What is the Difference Between Projects and Project Based Learning?

One area that I have tried to bring into my teaching practice more over the past four years, is Project Based Learning (PBL). When I first started teaching, I thought that I had been doing “PBL” however I was not. Making connections with educators, […]

5 Tips for Parents: Project Based Learning

During this unprecedented time in our education history when many schools are closed nationwide, how can parents and other caregivers set up environments and activities to help kids continue their learning? And what kind of learning is most useful?

Careers in STEM: Creating Pathways for All Learners

When I was in second grade, we had a project where we shared what we wanted to be when we grew up. I remember having some very diverse interests and really didn’t know which career path was right for me (not to mention, I was only 7!) I recall […]

5 Ideas for Preparing Students for the Future

Over the past year, there has been an increase in the discussion of how to prepare students for the future of work and the future of learning. With so many changes happening when it comes to education and technology, as educators we must focus on […]

Preparing Ourselves to Better Prepare Our Students

There are a lot of questions about what the world of work will look like in the future. What skills will our students need and how can we best prepare them for jobs which may not even exist yet? What types of experiences should our students have? […]

PBL and the Common Core Standards

Ten years ago, a groundbreaking event occurred in the K-12 education arena. The Common Core Standards introduced a set of clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English language arts from […]

Early STEM Career Exploration

When we were kids we thought about future careers as a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher. Maybe we dreamed of being dancers or football players. Today, kids still think about those options, but they are quickly developing a growing knowledge of […]

What skills will students need?

About a year ago, I read about something called the “gig economy.” Not knowing what that meant, I turned to Google to do a search and within . 30 seconds, I had over 35 million results. After a more advanced search and filter, I learned that the […]

Using career relevance as opportunities for students to apply their knowledge

In the world of standardized tests the content and skills, often called power standards, drive instruction and the focus for learning. This is critically important information for student success on tests and the data that determine school and […]

Going Beyond Content: Preparing Students For a Modern Workforce

“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist … using technologies that haven’t been invented … in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”

—Richard Riley, former Secretary of Education

This famous quote […]