Boston Area Activities for February Break

There are many fun activities for families to enjoy in the Boston area over February vacation. Check out our list of  activities and events happening in the Boston area in February 2024. Have a great break! Lunar New Year Celebration at Pao Arts Center When: Sunday 2/18/24, 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Where: Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street, Boston, MA Age: all ages Cost: free Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with Us! Our…

Read More »

How to Teach Kids About Martin Luther King Day

With a fresh year just beginning, this is an opportune time to help children set a respectful and kind tone for the year ahead. Many offices and schools will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, making the nationally recognized holiday a great chance for teachers and parents to teach children about civil rights and American history. While older children are likely to have a better grasp on the civil…

Read More »

Technology in Modern Education

We usually think of technology as a progressive thing in education, but any technology dates itself immediately through its form. Electricity, the wheel, paper, the printing press, metalworking, mass transportation, masonry, and more are all forms of technology. Technology isn’t a ‘leading edge’ but a tool of human practice. On a day-to-day basis, human processes are based on prevailing local technology. That is, we usually use what’s available to us to express our collective humanity…

Read More »

5 Biggest Educational Trends of 2023

Deciding what’s “trending” is an important part of digital publishing and social media interaction. Facebook articles, Google News, Apple News, trending hashtags on twitter, and even our own websites all depend heavily on statistics. It’s easy to have a problem with this concept philosophically–namely, the most popular isn’t always the most effective or the best. So what are the most popular educational trends? Here are 5 of the most common educational trends from the past…

Read More »

How Practice Quizzes Help with Test Anxiety

Cognitive scientists argue that testing improves learning. They call it “practice retrieval” or “test-enhanced learning.” In layman’s language, that means that the brain learns new information and skills by being forced to recall them periodically. Remembering consolidates information and helps the brain form long-term memories. Of course, practice quizzes are not the only way to accomplish this, but it’s easy and efficient in a classroom. Several meta-analyses, which summarize the evidence from many studies, have…

Read More »

Study Habits for the New Year

The school day is already long, and many children are not getting enough sleep. Add in extra after-school activities, and it’s easy to understand why shutting off their brain is often their number one priority. Some children find it more difficult than others to crack a book open when they get home; even children who find the time to sit down and study may struggle with using this time well. Watching your child struggle with…

Read More »

STEM Extracurriculars for College Applications

Figuring out what extracurricular activities to do or join in school isn’t easy. Everyone knows that extracurricular activities look good on a college application; however, you don’t want to spread yourself thin by doing too many at once. In fact, colleges value being able to see commitment and excitement for a few activities that you are passionate about; they want to see passion and commitment to activities that you find meaningful. By joining clubs that…

Read More »

Best Books for Kids of 2023

Every year brings us a plethora of incredible new books for kids, and 2023 was no exception. Here are some wonderful books for kids from the past year you shouldn’t hesitate to check out.  1. Big by Vashti Harrison. A young girl transcends opinions of her to hold space for herself and own the person she is both inside and out. Powerful, full-page illustrations and striking use of color push the limits of the picture…

Read More »

The Effects of the Education Funding Cliff

It’s an ominous phrase that is top of mind for many school district officials: the “education funding cliff.” This refers to the imminent end of billions of dollars in federal COVID relief money that schools have been relying on during the pandemic. “The feds pushed a lot of money into the K-12 system,” said Lori Taylor, an education finance researcher at Texas A&M University. “Now the districts are being weaned off of that funding —…

Read More »

Pandemic Learning Impacts Are Going Nowhere

Kids around the country are still suffering academically from the pandemic, but more than three years after schools shut down, it’s hard to understand exactly how much ground students have lost and which children now need the most attention. Some new reports offer some insights. All three were produced by for-profit companies that sell assessments to schools. Unlike annual state tests, these interim assessments are administered at least twice a year and help track student…

Read More »