netTrekker Blog

Scholastic: You Innovate 21

21^st Century Skills and STEM together?  Sure!  netTrekker makes that connection and supplementary resources quick and easy to find.  For example, do a keyword search for “science”.  Check out the Subject Refinement Menu and look for “21^st Century Skills” in the list.  When you refine by that choice, the resulting resources are based on the curricular area of Science and focused on the 21^st Century Skills framework.  Today’s Site of the Day, You Innovate 21, is a great example of this example search in the high school tab:

This multimedia website helps students explore the relevance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) topics in their lives today, and encourages them to consider a career in STEM in the future. After launching “You Innovate 21,” students will be taken to an animated city block where they can read an interactive graphic novel, view museum exhibits, enter virtual city shops, and answer brain teasers – all while applying and expanding their STEM knowledge!

Click here to login to netTrekker and access the Site of the Day.

Login to netTrekker before midnight (eastern) today to access the netTrekker Site of the Day and add it to your “My Portfolio” for easy future reference.  After midnight, the new Site of the Day will go up and you’ll have to look for today’s site using netTrekker’s search tool. Need help with My Portfolio? Easy, handy instructions can be found here.

Not yet a netTrekker subscriber? Visit www.nettrekker.com and click on the Free Trial link at the top right of the page for 14 days of complimentary access to netTrekker.

Tags: 21, 21st Century Learning, site of the day, STEM

Readers Become Writers Become Winners

Yesterday was Read Across America Day and we talked about including a writing component as an important part of any good reading program. It’s amazing what students can do when filled with knowledge from their reading adventures. Tools like netTrekker, especially when enhanced with Weekly Reader Express, help students with researching, gaining insight and expanding their knowledge on a variety of topics.

But what do they do with that insight and knowledge? Do they write a blog? Do they write a newspaper article? Do they share their side of the story?

If your students have participated in any non-fiction writing as either an individual or as part of a whole publication in the year 2009, consider entering them in the Weekly Reader’s Student Publishing Contest. Did they write about President Obama’s inauguration? Or did they write about hibernating animals? Or their thanks to a soldier? Did they share knowledge about the first Thanksgiving? Or simply share their thoughts on the entire learning process? Do you have students who have produced any nonfiction writing sample that is a great example of crisp writing, is engaging and demonstrates the principles of good writing? If so, then your student’s writing could win your school a $500 check, and the two of you a trip to Washington D.C. Weekly Reader is looking for an individual writing sample and a sample from a publication (such as a class blog, a newsletter, a journal, etc) from elementary, middle and high school levels to honor with this award. That’s a total of six winners, and your student could be one of them!

For more information on the contest, check out the contest web site.

(And as a side note, if you used netTrekker in your research for any of these writings, share this in your video entry for the netTrekker Scholarship to ISTE 2010!)

Tags: 21st Century Learning

Engaging Students Through Personalized Learning

You’re going to start hearing this a lot from us in the near future – netTrekker helps you engage students through personalized learning.  This is, in fact, our new “tagline.”  You may be asking yourself, “What was netTrekker’s tagline before, and why did they need to change it?”

Good questions.  netTrekker previously used these two taglines:

• The #1 educational search tool for K-12 schools.
• Redefining search to help every child learn.

Why did we change our tagline?  We needed a tagline that:

• Better reflects our focus on student-centered learning tools
• Positions netTrekker as more than just a “search engine/search tool for schools”
• Represents the purpose of our expanding line of educational solutions

In coming months, new content, tools and resources will be added to netTrekker, shifting its function from that of an educational search engine to a digital solution (content and tools) repository built on the industry’s most powerful search platform.

How did we choose THIS tagline? Engaging students through personalized learning.

After much consideration of feedback from our customers and employees, review of primary and secondary research findings and trends in the industry, as well as first hand discussions with educators, this tagline was selected because it:

• Speaks directly to the biggest challenge facing the education world (engaging students).
• It introduces the new category of solutions that we are evolving into (personalized learning).

One of our Customer Advisory Board members who helped us reach this decision was Mary Woodard, Director of Library Services in Mesquite ISD in Texas.  She shared why she thinks this was the right tagline for netTrekker and what she hopes netTrekker will become with this new mission – Engaging students through personalized learning.

“In this tagline, I see two words that are a focus in our district: engaging and personalized. In order for 21st century students to be successful, they must be engaged with their learning, and this is a challenge in today’s fast-paced world. Web 2.0 technologies now make it possible for students to customize and personalize the information that they receive, so that it is tailored to their specific learning needs. This customization makes learning personal and meaningful for each individual and is the best way to keep students engaged. I’m excited to see how netTrekker might merge web 2.0 features like RSS and embeddable widgets with their already robust search engine.”

What features would you like to see netTrekker add to help you engage students through personalized learning?

Tags: 21st Century Learning, engaging students, netTrekker, personalized learning

21 C: Preparing Students with Skills for Career and for Life

In response to states’ initiatives driving the incorporation of 21st-century learning skills into classroom instruction, netTrekker offers a 21st Century Skills channel organized into three pathways: Life Skills, Learning & Innovation, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy. Why the need to integrate these pathways into curriculum? Because students, after graduating from college with required credits in math, science, language arts, and social studies, and with passing proficiency-test scores, are finding themselves wondering, “What do I do now?”

For those planning on college, perhaps that query doesn’t need answered right away, but it will surface once again when graduation, once more, looms. And for students planning on working after high school, such a question should be examined far in advance of receiving a diploma.

So, what does the mastery of 21-C skills mean for students graduating high school? It means better success at finding a job — and succeeding in the workplace — thanks to honed “character skills”, and willingness to “think outside the box” and to view the day-to-day as offering educational and critical-thinking opportunities. And also for students heading off to college, it means being outfitted with the capacity to excel in courses by way of making connections between subjects often viewed as unrelated — and between school and life.

Life Skills

nT offers a brief definition of Life Skills (link). In short, and in relation to 21 C, it’s the teaching of “character skills” and “making them a deliberate part of lessons”, showing students how these traits will serve them in work and in life. So, what does nT offer for teachers looking for resources on such “character skills” as Leadership, Ethics, and People Skills? Here is a sampling below:

Foundation for a Better Life: Values to Pass On not only shares the first-person reflections on the meanings of values, such as respect and service, but also encourages its visitors to share their own stories -– in written, audio, or video format. There’s a great collection of moving quotes by famous authors and public figures, an opportunity to share your story about a real-life hero, and a collection of inspiring audio clips reflecting on the lives and efforts of people such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Abraham Lincoln.

Legacy Educational Resources offers an extensive collection of brief Character Education articles, appropriate for teachers, parents, and community leaders. Notable articles include “Preparing Lessons that Change Lives,” “Acts of Kindness –- Ideas for Teachers and Administrators,” “Instilling Compassion in Students,” “Ethics, One Day at a Time,” and “Rules to Play by On and Off the Playing Field.”

Thirteen Ed Online presents Making Family and Community Connections, a workshop that emphasizes the importance of creating partnerships among schools, parents, and community. After students understand the concept of making community connections, they can explore examples of such connections via video demonstrations and candid talks by parents, educators, administrators, and students. This site includes a great collection of ideas for implementing school-community connections as well as links to schools that are participating in such programs and thriving as a result.

Learning & Innovation

nT offers this as a brief definition of Learning and Innovation Skills: “Those skills which lifelong learners have developed — the ability to think both critically and creatively, to collaborate with others to create projects and solve problems, and to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.” What does it mean when students enter the “real world” as “lifelong learners”? It means they continue to keep their eyes, ears, and minds open to learning experiences, even after exiting the classroom. For them, working isn’t just a means to an end or a paycheck, it is a means to think critically, explore new opportunities, realize untapped potential, and discover latest technologies. nT offers a collection of resources, which will aid students in becoming lifelong learners, in the areas of Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Communication Skills, Creativity and Innovation Skills, and Collaboration Skills. See some of them below:

Scholastic: You Innovate 21 is a colorful, Flash site offering brain teasers, interactive career-explorations, opportunities to examine past and present innovations that have changed our lives, as well as lesson plans and other resources for teachers.

The Edison Innovation Foundation offers How Edison Are You?, another highly interactive site that explores importance of innovation. Click “Why Edison Matters Today” to view a collection of photos, and download pdf files of the patents for Edison’s inventions. “Edison’s Life” offers a time line of his work, starting with his first patented invention, the Vote Recorder (1869), highlighting his most popular inventions, and ending with his work to create a rubber alternative from Goldenrod in the early 20th century.

Invention at Play by the Lemelson Center was created on the premise that “play” leads to innovation and invention. Students complete interactive puzzles dealing with problem solving and skills needed by inventors, learn about the life stories of inventors, and explore how “play” has changed through the years. A great site for the young and young at heart, Invention at Play isn’t just about inventions. It’s about critical thinking, collaboration, and making connections between real life and learning.

Our next blog entry will take a look at Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy and what nT offers for students and teachers needing resources in this area of 21 C.

Tags: 21c, 21st Century Learning, Learning and Innovation, Life Skills