Build a Growth Mindset, Cultivate Inquiry, Engineer Inventions & More

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Inspire Change Through Music

To teach a new generation about music’s power to create change, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the GRAMMY Museum have launched Speak Up, Sing Out, a songwriting contest for students in grades 6–12. Open to any genre of music, the contest challenges students to write educational and inspirational songs about human rights issues, empowering them to use their creative talents to create change. The contest is open to both individuals and groups, but entries must be written and produced by students. The songs will be judged based on content, creativity, likability, and structure. The grand-prize-winning song will be introduced at the GRAMMY Museum’s Concert for Social Justice in April 2016.

Deadline: February 21, 2016, for submissions

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Cultivate a Growth Mindset

With Math I Can is a new campaign sponsored by Amazon Education and TenMarks to transform student attitudes about math and encourage teachers to promote positive thinking about the subject. Amazon Education and TenMarks are directing educators, students, and parents to a new website, WithMathICan.org, which includes resources designed to promote perseverance, motivation, and achievement in mathematics. In collaboration with WithMathICan.org, Common Sense Graphite is hosting a Lesson Plan Challenge to provide teachers with inspiration and ideas on how to cultivate a math growth mindset in students with digital tools. To take part in the challenge, teachers should use Graphite’s lesson-planning framework to create a lesson plan that integrates at least one digital tool. The lesson can address any math area. The grand-prize winner will receive a new Fire tablet; a virtual professional development session with Stanford professor and former math teacher Jo Boaler; Boaler’s latest book, Mathematical Mindsets; and a $50 Amazon gift card.

Deadline: February 29, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. (PT)

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Address Human Rights Through Film

Sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, Tribeca Film Institute, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the Speak Truth To Power competition encourages students in middle school and high school to become engaged in human rights through video production. Contest participants must choose a human rights defender and create a three- to five-minute film that creatively answers the following questions: What is the human rights issue? How did the defender attempt to improve the situation? How was the issue connected with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? How is the defender’s work connected to the student’s local community? What is the current status of the human rights issue? What can the activist’s life teach us? The format is open to documentary, stop motion, narrative, digital photo essay or other innovative explorations that involve filmmaking components. The grand-prize-winning video will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2016. Other prizes will be announced at a later date.

Deadline: March 6, 2016, for submissions

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Encourage Aspiring Young Journalists

Sponsored by the Journalism Education Association (JEA), the Aspiring Young Journalist Award encourages junior high/middle school students to continue with journalistic studies in high school. Students must submit a digital portfolio, which will be evaluated based on quality, scope, and impact in the following areas: skilled and creative use of media; inquiring mind and investigative persistence; courageous and responsible handling of issues; variety of journalistic experiences; and sustained and commendable work with school media. One overall winner and up to five runners-up will be selected for recognition at JEA’s spring convention.

Deadline: March 15, 2016

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Plus: The Student Journalist Impact Award recognizes a secondary school student (or a team of students on the same entry) who, through the study and practice of journalism, has made a significant difference in his or her life, the lives of others, the school the student attends, or the community in which he or she resides. This award is a collaborative endeavor by the Journalism Education Association and the Kalos Kagathos Foundation.

Deadline: March 15, 2016

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Join the Conversation About Inequality

The foundation of a good story is a cast of characters that shape our thoughts about the world. That’s certainly the case for Scout Finch in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Since its release in 1960, Harper Lee’s classic has been generating dialogue in classrooms across the country about issues of race, inequality, and injustice. To keep the conversation going, Facing History and Ourselves is sponsoring the 2016 Facing History Together Student Essay Contest. US teachers and students will have the chance to win prizes—including a $2,500 Upstander Scholarship for the winning submission from a high school senior—by responding to an essay prompt that explores themes of identity, community, and belonging. The contest is open to US students in grades 7–12. Educators of all winning students will receive a $500 award, as well as free access to Facing History’s Teaching Mockingbird online course. This essay contest will allow students to explore conversations about justice, goodness, living in a divided society, making difficult choices, and the possibilities of social change.

Deadline: March 16, 2016, for submissions

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Highlight a Community Issue

PBS LearningMedia is inviting K–12 students to participate in its Meet Me in D.C. Contest by designing an election poster that highlights important community issues. Two student winners (one at K–5 and one at 6–12) will win a trip for two to Washington, DC, to see Congress in session, tour the White House, visit the set of PBS NewsHour, and more. Students are welcome to use the Poster Design Tool. Only one design per student may be submitted.

Deadline: March 31, 2016

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Share Exemplary EdTech Collaborations

Educators are invited to enter the Collaboration Nation video contest by telling CDW•G about their school or district’s exemplary educational technology collaboration and the measurable impact it has had on learning and teaching. By sharing their successes, schools or districts have the opportunity to win a $50,000 grand prize or one of three $15,000 monthly prizes from CDW•G. To enter, simply create a 90-second video highlighting your school or district’s cross-departmental collaboration project and upload the video to YouTube. Then complete the entry form and submit. Monthly contests are won by votes received through CDW•G’s Facebook page; three industry experts will determine the grand-prize winner.

Deadlines: Monthly through April 30, 2016

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Maximize Potential of BYOD Initiatives

Educators can collaborate and deliver lesson content to their touch-enabled Windows 10 devices with NetSupport School 12, offering genuine multi-platform support. Instructors can visually interact with, apply e-Safety controls to, and deliver assessments to any student desktop and BYOD technology across Windows, Chrome, iOS, and Android platforms.

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Celebrate Education Innovation

All across the country, schools are undergoing a transformation in teaching and learning with the help of digital technology. As educators reimagine school in new and different ways, Digital Learning Day (February 17) provides an opportunity to collaborate with peers, share ideas, try new digital tools, and celebrate education innovation. From virtual student debates to a digital project showcase, local Digital Learning Day events are as diverse and unique as the students that participate. Digital Learning Day has partnered with Participate Learning to offer free classroom activity ideas and resources.

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Highlight Culturally Relevant Stories

Educators, particularly those teaching English language arts, can use Black History Month to reflect on the cultural inclusiveness of their curriculum. 28 Black Picture Books That Aren’t About Boycotts, Buses or Basketball, a list from librarian Scott Woods, provides culturally relevant books for elementary school guided reading or classroom libraries. Most of the 28 children’s picture books feature black children doing what all children do: play, make up stories, learn life lessons, and dream. The books also spread out the gender of the protagonists, as well as put light on some typically ignored aspects of black life in books (for example, loving and present fathers, and nonurban life). The list is a good starting point for including culturally relevant literature about African Americans throughout the school year.

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Explore Powerful Practices in Instructional Leadership

Discovery Education and CUE are sharing with educators nationwide the library of presentations from a unique leadership symposium that took place in California in July 2015. These presentations, delivered by school leaders across California, explore a variety of critical topics, including using professional development to support device deployment, communicating with stakeholders, improving attendance and discipline during the digital transition, and more.

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Help Students Formulate Meaningful Questions

The Right Question Institute has worked with and learned from educators to develop a teaching strategy that provides a simple, yet powerful way to get students asking their own questions and building off their peers’ questions. As a member of the network, teachers have access to many free resources, including Experiencing the QFT, which describes the process and walks teachers through the institute’s Question Formulation Technique; Introducing the QFT into Your Classroom Practice, which helps teachers prepare to introduce their students to the Question Formulation Technique; and Introduction to QFocus Design, which provides tips on creating effective prompts. The institute’s website presents examples of the Question Formulation Technique from upper and lower elementary, special education, and high school. Joining the network is free.

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Excavate Ancient Artifacts

The Museum of London has joined forces with TV channel HISTORY to develop Streetmuseum: Londinium, a free iOS app that directs students to locations from Roman London where they can “excavate” finds, using their fingers to dig and gradually reveal ancient artifacts where they were originally found. (iPhone users can remove dirt by blowing into their microphone.) Key sites, such as the Amphitheatre and Temple of Mithras, are brought to life through augmented reality video (iPhone only), showing scenes of Roman London overlaid onto a modern view. A soundscape to the Roman capital is also included, so students can listen to the hustle and bustle of the forum or the clamor of the Boudican rebellion. In addition, a map of Roman London, compiled and produced by Museum of London Archaeology, has been superimposed onto a modern map of London. Students can use the slider to see how the city has changed over the last 2,000 years.

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Create an Invention to Solve a Challenge

Inventioneers is a physics engineering game from Filimundus AB for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. Using given tools and helpers, students design, test, and revise fun, crazy inventions that will meet challenges and help special characters achieve success. Students can press “Play” to see their inventions in action. If the invention fails, students can try again. A “Create” mode allows students to create and share their inventions with others. A free version of the app includes only the first chapter with 14 inventions and 40 different objects to use in creating the inventions. The full version, at a cost of $2.99, includes eight chapters with a total of 112 inventions and 100-plus objects that students can use.

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Become a Comic Superhero

Available from Seedling USA, Seedling Comic Studio is a free iOS tool for creating comics/graphic stories. Students can make one-frame or an entire multipage book combining photographs from their camera or camera roll, cutouts, speech bubbles, free-form text, filters, backgrounds, and stickers. The free basic app includes a flexible library of 13 layouts and the Comic, Holiday, Pixel, and Space themes with corresponding effects, costumes, props, and backgrounds. Adventure, Doodle, and Haunted themes are available for in-app purchase at $0.99 each.

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Discover Cool Careers in STEM

CanTEEN Career Exploration, a free project of Carnegie Science Center’s Chevron Center for STEM Education and Career Development, helps girls aged 9 to 16 envision themselves in STEM careers through gaming and online activities. Girls can take challenges, such as creating their own urban gardens, or play games focused on categories such as spending, modern technology, and the human body. In Explore Your Future, they can examine a vast array of STEM careers and learn about leading female professionals in each field.

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Create and Build for a Better World

The United States Naval Academy’s Summer STEM Camp helps youth in grades 9–11 jumpstart their careers in engineering and technology. The camp operates under the premise that engineering is all about discovering new things, solving problems, and learning how things work. The program helps young people connect creating and building with math and science through creativity, persistence, and the desire to make the world a better place. Session 1 for rising ninth graders will take place at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, June 6–11, 2016; session 2 for rising tenth graders, June 13–18, 2016; and session 3 for rising eleventh graders, June 20–24, 2016. Selection is based on students’ accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. Some scholarships are available based on financial need of selectee.

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Make Science Learning an Adventure

SciJinks, short for Science Hijinks, is a joint NOAA and NASA educational website that puts fun and adventure into learning about weather, satellite meteorology, and earth science. Geared toward middle school students and their educators, the website has informative articles that answer important questions about weather, timely stories about weather in the news, profiles of fun weather jobs, mobile and web games about satellites and technology, exciting videos, and tons of downloadable content. Students will also meet a cast of characters who get into their share of SciJinks themselves. Students can follow the characters’ tales as the characters get into all sorts of mischief. By checking back regularly, students will see what the characters have been up to.

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Delve into the Narrative of America’s Past

Making a Change, a learning module from Newseum Digital Classroom, explores how the First Amendment shaped the civil rights movement. Students can delve into hundreds of historical newspapers, videos, photographs, and more to find out how the five freedoms empowered people fighting for change—and those fighting against it. Individuals—young and old, black and white, male and female, rich and poor—became part of this movement. The website includes an interactive timeline featuring more than 200 historical front pages, videos, and photographs; a media map comparing newspapers’ front-page coverage of civil rights events across the country; a gallery of multimedia panels showcasing contemporary civil rights issues and the changes students are making in their communities; and standards-aligned lesson plans that support historical thinking, media literacy, and civic engagement and offer the opportunity for students to submit their work for display on Digital Classroom.

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Explore Black History and Culture Through Artistic Expression

The story of African Americans in the visual arts has closely paralleled their social, political, and economic aspirations over the last 400 years. From enslaved craftpersons to contemporary painters, printmakers, and sculptors, they have created a wealth of artistic expression that addresses common experiences, such as exclusion from dominant cultural institutions, and confronts questions of identity and community. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has one of the most significant collections of works by African American artists in the nation. Click through the collection on the museum’s website for a chronological survey of the artists’ works.

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Listen to Historically Significant Interviews

Over the course of his 45 years on WFMT radio in Chicago, Studs Terkel discussed every aspect of 20th-century life with movers, shakers, artists, and working folks. From civil rights to labor to jazz, Terkel’s work spanned an impressive array of topics and figures. These enchanting, historically significant interviews—which have been largely inaccessible to the public—will soon come to life in a new website hosting the comprehensive Studs Terkel Radio Archive. This archive will feature interviews from Studs’ hour-long daily radio show, which ran from 1952 to 1997, during which he conducted more than 5,000 interviews. The subjects of his interviews span almost five decades of prominent figures, such as jazz, blues, folk, classical, and world musicians; novelists; scientists; historians; visual artists; actors; political theorists and activists; poets; dancers; filmmakers; sociologists and anthropologists; architects and urban planners; civil rights leaders; philosophers; folklorists; as well as many fascinating everyday working people. The temporary Studs Terkel Radio Archive provides free access to several hundred interviews in an existing online collection. Over the course of the coming years, this website will transform into a robust and completely public archive, featuring thousands of additional programs.

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View the Destruction of Pompeii

A good disaster story never fails to fascinate—and given that it actually happened, the story of Pompeii especially so. Buried and thus frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ancient Roman town of 11,000 has provided an object of great historical interest ever since its rediscovery in 1599. The ash-preserved ruins of Pompeii, more than any other source, have provided historians with a window into just what life in that time and place was like. A Day in Pompeii, an exhibition held at the Melbourne (Australia) Museum in 2009, gave its more than 330,000 visitors a chance to experience Pompeii’s life even more vividly. The exhibition included a 3D theater installation that featured an animated video of the destruction of Pompeii. Watch it and you can see Pompeii brought back to life with computer-generated imagery—and then, in snapshots over the course of 48 hours, entombed by Vesuvius again.

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Click Here to View 3D Animated Video of Pompeii’s Destruction

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Uncover the Story of America’s History

Harvard University has launched the Colonial North American Project digitizing almost half a million items from its 17th- and 18th-century archives—the largest digitizing effort the university has ever undertaken. The letters, journals, documents, and drawings tell the story not only of the nation’s oldest institution of higher learning but also of the history of our nation. These documents reveal a great deal about topics such as social life, education, trade, finance, politics, revolution, war, women, Native American life, slavery, science, medicine, and religion. In addition to reflecting the origins of the United States, the digitized materials document aspects of life and work in Great Britain, France, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

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