All Research Innovation in Education Student voices From the classroom Students at work @CourtneyofAcera
AceraEI offers free workshops for public school science teachers
Acera’s Education Innovation Initiative (AceraEI) is pleased to announce its 2019-2020 Life Sciences Change Agent Teacher (LSCAT) Workshop series! Gene Editing with CRISPR: February 7 & March 6, 2020 June 24 & 26, 2020 The Human Microbiome:… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | November 14, 2019 | kerry
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
Scientific thinking and creative problem solving in action
The Pyne Arts first grader wasn’t satisfied with the results of her first experiment. “I added a big water and a big glue the first time, and I did three small Borax,” she noted, having written her first… Read More
Category: AceraBlogPost, Blog, Innovation in Education | November 7, 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
Scenes from the 2019 Innovator Symposium
On Thursday, October 24, Acera School buzzed with activity. In the Commons, parents and kids interacted with computers, explored soft robotics, and watched self-driving cars in action. In the Innovation Hub, they dissected flowers, took on design challenges,… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | October 31, 2019 | kerry
Save the Date! Acera’s Innovator Symposium is October 24
What does an ocean-going robot do? What really is the secret life of bees? What does super-resolution microscopy look like? What can we learn about the earliest stages of heart disease? How can artificial intelligence help people make personal decisions? What will healing therapies… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education, Uncategorized | October 8, 2019 | kerry
Middle school students bring a modular classroom to life
“It’s really cool to see this built…and real!” The excitement and pride was palpable as students, teachers, and parents gathered on a sunny morning in June. Behind them, brightly colored ribbons – awaiting the ceremonial cutting – surrounded… Read More
Category: AceraBlogPost, from the classroom, Gallery, Innovation in Education, Students at work | September 23, 2019 | kerry
AceraEI secures $50k Amgen Foundation grant towards life sciences training for public schools
The Amgen Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the global biotechnology company Amgen, has awarded $50,000 to Acera: The Massachusetts School for Science, Technology and Leadership and its public outreach division, Acera Education Innovations (AceraEI). The grant will support… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog, Innovation in Education | September 10, 2019 | kerry
If your kids loved that, then they’ll enjoy this!
What a wonderful summer! Hundreds of kids came to Acera to make, discover, inquire, write, design, and create. The journeys can continue after school with Acera’s Enrichment Programs. Space is filling up quickly, so register for Trimester 1… Read More
Category: Blog, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | September 4, 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
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? 