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Gary just got back from Australia. He's got new ideas to share
Gary's Back from Australia — with IdeasIf you've ever wondered what happens when Gary shows up at your school, ask the educators in Australia.
A particular highlight was a return to Westbourne Grammar School, where Gary spent a half-day teaching 150 fifth graders physical computing with the micro:bit. In addition, he met with the school's student AI leaders, visited classrooms and the new middle school makerspace, and led a faculty conversation titled "Embracing Uncertainty and Rethinking Everything." What Gary did at Westbourne — teaching across grade levels, collaborating with faculty, advising on curriculum and space design, working with students and families side by side — is the kind of deep, whole-school engagement that changes how a community thinks about learning. It's not a one-time visit. It's not hit-and-run, one-size-fits-all PD. Call it an ongoing relationship or a residency, it's something he loves doing. If you've ever wondered what that could look like at your school, we'd love to talk.
Time to Make Something with AI (free eBook)Just for you, a new (free) eBook to inspire game programming with AI — full of project ideas Gary developed for his recent Computational Making & Learning workshop. The ideas are grounded in timeless principles, and workshop participants used them to create impressive software. Some have already brought them into their own classrooms.
Celebrate the Mother of Educational Computing this Women's History MonthDo you know our friend and colleague Dr. Cynthia Solomon? You should! It's Women's History Month, and she's one of the most important figures in the history of educational computing — and her story is remarkable. Read about her life and contributions here. See You in Reggio EmiliaImagine learning in the city that invented a whole approach to education. Time is running out to join us in Reggio Emilia for the learning adventure of the year — The Language of Computation: Constructing Modern Knowledge in Reggio Emilia.
Coming Next: A Field Trip App Built by a Teacher with AIIn our next newsletter, we're sharing something that stopped us in our tracks — a teacher who used AI to build a custom app for a student field trip, then wrote up exactly how he did it. Prepare to be amazed and inspired! Sylvia Martinez & Gary Stager |
Constructing Modern Knowledge
Join us for news, resources, and events for creative, progressive educators
Brett Moller needed tools that didn't exist. So he built them. Australian educator Brett Moller was about to take 35 students on a week-long field trip to Melbourne. He had some thoughts about tools that would make the trip go smoother and might even be a little fun! So Brett — a classroom teacher, not a software developer — designed and built a native iOS staff app, a real-time GPS boundary system, and a live scavenger hunt platform. Thirty-five Year 9 students used them. The tools ran...
You are invited to share your work at CMK Reggio For the first time, the Constructing Modern Knowledge institute will host an Academic Symposium alongside its signature hands-on learning experience. A limited number of short presentations will be selected from scholars, academics, and classroom educators to share their work with fellow institute participants in an intimate setting at The Language of Computation: CMK in Reggio this June. Submit a proposal for a symposium presentation here. The...
Dear Colleague, What if you could spend five days in the birthplace of one of the world's most influential educational approaches, working alongside the visionary educators who've been demonstrating for over sixty years that children are capable, creative researchers deserving of our highest respect? Now imagine if learner-centered progressive traditions were supercharged by computation, robotics, and even AI. The Language of Computation: Constructing Modern Knowledge in Reggio Emilia returns...