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"Imagine you did not have a functioning hand. What would you do? How would you overcome the obstacles presented by a world for people with two working hands? Those of us with two normal hands may never know what this is like, but you and your students now have an opportunity to help other kids and adults overcome these obstacles and learn cool things at the same time."

Two forces seem to present the most significant obstacle to educators hoping to achieve these illustrious goals for and with their learners. The first is time, the second is "the system". Together these two factors act as a bulwark to change; the constraints within which progress is able to occur but only to the point that it strikes against the seemingly immutable obstacles. 

"Why is it that some people seem to make constant progress in their professional and personal lives, while others appear to be doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over? While the answer isn't cut and dry, I've noticed an interesting mindset difference between these two groups: they approach obstacles and challenges very differently. The first group approaches life with an open mind-an eagerness to learn and a willingness to be wrong. The second group digs their heels in at the first sign of disagreement and would rather die than be wrong. The way each group approaches obstacles, it turns out, defines much of what separates them."

"know that confusion doesn't feel good. Because it seems like an obstacle to learning, we try to arrange educational experiences and training sessions so that learners will encounter as little confusion as possible. But as is so often the case when it comes to learning, our intuitions here are exactly wrong. Scientists have been building a body of evidence over the past few years demonstrating that confusion can lead us to learn more efficiently, more deeply, more lastingly-as long as it's properly managed."

There is much to be learned from journeys. From stepping out of our doors and by placing one foot in front of the other making progress towards a planned destination. Journeys are a great metaphor for the challenges we face in our day to day lives and the parallels we draw may allow us to set a goal and achieve it despite the obstacles.

"The learn-to-code movement is aiming younger. MIT and partners, for example, recently released a free iPad app with its visual programming language ScratchJr., so kindergartners could use it to code stories and games even before knowing how to read. Vikas Gupta, a former Google executive who founded the startup Wonder Workshop (formerly called Play-i), has taken a slightly different path. "We learned that in order to make programming of interest to young children, it has to be a tangible product. It can't be just software," he told Co.Exist last year. Enter Dot and Dash-Wonder Workshop's two new robots that teach coding skills to children as young as five that are now being field tested in a few dozen elementary school classrooms nationally. And they are definitely tangible: Dash hears and responds to sounds, navigates around a room and avoid obstacles, and comes to life with sound and lights. He can even play the xylophone. Dot, on the other hand, doesn't have wheels and is meant to interact with Dash via Bluetooth and act as a controller. Both have their own customizable "personalities." On the back end, through four apps that control both robots, they are secretly teaching coding skills such as "event-based programming, sequencing, conditionals, and loops.""

"As cool as technology is, its intricacies and inner workings are sometimes intimidating, especially for young people who may be more interested in what technology can do for them rather than what they can do with technology. However, when students hurdle that obstacle and see the value of computer science - specifically coding - they gain a broadened perspective and the potential for a rewarding career in the tech field. The following resources will help you teach your students the basics of coding and will provide tips on how to keep kids interested as you go."

"Like many districts serving low-income populations, it was fairly easy for Piedmont City School District officials in Alabama to find funds for devices. District officials wanted to leverage technology to open up opportunities for the 1,240 students in this rural community, so they started sending devices home with kids in grades 4-12 in 2009 through a program they call mPower Piedmont. However, lack of access to the Internet after school and in kids' homes became a major obstacle to learning with those devices."

"My colleague and I walked into a room filled with a dozen fifth-grade girls snacking on pretzels and huddling around a LEGO robot they had named Kitty. Two of them were laughing about the goggles they had made out of robot wheels, while another small group crowded around a laptop to program wheel rotations. The rest attempted to drive Kitty through what looked like an obstacle course. It was our first glimpse into life as mentors for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington's LEGO League, a competition that combines programming LEGO Mindstorms robots, team project planning, and creative problem solving to get kids excited about science and technology."

"If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, the concept or theory behind computer science in the curriculum is not new, well not within Early Years Education. If we stop and think for a minute, what is happening when we code? We end up with - Problem Solving. Plain and simple……Computer programmers, computer scientists……solve problem! Our young learners spend every day solving and overcoming problems and obstacles. As educators, we set up scenarios, we pose problems and we guide the children towards finding strategies. These challenges are often in Maths and Science lessons but we sometimes see them in Physical Education and language classes too. We always strive to relate these problem solving skills to contexts, it makes sense if children can relate to real life scenarios. And this is where coding fits in."

"Many obstacles that iPad cynics attempt to put in place when discussing a roll-out are based on untruths, poorly research and/or out-of-date information. I was delighted when my Canadian Twitter friend and fellow iPad blogger, Steve Lai decided to join forces, as we've done before, to combat this dis-information that floats around the education profession worldwide."

"Like many districts serving low-income populations, it was fairly easy for Piedmont City School District officials in Alabama to find funds for devices. District officials wanted to leverage technology to open up opportunities for the 1,240 students in this rural community, so they started sending devices home with kids in grades 4-12 in 2009 through a program they call mPower Piedmont. However, lack of access to the Internet after school and in kids' homes became a major obstacle to learning with those devices."

"3D-printing technology still appears too unreliable, too complicated, and too slow for mainstream adoption. The companies making investments in it are the ones with significant amounts of capital to purchase $100,000-plus equipment and train the personnel needed to operate 3D printers. But despite these obstacles, 2016 looks promising for the 3D-printing industry. Here are five things to look forward to in the new year."

"Remote controlled cars are fun, sure, but self-driving robotic cars are even more fun. In this tutorial, we'll build a four-wheeled robot that can drive around and avoid obstacles. I purchased this complete 4WD kit from AliExpress, but you could easily buy most of these components from an electronics store and put it together yourself. I recommend reading through all of the instructions before you start, as that will make some things clear that might be confusing on the first time through. Also, this may look like a very long, advanced project due to the length of the instructions, but it's actually pretty simple. No need to be intimidated - this is a beginner level project that you can get some satisfying results with, then build upon as you learn more. Don't like this style of robot? Here's some more Arduino robots you could easily build instead."

"We've all heard of helicopter parents. But you may not have heard of the latest term for a troubling trend recently identified in parenting: lawnmower parents. Lawnmower parents go to whatever lengths necessary to prevent their child from having to face adversity, struggle, or failure. Instead of preparing children for challenges, they mow obstacles down so kids won't experience them in the first place."

"They can't fly, but they can leap tall obstacles-if they stay balanced. In light of the many feats we ask principals to perform as instructional leaders-like guiding teachers to improve student outcomes and arranging for teachers' continued learning, all while overseeing budgets, placating parents, and addressing student behavior and mental health needs-principals might wonder if their job description should also include leap tall buildings in a single bound. Is the widespread notion of principals as instructional leaders tantamount to asking them to be superhuman? Where did this idea of principal as hero come from, anyway?"

Being wise is about so much more than knowing the right answer. Indeed, it can be argued that knowing the right answer can be an obstacle to learning and understanding. As we move further into times where knowledge is ubiquitous and yet truth is increasingly hard to find, merely knowing the right answer can be an impediment.