I recently presented for a group of museum educators at a national history conference. The presentation was focused around best practices in education and how to engage student audiences. The main take-away? NOT with a “I’m standing up, you’re sitting down” presentation! Indeed, rather than ‘research’ what students are looking for in a field trip, [...]

Just read an interesting article about a new Facebook app that transforms the social-networking site into a study group. Students answer “What are you working on” and the Facebook tool finds others working on the same thing. You can read more about it here. I think we can be sure that social networks are not [...]

Ah, summertime. That feeling is fleeting – soon replaced by, “how long until school starts?” Around my household, I often have lofty summertime goals that include expeditions to places of culture, extended summer reading lists, journalling, and kitchen science experiments. These are too-soon replaced by piles of laundry, swim practice, lazy mornings, and more running [...]

I’m dating myself by saying this, but when I think of the band They Might Be Giants I think of the songs Particle Man and Birdhouse in Your Soul. These days, teachers everywhere are using videos by this offbeat band to teach their kids about science. The song below, called Roy G. Biv, teaches about [...]

It can be helpful to tactile learners to view writing as a process of constructing. A story board is a good way for the tactile learner to approach writing. A story board is a moveable idea board. It can be: the surface of a desk and a packet of sticky notes; a cork board, some [...]

When I wear my ‘consultant’ hat, I’m usually working with a local theatre company or a small museum, helping them design curriculum and materials to use with schoolchildren. What I always emphasize is that cultural organizations such as museums, zoos, theatres, and galleries have intrinsic value (not only for schoolchildren but for all of us) [...]

We all know that physical exercise is important for kids – it kind of goes without saying. What we sometimes forget is that physical exercise has serious implications on learning. When I taught 4th grade, I had the fortunate situation of my classroom being next to the school track. There were days when I sensed [...]

This is a beautiful video from ASCD’s Whole Child Education. I encourage parents to check out their online resources. There are some great podcasts that are available free of charge available on their site as well.

Yesterday I “attended” a webinar put on by Education Week. It featured two experts discussing recent trends in informal science education. It’s interesting to think about how those trends affect (mostly in very positive ways!) parents and families who want to encourage the spirit of inquiry and satisfy their curiosity about the world. A few [...]

This is a great opportunity to browse a huge amount of curriculum and have it come to you, your students, or your child, when and where you want it. iTunes now has a plethora of educational content available through iTunes U, much of it for FREE. For example, the following (along with many more) are [...]