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The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education. It was started by Loris Malaguzzi and the parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy after World War II. The destruction from the war, parents believed, necessitated a new, quick approach to teaching their children. They felt that it is in the early years of development that children are forming who they are as an individual. This led to creation of a program based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.

"Any research based or inquiry-based project seems to work well for me. I enjoy leading the children through the process of developing a research question. It's always interesting to hear what goes on in the minds of these inquisitive learners. Last year my grade 8 (14-year-olds) were working on the impact of government systems on individual and Societies. Students took up the case studies of India and Pakistan, some of them worked on Arab-Israeli conflict, and yet another group picked the Berlin Wall and its impact on the population."

This is a nice example of students using the discussion tab on the NetGen project. 

This website is a virtual convener. It facilitates a 'handshake' between teachers interested in cross collaboration project. The comforts in connectivity, constructivism, and collaboration make this 'handshake' more intelligent. This virtual convener is based on connecting teachers using more than simply the grade level or location of classrooms.

Opportunity for teachers to become involved in a global collaborative project by being a judge. Definitely a best practice to review.

This fascinating project needs judges (oh and horizon still does too!) -- hat tip to David Warlick for this link. The student web site entries are due in tomorrow (April 2) for the 2008 competition, and ThinkQuest needs people to judge these entries. To be a judge, you must be employed as a teacher or have a minimum of five years experience in the field of education; be proficient in the English language; and be able to, and have the time to evaluate and score websites based on the provided criteria.

Students learn how to conduct science investigations in the same manner as scientists, as they learn to analyze sets of online real time data to solve problems.

A Brisbane-based, international remixable literature project named Remix My Lit released this summer their first publication, "Through the Clock's Workings": it's defined as the world's first remixed and remixable anthology of literature. (continue....)

"Generation V is not defined by age, gender, social class or geography. Instead, it is based on achievement, accomplishments and an increasing preference for the use of digital media channels to discover information, build knowledge and share insights." Additionally the percentages that create content, contribute, etc. affects classroom and project planning. Do we allow students to "lurk" Findings about these Generation V segments: * Up to 3% will be creators, providing original content. They can be advocates that promote products and services. * Between 3% and 10% will be contributors who add to the conversation, but don't initiate it. They can recommend products and services as customers move through a buying process, looking for purchasing advice. * Between 10% and 20% will be opportunists, who can further contributions regarding purchasing decisions. Opportunists can add value to a conversation that's taking place while walking through a considered purchase. * Approximately 80% will be lurkers, essentially spectators, who reap the rewards of online community input but absorb only what is being communicated. They can still implicitly contribute and indirectly validate value from the rest of the community. All users start out as lurkers."

web-based timeline software for creating and sharing history and project planning

The Flip camera is great for all types of projects in science and math - at any grade level. Flip cameras are small handheld video cameras that can record 30 or 60 minutes worth of video. They connect to a computer with a USB plug that "flips" out from the side of the camera. The benefits of these cameras include another means for assessing students understanding of concepts beyond worksheets and tests. Besides a teacher's record, the videos provide a digital record for parents and administrators to show a student's successes or areas which need improvement.

Science and gaming

Science and gaming

This is an excellent example of a passion based or personal interest project. Riya is the daughter of a prominent pediatrician and wants to be one herself. She's been making videos since Fall of 2011 for her Pediatric Video channel on Youtube. Her CAT Scan machine video has received over 40,000 views. Wow!

Can giants exist? This question for middle and high school has students use volume and surface area to determine if giants can exist. This is for geometry. Inquiry based projects can have great results.

Educurious™ is on a mission to reduce our nation's high school dropout rates. Our project-based curriculum connects students to real issues they care about and equips them with the lifelong learning skills for success. Our courses deliver on Common Core Standards via our web platform, which fosters collaboration among students, teachers and our global network of real-world Experts.

Verena Roberts is organizing and open online community around research based gamification in education. We're using this as a resource for the Gamifi-ED project K12 and college students and for anyone who is teaching gamification in education as these resources will be open.