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This is a collection of education studies for what really works.

"(Reuters) - Effective teachers can be identified by observing them at work, measuring their students' progress on standardized tests - and asking those students directly what goes on in the classroom, according to a comprehensive study released Tuesday."

I've started creating a table of important skills, some derived from the Padagogy Wheel, and actions, some derived from iPad As… What I am planning to highlight is that there are many apps that can be use for many purposes and for developing many skills. For example, I have already added "Explain Everything" to 9 categories as I see it as a multifunctional app and one worth its price because of the educational benefits it provides. Over the coming months I plan to add text descriptions to each category to explain how the apps listed address the skill or action they have been linked to and may also link them to other online sources that show them in action. I'll also provide direct links to the App Store, as I always do on this blog when I mention apps so you can check them out yourself if you want. Now this sounds like a big task and it is. So I do need some help. What do I want from you? Anything you can give. Just add them to the comments of this post. Examples of apps that help to develop specific skills Additional skills I haven't listed here Examples of apps that are multifunctional. Explanations of good pedagogical practice with apps. Don't worry, all credit will go to you when I include your suggestions. Links to blog posts, websites, Youtube tutorials, open wikis, nings etc that promote good practice that I can link to from here. Examples on add ons like bookmarklets for curation sites, websites that work well with iPads ( Flash-free) that can still be categorised under these headings for iPad use. Spread the word regularly through Twitter, Facebook, Curation sites like Pinterest and Scoop-It to keep educators coming back.

"I started teaching 15 years ago and that is when I first came across this concept of a 'portfolio.' A portfolio is a storehouse for projects, writing pieces, art, and performances. It can be used by students, teachers, and parents to document what they're doing (either day-to-day things or through their best work or improvements they've made). I see portfolios as a way to hold onto and think about what you're doing."

Many schemes of professional development for teachers, as well as advanced teaching certificates, include an element of 'Action Research' (AR). In my work as a team leader of EFL tutors, I've come to see just how important AR is for teachers to continue to develop and professionalise their teaching practices. And I'm so enthusiastic about teachers doing research that I want to share some introductory thoughts with a wider audience - with you, my dear blog readers! I hope I can inspire you to start your own AR projects, and would love to hear what you get up to...

what the humanities could learn from computer programmers

Why I Like Prezi In my life, I have given a *lot* of presentations. In high school, they were presentations on group projects. In university, they were presentations on research projects. At Google, they're presentations on how to use our APIs. When I first started giving presentations, I used Powerpoint, like everyone else. But I kept thinking there must be a better way, and I experimented with other options - flash interfaces, interactive Javascript apps. Then I discovered Prezi, and it has become my presentation tool of choice. Prezi is an online tool for creating presentations - but it's not just a Powerpoint clone, like the Zoho or Google offering. When you first create a Prezi, you're greeted with a blank canvas and a small toolbox. You can write text, insert images, and draw arrows. You can draw frames (visible or hidden) around bits of content, and then you can define a path from one frame to the next frame. That path is your presentation. It's like being able to draw your thoughts on a whiteboard, and then instructing a camera where to go and what to zoom into. It's a simple idea, but I love it. Here's why: It forces me to "shape" my presentation. A slide deck is always linear in form, with no obvious structure of ideas inside of it. Each of my Prezis has a structure, and each structure is different. The structure is visual, but it supports a conceptual structure. One structure might be 3 main ideas, with rows of ideas for each one. Another might be 1 main idea, with a circular branching of subideas. Having a structure helps me to have more of a point to my presentations, and to realize the core ideas of them. It makes it easy to go from brainstorming stage to presentation stage, all in the same tool. I can write a bunch of thoughts, insert some images, and easily move them around, cluster them, re-order them, etc. I can figure out the structure of my presentation by looking at what I have laid out, and seeing how they fit together. Some people do this

A history of teaching/learning initiatives from a retiring teacher. "I saw countless reforms come and go; some even returned years later disguised in new education lingo. Some that were touted as "best practices" couldn't work, given Alexandria's demographics. Others were nothing but common-sense bromides hyped as revolutionary epiphanies. All of them failed to do what I believe to be key to teaching: to make students care about what they're studying and understand how it's relevant to their lives."

What you think you know about fostering creativity is wrong. A look at what really works.

This was shared previously, but I've added many annotations I think teachers will find interesting.

Thought provoking. Worth commenting if you have ideas.

Chris Sessums discusses what a knowledge base for teachers might look like, how it might work, what the barriers might be.

article discussing whether math models can replace other tools for understanding the world.

I dissagree. Maybe for someone who can cope with the massive scale Google works with but for the average student bah humbug. As far as the students I see the scientific method still needs to be taught as they need a lot of help learning how to gather reliable information from the web. As far as google is concerned the students simplistic, unevaluated searches are as valuable as someone who actually understands what they are looking for or maybe more valuable because more students are doing almost thoughtless searches. The real need is a good course, hopefully online, to teach students how to do a reasoned search. agoogleaday is a start.

"Periodically I find myself confused about my online presence and contributions. Am I using wikis, blogs, twitter, social networks, and email effectively? Effective by what criteria? Indeed, who am I trying to influence? My explorations of what others say about this recently has led me to a position-albeit a provisional one... The social, not the medium (or technology), should be the primary consideration. The criterion we need to apply in designing our online presence and contributions could be something like: "Am I welcoming and cultivating apprentices who are getting prepared to go on and cultivate the kinds of interaction in virtual and physical space that support their own work?" "

"Say what you like about Hogwarts but it's difficult to deny its 'old school' charm struck a chord with millions of avid readers both young and old. Amongst the many effects of Harry Potter in our education system was the revival, or re-emergence, in the state sector at least, of that gloriously stereotypical mainstay of public education: houses. Having been fortunate enough to spend a career working across a rich variety of settings, centres and schools - both private and state-led - I have seen many examples of the house system; and many examples of both the best - and the most pointless - systems and what they do or don't achieve."

"Let me introduce you to Brian. Brian is a (fictional) primary school head teacher in England, UK. Well, maybe not fictional, as many working in schools will relate to the story created by Will Ryan in his 'Dare to be Different' book. Following the internal dialogues, reflections and incidents that Brian is faced with on a daily basis, the story unfolds telling how an individual can strive to take back ownership of what happens in the classroom and build vibrant curriculum with which to hook the imaginations of pupils. How? Will has cleverly inserted over 100 tips based on exciting primary practice, along with nearly fifty significant ideas to strengthen leadership, and accompanied a similar number of inspiring quotations throughout the story that encourages head-teachers to be brave and follow their own rules for what is best for that school community."

"This week our music teacher added to The Black Book. Now every teacher has occasionally used their own experiences to contextualize learning for students, but our music teacher has been working on ways to incorporate his own music contacts into his lessons without it making it too anecdotal. For artistic subjects especially, it may seem that students don't always take it seriously when they are told how difficult it is to get into particular career fields. As part of the music students' preparations for various units and exams, students need to think about and learn what it means to be a 'real musician' and what they would do in given situations."

These two powerful questions framed a recent webinar presented by Professor David Perkins of Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero. Answering these questions and helping teachers find meaningful and contextually relevant answers to these questions has been a focus of Perkins' work, especially in recent times. His book "Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World" introduced us to the notion of lifeworthy learning or that which is "likely to matter in the lives our learners are likely to live". This is a powerful notion and one that has the potential to change not only what we teach but also how we go about teaching what we do.

What if every student (and educator) was a good online researcher?  I know, you don't have the time to teach information fluency skills.  What if you could get a significant advance is skills with just a 2 -3  hour time commitment?  Here's a great Prezi 'fly by" of the new Information Investigator 3.1 online self paced class.  Watch the presentation carefully to find the link to a free code to take the class for evaluation purposes. 

Of course you could always have you school librarian/media specialist teach information skills to your students! That's what they do!

I couldn't agree more. Library Media Specialists, especially when they can collaborate with classroom teachers, are the best resource for teaching these skills. However the problem of access to a Librarian and the issue of scale are real barriers. I've been creating content for Librarians for a decade. They are the best! You'll find years of free resources at: http://21cif.com This resource will help them reach more students. We had 1000 teens take this course at the Center for Talent Development. It really does work. We're hoping to reach teachers and librarians everywhere so we can pass along the skills and the opportunity. If American education was marginally rational there would be professionally staffed library media centers in every school. Since that isn't the case, I hope Internet based resources can keep the lights on for a new generation that really needs information fluency.