Link: Spatial Thinking, Education, and the Workforce

If you are working with teens who have mild learning disabilities, you know that some of these students have non-verbal, spatial abilities that are much stronger than their peers, even though some of these teens are struggling in school and have low motivation for classes that are delivered in the traditional word-based lecture-discussion format. Spatial skills are important for many jobs related to science and technology, and new technology will require workers who are good at visual thinking and communicating.

What does this mean?

"Spatial Thinking, Education, and the Workforce", written by Ann B. Johnson, from ESRI(a company that provides GIS -Geographical Information Systems software, training, and related services), discusses a report conducted by the U.S. National Research Council in 2005, "Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum". In a nutshell, the article highlights the importance of spatial thinking in education and in present and future jobs in the workplace.

Parents and educators of students who have good visual-spatial skills need to take a look at this article. How can we assure that our teens have access to coursework that speaks to their strenghths and also prepares them for post-secondary education and employment?

Virtual Field Trips and the TechSavvy Educator

I've been busy with school and work, sorry for the delay in posting to the blog.

A great resource for supporting engaged learning through technology is the TechSavvy Educator blog. You can subscribe to the blog and recieve information about updates through your e-mail.

I especially liked the post about the Kid's Travel Agency, dated 1/31/07, by "Ben", a fifth grade teacher in Michigan. He is using Google Earth and local travel agencies for this project. Google Earth is awesome when you work with on an interactive touch screen, such as a SmartBoard.