Showcasing the Musical Talents of K¹² Students

Earlier this summer we put a call out for budding musicians out there to step up to the mic and/or webcam to create and submit a video to our first ever K¹² Music Showcase. Whether you were into Rock, Pop, Country, Classical or Hip-hop music, we wanted to see videos sharing our students' musical talents with the larger community. 

You can & do use Math everywhere! Here's a fun video featuring LeBron James as he calculates the probability of making ten free throws in a row.

What place should games have in education? Can a game foster true learning or is it at best a supplement? And how much game time should kids have? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit screen time (TV and video games) to no more than two hours, and that exceeding these recommendations can be a contributing factor to attention problems like ADHD. New research suggests however, that games can actually be beneficial to both children and adults, and that kids should spend more time playing, not less.

 Interestingly, the educational benefits of video games are not limited only to those titles labeled “educational”, but also include mainstream games. Research conducted by Cheryl Olson, ScD of Harvard Medical School found that playing games like Legend of Zelda and Bakugan can encourage planning, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity and self-expression. Games like Age of Empires and Civilization can encourage a child’s interest in history, geography, and international relations, especially if a parent assists in expanding on the themes of the game with related resources like museums, books, and websites.

While past studies have linked video games to the childhood obesity epidemic, new research says otherwise, that gaming can in fact encourage kids to get off the couch and exercise. These benefits aren’t limited to motion-sensing games like PBS’s educational movement games, or exercise games like Wii Fit and Dance Central 2. Olson’s research found that simply playing a realistic sports game, like football, basketball, or skateboarding, can actually lead to “increased time spent playing sports and exercising in real life.”

Long the premiere web-destination for fans of funny cat videos, Youtube is also a fantastic educational resource with thousands of entertaining and engaging videos for learners of all ages. Last week, it got even better with the launch of TED-Ed, an education initiative from TED. The non-profit hosts fascinating talks by some of the most influential minds out there, like this much-shared talk from creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson on changing education paradigms (definitely worth a look if you haven’t seen it.) With TED-Ed, the group brings teachers and students short animated lessons from top educators and animators.

Video lessons, perhaps best exemplified by Sal Khan’s Khan Academy have been called “the future of education” by some. Others, like thinktanK’s own Paul Thomas, have warned that videos, while helpful, should not be a full-time replacement for teaching.

In conjunction with face-to-face instruction, however, videos can be one of many valuable tools in a teacher’s arsenal. TED-Ed’s videos are not full lessons, but would be a fun way to introduce a new topic or explain a concept in a new way to a student who’s not “getting it.”