Move the desks out of the way, pull up a piece of rug, and invent something using the engineering process and leftover parts. Just like anything else, the Internet provides a plethora of ideas to define and design “makerspaces.” Other names include fablabs, hackerspaces, and design labs. In our school, our students devise problems when
A student-produced magazine celebrates middle level student voice. In October 2015, a team of seven editors—all eighth grade boys at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia—met during lunch to compare two digital publishing platforms. They judged entries for the Cover Art Contest and debated the potential of QR codes. By mid-November, a staff of 36
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Creating learning opportunities that promote problem solving in today’s world. One fine September morning, a class of eighth graders funneled into Angela’s fourth floor classroom expecting a new logic problem, math puzzle, or challenge. But not that day. Instead, the students noticed 12 small, sphere-shaped mechanical robots placed around the classroom. They looked like something
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Incorporating writing into math helps students understand their thinking. In the minds of middle grades learners, math and writing typically don’t go together. With the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) things have changed! If you’d asked me not too long ago about the challenges of teaching pre-algebra to adolescents, I would have talked about procedural
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Empowering our middle school students to make the world a better place. At Americans Who Tell The Truth, we are eager to stir the hearts and minds of young people towards caring deeply and acting boldly to make our world a better place. Often such initiatives are reserved for experiences outside school learning. We believe, however,
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