Blog Posts

How will you celebrate National Waffle Iron Day?

Posted by Admin on June 29, 2019

National Waffle Iron Day is June 29. What?! There’s actually a day to celebrate the golden, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-and-fluffy-on-the-inside paragon of deliciousness? That yummy breakfast icon that contains little pockets perfectly suited for holding syrup and melted butter?

Well, yes, but that day, National Waffle Day, is August 24. June 29 is set aside to honor the reason waffles even exist at all – the waffle iron.

I have to admit, I don’t own, nor have I ever owned, a waffle iron. Don’t get me wrong, I love waffles. I’ve just never had the urge to make my own. But after researching National Waffle Iron Day and all the awesome things you can make with a waffle iron (besides waffles, of course), I might just have to change that.

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Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Science, STEM, Activities, Hands-on Learning, Math

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

Bringing financial literacy to the classroom

Posted by Katlie Brynds on April 27, 2019

Do you remember your first purchase? Something you’d been saving up for a while and were finally able to buy? We begin learning about the financial world at an early age. Even before entering school, we observe the financial decisions made by our families and we begin to gain a financial mentality. But sometimes we don’t always have role models around to demonstrate positive personal finance habits. Bringing financial terms and concepts into a formal classroom setting can help prepare students for the financial opportunities and challenges they’ll face as adults.

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Topics: IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Culture, Activities, Future Ready, 21st Century Skills, Math

Solar Week activities: Bright ideas for your classroom

Posted by Preston Frazier on October 22, 2018

This week (October 22-26) is celebrated as Solar Week, focusing on the Sun and how it relates to Earth. This event is a little unusual because it takes place two times a year (March and October), and both are awesome opportunities to teach lessons with real-world applications and hands-on activities. And it just so happens Pitsco has a lot of experience with both of these.

So let’s take a look at fun facts about the Sun, how it relates to Earth, and fun hands-on, minds-on activities you can do for any Solar Week!

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Collaborations, Science, Technology, STEM, Activities, Future Ready, Hands-on Learning, Math

Ada Lovelace: Celebrating women in STEM

Posted by Tommy Ly on October 04, 2018

On the second Tuesday of October each year, we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day (ALD), founded in 2009 by journalist Suw Charman-Anderson to honor the many women in STEM (findingada.com); but you might be thinking, who in the world is Ada Lovelace? And why her? English mathematician Augusta King, Countess of Lovelace, more popularly known as Ada Lovelace, made her mark in history by publishing one of the first algorithms to be executed by a machine. And though the term computer didn’t exist in her time, this makes her the first published programmer.

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, ROBOTICS, Culture, Science, Technology, STEM, Math