28 Critical Thinking Question Stems For Any Content Area
The purpose of these critical thinking question stems is to help students practice willingness to sit with an idea and struggle wonderfully. Source
Cyberattacks Are a Big Problem. Can Schools Manage Without Federal Help?
The Trump administration has rolled back federal resources to prevent, and respond to, attacks.
Small, Rural Central California High School Continues To Defy Standardized Education
20 years ago, a small, rural K-8 school district in Central California was told to build a high school or be dissolved. That was the impetus that the Chawanakee Unified School District board and superintendent needed to create what would become the innovative and award-winning Minarets High School / Minarets Charter High School. The Challenge The vision began with the desire to create a very diff...[Read More]
Jelly Beans for Grapes: How AI Can Erode Students’ Creativity
Let me try to communicate what it feels like to be an English teacher in 2025. Reading an AI-generated text is like eating a jelly bean when you’ve been told to expect a grape. Not bad, but not… real. The artificial taste is only part of the insult. There is also the gaslighting. Stanford professor Jane Riskin describes AI-generated essays as “flat, featureless… the literary equivalent of fluoresc...[Read More]
Is There a Healthy Middle Ground on AI in Schools? Try Skeptical Optimism
How students and teachers can learn to put a human touch on everything AI produces.
4-Year-Olds Pose Messy Challenge for Elementary Schools: Toilet-Training
More 4-year-olds across California are entering transitional kindergarten (TK) this year — curious and eager to play and learn. But some aren’t fully potty-trained, posing an unexpected challenge for schools. “They are younger, and they’re going to have more accidents,” said Elyse Doerflinger, a TK teacher in the Woodlake Unified School District in Tulare County. “Then what?” It’s a question schoo...[Read More]
Melania Trump Issues an AI Challenge for Students. Will It Help Build AI Literacy?
The challenge invites K-12 students and educators to solve real-world problems with the help of AI.
How To Teach For Knowledge Through Humility
How would it change the learning process to start with a tone of humility? To clarify what can be known, and what cannot? Source
Microsoft, Amazon Announce New Commitments in Support of Presidential AI Challenge
At the Sept. 4 meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, Microsoft and Amazon announced new commitments to expanding AI education and skills training.
How One Teacher Built a STEM and Robotics Program on a Shoestring Budget
This rural Arkansas elementary and middle school teacher gives her students rich STEM experiences by using a creative mix of tools.
AI-Aware Roles for PBL Collaborative Work
If my tombstone ever gets a subtitle, it will read: ‘Loving husband. Devoted father. PBL fanatic.’ It’s been the story of my 30+ years in education, which extends from 12 years as a classroom teacher to CEO of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. I’ve focused on developing policy, research, and best practices for the implementation of project-based learning. My writing and consulting on educ...[Read More]
Under Siege: How Schools Are Fighting Back Against Rising Cyber Threats
Brandon Gabel expected an ordinary day of remote work when he woke up at 5:45 on a January morning in 2024. By 8:30 a.m., he was racing to his office, simultaneously fielding calls from the FBI, Arizona homeland security and insurance providers. His school district had just become the latest casualty in a wave of cyberattacks sweeping across the nation. “They were in our network for a few hours be...[Read More]