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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.

North Carolina’s Hoke County Schools Launches New Partnership with Discovery Education to Create Modern and Innovative Learning Environments Supporting Science Instruction

SILVER SPRING, MD (Tuesday, January 4, 2021—North Carolina’s Hoke County Schools (HCS) has launched a new partnership with Discovery Education creating modern and innovative learning environments supporting science instruction. Through this new collaboration, educators districtwide are now integrating Discovery Education’s award-winning suite of digital resources into science instruction for all students’ grades K-12. These exciting new resources are connecting students to their inner curiosity in new ways through engaging digital learning experiences investigating the mysteries of the universe. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.  

Located in south central North Carolina, Hoke County Schools is a trusted community partner ensuring an inclusive and supportive environment that provides authentic learning opportunities preparing future-ready students. To support the district’s new 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, which specifically focuses on improving the school system’s capacity to create modern and innovative learning environments, HCS sought to enhance their science curriculum across all grades. Following a careful review process, HCS selected two resources from Discovery Education for districtwide use. Those resources are:

The Discovery Education platform. …Read More

3 strategies to support students during science instruction

While the start of the 2021 school year may not be as crazy as the beginning of the 2020 school year, it would be a mistake to pretend it is just like the Fall of 2019 or earlier.  As COVID-19 continues to linger across the country, educators are again demonstrating the “can do” attitude and the spirit of innovation they exhibited at the height of the pandemic.

However, the rise of the Delta variant and other complicating social and political factors have brought us to a new phase in the pandemic that will require a new level of flexibility from classroom teachers. 

In conversations with science educators across the country, I’ve identified three specific strategies science teachers are using to meet the needs of students in today’s uncertain environment.  Those strategies are:…Read More

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K-12 science instruction poised for change

The new standards aim to prepare students to be better decision-makers about scientific and technical issues and to apply science to their daily lives.

Science teaching in at least some of the nation’s classrooms is about to undergo significant changes as states adopt a new set of K-12 science standards.

The voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards are designed to get students thinking like scientists, and they place new emphasis on engineering at the elementary level. That will mark a big shift for teachers who’ve never taught engineering principles before, observers say.…Read More

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Bill Nye warns: Creation beliefs threaten U.S. science

“The Earth is not 6,000 or 10,000 years old,” Nye said. “And if that conflicts with your beliefs, I strongly feel you should question your beliefs.”

The man known to a generation of Americans as “The Science Guy” is condemning efforts by some Christian groups to cast doubts on evolution—as well as lawmakers who want to bring the Bible into science instruction.

Bill Nye, a mechanical engineer and star of the popular 1990s TV show “Bill Nye The Science Guy,” has waded into the evolution debate with an online video that urges parents not to pass their religious-based doubts about evolution on to their children.…Read More

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Spongelab whets students’ interest in science

As schools look for ways to incorporate more science instruction on a shoestring budget, Toronto-based educational gaming company Spongelab Interactive has a resource that can help.

Spongelab.com is an interactive, online science learning platform that is available free of charge to registered members. It contains hundreds of educational games, 3D animations and simulations (such as a new “Build a Body” simulation), and stunning scientific images—all tied together within a content management system that provides detailed analytics and reporting tools for tracking student progress and engagement.

Educators can explore digital content and organize this content into lessons, annotate it, share it with students, and present it in class. Members of the Spongelab community also can upload their own teaching materials, such as images, lesson plans, videos, and case studies—making the site a vibrant, open space for communicating about science.…Read More