Montessori & 21st Century Learning

The Internet has delivered an explosion of learning opportunities for today’s students, creating an abundance of information, knowledge, and teachers as well as a starkly different landscape from the one in which our ideas about school were born. Traditional educators, classrooms, and brick-and-mortar schools are no longer necessary to access information. Instead, things like blogs and wikis, as well as remote collaborations and an emphasis on critical thinking skills are the coins of the realm in this new kingdom. Yet the national dialogue on education reform focuses on using technology to update the traditional education model, failing to reassess the fundamental model on which it is built.

Homeschooling has been around for most of recorded history, but hybrid homeschooling is a fairly new phenomenon. For hybrid homeschoolers, education takes on multiple dimensions, combining elements of both homeschooling and traditional schooling to take advantage of the best aspects of both.

More schools are working to change school culture through programs aimed at improving the social and emotional skills of students.

The Domtar Corporation today announced the launching of an interactive, educational site The Forest Academy. The edtech tools, introduced a few months ago, has reached a milestone of 25,000 visitors.

Discovery Education and Intel have teamed up to create Curiosity in the Classroom, a website designed to bring teachers, students and families on a journey through life's biggest questions. Access free lesson plans and videos designed for 6th-12th grade students. Engage them in the mysteries of science and introduce them to cutting-edge careers in science and technology.

The split between what Marc Prensky called “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” in his landmark 2001 article has grown wider every year of this century. Unlike the teachers and parents who have watched technology slowly phased into modern culture over the past three decades, today’s students have been immersed in the digital era since birth.