The core of instruction is the interaction between the student, the content, and the teacher. Good instructional design accounts for the students' needs and interests by personalizing the core to each student. Video games and simulations are one way to meet student needs and leverage their interests for increased student learning. In the…

This article features an after-school FIRST Lego League (FLL) program at Chaminade Middle School in Chatsworth, California, USA. The after-school FLL program feeds into the high school FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) program wherein aspiring young engineers come to the high school team with several years of FLL experience. Through the FLL…

Good learning experiences ask students to investigate and make sense of the world. While there are many ways to do this, K-12 curriculum has traditionally skewed toward reading and writing to interpret and express students' sense-making. But there is another way. Infographics represent data and ideas visually, in pictures, engaging more parts of…

Grey Culbreth Middle School in North Carolina did not have enough computers to give students reasonable access to the Internet, so administrators implemented a one-to-one iPod touch program. Now every student is connected. This article describes the implementation of this program, the problems encountered and the positive reactions from the staff.…

This article discusses how one school system achieved districtwide technology integration through an ongoing professional development (PD) program that encouraged its teachers to learn and lead together. In an effort to prepare students of Kannapolis (North Carolina) City Schools for success in the 21st century, the author, together with three…

When new leadership assumed responsibility for the Glen Cove School District back in 2005, it was in dire need of a makeover. State test scores were dismal, and its high school had fallen onto the New York Schools in Need of Regents Review list. Failed budgets had forced the district to operate under contingency restrictions, including a…

In a November 7, 2007, "New York Times" article "New Class (room) War: Teacher vs. Technology," author Michael Bugeja noted that "the baby boomers seem to see technology as information and communication. Their offspring and the emerging generation seem to see the same devices as entertainment and socializing." This became abundantly clear to Nueva…

The shift from analog to digital video transformed the system from a unidirectional analog broadcast to a two-way conversation, resulting in the birth of participatory media. Digital video offers new opportunities for teaching science, social studies, mathematics, and English language arts. The professional education associations for each content…

Students are asked to complete projects every day--from a simple PowerPoint presentation to college applications and financial aid forms. Students are expected to complete these projects to certain standards. However, students are often not provided with the tools and skills needed to successfully manage projects, especially complex ones. As…

Two and a half years ago, the author relates how their middle schools embarked on a student laptop initiative that began as a pilot program and has continued to develop into a model for successful technology integration. Although they entered uncharted waters as far as laptop technology is concerned, there were some known principles that have…

Visitors to the Peck School this year would see a very different scene than two years ago. The school has expanded its laptop program to include younger students, begun construction on two new buildings, and revamped the daily schedule. Laptops are moving into the lower grades, with younger students at a ratio of two students per computer and…

Ever since technology became a major component in education, schools have been charged with teaching and integrating technology to enhance learning and ensure technology literacy. However, there is still no consistent definition, process, or assessment in place, leading to concerns about accountability. Because technology standards are seemingly…

Lots of things have changed since the baby boomers began overfilling postwar schoolhouses in the 1950s. The sparkling new buildings erected across the United States to handle the population surge have lost their luster, and in many cases, their functionality. This is not new information; in a 1995 General Accounting Office report, nearly half of…

Some women have various misconceptions about technology careers. Some of them think that one has to be a geek in order to become a computer scientist. When the Women in Computing Group at Indiana University (WIC@IU) was looking for ideas on how to increase the number of women in computing majors at IU, the authors realized that women were turning…

In 1995, the Farmington Board of Education (Michigan) adopted a new student profile it hoped to achieve by 2007, the year students then in kindergarten would graduate from high school. This article describes a course named "2007"--named so because the 10-week, Grade 8 course was designed to address some of the profile's key attributes:…