We’re Thankful for our Educators, Researchers and Funders
The end of November is always crunch time. Between finishing projects, producing research, educating students, fighting for social justice and planning for the holidays, it’s never quiet. Recognizing this reality makes the team at KnowledgeWorks’ Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative especially grateful for our inspiring Distinguished Fellows, researchers and funders who came out to New York City to ask and answer some of the biggest questions about student-centered learning. We were lucky… Read More ›
Transforming Research by Having Students Lead the Investigations
In the education world, well-intentioned adults often gather to discuss evidence-based instructional techniques they intend to implement to improve student outcomes. Educators, administrators, non-profit leaders, and policy officials huddle—sometimes together, sometimes separately—to consider best practices and greatest impact. They ask questions like “How can we reach all students? How can we prepare for them for… Read More ›
The Research Collaborative and Equity: Framing the Conversation
In education research, whose knowledge do we most trust? Who is at the table when we make decisions about where we’ll investigate, what data we’ll gather, and how we’ll make meaning of our observations? And whose voices are represented when we interpret findings and translate them for a variety of audiences? The team at the… Read More ›
Making Connections: 53 Teenagers Suggest Creative Ways to Link School Curriculum to the World of 2019
This article in the New York Times showcases the winners of a contest asking students to connect what they are learning in school to their own lives. It includes the full text of the articles submitted by the winners as well as excerpts from runner-ups. Students found new connections between literature and historical events they are… Read More ›
Here’s What Happened When Students Solved Social Media Problems With Design Thinking
This article provides a peek into a student-centered classroom. In this elective high school course on digital literacy students used a design-thinking process to table an issue of importance to them. Students brainstormed concerns around the use of social media and came up with potential solutions. This article could be a great conversation starter for… Read More ›
Student-Driven Restorative Justice
This article looks at the restorative justice circles established by students at Grand Mesa Middle School in Grand Junction, Colorado. Student Council members at the school decided to focus on the introduction of restorative justice circles in response to surveys they administered that indicated conflicts between students was a top concern for the student body.… Read More ›
Four Feet on the Ground: The Youth-Adult Partnership “Teeter-totter Effect”
The personalization of learning requires the relationship of students and teachers to shift to partnership and shared responsibility. Educational change in Vermont has also opened the door to unprecedented opportunities for young people to be central to change, rather than passive recipients. However, there are few roadmaps for shifting our mental models and practices to… Read More ›
Why It Matters to Have Teachers That Look Like Me
For ten years—the first decade I was in school—all my teachers were white women. As a Mexican American kid, I didn’t get the chance to have a man of color as a teacher until high school. Going into my senior year, I like how diverse my teachers are now, but I wish I’d had the… Read More ›
Student Podcast Challenge
In their first student podcast competition, National Public Radio invites students around the country to create a podcast. Students should put together a podcast with your class or extracurricular group and submit it with help from a teacher. Each podcast should be between three and 12 minutes long. The winning podcast submissions will be featured in segments on Morning Edition and All Things… Read More ›
Students Learn to Put the ‘Civil’ in Civil Discourse
This article looks at the efforts at Overland High School, near Denver, CO to help students learn to engage in civil discourse. Students in government class learn important 21st century skills as they engage in “deliberations,” a form of structured civil discourse, in which students must argue on both sides of a relevant topic like gun control… Read More ›
Students Leverage Technology Tools and Makerspaces to Personalize Instruction
This webinar will explore how the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)’s 2018 Student Voices Award Winner, St. Albans City School in Vermont, embraces technology tools to personalize instruction. Fourth to sixth grade students will discuss their STEAM classes and their use of the makerspace to explore their personal passions and artistic abilities. In addition,… Read More ›
Navigating the Future of Learning
Navigating the Future of Learning is a ten-year forecast on the future of learning from KnowledgeWorks. This report presents the ways in which current societal shifts could shape education over the next ten years and beyond. Specifically it looks at the following drivers of change that may impact learning: Automating Choices: Artificial intelligence and algorithms are automating many aspects… Read More ›