“21st Century Skills”: a common buzzword in the classroom, but just what does it mean? The Partnership for 21st Century Skills lists these: Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes English, reading or language arts World languages Arts Mathematics Economics Science Geography History Government and Civics Global awareness Financial, economic,… Continue reading
Math is an essential 21st century skill, but we’ll have to make changes in how we teach it, and maybe even in how we think about it. Continue reading
Petunia, by Roger Duvoisin, was published in 1950, but it’s still in print and children still love it. Petunia is a goose who picks up a book. “He who owns books and loves them,” Petunia has recently overheard, “is wise.” Petunia takes this literally, deciding that ownership of the… Continue reading
Your students may look on space exploration as an ordinary part of life, but it wasn’t always like that. Traveling into space was a dream for centuries before anyone accomplished it, and it was an amazing accomplishment. Look at the history of space exploration with some of these lessons: Space… Continue reading
Google Earth is a terrific resource for your science classroom, even when you’re studying space rather than Earth. Start by downloading Google Earth. It’s fast and free. Once it’s installed on your computer (fairly automatic — you might have to give permission, but otherwise it’ll install itself), just open… Continue reading
A former president once said that it was time for humans to get into the solar system, and we agree (we’re laughing, but we still agree). Our state standards include the solar system from 1st grade (learn the planets in order) to 8th grade (illustrate the solar system within… Continue reading
