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"As a high school math teacher, it was important for me to create a learning space that welcomed on-demand wonder and exploration. I knew that I planned to have a few essential hands-on math tools, and in the last few years, I also knew that I needed to have other items that were essential for providing kids more creative freedom. With a few containers, manipulatives, and supplies, along with some technology, I created a space that my students would go on to name "the wonder shelves." What you are about to read was not an overnight process, but one that grew over an eight-year span."

"f you build it, will they come? Just because you create a makerspace (PDF) in your school doesn't guarantee that your community will embrace it. Students who have had all personal choice removed by traditional educational models can be passive and feel overwhelmed when faced with real-world problems or design challenges. Academic passivity is common in schools where students swallow content and regurgitate it on multiple-choice tests. Students simply want to know how to get the "A." This type of learning does not stick. Teachers may find the role of facilitator (or "guide on the side") uncomfortable if they are used to being the "sage on the stage." New technology in these spaces may be intimidating. Teachers need encouragement and professional development to change their mindsets and become facilitators of learning. How do you change your culture and ensure that your shiny new makerspace will empower students to acquire 21st-century skills? How do you change the culture of student apathy to encourage a mindset of doing? Follow these steps and design tips to build a culture of making and active learning."

... teachers need to "embrace the messiness that is learning," says master teacher and author Robyn Jackson. "[People] think kids are lazy, they don't want to work-they want to work. They just don't want to work the way we often ask them to work," Jackson says.

Much is made of the potential for games to enhance education for today's kids living in a so-called "digital world," but traditional approaches seek to make gaming conform to education. At the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, two innovative teachers suggested that teachers ought to embrace -- and employ -- all the ways in which kids are already playing

SASKATOON -- A high school in Saskatchewan has stopped fighting technology and has embraced cellphone use in the classroom.

HOME is an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it. But HOME is more than a documentary with a message, it is a magnificent movie in its own right. Every breathtaking shot shows the Earth - our Earth - as we have never seen it before. Every image shows the Earth's treasures we are destroying and all the wonders we can still preserve. "From the sky, there's less need for explanations". Our vision becomes more immediate, intuitive and emotional. HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it. It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)

How do we motivate students to embrace challenge? How do we encourage students to rise to challenges of their own? What is the connection between a meaningful, challenging curriculum and lasting achievement? ASCD's newest e-book, Challenging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership, addresses many of these questions and is available for download free of charge starting today and running through August 16, 2009.

Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books. Cushing Academy embraces a digital future

"An increasing number of students are returning to school after the winter break with shiny new mobile devices in hand. This excites me as I rely entirely on my students devices and a BYOD policy to integrate technology into my classroom. That said, I've trained lots of teachers who are hesitant to embrace mobile devices. Many teachers fear that allowing students to use their devices in class will only distract them and compromise the learning environment. My experience has been the exact opposite. Allowing students to use their devices in the classroom has been absolutely transformative!"

"This fall, the entire British school system will embrace computer science. The UK is the first G8 country to include computer science education in its national curriculum, and the move could serve as a test case for so many other nations across the globe, including the United States. As computing comes to dominate our world, programming skills are more valuable than ever, but even the U.S.-the center of the technology universe-is still struggling to bring coding into the classroom. Part of the problem is that, before students learn how to code, their teachers must learn too. Pulling all that off is a massive endeavor."

"This may be news to you (it was to us), but Apple has a guide for teaching with apps. Called "Using iOS Apps for Teaching & Learning," it's 8 pages long and really, honestly isn't as self-embracing and superificial as you'd expect. Of course, it's only 8 pages and acts more as an overview than the book, PD, and years of experience it actually requires to get it just right. But it does hit some high notes, encouraging teachers to consider 5 factors that actually work pretty well as a checklist when choosing the next app for your classroom."