I don’t know when they began calling critical thinking skills “21st Century Skills” – I used them and taught them plenty during the 20th century, but no matter. It seems to be the educational buzzword of the day. And if the trend results in teachers and parents focusing more on communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem [...]

Engaging the student, utilizing knowledge of various senses, taking advantage of free online tools, my son’s fourth grade social studies teacher did all these things when she showed the kids the following in class today:

I love this – it has all the elements of perfect learning: 1. Science tools. 2. Dirty kids. 3. Excitement. 4. Mystery. 5. Discovery. 6.Higher-Level Thinking. In fact, one student said, “This is probably the best science class ever,” (Angus Stewart). What is all this referring to? One teacher teaching science the way it should [...]

We were outside eating dinner at the picnic table when my youngest, who is 3, began playing with large, thin pieces of wood we have out back (we are building a tree fort). He crossed them and said, “Did I make an X?” He had, so we asked him if he could make a “T” [...]