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"For the first book in our #FractusReads series, we wanted to start with a book that not only comes highly recommended, but one that has also made its way to 'Best Seller' in STEM Education reading. Laura Fleming's practical and inspiring guide, Worlds of Making: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School is a must-read for any educator looking to improve or initiate a school makerspace"

"Problem solving is at the heart of engineering. No wonder, then, that engineering teacher Alexander Pancic leverages his own problem-solving skills to improve his students' learning experiences at Brighton High School in Boston, Massachusetts. "I've been trying to get my students to make the step, when they encounter a problem, of asking, 'What do I need to know to try to solve it?'" Students who are accustomed to doing worksheets, Pancic says, "get used to having everything they need to know included in the problems. Life isn't like that. You encounter real-life problems and have to figure out, what do I need to know? How can I find out? And then, how do I apply it?" Teachers interested in creating more student-driven learning experiences, especially in the STEM fields, are likely to benefit from Pancic's strategies and the resources he finds useful."

"For many years, digital learning games have been helping kids of all ages build new skills, grasp difficult concepts and improve their understanding of school curriculum. Young children find these games especially engaging, which can be useful when it comes to teaching kindergarten math."

"Business realized that simply putting an existing paper-and-pencil process on a computer would produce modest or incremental gains,"

"Learning is about reaching your full potential and can help you achieve self-actualization, the highest need identified by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. However, traditional education generally has a beginning and an end which culminates in taking tests. Lifelong learning preserves an individual's desire to obtain new knowledge outside of the formal education system. Developing an attitude where you constantly learn is the only way to succeed in the dynamic environment which we live in today. There is so much technology at your fingertips which you can take advantage of to help you learn throughout your life. This means you can follow your passion for languages, improve your craft skills and even develop a mobile app using resources you can find online."

"In the above illustration, what is the student doing? Here are some possibilities… conducting research creating a project texting a parent, friend, or teacher watching a video playing a game reading a news article As educators, we could argue the instructional merits of what is happening with the smartphone that the student is holding. Many of our initial thoughts and concerns are framed by our own perceptions and experiences of how we personally use technology. I read a heavily circulated article this week that detailed some research from the UK on the banning of students personal technology tools. This research revealed that students perform better on standardized tests when their schools ban the use of personal mobile devices. Apparently, this improved performance was due to the lack of distractions. Obviously, I can't argue with the research, but I do have several questions and thoughts related to the focus of this study and the topic of banning students' technology tools."

"But using technology in the classroom-and using it effectively-might require some slight adjustments on the part of the teacher to sustain the effort, creative problem-solving, and innovation required to actually improve learning through the use of technology. (And great administrators, too.) This occurs at the belief level-what teachers believe about technology, education, and their own abilities to manage technology. Looking at the characteristics of teachers that effectively use technology in the classroom, then, can be useful to create an "edtech" mindset-one that believes in purpose, adaptation, change, and meaningful planning. If you spend your time planning at the upper limits of the SAMR model, this graphic may simply work as a quick reminder of how edtech can work-and work well-at the teacher-human-belief level. For everyone else, it's a a beautiful starting point to frame your thinking about education technology in general."

"Video games get a bad rap. They are often portrayed as violent, addictive, and a mindless waste of hours that encourage laziness and make us fat. But that's not the full story. Most virtual games can be designed to have educational and physical benefits for players. Games that use repetitive actions, such as the swinging of a bat or targeting a moving object, train the brain and muscles to perform better in real-life activities. Video game brain training has the same effect as reading a book or riding a bike - when the brain is learning, thousands of new connections are being formed. The addition of a reward system motivates players to continuously improve their skills."

Provides videos and worksheets to use visual aids to improve literacy and writing skills

""Spaces and Places" encompasses tours and descriptions of makerspaces, schools, libraries, and museums through video, images, and multimedia content. These examples may inspire anyone looking to jumpstart or organize his/her own makerspace. In addition, "Spaces and Places" links to articles and guides with concrete tips for those who are planning or improving a youth makerspace. Maker Ed has also created several of its own resources around youth makerspaces, including but not limited to Youth Makerspace Playbook and Makerspaces: Highlights of Select Literature, all accessible at MakerEd.org/makerspaces and included among the resources below."

"The 21st century is challenging old notions of learning spaces. The idea that students must be seated at desks working in rows is quickly becoming archaic. Technology and collaborative work environments are changing the design of learning spaces. Experts hope that the emerging paradigm will translate into improved learning spaces and influence future architectural design."

"While doodling has often been seen as frivolous at best and distracting at worst, the idea of sketchnoting has grounding in neuroscience research about how to improve memory. When ideas and related concepts can be encapsulated in an image, the brain remembers the information associated with that image. William Klemm, a professor of neuroscience at Texas A&M University, says the process is akin to a zip file. "This is a way to get your working memory to carry more," Klemm said at a Learning and the Brain conference in San Francisco."

"Apple is aiming to further improve and refine the iPhone and iPad experience with the release of iOS 9, and with many new features and enhancements, it's sure to be a worthwhile system update for most users. Anytime a new version of system software is released though, users inevitably wonder if their devices will be able to run the next version, and that's no different with iOS 9, but to answer answer that question we're providing the full list of compatible devices."

"Below is a collection of some very good iPad apps to help teachers with  classroom management. Some of the tasks you can do with these apps include: conduct instant formative assessments in class, create seating charts, record class attendance, randomly pick students for classroom participation, create and share permission slips, visualize and assess students understanding, set timed tasks in class, improve students behaviour by providing real-time feedback, poll your students and many more. The apps featured in this list are among the best titles you can find in the category of classroom management. Enjoy"

"What is on the five-year horizon for K-12 schools worldwide? Which trends and technologies will drive educational change? What are the challenges that we consider as solvable or difficult to overcome, and how can we strategize effective solutions? These questions and similar inquiries regarding technology adoption and transforming teaching and learning steered the collaborative research and discussions of a body of 56 experts to produce the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 K-12 Edition, in partnership with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). The NMC also gratefully acknowledges ISTE as a dissemination partner. The three key sections of this report - key trends, significant challenges, and important developments in educational technology - constitute a reference and straightforward technology planning guide for educators, school leaders, administrators, policymakers, and technologists. It is our hope that this research will help to inform the choices that institutions are making about technology to improve, support, or extend teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in K-12 education across the globe. View the wiki where the work was produced."

"Game-based learning is an educational trend that has gained so much popularity in recent years. At its core, game-based learning involves the use of the learning principles underlying games' play in learning situations. In his book " What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy", James Paul Gee mentioned a number of these principles all of which are geared towards improving learners' critical thinking skills  and  enhancing their problem solving competencies. Marc Prensky is another thought leader in this field and his book "Digital Game Based Learning" provides a very good explanation of the basics of game based learning. For those of you using iPad in their teaching, here is a set of interesting apps you can use to incorporate the ethos of game-based learning in your classroom.   These are some excellent educational games  to engage students in different learning scenarios. We invite you to check them out and share with us what you think of them. Enjoy"

"Until recently, I was like Jane, but with technology. I used tech tools all day with little knowledge of their workings. And, despite my interactions with Jane, I had a typical fixed-mindset explanation for this: "I'm an English teacher. My brain doesn't work that way." What I was really saying was, "I forget how to be a beginner." A year ago, though, I became a beginner, an apprentice, a struggling learner. I decided to learn how to code. Immediately, the experience became less about designing websites and more about experiencing the growth mindset, improving confidence with technology, and learning that failure is part of the process."

"With the announcement today of an Apple Special Event scheduled to take place on September 9th 2015, rumours have been making the rounds on the Internet for months as to what new products we can expect to see unveiled. One thing we can be pretty certain about is the release of iOS 9. It was first unveiled and demoed at WWDC 2015, with a full release touted for fall of this year. I've been playing with with the iOS 9 beta on a secondary iPad Air for a couple of weeks now to get to grips with it ahead of this. It's not radically different in the way iOS 7 was, however what it does is make the operating system feel even more polished and refined. In the main, there are lots of features which have each been made a bit better. However this adds up to make a noticeable difference! Rather than focus on all of them (there are just too many), I'll focus on some of the key new features and improvements and in particular what they may bring to iPad classrooms."

"Something special is happening in my school district. It's quite magical actually... We are purchasing more and more Legos for our students as tools of learning. Now, don't get me wrong, I know how this sounds... Kids playing with Legos while at school may appear on the surface as counterproductive when it comes to improving standardized test scores. That may be true (there's not a lot of research out there), but I'm feeling optimistic and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that playing with Legos may just have a positive effect on student learning, student growth and development, AND standardized test scores..."

" Digital leaders know full well the power of video. As principal I routinely used video tools to improve communications, enhance public relations, and create a positive brand presence.  Leaders today can harness mainstay video tools to build better connections and relationships with all stakeholders while telling the story of their school/district in a way that was never possible. Video tools can also be used as pivotal learning tools that save precious time and money.  Below I break down four main categories of digital tools:"