As a person a little scared to so much as add without the help of a calculator, I understand why STEM has a menacing reputation among high school students. The STEM skills—that is, science, technology, engineering and math—are often considered complicated and unnecessary lessons to students who don’t want to be scientists, technicians, engineers or mathematicians. Many students assume they’re better off avoiding [...]
With answers becoming so accessible that students can find them with just a click of the mouse, it’s understandable that some may worry that technology is becoming more of a hindrance and less of an improvement to education. For students who saved their summer reading until the last minute, finding detailed book summaries has become relatively easy. With the variety of online games [...]
Tablets are used in many classrooms today, as they can put a number of highly effective learning resources literally at students’ fingertips. The versatility and mobility of the device allows it to supplement most educational environments. Tablets can provide access to global content, allowing teachers to show students on a more interactive level the content of their lessons—perhaps a history teacher can pull [...]
In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology and the Internet, it should not come as a surprise when parts of our lives that we take for granted become more computer based. When I was in elementary and middle school, I used computers only for very basic things, such as games and word processing, and I hardly used our dial-up Internet [...]
I have often been called a bookworm, and I’m proud of it. I love the smell and feel of a book—I’ve spent many years building up my personal library. When I first heard about the e-book, I thought it was neat, but not something I would ever rely on. There is just something about the experience of a print-on-paper book that doesn’t translate [...]
When I was in fourth grade, I struggled with simple long division. So, I got a tutor: my second-grade brother, Mike. The most important thing that he taught me was that good communication is the key to breaking down any challenging concept. This led me to pursue a minor in science along with my writing degree, because I’ve learned that specialists often have [...]
These days, as we are forgetting to be worried about our dependence on technology, finding an example where it can truly enhance a learning experience provides hope for our techno-filled future. Here we find an example of literature paired with technology that is driving students to the computer—not to look up SparkNotes, but to go beyond the reading process and experience the journeys taken in [...]
Though I’m both an avid reader and social media user, books and social networking seemed like an unlikely pairing to me. Maybe it’s because they appeal to me in completely different ways: reading is an isolated activity that requires concentration, while social networking connects me to a large group of people and requires a shorter attention span. Still, I believe both activities have [...]
When I started PSG back in 2003, mathematics projects were a small part of my business, but that statistic has changed dramatically in the last five years. Now, we have multiple math projects in-house year-round. My staff and I tell some pretty funny math jokes, we come up with assessment questions for all kinds of situations in our daily lives and I’ve been [...]
Believe it or not, one of the coolest jobs right now is using building blocks. Although it may sound like what a child is doing in elementary school, this activity hardly has the connotation of playing with LEGOs. Instead, building blocks have captured interest on a much smaller level: the nanometer, or the measure of one billionth of a meter. To put a [...]