Must Know Learning Theories for The Digital Age. BYOD. Camp Minecraft: How educators use the block-building game to inspire kids to code | GamesBeat. Summer camp used to mean swimming, hiking, and bonfires. These days it could mean mines, exploding creepers, and JavaScript. Educational group iD Tech Camps is using the block-building sandbox Minecraft and other games to teach children about science, technology, education, and math (STEM). The organization holds its camps over the summer at nearly 60 universities around the country. “This is our 15th season,” iD Tech vice president of marketing and business development Karen Thurm Safran told GamesBeat. “We’ve been offering video game courses from the start. We look for products that are interesting — that’ll appeal to kids — because we want to show them how they can take a hobby like video gaming and turn it into a lucrative STEM career.”
The company uses developer Mojang’s Minecraft to introduce many basic and advanced concepts to the students in four courses. “Most kids play Minecraft, and so they’re very excited to go in and modify it,” said Safran. A bait and switch. Teaching Creativity. Future@Now Conference | Digital Textbooks Are Here. Congressman George Miller (D-CA) Congressman George Miller is the Senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee and a leading advocate in Congress on education, labor, the economy, and the environment. First elected in 1975, he now represents the newly created 11th District of California in the East Bay of San Francisco, including the majority of Contra Costa County. He recently introduced the Transforming Education through Technology Act, which would require states and school districts to develop plans and policies that put the best technology in the hands of students and teachers to support learning and achievement for all students.
Alberto Carvalho Superintendent Miami-Dade County Public Schools (FL) Alberto Carvalho is Superintendent of the nation's fourth largest school system. Jim Shelton Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Innovation and Improvement U. Dr. Mark Edwards, Ed.D. is considered a pioneer of 1:1 computing in public schools. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. IPads in the classroom: The right way to use them, demonstrated by a Swiss school. Photo by Frederick Florin/Getty Images Touch-screen tablets for young students have become all the rage. Some districts are even buying iPads for every kindergartner, a move sparking both celebration and consternation. Do we really want to give $500 devices to kids who can’t even tie their shoes? What are these schools doing with these devices, anyway?
Last month, I had a rare opportunity to ask those questions at a school in Zurich, Switzerland. As part of a tour to talk about my book, Screen Time, I was treated to three days of visits to nearly a dozen classrooms at the Zurich International School, a private school that caters to English-speaking immigrants and expats whose companies have brought them to this exquisite city near the Alps. ZIS, as the school is called, has distributed 600 iPads—one to every student in first through eighth grades, plus a set for teachers in preschool and kindergarten to use with children in small groups.
I was wrong. Overall Implementation Plan. How Do We Teach Critical Thinking in a Connected World? As a child, I grew up in a world that was dominated by left-brained thinking. Both my parents were in professions that required in-depth analytical thinking. The “rule” in my house was: “If you break something, try to fix it. Only THEN come ask Dad for help.” Dad was an avionics engineer and had an incredible mechanical ability. Looking back now, I realize something I never understood then — what he had instilled was an ability to think critically.
Several months ago, as I was visiting one of our diocese schools, I was fascinated that a first grade teacher was actually teaching critical thinking to her students within a math lesson. The addition sentences were easy for the six and seven-year olds. Shortly after my classroom visit, I came across a website dedicated to teaching critical thinking. Reflection always includes stopping and thinking before making rash judgments about the topic at hand. ‘How do you know what you know?’ About the author.