All Research Innovation in Education Student voices From the classroom Students at work @CourtneyofAcera
Measuring what matters at school
By Courtney Dickinson What indicates a school’s success? Is it simply a standardized test score, like MCAS? It isn’t. The decades-long standardized testing movement has failed to close the equity gap in education, which was its entire intent…. Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | November 12, 2019 | kerry
Inside, Outside: Linking in-class content to real world issues and innovations
By Courtney Dickinson @CourtneyofAcera Jake, age 13, sits and experiments with circuitry and Arduino, figuring out how to connect and code in his “Robotic Bling” hands-on elective class. The 10-week course occurs once a week for 2 hours,… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Blog, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | November 1, 2019 | kerry
Top five free actions to make schools better, and students happier
By Courtney Dickinson Kids often dread their return to school in the fall, and we – as adults – let them. Societally, we have made it a rite of passage to hate school, and we joke with students… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education, Research | August 13, 2019 | kerry
Courtney Dickinson on what’s possible in education
Courtney Dickinson sits down with Allen Saakyan of Simulation Series to discuss why she founded Acera, her 10 Tools to Transform Schools, and her mission to help build the next generation of scientists, innovators, and leaders.
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education, Uncategorized | July 23, 2019 | kerry
Creating a sense of purpose at school
By Courtney Dickinson I read an insightful piece in the Boston Globe this week on the link between happiness and having a sense of purpose. Simply put, people with a sense of purpose live longer, happier, and more… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | May 23, 2019 | kerry
Five Ways to Spark Flexible Thinking and Courage in Math Class…and Beyond
By Courtney Dickinson What if math was a place where kids’ problem solving and deep thinking skills could come alive, and a place where they grow in their confidence and adaptability? Mathematics learning at school can be… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, AceraBlogPost | April 22, 2019 | kerry
Creative projects and tapping a sense of purpose leads to girls’ engagement in STEM
She rotates the table of projects, rapt. There’s a critter bot creation which moves with its robotics component, a 3D printed structure – customized by a young elementary peer – that lights up and looks magical, and an… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | March 14, 2019 | kerry
Connecting Heart with Imagination and Innovation
By Courtney Dickinson @CourtneyofAcera Could motivating positive habits and self awareness around pulse rates, exercise, and stress/anxiety prevention help students’ well being and help avoid cardiovascular disease later in life? Last spring, Acera students created product… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Blog, Innovation in Education | February 27, 2019 | kerry
A vision for what’s possible in education
These days, schools educate students based upon norms set up for an industrial era, reflecting the goals and societal needs from more than a century ago. What’s needed today is a new generation of educated citizens defined by… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | November 15, 2018 | kerry
At Acera, we believe a school’s success can be measured far beyond its standardized test scores. How happy are its students? Do they feel a sense of purpose at school? Are they developing a capacity for perspective taking and problem solving? Are teachers using evidence-based approaches to pedagogy? Acera’s Education Innovation team is working to change how we measure education to include students’ core capacities, faculty’s use of evidence-based practices, a positive school culture, and standards and achievement.
Tech Hub enables students to emerge as community-minded technologists able to solve problems to benefit the whole school. More a philosophy than a place, Tech Hub can start as simply a cart in a cafeteria with one student fired up to be a knowledgable, technically skillful community member. Concurrently developing emotional intelligence skills and a wide array of technological abilities, Tech Hub members model and spread an attitude of fearlessness at using STEM tools to solve real problems.
Small children can understand big ideas, and computer science is no exception. Acera’s hands-on “Computers and Me” curriculum introduces early elementary students to computer science concepts, and is one example of many creative ways computational thinking and technical fluency can be developed throughout K-12 education, starting at age 5. Pilot-tested and ready to translate for adoption by public schools, these computer science learning approaches help students become facile and fearless.
What if math classes are organized based on what each student is ready to learn, rather than by age? This f
How can educators unleash the initiative and creativity inherent in all children? 