iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

Many students love to dance. How can teachers leverage this passion to motivate students and help them learn? Research shows learning through structured movement can be a fun and educational practice.

Not every classroom will need to have a dance party to make curricular connections. Like music, dances have countable steps that can be used to enhance learning. With proper planning, educators can use students’ favorite dances to improve their understanding of new concepts and practices.

Music and dance teachers who are respected by female pupils should be trained to teach computer science to inspire more girls to pursue a career in the technology sector, educators have said.

More than 150 teachers and schoolgirls recently attended an event at Microsoft’s UK headquarters designed to show young women what life at a technology company was like.

Speaking just weeks after the Government used its Budget to announce significant funding to support the training of Computer Science teachers, Cindy Rose, the chief executive of Microsoft UK, kicked off this year’s DigiGirlz by highlighting the lack of women in the technology sector.

Educators told Microsoft at the event that school leaders needed to create more positive role models in computer science and give them modern classrooms to work in if the UK was to encourage more women to pursue a career in science, engineering, technology or maths (STEM).

Dance — and physical activity — should have the same status in schools as math, science and language. Psst: it may even help raise test scores, says Sir Ken Robinson.