbing in the classroom, how does that benefit them? They need active experiences and hands-on problem solving in order to become Future Ready. They need project-based learning and they need it to be of high quality.
Unfortunately, we can’t take all the credit, but we’d like to think that we play a small role in helping usher teachers into the 21st century. Now that most schools in the country and in the world are focusing a lot more on STEM education, upgrades need to be made to that as well. What’s the saying? Most of what
If there is one goal of contemporary education it’s to prepare students for the real world. They will enter a world that’s hands-on, in need of problem solvers, and rewarding to those who develop creative solutions. It’s not as kind to those who only possess book smarts. It’s a challenge, but teachers help when they facilitate learning that mirrors the
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.
Chances are your thoughts of traditional classrooms are different from how contemporary classrooms can—or at least should—be set up. Rows of desks and a chalkboard used to be staples but they don’t help prepare today’s kids for a hands-on future. They need collaboration, interaction, and active learning and it takes a different kind of classroom for this.
Collaboration and problem solving are an integral component of the modern-day workforce and, for that reason, have become an increasingly common part of modern education. Those who are able to break problems down and utilize a certain way of thinking to solve them while also incorporating technology are very valuable.
Students aren’t always guaranteed success by sporting straight A’s on their report cards—they need authentic experiences with real-world projects, coding, and collaborating. They also need to take charge and lead their own learning—and that is why many school districts are ditching the old ways and focusing more on student-led learning.
