Researchers Release Free, At-Home Early Math Resources for Families
May 18, 2020
A team of early math education experts from across the country has pooled its expertise to develop a set of free, research-based learn-at-home materials geared toward children from birth to age 8. The “At-Home Early Math Learning Kit for Families,” created by the DREME Network’s Family Math team, is especially valuable as many people are staying home due to ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to give families ideas that are fun, easy to implement, require no special materials, and can be folded into daily life — rather than feel like an extra task.
UW–Madison’s Hidden Village Computer Game Selected for Sixth Annual Virtual STEM Video Showcase
May 10, 2020 | By Janet L. Kelly
A video about a UW–Madison online learning game – titled “The Hidden Village: Mathematical Reasoning Through Movement” – is among 170 videos featuring science, technology, engineering and math education initiatives selected to compete in the 2020 STEM for All Video Showcase. The public can view the videos at any time and through May 12 they can communicate online with presenters and vote for their favorites at https://stemforall2020.videohall.com .
Summer internship canceled? Not at these companies embracing virtual versions
May 3, 2020 | By Michael Braga
Matt Hora, WCER researcher and director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions, is quoted in this article about companies offering virtual internships due to COVID-19. “It’s going to be tough for some companies. . . . Converting to working remotely requires quite a bit of forethought as to how to design meaningful tasks and how to supervise them in a productive way.” Because interns are not onsite, it will be hard for them to develop soft skills, the 21st-century skills that you get from teamwork and oral communication, said Hora. . . . "To really learn those, it requires immersion in the social environment," he said. "Nurses and mechanical engineers need to immersed in the hospital and on the oil rig to really understand the job, to really learn to problem solve on the fly."
Wisconsin Sees Gains In Preschool Access, But COVID-19 Impact Has Experts Wary
April 25, 2020 | By Madeline Fox
Wisconsin ranks fifth in the country for access to free preschool programs for 4-year-olds, with 72 percent of the state’s 4-year-olds enrolled during the 2018-2019 school year, according to the annual "State of Preschool" report from the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER).
There’s no roadmap for teaching online, so Washington’s teachers are creating their own
April 24, 2020 | By Hannah Furfaro
As school districts grapple with the fact that education won’t resume in person this school year, Moses Lake and others across Washington are taking seriously their mandate to find creative virtual solutions. Getting students laptops and internet access were the first — and easiest — steps many made since school buildings have closed, though it’s unclear how many students still lack devices.
‘Beats Empire’ Simulation Game Moves Hip-Hop from Fiction to Online Learning Tool for Middle School
April 23, 2020 | By Janet L. Kelly, WCER Communications
“Beats Empire,” released to the public this week, is designed for use in middle school classrooms and at home. Built upon education research, the game is recommended for players from middle school through adults. It was developed with National Science Foundation funding as a project among research universities, private sector partners and the New York City Department of Education. With its name inspired by the hip-hop drama series "Empire," the Jay-Z song and New York City vibe, university researchers from Columbia, UW–Madison and Georgia Tech worked together to create the game, which places players in the roles of music producers who leverage data and analyze trends to dominate the music industry.
Editorial: Pandemic has silver lining for learning
April 22, 2020 | By Wisconsin State Journal Editorial Board
In the wake of COVID-19, UW-Madison converted thousands of courses to online-only in just a week. “In my world,” said Richard Halverson, a UW-Madison education professor, “there’s a lot of sadness and apprehension. But I’m looking at an emergence of an entirely new form of literacy for teachers and learners — technology-enabled learning literacy, which is kind of remarkable. It might be the next revolution in how we think about education.”
Filling the Void for Students with Academic Projects
April 21, 2020 | By NACE staff
CCWT Director Matthew Hora is interviewed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers about how faculty and academic departments can help students whose internships are cancelled because of the COVID-19 crisis by working together to create projects or learning experiences that are as robust and authentic as traditional internships.
CareerLocker: Helping Adults & Children With Career-Planning and Learning During COVID-19
April 10, 2020 | By Lynn Armitage, WCER Communications
As the world is sheltering safely at home from COVID-19, everyone has more time to look ahead and think about their future―including children, who can explore the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Parents now can help their kids answer that and other questions right from home, and get career help themselves, with a self-paced, online career-information system called CareerLocker.
What’s lost, gained with online internships
April 9, 2020 | By Delece Smith-Barrow
WCER researcher Matthew T. Hora is interviewed in a story about the place of online internships given the restrictions on face-to-face interaction during the COVID-19 outbreak: “A lot depends on who is structuring or designing the experience,” said Matthew Hora, director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions at the University of Wisconsin. “You can have an in-person internship that’s poorly structured and not very useful or effective or positive for the student. So it’s not as if one modality by default is better than the other.”
COVID-19 and Social Distancing Do Not Need to End College Internships
April 7, 2020 | By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications
Careful redesign of traditional face-to-face internships can ensure web-based alternatives that are meaningful for students and recent graduates seeking real-world work experience or a bridge to a permanent job during the health crisis.
New At-Home Language Activity Booklet for Young Children Available Online
April 1, 2020 | By Janet L. Kelly
WIDA Early Years is making a new booklet, “Learning Language Every Day: Activities for Families," available free online in English and Español to help children keep learning at home during the COVID-19 outbreak. The booklet can be downloaded for printing and sharing.
WCER’s Gloria Ladson-Billings discusses different schools’ responses to COVID-19
March 30, 2020 | By Jeffrey S. Solochek
University of Wisconsin education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, president of the National Academy of Education, speaks up for accessibility and equity in education during the COVID-19 crisis.
Working At Home With A Toddler Will Be Chaotic. Here Are Some Tips To Help.
March 27, 2020 | By Elizabeth Dohms-Harter
Wisconsin Public Radio interviewed WIDA Early Day Director Lorena Mancilla on ways to help young children continue to learn at home while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 virus.
New Fulbright Scholar Bob Mathieu Heads to Chile in 2021
March 27, 2020 | By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications
Bob Mathieu, director of CIRTL at WCER and the Albert A. Whitford Professor of Astronomy at UW-Madison, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award that focuses on his two academic passions—advancing STEM education and studying binary stars—and a goal to grow personally by living abroad for the first time. He hopes to gain more of an international perspective by living life in Chile for three month next year between February and May.
