Leading Social-Emotional Learning Provider Expands with New Digital Offering

Fully Web-Based Curriculum for Grades K–5 is Intuitively Designed for Modern Classrooms

With student well-being declining after a year of school closures, the need for connection and social-emotional recovery is critical, especially for our nation’s youngest learners. Committee for Children, a global nonprofit and leading provider of research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula, today announced a new addition to its program portfolio. The just-released Second Step® Elementary digital program is the organization’s first fully web-based offering for Grades K–5 and is based on its long-standing and award-winning Second Step® Elementary print-based classroom kits.

“Student and teacher needs are evolving, so education partners and curricula must evolve to meet those needs,” says Committee for Children CEO Andrea Lovanhill. “With our new web-based elementary program, educators now have the choice of a digital option designed for e-learning or our long-standing, evidence-based print curriculum. This allows educators greater choice in providing relevant, research-based SEL programming for every classroom and school community.”…Read More

5 ways to integrate ELL instruction into teaching and learning

As a curriculum and learning specialist at an elementary school in Verona, Wisconsin, l have the opportunity to work with amazing educators and students of all cultures; as a prior bilingual resource and two-way immersion Spanish teacher, I like to honor the language learners in our classrooms.

I work with all teachers and all students. I help teachers find resources to help support their curriculum and often that entails helping them find new ways to include their English Language Learners in their lessons. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities.

Here are five ways you can integrate ELL instruction into teaching and learning. These are simple strategies and some resources that are not very time-consuming, and best of all, they will help all the students in your class feel included and able to access the curriculum.…Read More

PBL students excel compared to peers in typical classrooms

Students in project-based learning (PBL) classrooms across the United States significantly outperform students in typical classrooms, according to four studies released from Lucas Education Research, a division of the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), along with researchers from five major universities.

In the first study ever reported on project-based learning and Advanced Placement results, research scientists at the Center for Economic and Social Research at USC Dornsife found that students taught AP US Government and AP Environmental Science with a PBL approach outperformed peers on exams by 8 percentage points in year one of a randomized controlled trial, and were more likely to earn a passing score of 3 or above with the chance to receive college credit. In year two, PBL students outperformed peers by 10 percentage points.

The yearlong curricula were developed by University of Washington professors alongside Seattle and Des Moines teachers. For example, in one of the five projects in the AP Government course, students answer the question, “What is the proper role of government in democracy?” by conducting a presidential campaign, taking on the roles of candidates, lobbyists and media. In the first of five projects in AP Environmental Science, students explore sustainability by conducting a personal environmental impact audit and developing a proposal to reduce consumption.…Read More

Interactive virtual learning–pandemic stopgap, or here to stay?

Virtual field trips or expeditions have gained in popularity in recent years, and the COVID-19 global pandemic has given the concept a boost as schools and now parents scramble to bring relevant, stimulating learning experiences out of the classroom and into their pupils’ new reality. Now, a year into the pandemic, classrooms are beginning to reopen, but the practicality and benefit of interactive virtual learning has drawn growing appreciation throughout the field of education.

Educators everywhere have come to acknowledge how easily interactive virtual learning gives students the experience of a real field trip without leaving their homes — or their hometowns.

The heart of the interactive experience is live conversations with educators and experts who are passionate about their work and love to share their knowledge with eager learners. Museum curators, historians, authors, researchers, and other expert instructors engage directly with students during the virtual expedition to create a rich, compelling learning environment.…Read More

5 tips for inclusive STEM learning experiences

Preparing students for STEM careers and advanced learning opportunities is about more than just teaching math, science, engineering, coding, and computer science to the youngsters who want to dabble or specialize in complex subjects. We also have to work to get more students interested in these STEM learning opportunities, and those efforts have to be inclusive.

That means finding all of the students who wouldn’t have ever signed up for a robotics class had they not been exposed to it–those are the kids that we want.

In some ways, the recent move to more remote learning helped us get closer to our STEM diversity goals. We had to get creative when COVID closed our classrooms, so we signed up for the CoderZ coding and robotics platform and gave all of our 7th and 8th graders access to it from home. We immediately started receiving feedback from students who said they would have never explored that opportunity in the classroom, and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.…Read More

Oransi Offers 5 Tips for Schools Seeking Better Classroom Ventilation to Help Stop COVID-19 Spread

Experts agree that ventilation in schools is inadequate and many administrators seek clarification regarding best practices to improve classroom air quality and reduce infectious disease transmission.

School administrators continue to struggle with selecting the right ventilation system for classrooms, as more states reopen schools for in-person learning. The U.S.-based air purification company, Oransi, offers the following guidance for schools that will allow them to select the right ventilation products, the first time, thereby helping to avoid any delay when reopening.

To achieve good indoor air quality the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states there are three strategies:

1) source control (removes the source of the pollutant),
2) ventilation (brings in fresh air from outdoors)
3) and air cleaning (through use of an air purifier).

For school ventilation there are two options: a HEPA air filtration system or an HVAC ventilation system. Knowing which option is right for a school depends on the efficiency (percentage of particles of a given size that are removed by the air filter with each air pass) and if enough air is moving for the room size.

Commercial HVAC systems are expensive, time-consuming to upgrade, and generally use lower efficiency air filters that do not remove fine particles such as viruses – allowing them to pass back into a room’s air. However, upgrading or installing an HVAC system is the right solution if there is a very large space to clean – usually larger than 1,500 square feet – and removing viruses or fine particles is not a concern. But a new HVAC system may not be realistic when a school’s budget is limited or the campus buildings are older and source control and proper ventilation cannot be achieved. In this case, HEPA air purifiers may be the best supplemental solution for a school’s budget and layout.

But how can schools select the right HEPA air purifier? Oransi offers the following tips:

1) Based on the recommendation of Harvard University School of Public Health, look for 5 air changes per hour (ACH). If a school’s existing Commercial HVAC system provides 3 ACH, then the air purifier selected would need to provide 2 ACH as a supplement.

2) Look for a portable air purifier with a HEPA filter.…Read More

Owl Labs Unveils New Product Suite That Will Enhance Hybrid Learning in K-12 And University Classrooms

Biden Pledging To Open Schools In First 100 Days With In-Person Instruction Once A Week With Schools Needing to Bridge the Technology Gap

Owl Labs, the collaborative tech company revolutionizing how the world communicates with its inclusive and immersive video experiences, today announced a new suite of features that will support the needs of educators leveraging the Meeting Owl (the company’s flagship 360-degree camera, mic and speaker hardware product) for remote and hybrid learning.

As teachers continue to look to create an organic learning environment for students during remote and hybrid learning, the newly unveiled suite features the award-winning Owl Connect, Presenter Enhance and Digital Whiteboard products that will bring more immersive classroom enhancements to hybrid learning.…Read More

Atlona and Lightspeed Partner to Elevate AV Capabilities for K-12 School Districts

Atlona, a Panduit company, has partnered with Lightspeed to promote professional classroom AV solutions for K-12 applications. The partnership will allow both companies to design integrated solutions that address the unique challenges of hybrid learning environments, while strengthening audio and video capabilities for educators inside classrooms and throughout school buildings.

Atlona and Lightspeed are both leading suppliers of classroom AV technology. The Omega™ Series from Atlona is a family of switching, extension, and video processing solutions with features and technologies specifically designed for today’s educational spaces. Lightspeed instructional audio systems engage the whole classroom, ensuring every student can clearly hear through low-volume, highly intelligible sound that is evenly distributed through the classroom.

The partnership will expose both firm’s customers to a range of solutions that span across all school budgets, from standard set-ups to more advanced classrooms with video conferencing capabilities. Regardless of scale, the partnership will bring together independent Atlona and Lightspeed products to serve a common purpose. This will provide integrators and IT departments with affordable and flexible options for streamlined educational AV systems.…Read More

Osmo Announces $2,000 Mini-Grants to Outfit Classrooms with Osmo’s Award-Winning Educational Technology

Osmo for Schools, in partnership with Osmo Cares, the charitable arm of award-winning STEAM brand Osmo, announces one-time mini-grants consisting of $2000 worth of Osmo for Schools’ educational technology.  A total of 20 in-kind mini-grants will be awarded to schools in time for the Fall 2021 semester.

“Osmo for Schools is so thrilled to offer 20 mini-grants for the first time ever,” says Jan Richards, head of education sales and marketing at Osmo for Schools, the division of Tangible Play that promotes in-classroom usage of Osmo’s devices. “We know there are many schools across the country which lack needed funding to purchase educational technology, so we decided to give 20 schools a gift. Their students and teachers will have something to look forward to when they return to in-person learning this fall.” 

Grant application will be open to public schools in the United States desiring to outfit a classroom with Osmo’s award-winning STEAM technology. Mini-grant recipients will be able to choose from a selection of Osmo for Schools products; only one recipient will be selected per school. Schools must already have appropriate tablets on hand, or a plan to purchase them–they are not included as part of the mini-grant.…Read More

Rise Vision Creates Free Women’s History Month Posters for Schools

 In honor of Women’s History Month, Rise Vision has released 9 FREE Women’s History Month posters for schools to print out, share on their digital signage, websites, and social media, or use in their classrooms and lesson plans. 

The posters are available for download in high-resolution JPG and landscape and portrait-oriented PDFs.

“Our aim is to support K-12 teachers who are looking for teaching resources or ideas for lesson plans. These posters are a visual way to spark conversations around Women’s History Month. We hope they will be a great compliment to other teaching material that schools are using.” Shea Darlison, Head of Revenue …Read More

The College Board Partners with PBLWorks to Train Teachers for New AP Courses Rooted in Project Based Learning

PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for Project Based Learning (PBL), has partnered with the College Board to offer a new PBL-based professional development program for Advanced Placement (AP) courses in Environmental Science and U.S Government and Politics. The new courses use a Project Based Learning method of teaching and are based on powerful new breakthrough research just released by the Center for Economic and Social Research at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, that found PBL coupled with high-quality professional development significantly improves student performance when compared to students in non-PBL classrooms.

Specifically, the research demonstrated that high school students in AP classes who engaged in hands-on, inquiry-based projects with real-world applications performed higher than their peers on AP U.S. Government and Politics and AP Environmental Science exams. In year one of a randomized controlled trial in five U.S. cities they scored 8 percentage points higher, and in year two of the study they scored 10 percentage points higher – and they were more likely to earn a qualifying score of 3 or above which could increase their chance of receiving college credit and saving on tuition.

“We’ve seen the impact of PBL firsthand in our work with schools and now this research provides proof of its impact on students who are taking AP classes,” said Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks, “That’s why we’ve partnered with the College Board to support new project-based AP courses that are relevant, authentic, and engaging.”…Read More