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"Classical music is proving to withstand the tests of time, so you might be wondering how an app can help get you more in touch with this rich, inspiring art form. Sure, you may already consider yourself a classical music buff, but there's always more you can learn about how orchestras work, or how certain classical works are constructed. Or perhaps you enjoy classical music and want to immerse yourself into the genre some more, but you don't know where to start. Maybe you have kids, and you want to introduce them to classical music in a fun way. I looked at a number of apps-and some books-that can help you with any of those scenarios. Whether you're a novice to the genre, or a seasoned musician, you'll find something that will help you discover and learn more about great music."

"Early on in my 3D Printing experience, I immediately became interested in designing connecting parts. After some fails, some lessons and minor success, I took a break. I came back to this project and now created some simple connecting parts I call "Building Sticks". The goal for the Building Sticks was two-fold. First, I wanted something that would be fun for kids (and me) to build stuff - like a construction toy. Second, I wanted something I could use to build or prototype simple functional things - like phone stands or business card holders or even just ideas for larger custom objects. "

"Why use video games in the classroom as teaching tools? Let's be clear-we've come a long way from Asteroids and Space Invaders. The modern capabilities and designs of computer games provide endless opportunities for meaningful learning experiences. Used appropriately and effectively, technology can make a difference in students' lives and affect their attitude toward school in a positive way. So ditch the old stereotypes and misconceptions you may have about the ill effects of video games and reframe your perception in the light of using them to enhance learning. Gamification of classrooms isn't a new idea. The components of the gaming world lend themselves well to self-directed learning, because gaming taps into the variables which inherently motivate the desire for progress. In fact, using a set of constructs called game mechanics one could conceivably create situations that enhance learning by incorporating the kinds of motivating strategies found in today's best video games. Whether you choose to "gamify" your physical classroom all the way or only use video games as an occasional learning enhancement, making learning fun will positively reinforce students' experiences of school. Here are some suggestions on how to successfully use video games in the classroom."

" It was visual literacy in action this week at The Kellett School in Hong Kong as a variety of elementary classes explored logo design for packaging. These young learners needed to craft a distinctive design, using a considered colour palette and a combination of shapes, in Assembly app on their iPads. While there are a whole variety of tools that can be used for this kind of task, one of the powerful tools in this app is actually one that is missing - text! With no words 'to do the talking', the principles of art and design took centre stage during the production of this purely visual piece of communication. "

How might we shape that culture and how will we understand the many forces at work? Understanding the culture of class or perhaps even a school is an important element of our teaching but realising the complexity of this task must come first.

"As a learning strategy, inquiry-based learning is all about learners constructing their own understanding and knowledge through asking questions. Unlike traditional learning methods that focus primarily on drills, memorization and rote learning, inquiry-based learning is essentially student-centered. It starts with posing questions and directly involves students in challenging hands-on activities that drive students to ask more questions and explore different learning paths. In today's post, we have assembled a collection of some useful web tools and apps that support the ethos of inquiry-based learning.  Using these tools will enable students to engage in a wide range of learning tasks that are all driven by a sense of inquiry and questioning."

"About two decades ago The MIT Media lab introduced the concept of block-based programming. The idea was to develop an interface that allowed computer programs to be built by simply dragging and dropping puzzle blocks to represent complex programming constructs and commands. With this new method for teaching and learning computer science, the hugely popular Scratch platform was born. This approach lowered the bar for experimenting with programmatic thinking, making it possible for students to create interactive animations and small games without writing a single line of code. This simple concept removed the need to learn the syntax of a formal programming language, and made teaching and learning the basics of computer science accessible to younger learners and to teachers with no formal coding background. Outside of the classroom though, coding has always been, and still remains, a process of typing letters, numbers and symbols. This text-based programming, used in programming language such as C, Javascript and Python, requires coders to obey and conform to formal syntax. Despite the pain of dealing with typos in names of variables and inevitable syntax errors, no other coding method designed to be more "user friendly" has really caught on. Tools have been offered for managers to define business logic through a graphical user interface without writing lines of codes. Or for web developers to add interactive behaviors to their websites without learning Javascript. But in reality, neither of those substitute the power and flexibility of text-based programming. And with neither winning significant adoption, the demand for the classic skill of text-based coding continues to grow and grow."

"I must confess: I am a coder. I like to create and build through computer programming. I find it engages a special part of my brain and calms me when I need a break of administrative or educational work. In fact, I used to code for Microsoft. I also teach coding and I love that coding teaches them to grow as analytical thinkers and problem solvers. In short, I am a big proponent for learning how to code. What has struck most of late is just how universal coding has become as a connector of people. When I first played around with the topic for this post, I considered titling it as, "Coding is a Universal Language," but a set of colleagues corrected me. Coding does not follow the rules of common languages; it exceeds them. Coding ties people together from all backgrounds and ages with the universal concepts of planning, creativity, design, and development. It is both constructive and destructive, fueling collaboration in some and isolation in others. What I challenge readers to think about is finding any part of modern society that is not touched in some way by coding? Think of any social or political event of the past 25 years that didn't have some connection to coding. Think of one nation of people on earth that haven't been influenced in some way by coding. I am sure you can find some, but those outliers are vastly overwhelmed by the examples of coding being tied to the central fabric of contemporary digital society."

"I got my copy of Get Active: Reimagining Learning Spaces for Student Success at ISTE 2015 this summer in Philadelphia.  I love reading about and studying learning space design theory.  I truly feel that innovative learning environments can transform how our students learn.  This book is an excellent introduction to active learning spaces and strategies we can use in designing and redesigning learning spaces, from hacking our furniture to working with architects on new construction."

"Paper, one of the most familiar, inexpensive, and abundant materials around, is great for arts and crafts. With the right techniques, however, you can also use it for anything from prototyping small models to constructing furniture or even boats and buildings. Here's how to push the limits of its potential."

"In this AutoCAD tutorial, you are going to learn the basics of how to use AutoCAD and create your first objects. AutoCAD is a powerful tool to create 2D and 3D objects, like architectural floorplans and constructions or engineering projects. It also can generate files for 3D printing. If you want to start this AutoCAD tutorial for beginners, you should be able to spare roughly one hour for it."

"At the secondary level, core computer science (CS) concepts and practices are taught in courses typically within the information technology (IT) career cluster under the umbrella of career and technical education (CTE). However, CS concepts and practices are also increasingly being incorporated into academics and also electives (and are influenced by art and design). No matter the discipline, creating computational artifacts is one of the core CS practices students should consistently experience to become better problem-solvers. Computational artifacts may include images, videos, presentations, audio files and computer programs. Precise and consistent practice in computer programming (CP) will help students construct cross-curricular knowledge in tandem with both academic and CS concepts and practices. As CP is the process of writing a program from start to finish, students receive exposure in the amalgamation of practices 3-6 found in the K-12 Computer Science Framework. So, how can we successfully engage students in CP? Here's how we can do so in four major steps."

"Anxious, overconfident, curious, indifferent, angry, amused, lonely, hopeful, embarrassed, empowered, afraid, excited, diminished-teachers have seen all these emotions emerge from students as they engage with classroom content. Emotional responses to lessons often go through students' minds before they even begin to think about the material: This stuff is stupid/awesome/beyond me. I'm not comfortable with this. Finally, something I'm good at. Maybe somebody will notice I can't read. Let's see her find a mistake in that one-it's perfect. Does the teacher know I didn't study this last night? Some of us deny this reality and claim we aren't trained to guide children's emotional health. We think our purpose is to teach content and skills only, not to deal with the touchy-feely stuff. This attitude turns a blind eye to the developmental nature of the students we serve, and it runs afoul of how minds learn. Unless we're the most severe of sociopaths, we all have emotional responses that affect what we do. Adding to the messiness, our individual perspectives and experiences may put us out of sync with others' emotional states, even as the institutional nature of schools demands emotional synchronicity. The resulting miscommunication, blame, anxiety, and frustration are not the best ingredients for a good day at school. Teachers who deny the emotional elements of teaching and learning can become exhausted from ceaseless confrontations with students' emotional states, often blaming their personal stress and students' failure to learn on students' lack of motivation or maturity. They grow disconnected from students, creating an almost adversarial relationship with them: I need to get them to shape up. It's them or me. These students are hopeless; why should I bother? It's the parents who created this situation. This attitude can bleed into daily interactions with students and colleagues. It doesn't have to be this way. We can develop constructive responses to our own

"You thought that by now your kid would just be popping out toys, books, and maybe the occasional missing LEGO piece from a personal 3D printer. Patience. While these devices not as ubiquitous as your old HP Deskjet, they are finding their way to a makerspace, public library, and science center near you. And, because of that fact, Sarah O'Rourke, the product marketing manager at Autodesk, is trying to take your kid's interests and figure out how to make cool stuff they'll love IRL (like a Pokemon Go aimer). Here are few ways she gets her young design students to transition from fabricating in Play-Doh to constructing in plastic."

"This school year we added a new feature to our daily lineup of student activities. Called "Picture Prompts," these short, accessible, image-driven posts feature photographs and illustrations from The Times, and invite a variety of written or spoken responses - from creative storytelling to personal narrative to constructing an argument or analyzing what a work of "op-art" might be saying. Teachers tell us they use these prompts to inspire student writing - whether in their journals, as a timed opportunity or to practice inferring meaning "without worrying about getting the right or wrong answer." They also use them with a variety of learners, from high school to middle or elementary school students to English Language Learners of all ages. As one teacher put it, she uses them "for helping teenagers to start talking to each other." Below, we've categorized the 160+ prompts we published during the 2016-17 school year based on the type of writing they primarily encourage students to do. All are still open for comment. Plus, we have a lesson plan on how to teach with Picture Prompts, along with other Times images, in case you're looking for more inspiration."

"To quote Bob Dylan, the times, they are a-changin'. We wonder, though, if teachers have the dispositions needed to make fundamental changes to their teaching practices in order to respond constructively to our changing times, especially when those changes reveal that what they were doing was less effective than their egos thought they were. The way we teach is often a statement of who we are. If someone questions our practices, it's like they're questioning our value as teachers. Our classroom instruction, including assessment and grading, technology integration, student-teacher interactions, and more, are expressions of how we see ourselves; they are our identity. Can we navigate these frequently troubled waters without invoking self-preserving egos and drowning in resentment?"

"If you're familiar with the 3D designing, it's unlikely that you are not familiar with Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a user-friendly design platform that allows even the most basic beginners to construct a 3D-printable model. See our Easy Tinkercad Tutorial for Beginners article for a step by step walk-through of how to start Tinkering. Additionally, Tinkercad offers a plethora of learning material and educational videos. Under the Learn tab on tinkercad.com to get you started on becoming a modeling expert. Already a seasoned modeler? Tinkercad is not only for beginners. Tinkercad allows you to upload your model to share designs around the world. This also means you can copy a model that has been uploaded by another user and "Tinker" it yourself. Here we present some insanely cool things that have been modeled on Tinkercad."

"I agree with Brene Brown about developing "shame resilience" and have found the usual tug of war between with teaching and mistake making diminishes when we introduce students to a mindset in which they appreciate the importance of recognizing our errors and strive for constant improvement. When I think about design thinking, I believe it could be a powerful way for students to experience their vulnerability and develop perspective taking, all the while creating real cool stuff-whether it is a piece of writing, a t-shirt, a rollercoaster, an app or, in my Early Year's classroom, a garden. They learn how to fail forward and create another prototype. This design sprint is not a destructive but constructive element because, although they spent a lot of time developing their idea, the focus shifts from the product itself to the user-who will reap the benefits of this redesign. It gets the kids to detach from what they are making to who they are making it for. This nuance has a relatively big impact on the process of improvement."

"We live in a stressful world, and the stress is heightened for students and educators when it's time to prepare for high-stakes tests. When test scores are tied to school funding, teacher evaluations, and students' future placement, the consequences of these stressors can be far-reaching. From a neurological perspective, high stress disrupts the brain's learning circuits and diminishes memory construction, storage, and retrieval. Neuroimaging research shows us that, when stresses are high, brains do not work optimally, resulting in decreased understanding and memory. In addition, stress reduces efficient retrieval of knowledge from the memory storage networks, so when under pressure students find it harder to access information previously studied and learned. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. Students (and their parents) often interpret suboptimal standardized test scores as a measure of the students' limitations in intelligence and potential. The consequence is a loss of confidence, further activating their brains' stress response, making it more difficult for them to employ their cognitive resources and knowledge during the tests themselves."

"Create your own DIY lighting around a LED light bulb hanging on a wire. This resourceful video from The Lighting Channel shares 10 ways to change a lightbulb: with paper, crochet, a bottle, a bowl, paper mâché, ducting tube, stencils, a metal utensil can, a pentagon tower made with construction paper, and a soft box. Remember to use LED lights for safety-they don't burn as hot as other kinds of light bulbs-and give them lots of room to breathe. As always, be safe, be smart, be sure to test your creations, and don't leave them unattended. And for an up close look at these ideas, check out this playlist. Here are two we want to try:"