Curriculum

  • Wanted: More Hispanics in STEM fields
    Tue, May 06, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Science
    In what is becoming a national trend, leading businesses and education groups are launching new initiatives aimed at increasing the number of minorities--and Hispanics in particular--in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. [ Read More ]

  • Blogging helps encourage teen writing
    Wed, Apr 30, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Reading/language arts
    For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey measuring the impact of technology on teens' writing skills, the big news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students' formal writing assignments. :-( Buried beneath the alarm of writing "purists," however, was a promising finding with equally important implications for schools: Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers. [ Read More ]

  • Movie: Science 'expels' Intelligent Design
    Thu, Apr 24, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Science
    In Missouri, where the battle for control of the science curriculum has been raging, public officials have been afforded a special screening of a documentary-style film advocating on behalf of intelligent design, the term for a view that the universe is too complex not to have been fashioned by a higher power. [ Read More ]

  • Technology helps boost students' writing skills
    Tue, Apr 15, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Reading/language arts
    Students' writing skills were in the spotlight in early April, as a new report suggested that an increasing number of U.S. students understand the basics of writing. And one of several possible reasons for this trend could be the growing use of writing software tools among educators. [ Read More ]

  • 'Hybrid' courses show promise
    Thu, Apr 03, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Curriculum
    "Hybrid courses," or courses that deliver part of their instruction in a traditional lecture manner and part in an online environment, are becoming increasingly popular among schools and colleges. Proponents of the concept say it capitalizes on the benefits that both face-to-face and online learning can provide--and now, there is some evidence to suggest that hybrid courses can help students learn more effectively. [ Read More ]

  • Math panel: Streamline curriculum, focus on fractions
    Thu, Mar 13, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Math
    Schools could improve students' sluggish math scores by hammering home the basics, such as addition and multiplication, and then increasing the focus on fractions and geometry, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel recommended on March 13. [ Read More ]

  • Science education in the spotlight
    Wed, Mar 12, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Science
    As schools prepare for the debut this fall of science testing under No Child Left Behind, educators and science advocates are calling for renewed awareness of what many say is a national crisis in science education. [ Read More ]

  • Testing rules prompt new science products
    Wed, Mar 12, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Science
    New testing requirements that will take effect this fall under the federal No Child Left Behind Act are forcing schools to ramp up their science instruction, and curriculum companies are responding in turn with solutions designed to meet schools' needs. [ Read More ]

  • Letter-scanning project brings history to life
    Wed, Mar 05, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  History
    Thanks to a recent digital scanning project at the University of Rochester, students, teachers, researchers, and others now have online access to a rare collection of letters written to and by Abraham Lincoln. [ Read More ]

  • Google gets into web site building biz
    Thu, Feb 28, 2008    Primary Topic Channel:  Multimedia
    In a move that could make it easy for teachers, students, and others to create simple web sites for sharing information, without any specialized knowledge required, Google Inc.--already the world's most popular spot for finding web sites--is aiming to become the go-to place for creating web sites, too. [ Read More ]