Making sense of the big ideas and buzzwords in learning innovation. The first in a new series.

The city of Pittsburgh is a great place to be a kid. Growing up in Pittsburgh means year-round sports games, long afternoons exploring wooded parks and field trips spent in planetariums, zoos and even submarines. But our best resource of all? Our people -- especially our teachers.

Educators struggle to call an end to summer, just as students do. Here are 5 habits educators should develop for going back to school, brought to you by MindShift.

Gamification can do a lot of things, but can it solve world peace? One educator seems to think so, and before you make up your mind, you may want to take a look at his innovative lesson plan.

Teresa DeFlitch, Director of Winchester Thurston's City as Our Campus Program, discusses the benefits of restrictions.

You've heard of DML, but have you heard of ZBL? Zombie-Based Learning is a new approach that uses the undead scenario to challenge students.

The chief technology officer of eBay and employees of Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard all send their children to the same school. If this statement conjured up images of high-tech classroom equipment, corporate sponsored computer rooms, and digitally driven assignments, you may be surprised to learn just how familiar many of these schools are. As […]

Compare the time you spend typing every day with the time you spend writing in cursive. If you’re like most adults, cursive writing is generally reserved for birthday cards and signing bills. Typing, however, has become ubiquitous. Whether you’re drafting an essay or communicating with friends online, you’re using typing to do it. With kids […]

Here at Spark, we’re big supporters of learning-through-doing. We love projects that get children’s hands dirty and their minds working at the same time. We’re always excited to hear about successful programs that put this practice into action, which is why the work of eighth graders at the School at Columbia caught our eye. A […]