design thinking Archives

Report: The skills gap needs urgent attention

March 17, 2025 by ESchool News Staff

Demographic shifts, technological advances, and an unprepared workforce put economies at risk if the skills gap isn't closed.

Inefficient career transitions and related learning gaps are costing the U.S. economy $1.1 trillion annually--a staggering 5 percent of GDP, according to new research from Pearson. The report warns of a…

Durable Skills

Design thinking in the 21st century is an imperative

January 22, 2025 by Gabriel Eisenbacher, Minnewaska Area Schools

Incorporating design thinking into classrooms is not just an educational trend, but a transformative shift educators need to make.

Love it or hate it, many teachers have seen just how much technology has changed the landscape of education. Within this rapidly changing landscape, teachers have taken on…

Coding and Robotics

Friday 5: K-12 coding

February 23, 2024 by Laura Ascione

K-12 coding is beneficial to all students, whether or not they pursue STEM paths in college and the workforce.

K-12 coding can completely change learning for students, engaging reluctant learners and activating parts of the brain used for computational thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.

Teaching Trends

Why design thinking is important in early childhood education

February 22, 2023 by Dr. Maria Shaheen, Senior Director of Early Childhood Education, Primrose Schools

Design thinking is a lifelong skill that children may use to tackle complex problems throughout their lives, so it is a valuable skill to learn early in life, particularly within the first five years

In early childhood education, most parents are aware of the importance of teaching key academic skills such as early literacy and mathematics skills. Recent research also suggests that…

Coding and Robotics

How this teacher uses story coding to spark creativity and collaboration

December 7, 2022June 30, 2022 by Laura Ascione

Combining coding with literacy into an approach known as story coding offers a wide range of benefits for students across all subject areas.

When coding merges with storytelling, you have story coding, in which students use computational skills and design thinking as they demonstrate creativity across core curricular areas.

STEM & STEAM

9 ways to create better makerspaces

December 7, 2022February 24, 2020 by Laura Ascione

Children sit at a makerspace table and create things with art and science to demonstrate the importance of makerspaces.

Makerspaces and maker culture have quickly become a favorite of STEAM advocates, and new research shows that makerspaces can be highly effective at helping elementary students develop skills…

School Makerspaces

3 keys to cultivating the maker mindset

December 7, 2022July 15, 2019 by Megan Haddadi and Kimberly Fogarty

The two sides of the brain illustrate left and right brain concepts--both are used to cultivate a maker mindset.

When we dreamed of starting construction on a space where teachers and students alike could cultivate a maker mindset, our goals went beyond creating a dedicated makerspace. We…

District Management

5 edtech accelerators that are changing K-12

April 23, 2019April 22, 2019 by Laura Ascione

Hand turning a button with a rocket icon to the maximum acceleration. Concept of career accelerationComposite between an image and a 3D background.

Five powerful edtech accelerators are influencing the skills and needs of K-12 students and educators, according to a new CoSN report released during the advocacy group’s 2019 conference. …

District Management

6 lessons our district learned from our move to blended learning

April 19, 2019February 15, 2019 by Lisa Adams

A student doing the online part of blended learning on her tablet in class.

Temple Independent School District (ISD), which is located north of Austin and south of Waco, Texas, has a very diverse student population. More than 75 percent of our…

STEM & STEAM

5 ways technology can help students develop a strong moral compass

October 10, 2018 by Andrew J. Katz

This past July, educators from the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County arrived in the impoverished Mbekweni community in Paarl, South Africa to help open a first-ever library…

STEM & STEAM

Inspiring students to become global problem solvers

August 29, 2018 by Edgar Ochoa

Last year, my district—Roosevelt (AZ) School District—was asked by Arizona State University’s (ASU) department of innovation and entrepreneurship to pilot a new educational program for middle school students.…

eClassroom News

7 computational thinking strategies to help young innovators fail forward

August 21, 2018 by Karie Huttner

Computational thinking has been trending, but what is it, really? Simply put, computational thinking is a method of reasoning that teaches students how to solve real-world, complex problems…

eClassroom News

Why design thinking isn’t just for techies

July 3, 2018 by Laura Guevara

I was really intimidated when I first heard about design thinking. I also had a lot of questions: What is design thinking? Isn’t it just for techies? How…

District Management