Posts on “ current events ”

Digital Learning Day is a national campaign that celebrates teachers and shines a spotlight on successful instructional practice and effective use of technology in classrooms across the country. Here at BrainPOP, we strive to engage students by providing the best in digital learning content, and we’re committed to supporting teachers in their quest to utilize digital technologies in the classroom. Be on the look out for our newest tool in development called My BrainPOP that will enhance your students’ learning experiences, and give you the ability to track and assess student progress via tailored content. My BrainPOP is currently being piloted in select classrooms across the country and we can’t wait to make it available in your school! You can follow the Twitter hashtag #DLDAY to participate in discussions about the future of digital learning and see how teachers are celebrating digital learning in their classrooms today. A big thank you to Sharon LePage Plante (@iplante) for tweeting about using BrainPOP to teach verb tenses in celebration of this special day. How are you celebrating Digital Learning Day with students? Share your ideas in the comments!  

Dr. Kari Stubbs, BrainPOP’s Vice President of 21st Century Learning, is a member of the Voice of the Educator Working Group within SIIA – the Software & Information Industry Association.  The SIIA Vision website, created to assist the education community in understanding technology’s role in the improvement of education, has invited YOU to share your voice via a short, online survey.  It is part of  a very important national study about the current and future use of technology in our schools and colleges. Through the survey, teachers, professors, district or campus administrators, community members, and parents can share how their educational institution is progressing towards a Vision for K-20 Education.  The SIIA Vision is based on the understanding that technology allows educators to be innovative and efficient, and is essential for lifelong learning.   The results of the survey will be published and distributed in a free report later this year. This report will give you and your colleagues the opportunity to see how your current level of technology compares with other schools and colleges nationwide – and will also show the ideal level for the future. The survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete online. All responders who… Read the Rest»

BrainPOP’s Vice President of 21st Century Learning, Dr. Kari Stubbs, is a member of the  Horizon K12 Board.  We’re excited to share that the 2012 edition of the Horizon K12 report was just released this week.  Highlights from the report include predicted trends for mobile devices/apps and game-based learning to play a significant role in learning over the new few years.  BrainPOP’s digital content and new GameUp features are ready to support your next steps in your teaching journey in both areas. According to the report, “The power of apps, coupled with the portability of mobile devices, is causing many schools to take another look at their policies regarding mobile devices. Many see mobiles as a key aspect of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environments.”  The BrainPOP Featured Movie app is already a key ingredient in many mobile initiatives, including BYOD.  BrainPOP using district, Forsyth County Schools in Georgia, is featured in the report as a pioneer district for the BYOD movement. With regard to game-based learning, the report states, “This topic has gained considerable traction over the past decade as games have proven to be effective learning tools, and beneficial in cognitive development and the fostering of soft skills… Read the Rest»

We’ve made some interesting additions to our research page on BrainPOP Educators. BrainPOP teamed up with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop to lead a research project, Teacher Attitudes about Digital Games in the Classroom. 500 teachers nationally were surveyed for the study. Over 60 percent of educators surveyed feel that games helped increase engagement with subject-area content among lower-performing students. 62 percent report that games make it easier for them to level lessons and effectively teach the range of learners in their classrooms. Get the facts and read the full results of the study. Want to learn more? We’ve posted some amazing interviews with the teachers involved in the case studies for this research project.  Hear them talk about their experiences with game based learning as they give you a firsthand look at their students’ engagement in the classroom.  You’ll leave feeling inspired and ready to try out gaming with your own students!

Back in January we shared Dr. Kari Stubs’s experience at the  REAL (Recommendations for Education and Advancement of Learning) Commission kickoff meeting in Washington, DC.  The commission consists of 27 leaders in education technology who were responsible for constructing a report on initial research and policy agenda for Digital Promise.  Created by Congress with bipartisan support, Digital Promise is a national center that focuses on transforming teaching and learning with advanced technologies.  Its goal is to improve all levels and forms of education to prepare Americans to compete in the global economy by identifying necessary information and technology. The report has been released!  On Friday, April 27th, the TechAmerica Foundation unveiled the REAL Agenda Commission report in Washington, D.C.  The REAL Commission report will serve as a guide for the inaugural years of Digital Promise and identify any policy hurdles that inhibit progress.  In creating the report, members of the commission worked together to develop and recommend research and activities that address the needs of education’s key stakeholders.    The commission hopes that their report will serve as a valuable resource to students, parents, educators, administrators, employers, public officials, and the overall community while having a positive effect on K-12 education… Read the Rest»

Dr. Kari Stubbs, Vice President of 21st Century Learning at BrainPOP, recently returned from the REAL (Recommendations for Education and Advancement of Learning) Commission kickoff meeting in Washington, DC. The commission consists of 25 leaders in education technology from industry and academia. They have been charged with recommending an initial research and policy agenda for Digital Promise. Digital Promise is a national center created by Congress with bipartisan support to advance technologies to transform teaching and learning. It is designed to identify the information and technological needs that will improve all levels of formal and informal learning and education to prepare Americans to compete in the global economy. The REAL Commission report will help to guide the inaugural years of Digital Promise and identify any policy hurdles that inhibit progress. The kickoff meeting included a visit from US Education Secretary Arne Duncan, United States Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Jim Shelton.  Jim Shelton shared that his own kids love BrainPOP! It was an enthusiastic moment to hear from this education activist and proud father. Watch for the final report this year. Plus YOU can join the Digital Promise conversation. Simply click to… Read the Rest»

Late summer often coincides with wacky weather and other natural disasters, which is why we’re featuring our Natural Disasters Spotlight through the end of August. Worried about Hurricane Irene, currently threatening the Atlantic Coast? Show your students the BrainPOP movie on Hurricanes and the BrainPOP Jr. movie on Fast Land Changes to help them understand the havoc these storms can wreak. We’ve even got a Hurricanes flip chart and a Natural Disasters lesson plan ready for you to download. Though unrelated to the season, our Natural Disasters Spotlight also features our Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics topics, which can help explain to youngsters the recent rumbles in Colorado and Virginia. In addition, the spotlight includes topics on Tsunamis, Floods, Tornadoes, and Thunderstorms. We hope you find these resources useful!

Several months ago, we found out that one of our favorite teachers, Michael Baer of the South Adams Schools in Berne, Indiana, was going to be in town. As BrainPOP’s physical science advisor for the past few years, Michael has been a valued member of the BrainPOP family, so we jumped at the chance to meet him in person. While we dined at a nearby restaurant, Michael gushed about his passion for teaching, and about his love of conveying to youngsters an excitement for science and for helping his fellow human beings. We already knew how inspirational Michael could be in his classes, but we were amazed when he told us of a project he’d spearheaded at his school that married science, humanitarianism—and BrainPOP! Even before the devastating earthquake that destroyed the Haitian capital of Port-au Prince in January 2010, many areas of Haiti were in dire need of clean water in the aftermath of three fierce hurricanes. One young girl, when asked if she understood that some children had died in the wake of the flooding, responded that yes, they were like “dots, in blue water.” So Michael and his students came up with a plan to devise a… Read the Rest»

If you’ve been following the news lately, you know that a massive outbreak of harmful E.coli bacteria has had ripple effects in Europe over the past week. We’ve already heard from kids who are concerned and have questions – how this can happen, and whether Americans are at risk. For those educators and parents who want to bring their students and children up to speed on the science behind superbugs like this E.coli strain, we recommend showing our movie on Antibiotic Resistance. In it, Tim and Moby describe what can happen when environmental pressures lead to genetic mutations that thrive despite scientists’ best efforts to control them. You may also wish to show our Genetic Mutations and Bacteria movies for primers on the cell biology behind outbreaks like these. Finally, we encourage you to watch and share our Food Safety topic, which explores precautions to take to help prevent getting ill from food contamination. Has this topic come up in your class? How are you explaining it to students? What resources do you find most helpful to ease students’ fears and answer their questions?

Want to find out what’s REALLY happening in learning? Checkout this authentic feedback, gathered from 294,399 Students; 42,267 Parents; 37,720 Teachers/Librarians; and 4,969 Administrators/Tech Leaders. It’s been compiled in Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up 2010 National Findings for K-12 Students and Parents. The full report, The New 3 E’s of Education: Enabled, Engaged, Empowered — How Today’s Students Are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning, offers a powerful glimpse into how technology is being used by our kids. Check out the report findings to learn more about student use of mobile learning, online and blended learning and e-textbooks both inside and outside of the school. Let your voice be heard. Did you participate in the Speak Up survey? How does your school or district use the results to inform what is happening in your schools? Share your comments and thoughts below.