Children 'better off playing than doing homework'

Here's an interesting article from today's New Zealand Herald, based on University of Canterbury research. The article starts:

'Educators say Kiwi kids are better off doing exercise or learning a musical instrument out of school hours. Children are better off playing after school than doing hours of homework, educators say'.

To read the article in full, click here.

Plant a garden in your school

This is an inspirational video; it has three key messages for me:

A garden can be grown anywhere
If kids grow kale, kids eat kale!
Don't sit around talking, start doing!

Watch Ron Finley and be inspired.

Can a struggling education system be saved by the iPad?

This is a really interesting article from the Wired website.  The title of the article gives you some idea of the content:

'Can the iPad Rescue a Struggling American Education System?'

The article raises a lot of interesting points.  One that resonated with me is the comment that because iPads are so easy to use, students are learning the lesson, not the hardware.

To find out if the iPad can rescue a struggling education system, click here to read the article in full.

A cheesy Apple education profile

Even though this profile is a little cheesy I still find it quite inspirational, particularly the accessibility of the principal.  To see what I mean, click here to watch the Burlington High school profile.

Build a school in the clouds

The blurb for this inspiring TED talk is:

'Onstage at TED2013, Sugata Mitra makes his bold TED Prize wish: Help me design the School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can explore and learn from each other -- using resources and mentoring from the cloud'.

I strongly encourage you to watch this talk, it's well worth 22 minutes of your time!