WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation

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We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

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Global Competence: Teaching Young Learners to Take Action for Worldwide Impact at John Stanford International School

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Project-Based Learning from Start to Finish

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Blogs on After-School Learning

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The Classroom Booster Club, Part Two: Connecting with the Community

Jim MoultonAugust 26, 2008

Tags After-School Learning, Integrated Studies, Teacher Development, All Grades

This is the second part of a two-part entry. Read part one.

Sports teams have booster clubs -- people who straddle the formally regulated school funding arena and private enterprise. This means they are able to act like entrepreneurs -- go for what they want or need, rather than having to convince somebody else (like a principal, a technology director, or a school board) of the worthiness of their idea.

Learning to Teach STEM: Teachers Bring Back New Knowledge to Their School

Dr. Katie KlingerAugust 1, 2008

Tags After-School Learning, Mentoring, Teacher Development, Technology Integration, All Grades, Hawaii

This is the second part of a three-part entry. Read part one.

In Hawaii, there will be eighty hours of training at science, technology, engineering, and math institutes during the school year. At these institutes, university professors will guide teachers in how to scale STEM projects to the appropriate grade level. The institutes will employ middle school math and science benchmarks and standards from the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards as the basis for what to cover.

Tech Target: Getting Girls Interested in Science and Technology

Diane Demee-BenoitMay 25, 2007

Tags After-School Learning, Funding, Teacher Development, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), California

The TechBridge program is alive and well at the Chabot Space & Science Center, in Oakland, California. Selected in 2005 by the National Science Foundation as a model program, TechBridge is an out-of-school program that engages girls in science, technology, and engineering activities. Since its inception, TechBridge has served more than 1,500 girls in five school districts through after-school and summer programs.

The Definition of Student Success: What Does it Mean to You?

Ken MessersmithMay 21, 2007

Tags After-School Learning, Comprehensive Assessment, Technology Integration, All Grades

The report "A New Day for Learning," recently released by the Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, argues that we must redefine the school day if we are to improve student achievement in the United States. The authors of the report, funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, lay out five elements of their proposed new learning system.

Breaking the Mold: How Do We Reform Schools?

Diane Demee-BenoitMay 16, 2007

Tags After-School Learning, Primary (K-2), Teacher Development, All Grades

Year after year, we debate numerous reforms to improve our educational system. Yet we are continually hampered by the conventions of our thinking about -- well, everything. We fall into the same old trap of tinkering around the margins and trying to reform an education system with an ever-increasing number of policies, programs, and regulations piled on top of each other. Even the words we use to talk about improving schools -- school reform -- seem worn and out-of-date.

Down on the Farm: These Vocational Educators Get It

Ken MessersmithApril 19, 2007

Tags After-School Learning, Career and Technical Education, Project-Based Learning, Service Learning, , High (9-12), Nebraska

One of the instructional strategies often supported on this site is project-based learning. PBL has been at the heart of vocational agriculture programs since the beginning. All vocational agriculture students participate in the Future Farmers of America's Supervised Agricultural Experience Programs, which consist of projects carried out individually or in groups.