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An unavoidable element of the discourse around educational disadvantage or equality is how we define and assess equality. One definition will see this as being in equality of access to education, funding for education and/or resources. Such an approach has largely been seen in government funding models however subtle variations on this theme have resulted in significant differences in resulting policies.

"It's no secret that fractions are a very difficult concept for students to understand. But why is that? Fractions are an extremely abstract concept, and without adequate concrete and representational experiences, students do not develop mental images of what the abstract symbols mean.   In Texas, students begin formal fraction instruction in 2nd grade under our newly adopted TEKS, but the symbolic notation for fractions (1/4, 2/3, etc.) is not taught until 3rd grade. The 2nd grade standards include: partition objects into equal parts and name the parts, including halves, fourths, and eighths, using words explain that the more fractional parts used to make a whole, the smaller the part; and the fewer the fractional parts, the larger the part use concrete models to count fractional parts beyond one whole using words and recognize how many parts it takes to equal one whole Let's take a closer look at each."

"Not all apps are created equal. Not all teacher planning and instructional design are created equal. Mash the two, and we're beginning to see the opportunity for some real disparity. In response, we've taken the popular SAMR model and use it as a framework to understand how to better teach with apps. This post started as a look at "app workflow"-the patterns of student and teacher interaction, the movement of learning artifacts, the visibility of quality criteria, assessment results, and so on, but we thought it might be better to start with some concrete examples of the movement from basic technology integration-in this case, apps-to that which redefines the learning process entirely. Below, then, are 21 ways apps can be used to teach-and learn-with varying degrees of ambition, from mere substitution of existing teaching practices, all the way to full-on redefinition of what's possible. (This post also presumes you're familiar with the SAMR model-if not, here's a good primer.)"

7 over-arching tensions, these being: 1. The tension between the global and the local. 2. The tension between the universal and the individual. 3. The tension between tradition and modernity. 4. The tension between long term and short term considerations. 5. The tension between competition and concern for equality of opportunity. 6. The tension between expansion of knowledge and our capacity to assimilate it. 7. The tension between the spiritual and the material.

"I've never really thought about this until now, but if you use a tablet extensively, you have to watch how you're seated when you're using it. Just like how you sit in front of a normal computer matters to your back and neck posture, the same rules equally apply to when you're using your iPad, Android tablet or Kindle Fire."

"There are a lot of dangerous stereotypes out there. "Asian students are always better at math." "Boys are always better at sports." And perhaps the most dangerous of all: "The current generation are all digital natives." It is easy to see the danger in the first two stereotypes. They tend to influence the way teachers, parents, peers and society in general classify, justify and treat whichever group is represented by the stereotype. I'm not sure enough people give enough thought to the third, equally dangerous, stereotype."

"Guessing what the future of education holds is equal parts logic and guesswork. The logical part is simpler-take current trends and trace their arc further, doing your best to account for minor aberrations. If the majority of public education in the United States is waist-deep in adopting new academic standards, it doesn't take Nostradamus to predict they are going to have a strong gravity about them in the education at large."

"This great Maths idea on how to cut a cake into four equal pieces!! How Do Mathematicians cut their Birthday Cakes? Amazing!"

"In a recent piece here in TIME, I wrote about seven areas of explosive growth in tech that will drive our world and economy over the next 10-15 years. There, I said that for us to achieve this level of growth, we'll need millions of new workers skilled in STEM. At the moment, we just don't have enough of these skilled tech workers to make my vision of a connected world a reality. In fact, when I talk to big companies like Boeing, Intel, Qualcomm and so on, they fear that, as they grow, they will not have enough tech-educated staff to meet their engineering needs. One estimate says there will be 2.4 million STEM-based job vacancies in 2018 alone."

"Every Tuesday and Thursday from 11-12:30, we have an open makerspace time for students to sign up to explore the world of making.  This time supports students from many of our grades, but it doesn't support all students.  In addition to weaving makerspace into projects, I've been trying to host times for grades who can't come at our normal makerspace hours to come and explore Kindergarten is one of these grades. The Kindergarten teachers came to a maker professional learning session I did in the new year, and they really wanted to work out times for small groups of students to come to makerspace. We made a plan to have a couple of days each week where 3 students from each class came for a 30-minute maker time.  That equals 12 students.  For now, the students are different each time until we see the students who really get hooked into some of the maker tools. That means I have to offer the same experience multiple times so that all students get to try it."

"Yesterday we published top iPad apps for librarians and today we are featuring another equally important visual comprising some of the best web tools to help librarians in their everyday work. We have arranged these tools into 10 main categories: Database portals, research tools, curation tools, animated video tools, poster creation tools, note taking tools, timeline creation tools, tools communicate with parents, presentation tools and reference tools."

"Critical thinking skills truly matter in learning. Why? Because they are life skills we use every day of our lives. Everything from our work to our recreational pursuits, and all that's in between, employs these unique and valuable abilities. Consciously developing them takes thought-provoking discussion and equally thought-provoking questions to get it going. Begin right here with the Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet. It's a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic. Whenever your students discover or talk about new information, encourage them to use these questions for sparking debate and the sharing of opinions and insights among each other. Together they can work at building critical thinking skills in a collaborative and supportive atmosphere."

"Not all Minecraft videos are created equal. Approximately 90% of the top-rated Minecraft videos found on YouTube and other popular video streaming sites contain inappropriate content not suitable for children. Clean Minecraft Videos is the solution. Clean Minecraft Videos offers more than 200 videos from the YouTubers kids know and love that are free of all inappropriate content."

"If you're a teacher, or teaching assistant there are plenty of great blogs out there to help you with everything from coming up with teaching plans, to implementing technology in the classroom. Where to start though? The internet is crowded with blogs. We decided to go through some of them for you, so that you can find the blog(s) covering the topics you're looking for and be sure it's quality content. Generally, there are four key qualities of a good teaching & learning blog: Activity (25%). Information should be updated regularly Originality (25%). It should add value with content that's different from all the other blogs out there Helpfulness (25%). A good teaching & Learning blog should teach you a new skill, direct you to a useful resource, or at least get you to think in a new way about something Authority (25%). The author/authors have the authority and credentials to blog about the topic of teaching & learning Each category was assigned an equal weight in our evaluation. They were averaged together to determine the final score in order to come up with our list of the top 68."

"A few days ago, we shared with you this handy infographic featuring 12 important tips to help you refine your Google searches and get precise search results. Today, we are introducing you to these equally important resources shared by Google Inside Search. These are free self-paced courses to help you develop and improve your Google search skills. You will get to learn 'tips and tricks to become a fast and effective fact-finder with Power Searching with Google, deepen your understanding of solving complex research problems using advanced Google search techniques with Advanced Power Searching with Google, and join  a growing global community of Power Searchers.'"

"We educators may be tempted to believe that once students develop growth mindset, they are adequately prepared to face life's challenges and changes. But growth mindset is not nearly enough by itself to thoroughly outfit anyone with all it takes to attain their full potential. Possessing a positive perspective is but one instrument in what must be a cohesive quartet that meets each child's fundamental needs. Growth mindset is indeed crucial, but not any more or less so than three other sets of readiness. Educators must nurture the whole child. The following four core capabilities are equally important and inextricably intertwined."

"One of the things I like the most about iPad is its ability to support all the major e-reader platforms. Its interactivity and audio capabilities have even added a new dimension to read alouds and bedtime stories, making it an ideal device for digital storytelling. And since Educational Technology and Mobile Learning has already featured a List of The Best Digital Storytelling Tools ( web and desktop version ) then we deem it equally important to provide another list of such tools but this time for the iPad."

"f there's a more complete note-taking app on the market than Notability, it's not readily apparent. The iPad offering from Ginger Labs is equally useful for stripped-down business uses or more complicated and playful creative efforts. "