Academics

Voxitatis releases graphic demonstration tool: compare fractions on wheels

By Paul Katula •
Voxitatis has released a second hands-on "demo" in mathematics, aligned to grade 4 of the Common Core. This one is derived from the open-source version of an earlier demo about comparing fractions that may have unlike denominators. Use it as a demo in front of a classroom or study group, then let kids play on their own and explore fraction comparisons.

Alleged retaliation against a teacher who blew whistle

By Paul Katula •
A Maryland special ed teacher is suing his former school district, whose employees he says retaliated against him when he tried to report a security guard at the school who was shaking down his special ed students for money.

K.C. school district seeks strip-search suit dismissal

By Paul Katula •
A school district wants a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the mother of a female student who claims she was wrongfully strip-searched. The girl's mother says her daughter was forced to lift up her shirt and bra, exposing herself in front of a school nurse and vice principal.

Voxitatis releases math manipulative for comparing 4 fractions using fraction bars

By Paul Katula •
Voxitatis has released the first of many hands-on learning tools to come, emphasizing our core belief that kids learn by doing and by exploring concepts in a trial-and-error fashion. This first one is about comparing fractions that may have unlike denominators, and it's a lot better than online drills and practice problems. The US Common Core puts this at about Grade 4.

Maryland 3rd-graders at a crime scene camp

By Paul Katula •
Students in Maryland attended a crime scene camp last month, and from this we can see why juries have noticed a "CSI Effect" and why students learn by participating in activities that put information into a context of something that's important to them.

Teachers build robots at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium

By Paul Katula •
Teachers in Freeport, Ill., joined others from across the state at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago to build a talented robot. This robot could even pick up trash around a shipwreck in Lake Michigan. Great learning experience.

Illinois court allows suit against abuser’s former school

By Paul Katula •
The Illinois Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit to proceed in which a student who was the victim of sexual abuse by a teacher in one district is suing that teacher's previous district because they never told the district where she's a student about the past sexual abuse history of that teacher. How would you decide? How would you advise schools to handle this case?

Perseids meteor shower, one of the year's best, peaks this weekend

By Paul Katula •
This year, the Perseids meteor shower should put on quite a show, peaking in the early morning Sunday but, unfortunately, after sunrise in the US. Viewing should be awesome on Saturday night, though, before the moon rises just after midnight.

Louisiana's new voucher program and religious freedom

By Paul Katula •
Gov. Bobby Jindal's religious school voucher program comes under attack not only for being an affront to the First Amendment but "bad for religious freedom" as well, Rev. C. Welton Gaddy writes in his open letter from the Interfaith Alliance.

Write-a-Novel Month is November; best learning yet

By Paul Katula •
An op-ed by a California student in the New York Times about standardized testing and how good students really learn stuff caught our eye. Kids learn, she says, by doing. What a shocker!