Blog Posts

Video games in the classroom? – Leveling up on workforce skills

Posted by Connor Craig on July 08, 2019

Sometimes video games get a bum rap. I’m guessing you’ve heard about some of the negative effects that video games can have on developing brains, but what about the positives? In my career as a web developer, I use skills I’ve gained from playing video games every day!

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Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Culture, Technology, STEM, Social and emotional learning, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, Workforce Development

IF art and music, THEN creative thinkers AND more positive outcomes – PLUS 5 ways to integrate the arts

Posted by Admin on July 01, 2019

Growing up, my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Rosson, gave me an assignment to design a hallway bulletin board, and part of that was to lead the class in an activity. That’s the day I decided to become a teacher because designing bulletin boards seemed to me to be the best job ever. Little did I know then that minimal time is spent designing bulletin boards as a teacher.

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Topics: ADMINISTRATION & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, Resources, Authentic Learning, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, STEAM, Workforce Development, Art

Astronaut Job Fair: Launching interest, excitement, and learning

Posted by David Lockett on June 26, 2019

Editors Note: This blog was written by Pitsco TAG Teacher and NASA Space Ambassador David Lockett. He shares an inside look at the what and why of this unique and important event.

Tomorrow’s jobs are in space! But future ready begins now! In mid-March, as part of the Atlanta Science Festival, the Fernbank Science Center opened its doors to the community for the Astronaut Job Fair (AJF) as means to promote the importance of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). The daylong event was designed like a real professional job fair and career day. A diverse group of Atlanta’s students were directed through training to foster career-building skills while engaging with a staff of top space industry professionals.

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Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Science, Technology, STEM, Careers, 21st Century Skills, STEAM, Workforce Development

What in the world is FreeBSD? Open-source, open to more.

Posted by Preston Frazier on June 19, 2019

This week we celebrate FreeBSD Day on June 19. This national day, unfortunately, doesn’t celebrate Biscuits, Sausage, and Donuts. While that sounds delicious, this day is a little lesser known but definitely appealing.

FreeBSD Day stems from the University of California-Berkeley in 1993. FreeBSD is an open-source operating system that is considered a pioneer in open-source technology and is seen through many different platforms that we recognize today. Better yet, it’s used by billions of people across the globe, and companies use FreeBSD in their products. (www.freebsdfoundation.org)

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, ROBOTICS, Technology, STEM, Coding, 21st Century Skills, Hands-on Learning, Workforce Development

Stories and algorithms? The 4 Rs of 21st-century STEM education

Posted by Admin on June 18, 2019

The three Rs of education – reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic – were the foundation for much of 20th-century learning. Even as we advance well into the 21st century, those foundational skills still carry significant importance for today’s learners. Students absolutely need solid literacy skills – print and digital – as well as the ability to write well and complete basic to complex mathematic tasks.

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Science, Technology, STEM, Trends, Resources, Engineering, Coding, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, Math