Curriki Library

The Secret to Why Finland’s Schools Are So Fantastic

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Kim Jones is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Curriki.By Kim Jones, CEO, Curriki

Finland’s schools used to rank very low, but now they are the highest-ranking country in the world when it comes to quality of education, while the United States is #29. Why? Michael Moore asked the country’s education chief, what was Finland’s secret to success.

Her answer was simple: “They do not do homework.”

Krista Kiuru, Finland’s Minister of Education, says, “They should have more time to be kids, to enjoy life.”

In addition to having no homework, younger Finnish children don’t go to school more than 20 hours a week – including lunch.

“Your brain has to relax now and then,” explains Leena Liusvarra, a school principal. “If you just constantly work, work, work, then you stop learning.”

Interesting concept – it’s pretty much the reverse of what we are doing in the United States, where children are being assigned homework as young as first grade and there’s a huge push for full-day kindergarten.

The teachers also say their mission is to teach children to be happy, because “there’s so much more to life than school.” Here’s the trailer for Michael Moore’s film.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Keep the Learning Going this Summer

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Kim Jones is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Curriki.By Kim  Jones, CEO, Curriki

“School’s out for the summer!”

It’s the triumphant cry heard from millions of children as they flee the school building for the last time in the school year and look forward to glorious vacation. And who can blame them? After 9-10 months of school, children get tired of the grind of getting up early, sitting in hard seats while trying to absorb seven or eight hours of information overload, then going home and doing homework at night nearly every day for 9 months.  Summertime is a wonderful time to refresh and reset, to sleep late, watch TV, go to the beach, go fishing, and just be kids.

Unfortunately, it’s also a time when children can take several steps backward in their learning. On average, students lose the equivalent of two months of math and reading skills during the summer, says the US Department of Education. For higher income families, summer camps and other learning opportunities can make up for some of those losses, but lower- income youth often start off the next school year behind. As years go by, the achievement gap between rich and poor grows wider and wider.

This summer, let’s work to change that. Together, we can help give children the best foundation for the upcoming school year. Here are a few ideas:

green eggs and hamEncourage Reading

*    Parents can encourage reading all summer long with free visits to the library.

*    Teachers can send home Summer Reading Lists.

*    Local libraries have summer reading programs that encourage children to read and earn prizes.

*    Curriki has a Pinterest Board jammed with great reading suggestions for all ages, from Green Eggs and Ham for early readers to Pride and Prejudice for teens – perhaps mix in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to make it even more fun. Follow us!

Nurture Creativity

*    Summer is the perfect time for children’s imaginations to run wild. Kids.gov provides resources for arts and crafts projects that will keep children engaged and their minds active while having fun.

*    Online, Scratch is a fantastic tool from M.I.T. that teaches upper elementary, middle and high school fun coding as they create digital projects. (And they’ll think they are just having fun!)

New_Discovery_Kids_Logo_2013-11-18_17-14Use Media

Can’t get the kids away from the screen? Use TV and your child’s computer to sneak in some learning.

*   Discovery Kids has wonderful programs that will captivate young learners, and its website has games and activities that will fill their minds with wonder.

*   The History Channel  and of course PBS also educate while entertaining young minds.

So enjoy the summer – and keep learning!

College and Career Readiness

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Photo of Janet PintoBy Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

It is universally recognized that two very important goals of K-12 education – if not the most important goals – are college readiness and career readiness. But what are college readiness and career readiness exactly and how do they differ?

A large majority of states in the U.S. have studied the issue and provided their definitions and views on college and career readiness. These are summarized in the report from the American Institutes for Research (AIR):

http://www.ccrscenter.org/sites/default/files/CCRS%20Defintions%20Brief_REV_1.pdf

The vast majority of the states whose views were summarized in the report, placed career and college readiness together within a common definition. 

One simple definition for college readiness is the possession of a sufficient background in math, science, and English language arts that one can succeed in postsecondary course work without a need for remediation classes. But we also intuitively understand that it takes more than a high school academic background to complete a college education.

The definition of career readiness is more specific to the line of work in question. “A Career Ready student possesses both the necessary knowledge and technical skills needed for employment in  their desired career field. For example, a student who is ready to become a teacher not only possesses knowledge of education policy, but also possesses all required certifications required to become a teacher.” – DC.gov web site

Because of the needs of our advanced, technical economy, career readiness increasingly demands a similar level of knowledge and skills as college readiness.

The major categories covered in the state definitions from the AIR report included:

  1. Academic knowledge
  2. Critical thinking and/or problem solving
  3. Social and emotional learning, collaboration, and/or communication
  4. Grit/resilience/perseverance
  5. Citizenship and/or community involvement
  6. Other additional activities

The report concludes:

“State definitions included in this review reflect the recognition that readiness for college and careers is multifaceted, encompassing academic readiness, as well as knowledge, abilities, and dispositions that impact academic achievement. Research on this latter group is still emerging and, in some instances, is controversial as we have yet to conclusively determine the impact that instruction and educational supports can have on the development of these lifelong learning skills.”

So in plain English, the definitions from the states recognize the need to go beyond academic knowledge to incorporate the development of mental abilities and attitudes that will support achievement by students in their college studies and/or careers. These especially include critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills, and the ability to persevere in the face of challenges.

Yet education is structured primarily around the academic knowledge acquisition category. The Common Core State Standards were designed to promote critical thinking and application of academic knowledge to real-world problems.

CCSSO is the Council of Chief State School Officers – the leaders of K-12 education in the various U.S. states. Over 80% of the states in the U.S. have signed on to the recommendations of their Task Force on Career Readiness. You can read more about their Career Readiness Initiative, at:

http://www.ccsso.org/Resources/Programs/Career_Readiness_Initiative.html

There is a significant consensus that the categories numbered above as 2, 3, 4 and even 5 can be developed and supported by project-based learning. Project-based learning provides a natural methodology for structuring lessons that require critical thinking and problem-solving, perseverance, and collaboration.

Searching on “project” within the Curriki resources library brings up over 6000 resources. For example, you can find a collection of biology projects here: http://library.curriki.org/oer/Biology-Projects/ . Make use of Curriki’s freely available, open resources to help your students become more college-ready and more career-ready.

EdTech Trends for 2016

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Photo of Janet PintoBy Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

WCET is the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, under the umbrella of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), which is a partnership of 16 states and territories in the western U.S. WCET recently commented on edTech trends and developments during 2015:

“In 2015, trends in edtech included more emphasis on open educational resources, less hype around data analytics, and a nail in the MOOC coffin. Informal and formal blended learning models, including competency-based education, continued to grow. Adaptive learning emerged as a compelling business model for edtech companies and a strategy for increasing student success and completion at institutions. IoT, the Internet of Things made its way into lexicon of higher education, despite no real strategies for managing IoT in higher ed. What edtech trends and issues will impact WCET members in 2016?”

So WCET noted that in 2015 major trends included:

  • Increased emphasis on OER
  • Decreased hype on data analytics
  • Blended learning models continued to grow
  • Increased emphasis on adaptive learning (computer-assisted learning)
  • IoT (Internet of Things) starting to become an issue

It’s useful to look at the trends they have identified in higher education, because these can often foreshadow developments in K-12 education down the road.

Thus for 2016 in the K-12 arena, we would expect to see continued increased emphasis on Open Educational Resources (OER) and on blending learning models. And we may start to see conversations around Internet of Things (IoT) as tools for augmented learning, along with the already significant mLearning and adaptive learning growth – learning with the use of mobile devices and computers.

Curriki’s OER library, containing tens of thousands of resources, is well placed to provide materials in support of blending learning models, mobile learning, and adaptive learning. These are in the cloud and available 24×7. There is no doubt that OER is growing rapidly. Here’s the Federal government’s view:

“The Federal government is supporting the use of open educational resources to provide equitable access to quality education.” – White House blog site

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/19/openly-licensed-educational-resources-providing-equitable-access-education-all

What do you see as major trends for 2016? Please share your comments.

Curriki Community: Groups for Educator Connectivity

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Photo of Janet PintoBy Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

Curriki’s community is as large as the globe and as small as a 1-to-1 connection. It is a vibrant online community for exceptional educators, decision-makers, and influencers who are on the leading edge of innovation in education. It is also a community for students to collaborate with each other as well as their teachers.

Curriki provides an easy and intuitive collaborative platform that includes personal profiles, blogs, discussions, and resource sharing. Communities (groups) can be created and linked for closer collaboration. Currently there are over 800 groups on Curriki.

STEMgroups

Curriki groups allow teachers and administrators to share best practices and information on what’s working, and to support each other across schools, districts, states, the country – even around the world.

Any Curriki member can create or join a group to create a personal learning network or professional learning community to make it easier to collaborate and share ideas.

• Groups can be public or private.

• Private groups are entirely private and secure.

• Share files easily in a shared resource library.

Schools and districts can create professional learning communities and practice groups, in order to improve teacher and principal quality and technology skills, and to provide mentoring and support.

In the higher education community, colleges can use edWeb.net to support their teacher education programs and to stay connected to cohorts of new teachers as they move on to their teaching positions and begin their careers. Faculty in any department can use edWeb.net to connect with peers anywhere in the world.

Curriki provides this same sense of community for K-12 education professionals around the world. Curriki welcomes all professionals in education (including higher education) and creates a new communication channel for educators, associations, legislators, community leaders, and companies to break down traditional barriers and promote broader collaboration.

Curriki is free for professionals in education, educational institutions, parents, and students.

We hope you enjoy being a member of Curriki. Our goal is to create a professional social network that serves your needs, is easy to use, and flexible to adjust to your communication preferences. Check out our groups, and join one or more today. Or start a new one!

USA’s Grade in STEM?

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Kim Jones is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Curriki. By Kim Jones, CEO, Curriki

We are all aware that STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) jobs are among the best jobs available in our technologically   advanced society. STEM education at some level, a basic understanding of STEM topics, is now necessary just to be part of modern society.

Recently the Washington Post hosted a meeting on the state of STEM education for K-12 in the U.S. Attendees represented universities, corporations, public schools, scientific societies and the federal government.

When the Washington Post’s Nick Anderson asked an expert panel what grade the U.S. should get for results in K-12 STEM education, the responses varied from A to F.

A deputy secretary from the Department of Education, John King, stated “In some places we should get an A, and in some places we should get a D.”

Students in the best school districts are performing well and the best of them are winning awards in science, math and technology competitions and entering into the world’s best universities. But he noted that many schools “don’t even offer Algebra 2”, including many schools with predominantly African-American students.

The Department of Education’s “First in the World” grant program is supporting an increase in the enrollment of minority and economically disadvantaged students in STEM majors in college. The Department is pushing for increased funding.

The chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools said it’s too early for a grade, that their effort to enhance STEM education is too recent.

In the D.C. public schools they have a Cornerstones initiative to get more high-quality cross-curricular lessons, including STEM, in use in their classrooms. Lessons are now more oriented toward inquiry and hands-on learning methodologies. The D.C. schools are shifting more to content expertise.

“Anchored by high-impact content-specific instructional models, such as close reading, inquiry-based math, … novel study and research projects, Cornerstones tasks will lead to a variety of meaningful student work products such as essays, oral presentations, musical pieces or art products.” – Cornerstones initiative web site

Curriki very much supports this kind of approach, and we hope that the D.C. public school  system will take advantage of the tens of thousands of STEM resources freely available at welcome.curriki.org. These include full standards-compliant and project-based learning-oriented courses in algebra, geometry, and calculus.

As we know the biggest challenge for many students is mathematics, which underpins everything in STEM fields. If a student can master the math, then many avenues in STEM open up to him or her.

Curriki is here to support better student outcomes in STEM and in other fields, in the U.S., and around the globe through open educational resources, freely and widely available.

Education Across the Globe

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Kim JonesBy Kim Jones, CEO, Curriki

The infographic in this post has some very interesting information on education and literacy around the globe. It was produced by Tutoring Expert in Canada.

A few facts: there are 1.4 billion students on earth, fully 20% of the world’s population. There are 65 million educators around the world. This is approximately equal to the population of France. Developed countries typically spend about 10 to 15% of their total government budgets on education.

Around 800 million adults across the globe are illiterate. Three nations each have over 1 million girls not in school: Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ethiopia. Only 12% of women in Afghanistan are able to read. Around 31 million girls of primary school age around the world are not in school.

In India, 88% of boys are able to read, but only 74% of girls. Clearly one of the challenges is increasing literacy for all, and especially, educational access for girls. On the other hand, in the Philippines, there are many more girls in school than boys.

In the U.S., only 32% of students are considered proficient in math. Children in Finland have the world’s highest scores in math and science, despite not starting school until age 6 or 7.

Despite the problems that remain, 1 in 3 young people are now expected to receive a college or university degree. Education is key to job opportunities, and to one’s standard of living, health, and social position. Most societies and parents around the world care deeply about their children’s future, for both boys and girls, and thus for their educational development. They invest considerable resources in their children’s education. But there are also serious shortcomings that must be addressed.

Curriki, as a not-for-profit foundation, is fully dedicated to improving education access and educational outcomes around the world. Over 50,000 Curriki educational resources are freely available to anyone with Internet access. These resources are also open source, in order to allow customization as needed. To date, 10 million unique users have visited the Curriki web site.

Take a careful look at the infographic, and see what other interesting factoids you are able to discover. The variation of school attendance hours between countries is fascinating!

The Changing Role of Teaching

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janetpic_preferred_croppedBy Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

Vision K-20 is an initiative of the Software and Information Industry Association in the U.S. It works to promote best use of technology in support of education.

“Vision K-20 is the belief that to better prepare our nation’s students, every K-20 educational institution should effectively utilize modern technologies to:

  • Personalize learning to increase student engagement and achievement
  • Document and track student performance
  • Maximize teaching and administrative effectiveness
  • Provide equity and access to new learning opportunities
  • Empower collaborative learning communities
  • Build student proficiencies in 21st century skills”

Each year they survey educators regarding technology in the classroom. The 2013 survey include responses from K-12 educators (75% of the responses) and from higher education professionals (25%). The survey results indicated the level of technology integration in K-12 is currently at a rather low level and that, based on the responses, it should be much higher. The educators answering the survey view technology integration as being of high importance. The survey also indicated that 46% of school districts allow mobile devices in the classroom, generally with restrictions placed on usage.

You can find related resources on their site here, http://www.siia.net/visionk20/resources.asp, including resources for Digital Learning Day.

A recent blog by Amanda Fairbanks at edweek.org  is titled “Digital Trends Shifting the Role of Teachers”. It reports on experiences with technology integration from several teachers in the U.S.

One of these, Chris Merkert, was science teacher of the year for 2012 in Suffolk County, New York, and is a leader in “flipped teaching”.

“Mr. Merkert has altered his teaching style—spending less time holding court at the front of the room and more time crisscrossing the classroom to answer questions and provide individual, targeted feedback. And rather than rely on outdated textbooks to drive the bulk of his instruction, he now writes his own curriculum.” He says, “I’m more enthused and involved than I’ve ever been.”

Tip: If you’re going to write your own curriculum, be sure to check out the over 50,000 free and open resources at welcome.curriki.org.

Ms. Rose Ann Throckmorton is a 4th grade teacher in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She reports that since the implementation of a digital learning approach in her classroom, student engagement has increased and the amount of material that can be covered has increased as well. “Twenty-first century classrooms are coming whether we want them to or not,” says Ms. Throckmorton.

The technology is not an end in itself, rather it supports a shift in pedagogy from teacher-centered to more personalized student-centered learning. Resources on Curriki are especially intended to support this student-centered learning modality.

A third teacher, Tom Whitby, is a retired English teacher with more than 30 years of classroom experience.

“If I limited my students to the content in my own head, I would be doing them a huge disservice,” he said. “Students are no longer empty vessels, where it’s our job to fill them with the knowledge that we have. We don’t have all the facts. Our role is changing every day.”

Take a look at the Curriki site to see what you can incorporate into your classroom activities in support of digital and student-centered learning.

Best Websites from FETC 2013

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janetpic_preferredBy Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

The Florida Educational Technology Conference for 2013 was held this past week in Orlando, Florida. FETC is a leading K-12 education technology conference with an international reputation.

Here are some of the best websites we learned about at FETC. You can find all of these listed together at:
http://library.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_Group_WhatsYourOpinion/BestWebsitesfromtheFloridaEducationalTechnologyConferenceFETC
or at the individual URLs indicated below.

Gapminder.org
Gapminder is a non-profit venture – a modern “museum” on the Internet – promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.gapminder.org/for-teachers/

Rubistar
Rubistar is a free tool for creating rubrics.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

Shelly Terrell’s Bringing Your Textbook to Life!
Written by Shelly Terrell, this article called “Bringing Your Textbook to Life! 15+ Tips & Resources” is a great resource for educators.
http://shellyterrell.com/2012/08/01/bringing-your-textbook-to-life-15-tips-resources/

neoK12
This website offers free videos, lesson and games aimed at K-12 students. It covers all subject areas.
http://www.neok12.com/

The Periodic Table of Videos
This website is the brainchild of journalist Brady Haran. He partnered with scientists at The University of Nottingham, to make comprehensive videos about each element in the periodic table.
http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Make Beliefs Comix
Created by Bill Zimmerman, this incredible website encourages literacy, creativity, and imagination by allowing anyone to create their own comic strip. The site features many other resources including lesson plans and free printables. There is even an option to create comic strips in other languages.
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Xtranormal
This website allows users to turn their stories into 3D animated videos.
http://www.xtranormal.com/

Kizoa: Slideshow and Collage Maker
This website allows you to create slideshows with special effects, text, and even music. You can also edit photos, create collages and e-cards, and share them via your favorite social networking sites.
http://www.kizoa.com

Visuwords: online graphical dictionary
According to their site, you can use this site to look up the meaning of words and how those words associate with other words and concepts.
http://www.visuwords.com/

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