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"Virtual reality is one of the hottest edtech trends. Not only are students allowed the opportunity to emerge themselves into a subject but can travel the world from their desk chairs. While not readily available in every classroom, programs such as Google Cardboard aim to make VR headsets cheap and accessible. The majority of students in the USA own a cell phone, and with many of these educational apps available on both iOs and the iTunes-enabled devices, they are becoming more accessible to more students. Educationally, these VR apps allow students to visualize concepts that were confined to the pictures in a textbook. Below are 20 Virtual Reality Apps that are changing education."

"When students hear a lecture or read from a textbook, more often than not that information is stored in the limbic system, the short-term memory part of the brain, and discarded after the test. Which raises an important question: What's the point? But when students are immersed in a story, one where they are the characters and teachers are their guides, a transformation takes place. The classroom becomes a setting. Conflict becomes authentic. And school becomes engaging."

"Representation matters: Girls do better on science tests when their textbooks include images of female scientists. And a 2017 survey by Microsoft found that girls in Europe begin to show interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at 11 years old but lose it at around 15-and a lack of female role models is one reason for the drop in interest. That's why we've created this list of books showing girls and women who are passionate about STEM fields. After asking librarians for recommendations, pulling still more from School Library Journal, and checking best-seller and award lists, we selected picture books, biographies, novels, and memoirs appropriate for kids from kindergarten to 12th grade. These books-most of which were published in 2016-represent a wide range of STEM fields, from marine biology to volcanology to math. "

"It's not entirely clear what it means to be a "21st century student." And in 2013, it's also not entirely clear what the definition of an "educational app" might be. Just as students are no longer tethered to textbooks (in most formal education settings), apps that are strictly didactic-designed to promote academic proficiency and foundational fluency-are often the first that parents and teachers reach for when looking for something "constructive." But the reality is, the 21st century is as much about finding, evaluating, managing, sharing, and curating information as it is reading texts, answering questions, and applying memorized formulas to neatly scaffolded problems."