The Fresh Classroom by @PaulKelba

"In essence, more and more educators are expressing desire to bring curriculum alive by walking outside of the school building and into the 'real world'" -Simon Beames- Traditionally, a common field trip or field study, full of intangible moments has supported curriculum and is paraded as a schools effective real world connection. We have to do much better. In fact we need to partially look back in time, and if we can combine the local landscape with current gadgets (more specifically, use affordable ubiquitous technologies), we can address the litany of common problems that arise when a teacher leads a field trip. Lack of student engagement, connection and organizational planning some of the most significant roadblocks cited.  Landscape Activities Learning about the actual place where the students physically go to school can be brought alive directly with interaction. The key is not how simple or complex the activity is, the key is that it is e...

The data is as varied as the opinions that go with it, summer break has it's staunch advocates and critic's. If summer memory loss exists, the science & math students that I teach in a public school are more than capable of overcoming it. I have tracked a trend in students that return in September with notable social and emotional growth and they are those best  equipped  to handle technical problem based learning in schools. It is not  necessarily  the students that master the latest math application, attend a typical summer school program or bring a textbook home for summer. As a teacher faced with questions from parents of: "How can my child avoid falling back during the summer break", many times have found myself steering students towards a summer of consumption. Last year I promoted terrific learning app's, and in previous years comprehensive websites, summer academic programs and such. It always seemed a regression of the impressive real-world lear...