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.

Free classes and practice problems in over 200 subjects

Many K-12 schools have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More closings are sure to come. In response, Varsity Tutors, founded by Washington University in St. Louis alum Chuck Cohn, has launched a new service called Virtual School Day.

Virtual School Day: Nearly 200 free, live K-12 classes available all day long intended to help parents fill their children’s day with enriched learning. Some popular classes are “Intro to Spanish for Kids”, “Coolest Women in History”, “Java Programming Basics”, and “The Story of Your Favorite Fairy Tales”.

Virtual Summer Camps: Free half-day summer camps are a week-long, with enrichment-based classes in subjects like foreign languages, chess, theater, coding, Minecraft, how to be a detective, photography, and more. These live, interactive camps will be taught by expert instructors vetted through Varsity Tutors’ platform.…Read More

Complete web-based math curriculum

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is offering one free month or a $15 discount on a yearly subscription to Beast Academy Online, the complete web-based math curriculum designed to help students ages 8-13 deepen their understanding of math. The program features engaging, comic-book style illustrations that keep kids coming back for more, even as they grapple with some of the most rigorous math problems available.

Some of Beast Academy Online’s highlighted features include:

●     More than 800 lessons and over 15,000 problems including puzzles, games, word problems and skill drills. Students get immediate feedback when they complete problems and full solutions are provided for every problem.…Read More

7 keys to effective online learning

Online learning’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years amid reports of poor academic performance and concerns over lax regulation. While there is certainly some cause for concern, many of the problems center on for-profit providers who manage full-time virtual schools. The truth is that not all online learning experiences are of suspect quality.

When done well, online learning can be highly successful—opening the door to numerous learning opportunities that students otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to, while providing very rich and rigorous instruction. In fact, students who take online Advanced Placement courses from VHS Learning consistently outperform national passing rate averages on AP exams.

Related content: 10 things to help students during the COVID-19 outbreak…Read More

Dreambox Learning Math provides 90 day free trial

DreamBox Learning Math is an award winning K-8 online math program.  Our truly adaptive engine looks beyond the answer at how a student is solving problems, and adjusts accordingly to build a unique learning path for them.  We’re passionate about math, because math unlocks future dreams for children, and we believe DreamBox can help them get there.

Offer: 90 day free trial of DreamBox.  Sign up by April 30th.

Get it now…Read More

No-Cost Access to ST Math

With the spread of Coronavirus, COVID-19, schools across the country are temporarily closing.

At MIND Research Institute, our mission is to ensure that all students are mathematically equipped to solve the world’s most challenging problems.

That’s why we stand ready to provide resources and no-cost access so the learning can keep on happening, even if school is temporarily closed.…Read More

5 TED-Ed Lessons to introduce students to robotics

Robotics is gaining popularity in classrooms across the country, moving from an old sci-fi concept to a way to engage students in STEM learning by solving real-world problems.

One of the hurdles, though, is in finding the right resources to introduce robotics. Sometimes, it all starts with a video and a simple lesson. You can find a variety of robotics-related videos on TED-Ed Lessons.

The TED-Ed platform is especially cool because educators can build lessons around any TED-Ed Original, TED Talk, or YouTube video. Once you find the video you want to use, you can use the TED-Ed Lessons editor to add questions, discussion prompts, and additional resources.…Read More

Here’s why robotics education will help students for life

Much of today’s impactful teaching focuses on the “why” behind the concept being taught. When it comes to STEM concepts such as robotics, educators and students alike may wonder why they should learn robotics if they don’t plan to pursue it in college or the workforce. The answer? Robotics education will help students for life.

Students are more engaged when they understand how classroom concepts apply in the real world. Learning how robotics, science, engineering, and other STEM concepts are used to solve complex problems speaks to the “why” behind robotics education.

Related Content:…Read More

3 ways to combine trauma-informed teaching with SEL

When trauma goes unacknowledged by caring adults, students can feel suffocated by the burden of their experience. Research shows that traumatic experiences can drastically hinder students’ academic development, and that “children who have three or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are three times more likely to experience academic failure, five times more likely to have attendance problems, and six times more likely to have behavioral problems than those with no ACEs.“

These findings, coupled with the fact that almost half of the students in the U.S. have experienced at least one or more traumatic experiences presents a significant barrier to academic success for a large population of students.

Related content: 3 ways our school is fighting back against trauma…Read More

5 Cool STEM Grants for 2019

Although we’re still in the middle of our current school year, it’s never too early to get a jump on grants for the 2019-2020 year–especially where STEM funding is concerned.

Grants of all sizes can support research to learn more about STEM instruction, or can help pique students’ interest in STEM.

Check out the following 5 STEM grants–some are research-based, others are for teachers, and a couple are focused around student involvement…Read More