Children learn best when they are inherently motivated to pursue new knowledge and skills; ownership and opportunity for initiative provide that inherent motivation. Most of what has been created for the children's universe--whether in cinema, theater, books, cartoons, or school curriculum content--has been created and produced by adults. But By…

An important goal for education innovation is to support the development of today's students into strong and committed global citizens. Innovative programs that build leadership skills and expand foreign policy understanding are critically important to our interconnected future.

Recognizing the valuable role nature plays in human development as well as humans' responsibility toward the earth is critically important when considering how to transform education for the betterment of the individual and society. In this article, the author views nature as a force or phenomenon of the metaphysical world. As such, she suggests…

When teacher shortages pose a significant challenge to delivering quality education, what disruptive educational approaches can we explore to ensure students are learning?

Quality education has the power to change the trajectory of a person's life. Yet academic achievement for too many children remains frustratingly low. This is particularly true in Pakistan. To change that, drawing on two decades of experience working directly with teachers in rural and peri-urban communities in Pakistan, Developments in Literacy…

Every culture has developed some version of performance art. Children especially appreciate performance; their innate openness, forgiveness, and self-love make them delightful performers and audience members. Every time they engage with performance art, children are learning about storytelling, history, sociability, artistry, and physicality.…

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to revolutionize education, as it immerses students in their learning more than any other available medium. By blocking out visual and auditory distractions in the classroom, it has the potential to help students deeply connect with the material they are learning in a way that has never been possible before.…

Efforts to improve education should not neglect to provide the rich play opportunities that benefit children in so many ways. In Tanzania, the pre-primary curriculum, for example, guides teachers to use play as the primary method of teaching and learning. Despite this policy mandate for play, however, abundant evidence indicates that Tanzanian…

Children's optimal learning is supported by strong family relationships and many innovative programs seek to strengthen those relationships. Tap To Togetherness is doing so through dance, and sharing this dynamic art form with families in the United States and now in Ghana and Kuwait. This is a follow-up to "Tap To Togetherness: An Innovative…

As the COVID-19 pandemic became widespread in early 2020, people around the world felt scared, confused, and at a loss for how to help their fellow humans. Suddenly, young and old alike needed to understand the science of virology and how to protect themselves and others, while the world's scientific understanding of the specific COVID-19 virus…

As we work to educate our children in effective ways, supporting their efforts to make a positive difference reaps benefits for both students and society.

Many social systems, especially education, have an opportunity to significantly improve individual performance and well-being outcomes by attending to and including brain fitness as part of their approach. Brain fitness, like physical fitness, requires exercise. Brain-based "workout" activities improve cognitive development, and their…

For many educators, the inspiration to teach comes from a desire to make a positive difference in students' lives. As they seek to guide students toward their big goals through trying times, teachers need resources that strengthen social and emotional skills. Facing this very challenge, Allison Silverman, a teacher at Port Chester Middle School in…

Guatemala faces many challenges to its development that contribute to an underperforming education system with outdated methodologies and student engagement techniques, resulting in missed opportunities for today's youth. This is especially true for Indigenous girls, who experience disproportionate effects of marginalization in Guatemala, which…

The key elements of learning in a classroom remain largely invisible. Teachers cannot expect every student to learn to their fullest capacity; yet they can augment learning within a classroom through inquiry-based learning. In this article, the author describes inquiry-based learning and how to begin this process in the classroom.