Pitsco Blog | Social and emotional learning (5)

Texas educator on a mission to discover every kid’s genius

Posted by Admin on January 26, 2019

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Last fall, we released our first ever teaching type personality quiz. We featured five general teaching types that we believe encompass educators you’d find in today’s classrooms: the Merry Maker, the Inspiring Innovator, the Prudent Planner, the Technology Trailblazer, and the Coordinator of Chaos.

Matthew Way, educator at Sweeny Elementary School, in Sweeny, TX, is the walking definition of a Coordinator of Chaos teaching type. In summer 2017, Way volunteered to run the new Pitsco Education STREAM lab. He sees more than 1,000 K-5 students in his STREAM lab each year. K-2 students experience whole-class STEM Units for 30 minutes each week during the school year, and students in Grades 3-5 explore the rotational STREAM Missions for one hour every third day for a semester.

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Missions, Social and emotional learning, Future Ready, Hands-on Learning, STEAM

Using inquiry-based learning in your elementary classroom – including coding education

Posted by Natalie Vanderbeck on November 10, 2018

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Inquiry-based learning isn’t a new idea in education. While writing my master’s thesis, I studied science classrooms that utilized inquiry-based learning vs traditional teacher-led learning. To be certain we’re all on the same page, let’s define inquiry-based learning: “a student-centered approach where the instructor guides the students through questions posed, methods designed, and data interpreted by the students. Through inquiry, students actively discover information to support their investigations” (Edutopia).

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Elementary School, ROBOTICS, Collaborations, Technology, Coding, Social and emotional learning, Hands-on Learning, Inquiry-based Learning

There’s no substitute for hands-on learning

Posted by Melissa Karsten on October 25, 2018

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Twenty-first century students tend to thrive in fully immersive educational experiences and embrace social learning environments where they can be hands on (Forbes). How can this influence your students’ future education goals and careers? A great example of this is in North Carolina. Engineers engrained in a hands-on movement there, along with other professionals and sources, tell us real-world, hands-on learning provides many long-lasting benefits.

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Topics: IN THE CLASSROOM, Technology, STEM, Engineering, Careers, Social and emotional learning, 21st Century Skills, Hands-on Learning

Interest in school garden programs is growing

Posted by Melissa Karsten on June 05, 2018

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Gardening. When you hear that word, do you immediately think of a flower, an herb, or a vegetable garden? Or maybe you’re familiar with a sensory or hydroponic garden? There’s a relatively long list of types of gardens, which can be a great lesson, but this week is National Gardening Week and June is Fresh Fruits and Veggies Month, so let’s focus on the traditional vegetable garden.

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Topics: BEYOND THE CLASSROOM, IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Collaborations, Science, STEM, Social and emotional learning, Activities, 21st Century Skills

Student garden expansion project – Highland Elementary

Posted by Admin on April 23, 2018

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A good education bears fruits in later life. But it can also bear fruits – not to mention vegetables and flowers – in the here and now.

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Topics: Elementary School, FUNDING, IDEAS & INSPIRATION, Collaborations, Science, STEM, Trends, Social and emotional learning, Future Ready

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