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.

Students will crush goals with the multi-grade level student planner, The Navigator!

School Mate® is proud to introduce our new, multi-level student planner—the Navigator. It’s the ultimate combination of functionality and value that will optimize students’ success. The Navigator is a full-color planner packed with STEAM powered resource pages to propel critical thinking of 5th – 12th grade students.

  • Four preprinted core subjects and four blank subjects within the weekly grid provides abundant space to list daily tasks, assignments, and projects.
  • Bonus features include sections for weekly goals, notes, hall passes, and reading logs as well as motivational quotes and study tips.
  • The notebook-sized student planner also includes month at-a-glance calendars to help students stay on track throughout the school year.

Take the Navigator to the next level by customizing the front and back covers, handbook pages, and teacher editions. If you will be holding summer school in 2021, be sure to include year-round supplements bound in the front of your planner.

The Navigator is a powerhouse guide for students to crush goals, stay organized, and to manage productivity. Planners provide accessibility of schedules and accountability of goals and commitments without the distractions that come with digital devices. Studies show writing things down engages cognitive processing which develops greater comprehension and retention to help students stay on task. Order 2021/22 student planners today at schoolmate.com. With 88 years in the industry, School Mate provides quality educational products that equip students with the tools they need to succeed and at prices that meet every school budget. Learn more about our exceptional school products by visiting schoolmate.com or contact us at 800-516-8339.…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

Twig Science Nevada Approved for Statewide Use

The Nevada Department of Education has adopted Twig Science Nevada, a complete Pre-K–6 curriculum from leading education multimedia company Twig Education, making it available for purchase statewide.

Twig Science Nevada is aligned to the Nevada Academic Content Standards for Science (NVACSS) and transforms the standards into immersive, investigative journeys in which students take on real-life STEAM roles—from astronomers and ecologists to roller-coaster designers—to make sense of local and national phenomena and design, build, and test solutions to engineering challenges.

“Twig Science is my pixie dust,” said Julie, a 4th grade teacher. “It keeps the students excited about learning something new. They can’t wait for the next lesson.”…Read More

SAM Labs Launches Successful Teacher Accelerator Program

The program includes group workshops with like-minded educators, one-on-one training with our Senior Education Consultants, training on how to implement SAM Labs, and resources to teach STEAM and coding in the classroom across various skill levels. The STAR Program is designed to expand our community of support and knowledge, while continuing our practice of investing greatly in our customers and their success. Through efforts like this, we aim to use our solutions to power outstanding STEM, STEAM and learn to code education. Future ‘STARs’ will join our growing community, have customized solutions based on their specific use-cases and learn from the foremost SAM Labs experts in the world.

SAM Labs is unified by our values, such as ‘fight to delight’ on behalf of customers. We have always taken a deep interest in our customers, sharing and implementing educators’ insights across our team. From how we design our curriculum and software to providing the right resources for educators, SAM Labs wants to be the standard bearer for educator centricity.

The STAR Program is the next step on our journey working with educators to reduce their workload, increase their confidence and strengthen learner engagement. Through this initiative, we’ll enrich our understanding of STEM, STEAM & coding initiatives in classrooms across the United States. The in-depth knowledge and implementation of the STAR Program will lead to a new level of granular insight into the impact of these initiatives. After all, we are a company whose success means and relies on the success of both educators and learners – which is why we do what we do. As a result of this initiative and others to follow; SAM Labs will further entrench educators at the center of our mission: To equip educators with the tools, know-how, and mindset to reach learners’ potential for computational thinking. Put into words by our founder and CEO, Joachim Horn; “We hope to learn from educators about best practices that we can then share with the rest of our educator community, increasing the number of students who acquire 21st-century skills through Coding and STEAM.”…Read More

Vernier Graphical Analysis Pro App Wins Top Education Awards

The Vernier Graphical Analysis™ Pro app, which engages students in advanced data analysis from biology, chemistry, and physics experiments, was recently recognized by two leading education awards. The app was named a winner of the Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTE 2020 Awards and the platinum winner in the STEM/STEAM App category of THE Journal’s 2020 New Product Awards.

“Graphical Analysis Pro provides the unique ability for students to delve into science concepts in new and unique ways, analyze experiments at their own pace as they learn remotely or in their classrooms, and create their own videos for scientific analysis, all while they are engaged in three-dimensional learning,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “We are thrilled to be recognized by both Tech & Learning and THE Journal for this revolutionary app and the impact it has on providing students meaningful STEM learning experiences—regardless of whether they are in the classroom or learning remotely.”

The Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTE 2020 Awards recognize products that are transforming teaching and learning during the pandemic and beyond. The judges selected the winning products based on numerous factors, including value, uniqueness in the market, and the product’s ability to solve specific problems for educators and administrators.…Read More

Schell Games’ Virtual Reality Educational Tool HistoryMaker VR Now Available For Free

With a majority of schools participating in distance learning this year, Schell Games announced its virtual reality education tool HistoryMaker VR is now available for free on Steam for all to use.

HistoryMaker VR is an immersive content creation tool that helps students learn history in an entertaining and engaging way. This innovative application allows learners to display their knowledge of history, civics, and social studies, while offering educators and parents a new way to improve student engagement, increase lesson retention, and introduce an exciting alternative to textbooks and Zoom lectures. HistoryMaker VR seamlessly integrates into curriculums and includes classroom guides and recommended activities for teachers and parents to use.

Using an Oculus Rift/Rift S headset and a PC, learners and/or educators can upload a script, prep the stage with a variety of props and set pieces, and record themselves giving a speech as one of eight diverse characters in U.S. history, including Benjamin Franklin, Harriet Tubman, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and more. At the end of the recording, speeches can be exported as a video and shared with others, without the need for a VR headset. The videos can even be edited with any video editing tool, giving learners another opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and skill.…Read More

5 simple ways to integrate STEAM education into elementary classrooms

As educators, our goal is to shape our students’ lives by teaching them in ways that produce well rounded individuals. Whether STEAM education is new to you or you’re already familiar with it, it’s a great way to excite students about learning.

Some people like to debate STEM vs. STEAM. In case you’re unfamiliar with these terms I’ll tell you what they mean. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. STEAM is all of those, plus the A for Arts. I once had an actual rocket scientist (he’s a genius & a truly brilliant man) debate STEM vs. STEAM with me. He said there is no place for art in STEM education. Well, I disagree!

When you look at a beautiful building or a breathtaking bridge, do you not see the artistic value? When engineers design something, I have to think that they take the aesthetics of their design into account to produce something unique and beautiful!…Read More

1 2

Discovery Museum Announces New STEM Learning Resources for Teachers and Families

Discovery Museum announced today the launch of Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW) and other teaching resources for schools, and Parent-Assisted STEAM Experiences (PASE), a set of in-museum and at-home learning resources and supports for families. Developed to address the educational constraints of the COVID crisis on schools and families, these resources will support student learning this school year and beyond.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops – The Museum has launched Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW), a redevelopment of its popular in-school STEM workshops, with COVID-19 protocols and safety standards in place. VTSW are available for eight STEM topics including Magnets, Sound, Force & Motion, Weather & Climate, and more.  The workshops are for Kindergarten through 8th grade, for students either in the classroom or at home.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops are taught by Museum educators, streamed live to encourage student interaction. Individual student materials are safely packaged and delivered to the school in advance of the workshop to allow for timely distribution to students, whether they will be in the classroom or at home. These workshops are available for booking now.…Read More

Two Kentucky School Systems Select Discovery Education to Support STEM and STEAM Instruction

Two Kentucky school systems—Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) and the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS)—recently selected Discovery Education to support STEM/STEAM education in their school districts. Through these two new partnerships, Discovery Education will help educators in FCPS’s RISE Academy and JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence nurture the growth of STEM cultures within these all-female schools  that help students develop the creative, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills needed for success in classrooms, online, or in the hybrid environment. Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms.

A brand new school opening in the 2020-2021 school year, FCPS’s Rise STEM Academy will support young women as they explore science, technology, engineering, and math during their formative years so that each student may more eagerly embrace STEM career pathways. JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence is dedicated to empowering, activating, and illuminating academic excellence in every girl through an Afrocentric and gender-specific STEAM curriculum.

While in different school systems, both schools sought a complete STEM/STEAM solution that combined sustained professional learning and high-quality digital resources in a way that would nurture and develop a culture of STEM teaching and learning.  In addition, each school wanted a solution that presented a holistic, research-based approach to STEM/STEAM that offered participating educators a strong support structure.  Following a rigorous review, both schools selected Discovery Education’s comprehensive STEM program and Teacher Leader Collaborative (TLC) professional development support.  In FCPS’s RISE Academy, educators in grades K-2 will participate in the TLC, and in JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence, educators in grade 6 will utilize the TLC.…Read More

3 ways to teach STEAM in a blended learning environment

Before March 2020, there were many conversations about the benefits of minimizing screen time for young learners. Since the pandemic hit, educators and parents have had no choice but to rely on screens to reach and teach students. But screen-based learning is not always developmentally appropriate for young learners, and it is not well suited to some forms of learning. STEAM lessons in particular, with their exploratory and experiential elements, may seem impossible to deliver in a remote learning model.

But with the right tools and the right approach, we can keep engaging our young learners in STEAM. Here’s how educators, whether they’re teaching 100% virtual or in a blended learning environment, can teach STEAM concepts in a hands-on, playful way.

Grounding learning in hands-on manipulatives…Read More

1 2