In 2010, State College Area School District (SCASD) in Pennsylvania, USA, agreed to help develop a virtual international classroom exchange called the Schoolwires Greenleaf program. The program's project-based curriculum paired U.S. students with Chinese learners to collaborate, foster global citizenship, and prepare students for the digital work…

Creativity matters. A shared vocabulary and lens for creativity helps teachers and students know what it means to "be creative" and where to start. J. P. Guilford's FFOE model of divergent thinking from the 1950s offers four dimensions to describe creativity: (1) Fluency; (2) Flexibility; (3) Originality; and (4) Elaboration. FFOE makes time spent…

Educators are notorious for jumping on passing fads and chasing the newest innovations, from the open classrooms of the 1970s to the one-laptop-per-student initiatives of the past decade. It is not surprising that when the next new thing--the flipped classroom--hit the hallways of America's schools, it was met with hesitation and skepticism from…

Design thinking is about using design to improve the human experience. It combines collaboration, systems thinking, and a balance of creative and analytical habits. It also fuels what the students want for themselves: making an impact on the real world in real time and having adults take their passions seriously. The process essentially comes down…

It's no secret that fewer and fewer women are entering computer science fields. Attracting high school girls to computer science is only part of the solution. Retaining them while they are in higher education or the workforce is also a challenge. To solve this, there is a need to show girls that computer science is a wide-open field that offers…

Looking for a "habanero" (extremely hot) lesson to engage first-year Spanish language students in an in-depth study of Spanish-speaking countries? This article offers an overview of how the authors used 21st-century tools to get students excited about the not-so-new assignment of reporting on the people and culture of another country. Chances are,…

Demand for environmentally responsible stewardship is increasing, and the education technology sector is responding. Former L&L Senior Editor Caprice Lawless offers an overview of local and national e-waste legislation and resources for related classroom projects. (Contains 3 resources and 13 online resources.)

Elementary students (grades 3-5) at Hopkins Magnet Academy in Victoria, Texas write, produce, and broadcast their school's morning announcements using a closed-circuit video network. Describes resources, other uses for the audio/video network, and a representative morning's preparations for and production of the morning announcements. (PEN)

Provides an excerpt of Galileo's description of his inclined plane experiment. Describes the replication of Galileo's inclined plane experiment by students at Rice University (Texas) using an Internet site called the Galileo Project; then describes the authors' replication of the Project. (AEF)

Several years ago, upon entering eighth grade, a student was given a Microsoft iPaq Pocket PC as a birthday present. After using it for several months, he noticed a distinct improvement in my grades. During the rest of the school year, he noticed that the improved academic achievement continued. He wondered if his experience was a mere fluke or…

Discusses collaborative projects developed between different teachers using online networks that allow students to create or write for an audience. Topics include gathering and sharing information online, cooperating in an integrated study, developing a final project, generating your own project, and joining an existing project. (LRW)

Project-based learning (PBL) provides a way of learning that seems to be particularly attractive to students who are struggling with conventional school assignments. This document proposes an approach to PBL in which the goal is to focus on thinking, making thinking processes visible to teacher and students.

Discusses reasons for computer manipulation of photographs and the need to educate students about the ethics involving digital scanning. Focuses on ownership, copyrights, reasons for changing a photograph, reader-interpretation, and the context in which the photograph is used. Suggests a photo illustration project to teach students about these…

Two reporters walk toward the editor to share their article on Panamanian culture. Looking it over, the editor asks for a more detailed description and several pictures. Meanwhile, three other writers huddle around a computer, making decisions on the additional content they need for their article on Panamanian customs. Both articles will be…

Discusses how to teach students to design HyperCard stacks. Highlights include introducing HyperCard, developing storyboards, introducing design concepts and scripts, presenting stacks, evaluating storyboards, and continuing projects. A sidebar presents a HyperCard stack evaluation form. (AEF)