"With approximately 750,000 current public school employees 500,000 public school retirees, educators could be the largest block of voters in our state if we would just show up and vote!" - TASA Exec Director @KBrownTASA. More: tasanet.org/educators-its-ti… #txed #Vote #GetOutTheVote

For one high school English teacher, the best way to get students comfortable with writing about their opinions is to take lessons from the master of griping: Jerry Seinfeld. on.wsj.com/3qHYNnz

Project Based Learning provides opportunities for students to become better decision-makers as they focus on “real” decisions that matter and can impact others. bit.ly/2TGYOT3 #PBLWorks #PBL #successskills #decisionmaking

100 Prompts for Teachers to Ask ChatGPT alicekeeler.com/2023/03/09/1… #AI

How do you get little kids to care about community service? Connect them with slightly bigger kids who are already making a difference! 💪

The drip🥶🥶 from the USNWT. #FIFAWWC

How about some icecream to curve that summer heat? Join us at CAST STEM to sign up, or get information and enjoy some refreshing ice cream during your visit! We can't wait to see you! @swisd @CASTschools #wearesw #igniteyoursuccess #gopublic #theresnoplacelikecaststem

#EducationalDesignersUnited 018, "A Case for #ProblemBasedLearning" #DanWillingham blew my mind when he opened his book this way: “Contrary to popular belief, the brain is not designed for thinking. It’s designed to save you from having to think, because the brain is not actually good at thinking. Thinking is slow and unreliable. Nevertheless, people enjoy mental work if it is successful. People like to solve problems, but not work on unsolvable problems.” Whoa. Stop the show. That’s a paradigm shifting statement, is it not? If that's true, should we be even remotely surprised that most kids don’t like classroom learning? We’re problem solvers - that’s just what we’re built for. From aqueducts (how do we get fresh water here from hundreds of miles away?), to concrete (how do we keep the aqueduct from falling down?) to filtration systems (how do we make sure this water is drinkable?), we solve problems in every single realm of society. I can go down a thousand different invention paths - humans have solved lots of problems! So shouldn’t we do everything we can to help our students become better problem solvers? #CallToAction: Friends - help us out here. Use the comments section and link to the best resources on #PBL that you know about. Articles, videos, books, conferences, whatever. Let’s figure this out for our students. Let’s try and turn more “learning” into “problem solving” if we can. It’s a tough hill to climb, I know. Finding just the right problems takes time and effort, I know. But isn’t it worth the effort? Getting kids to be better problem solvers should be the problem WE want to solve, as #EducationalDesignersUnited! We're a tribe, here to share and learn from each other. Join in and #PayItForward - we are #EducationalDesignersUnited! Michael --------------------- Resources Willingham, D. T. (2021). Why don't students like school?: A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. John Wiley & Sons. Duch, B. J., Groh, S. E., & Allen, D. E. (2001). The power of problem-based learning: a practical" how to" for teaching undergraduate courses in any discipline. Stylus Publishing, LLC. @edutopia - “Solving Real-World Issues Through Problem-Based Learning”: edutopia.org/video/solving-r… @openculture - “How Did Roman Aqueducts Work?: The Most Impressive Achievement of Ancient Rome’s Infrastructure, Explained: openculture.com/2022/04/how-…