Equity in the classroom means ensuring every student, regardless of circumstance, has the resources and support needed to be successful. Equitable classrooms do not allow for individual factors to limit a student from reaching their full learning potential. The first, important step for education leaders to do in support of classroom equity is to evaluate existing learning activities and materials from a perspective of equity and inclusion.
Elana has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
"My favorite thing…It applies to ANY learner!" Breakout EDU Spotlight: Amy Stevens of Tri Elementary
Amy Stevens is a PLTW TEACHER AT TRI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
What Tri Elementary says about her: ‘Mrs. Amy Stevens is a treasure for our elementary school. Carrying an infectious joy, she teaches our students about the mystery of science each day through our Project Lead the Way program.’
The US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights estimates 6% of public school students are enrolled in gifted and talented programs - a number likely to rise exponentially given evolving identification practices including universal screening. Without question, every student has unique interests and characteristics, but those identified as gifted or twice exceptional require a differentiated instructional approach to experience success.
In 1972 Nolan Bushnell created an industry when he founded Atari and gave the world Pong, the first blockbuster video game. Today his design credo—that games should be “easy to learn and difficult to master”—is inspiring a new generation of developers. A prolific entrepreneur, Bushnell has started more than 20 companies, including Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater, Catalyst Technologies, the first Silicon Valley incubator, and Etak, the first in-car navigation system. In the process, he pioneered many of the workplace innovations that have made Silicon Valley a long-standing magnet for creative talent. Bushnell was the first and only person ever to hire Steve Jobs, which he details in his 2013 book, Finding the Next Steve Jobs.
Loss of instructional time and decreased access to teachers and peers led to shocking academic gaps as documented by the 2022 NAEP administration.
Education leaders are right to be concerned about student academic setbacks stemming from the pandemic.
The dialogue surrounding this issue allowed for the term “learning loss” to earn a prominent place in back-to-school planning sessions and professional development. It has been a nexus of conversation for leadership teams and board members across the country.
Universal design for learning (UDL) is an instructional approach based on decades of learning science research. The purpose of UDL is to administer instruction in ways that accommodate the needs and abilities of every type of learner
Halloween is in the air - and on every kid’s mind! Rather than fight the excitement, get students out of their seats (and comfort zones) and treat them to fun, Halloween-themed instructional tricks to keep learning moving forward.
As Halloween approaches and attention spans wane, these simple thrills have students dress up, write up, speak up, and create while learning despite this high-energy time of year.
Fall is full of fun activities! Corn mazes, pumpkin farms, hayrides, trick or treating, carving pumpkins… the list goes on and on. These seasonal festivities are ripe for Breakout EDU game design.
Creating games for your classroom shouldn’t be complicated; the only puzzles should be the ones you create! The Breakout EDU Game Design Studio makes creating unique games as easy as pumpkin pie, especially when you sprinkle in Adobe Express!
Dr. Adam Phyall focuses on how teachers can keep students engaged in rigorous learning by putting technology in the hands of students. Adam works directly with teachers showing them fun and easy methods of incorporating technology into instruction by “Putting the Pieces Together.” Throughout his professional career, Dr. Phyall worked extensively with Title I and Urban schools to improve technology integration with economically disadvantaged students. He has planned and developed Mobile Learning plans for school districts in Georgia and Missouri that have led to 1:1 device initiatives. His philosophy on teaching is “if you’re having fun teaching it, then your students will have fun learning it.”
The leaves may be falling faster than the temperature, but fall is definitely here! Classroom routines are (almost) established, pumpkins and cornstalks adorn doorsteps, and students can’t stop asking, “are we going to have a Halloween party?!” Fear not! Breakout EDU is here to make you a hallway hero with these fa-boo-lous fall activities.
Project-based learning (PBL) is a popular and contemporary instructional approach with deep roots in research surrounding learning science and student engagement. Defined simply, project-based learning gives students the opportunity to engage in problems or answer complex questions collaboratively in meaningful ways while a teacher facilitates. As famed psychologist Jean Piaget famously said, “knowledge is a consequence of experience” - and that is precisely what project-based learning aims to achieve.
Designing Breakout EDU Digital Games is now even easier for teachers and students! The integration of Breakout EDU and Adobe Express brings inspiration and creativity inside the Game Design Studio. Once the game story is written and the puzzles planned, game designers are just a few steps away from publishing their game! After choosing the lock type, creators will see the Create with Adobe Express icon on the right. It is that easy! Adobe Express has templates, photos, designs, backgrounds, shapes and so much more. Once the puzzle is ready, it just needs to be inserted into the game, the combination added and it is ready to go. If there is something that needs to be changed, it is easy to click the Edit with Adobe Express button and make those changes.
Steve Isaacs is the Education Program Manager at Epic Games. His mission in this role is to support educators and students in exploring career opportunities that leverage interactive 3D skills. Prior to his role at Epic, Steve was a public school teacher for 28 years, teaching game design and development as well as other courses related to creative uses of technology. Steve enjoys spending time with family and friends. His hobbies include video games, biking, snorkeling, hiking and live music.