Imagine if Learning Were Creating — Computational Thinking in Primary School
Imagine a learning environment designed to prepare our children, from their first introduction to school, to be inventors, designers and creative thinkers using all the tools at their disposal, including computers. How do we create such an environment? What ideas, models and tools would promote this type of learning? For students, but also for […]
Preparing Today’s Youth for Today’s Challenges
Please, stop telling young people they are the future. The scene could have been any school assembly at any school in the world. A group of restless young people listening to a suited speaker explaining how they are the future. How some day, they will “change the world.” If they just work hard enough, […]
Power Skills: Preparing Students for the Future of Work
\ In a global study carried out by McKinsey & Company, 72% of deans and university leaders said they prepare their graduates for the workforce. In contrast, only 42% of employers and 44% of students thought the same (Mourshed et al. 2013). The mismatch between universities and the world of work is real and it […]
Bringing the Scientific Method to the Classroom
Context Hundreds of millions of children are in schools and are not learning much. There are lots of plausible reasons for that: failed policies, resource shortages and substandard management being some of them. But what about what actually happens inside the classroom – the actual 40-minute experience an 8th grade child has in her Science […]
Unlocking the Educational Potential of the 3.5 Billion Still Offline
There are still 3.5 billion offline in the world today, 75% of which are distributed in just 20 countries, most of them disproportionately rural, female, poor and illiterate. The problem is, these countries with the least internet access are the same ones with the least access to quality education in general, including fewer qualified […]
Putting Education at the Heart of Global Development
This interview was originally published in Q Magazine’s 4th Issue For Dr Asmaa E Al Fadala, the field of education has always been one that requires a local understanding and a global outlook. In her pursuit of educational reform, her career path has transitioned from being a physics teacher in Qatar; a science coordinator following her acquisition […]
Blurring the Boundaries Between School and Life
We sat down to talk with Ms. Kiran Bir Sethi, Founder-Director of the Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India. Riverside School creates working models of pedagogical practices with a single-minded focus: student wellbeing. The curriculum prioritizes real-world learning as part of its pedagogy such that character and content go hand in hand. Here’s what she […]
Micro-Schools: The Future of Learning
The past decade has witnessed teachers, parents and learners rethinking educational choices and exploring alternatives outside of the system because freedom, agility and individualization — which are largely missing from traditional schools, are essential qualities for effective and joyful learning. I’ve watched — and even ridden and participated in — the waves of […]
Playtime Can Bridge the Developmental Gap in Early Childhood
Special Focus : Roads Less Traveled: Alternative Approaches to Education Sarah is the 3-year-old daughter of one of Ubongo’s employees and comes to the office with her mother almost every day. We’ve watched her grow from a little baby to the active toddler who likes to play, draw, run around the office and ask lots […]
Forest Kindergarten is STEAM by Nature
“We’re going to pour the water now!” yelled an excited voice from the forest. Suddenly, with that announcement, all the forest kindergarten children, no matter what they had been engaged in, rushed over to the hillside that had been repeatedly cut with channels and constructed with deliberate diversions. Within these channels, several children had carefully […]