In this column, I discuss a soundscape composition activity that I implemented with primary/elementary music classes. During this activity, students used the iPad app, iMovie, to record, organize and edit sound to accompany photos of artworks that they had created. Overall, I found iMovie to be a useful app for music composition with general music…

Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative technology that is rapidly gaining popularity in and out of the classroom. With improvements in hardware and software technology and the push for one-to-one computing, teachers have access to innovative VR supports and resources. These innovative technologies have the potential to improve instruction for…

There are many barriers to collaborative planning between music educators and special education paraprofessionals (SEPs). While allocated collaborative planning time would be best, the reality for many music educators and SEPs is that they are not given this time. I provide three alternatives to collaborative planning that were suggested by music…

The right types of technology can create new opportunities for students to demonstrate mathematical understandings and can strengthen existing formative assessment practices. The authors write that they frequently use the Math Learning Center apps--covering the range of manipulatives and models--to empower students to explain their thinking. The…

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) topics into K-12 school curricula is a relatively new but crucial challenge faced by education systems worldwide. Attempts to address this challenge are hindered by a serious lack of curriculum materials and tools to aid teachers in teaching AI. This article introduces the theoretical foundations and…

iPads are becoming increasingly prevalent in schools and offer significant potential as both a compositional and pedagogical tool in general music classes. In this article, I discuss a composition activity that I implemented with general primary/elementary music classes in Australia. This activity involved using iPads, namely the apps iMovie and…

Although the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was enacted 20 years ago, the recently updated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has renewed public interest in privacy policies. Under both COPPA and GDPR, companies must abide by strict regulations protecting children's personal data. Lengthy and oftentimes ambiguous policies…

This teaching tip gives teachers practical applications of the game Pokémon GO for literacy teaching and learning. The author discusses applications of the game for teaching multimodality in upper elementary-school classrooms. The author situates these applications in relevant theoretical perspectives as well as current literacy research.

Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) involves using tools and techniques from computational linguistics and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the language learning process. It is an inherently complex endeavour and is multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary in nature. Often these tools and techniques are designed for tasks and…

Parents and caregivers are a child's first teachers. The Families Learning Across Boundaries (FamLAB) Project surveyed 407 library professionals, 1,550 parents, and 600 pre-K through grade 8 teachers in the United States about how they support 3-12-year-old children's learning in their communities. This two-page tipsheet provides some…

Formative assessment is so important to inform teachers' planning. A discussion of the benefits of using technology to facilitate formative assessment explains how four primary school teachers adopted three different apps to make their formative assessment more meaningful and useful.

Computational thinking is an important and necessary way of thinking for computer programmers and other professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Research on emerging practices around computational thinking that is developed through coding initiatives in schools reports that elementary children typically learn how…

Over the past 25 years, the Davidson College Physics Department has developed small computer programs called Physlets. These programs were written in Java and distributed as Java applets embedded in HTML pages. Physics teachers from around the world used Physlets to author interactive computer-based curricular materials for the teaching of…

In their role as careful observers of nature, citizen scientists are helping to "answer the most challenging ecological and environmental questions, addressing issues that affect everyday lives" (McKinley et al. 2015). They help answer these questions by providing scientists with a large pool of data that can be analyzed (National…

The implementation of the National Core Arts Standards has amplified the need for multiple approaches and opportunities for student responses and may compel music educators to use new tools. There are currently over one million available apps, and with the popularity of smart devices, student access to technology is increasing exponentially. Music…