Category: Blog

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

June 28, 2023 2:09 pm

The Science of Learning a Second Language

Learning a new language is not easy. Trading outdated instruction for science of reading-backed techniques can help give English language learners the skills they need for biliteracy.

“English is HARD.”

This was my students’ (and my) mantra whenever we encountered something about the language that just didn’t make sense. I was teaching English language development, or ELD, for newcomers in grades 9–12, most of whom were native Spanish speakers.

As anyone who’s taken a language class in high school or college knows, it gets more difficult to learn a language the older you get. That’s what I always assumed was the reason behind my students’ struggle to acquire English. That, and the fact that I agreed that English is “HARD.”

I agreed that

English is “HARD.”

Without a background in linguistics (and as a first-year teacher), I couldn’t quite explain why it was hard, though. I just knew there were exceptions to every rule I taught.

But 10 years later, the science of reading is helping me understand — both why it was so challenging for my students and what kind of instruction would have helped them. The science of reading is “the converging evidence of what matters and what works in literacy instruction, organized around models that describe how and why.” Research tells us that systematic instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary, combined with fluency and comprehension is what builds foundational literacy skills and sets students up for a lifetime of reading success.

Here are 3 ways the science of reading can help improve instruction for ELs:

What I did:
Encouraged (okay, begged) my students to only speak English in the classroom
My district’s ELD curriculum recommended only allowing students to speak English in the classroom. Though I knew it would be a tough sell, I found some merit to it. If there were students with different native languages, English became the unifying language in the class — keeping students from feeling excluded. And the more you immerse yourself in a language, the faster you learn it.

Why that didn’t work:
At any given point, 90 to 100% of my students were from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, and that was how they communicated with each other — regardless of how convincing I thought I was. As teenagers feeling singled out in remedial ELD classes at a high school in a new country, it made sense that they defaulted to the language they felt comfortable speaking.

But the main reason this didn’t work wasn’t because of their noncompliance. It was because what made learning English especially hard for my students was a lack of literacy skills in any language. Inconsistent schooling led to their Spanish reading and writing skills being far below grade level.

1

What the science tells us: language skills transfer from one language to another

In my professional development for the ELD curriculum, the trainers assured teachers that a student’s proficiency in their first language had no bearing on their ability to learn English. Though that felt wrong to me, I didn’t have the confidence to question it as a new teacher. We now know this isn’t accurate.

Because research shows that students use the same sound/letter correspondence skills within and across languages, we can assume that their ability to map letters with sounds transfers from literacy instruction in one language to another. So, while the intention to focus on acquiring English via complete immersion was logical, it was unrealistic for my students who needed a basic foundation of language skills in their first language. Without that, learning another language would require more than just avoiding Spanish (actually, quite the opposite).

What I did:
Focused on grammar over vocabulary. My grammar-based direct instruction curriculum emphasized understanding the structure and syntax of English over the meanings of individual words. I was teaching my students to identify the parts of speech of words they didn’t know based on their placement in a sentence they also didn’t understand. It was frustrating for all of us.

Why that didn’t work:
When you’re first learning a new language, you naturally gravitate to the words and phrases that are important to you. If you’re traveling, “please” and “thank you” are useful. If you are learning a new style of cooking, you’ll want to learn the names of foods. And if you’re a baby, your first word will be the most important object in your world (usually ‘dada’ or ‘mama,’ or in my son’s case, ‘panda’). Once you learn those words, you can then build the understanding needed to notice how they are placed in a sentence.

My students showed me this as they repeatedly asked me what words meant, while I unsuccessfully tried to reroute them back to the grammar concept we were learning. Finally, I gave in and started “What does it mean” Wednesdays. They collected English words and phrases they encountered in their daily lives — at work, on the bus, at the doctor’s office — and we spent 30 minutes crowdsourcing the definitions. This was easily the most engaged my students were all week — because it mattered to them.

2

What the science tells us: vocabulary supports comprehension and fluency, especially when incorporating syntax instruction

In other words, if grammar and syntax are the structure of language, vocabulary is the building blocks. This is not to say we should throw out grammar instruction entirely (though students might celebrate). Evidence shows that increasing vocabulary boosts students’ reading comprehension and fluency, requiring less decoding and allowing them to read for meaning. But when you combine that vocabulary practice with explicit syntax instruction, emerging bilinguals show increased comprehension — able to unlock meaning not just from the words themselves but also from how they are organized in the sentence.

What I did:
Practiced English letter sounds individually. During our daily language warm-up, we practiced “saying” a few different letters at a time. Without much more direction than that in the teacher’s guide, this was challenging. When faced with the letter “a,” it seemed like I discovered another pronunciation with each practice attempt. There are the long and short sounds like “make” and “cat,” of course, but then also “want” and “many.”

Why that didn’t work:
Decoding demands are different in English and Spanish. Focusing on single letter sounds in English was confusing for my students whose first language was Spanish. That’s because Spanish is a phonetically regular language, with 27 letters mapping to 22-24 phonemes, while English, with 26 letters and 44 possible phonemes, is not. Native Spanish speakers expect the letters to make the same sounds wherever they are placed in a word, and that’s just not the case.

3

What the science tells us: English requires more intense explicit phonemic awareness

Learning to read in Spanish requires an emphasis on syllable awareness. In fact, once students learn the basic sound-symbol correspondences, they can easily decode and read most Spanish words with a high degree of accuracy. But in English, phonemic awareness is crucial — especially when coming from a language where sounds and letters make more “sense.” Activities like rhyming, segmentation, and blending help students to understand all the different sounds English letters can make, by themselves and when combined with others.

While it’s hard to look back at all the things I should have done differently as a teacher, it’s promising to know that first-year language arts teachers now will start teaching with all of my science of reading hindsight as their basis of instruction. But I would still love to travel back in time and give my students exactly what they needed: English language instruction grounded in the science of reading combined with high-quality Spanish language arts (SLA) to reinforce literacy in their first language. Maybe then our class mantra could have been more like “English is hard, but we have the skills and support to learn it.” (Even if the last part was just in my head because high schoolers would never say that.)

About the Author – Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.

The Science of Reading Applied

Imagine Learning’s solutions make it easier for teachers to apply the research.

Learn How
Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

June 12, 2023 3:38 pm

The Science of Reading: It’s personal. It’s political. It matters.

From living room couches and teachers’ lounges to the front pages of major newspapers, everyone is talking about the Science of Reading. What is it? And why does it matter?

“Your child is at risk of not reading on grade level by the end of kindergarten.”

My family and I were devastated after our very first parent-teacher conference back in early 2020. Two years in a high-quality preschool in a well-to-do suburb, reading aloud every night, alphabet games and puzzles — all this and our kid still struggled to remember every letter and sound, let alone smush them together to make words.

Then came the tears. Books sent home in his backpack that he couldn’t read. Words like “fall” with an L-controlled vowel and “birthday” with two syllables and a digraph. He hadn’t been taught those patterns yet. One day he came home telling me he had a special “picture power” and began guessing words based on illustrations in his books. That’s when I started asking questions.

A decade earlier, I became a first-grade teacher at a Title I school in a different town, in a different state, during the Reading First era. I graduated from my credential program in 2008, when George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act provided funding for reading academic coaches to model best practices and in-service training based on the National Reading Panel’s meta-study findings.

I was taught about the big five: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. I learned that word walls should be replaced with sound walls and that we prompt students to look at all the letters from left to right and sound it out every time. No exceptions. I regularly administered a phonics and decoding screener that identified discrete skills the students had mastered — and which patterns, such as ‘oo’ or ‘a_e’ that they didn’t know yet. My students had weekly fluency passages to practice with, and I listened to them read it every Friday afternoon. We built oral language and vocabulary with read-alouds. We applied our weekly phonics skills to spelling words.

All this in 2008, before the “science of reading” was even a thing.

Back to 2020. Frustrated and confused, I decided one night to attend my district’s board meeting where there was to be a presentation on the reading curriculum. That’s the first time in my life that I heard the term: balanced literacy.

I googled on my phone as the presenter carried on. I was horrified. Three-cuing — asking kids to guess the words based on pictures and context clues — was a keystone of the curriculum they were using. My son wasn’t receiving the systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics that he needed — that most children need — to connect speech to print. Students in 3rd–5th grade were being denied access to complex, grade-level texts because teachers were told to match students with ‘just right’ texts instead. None of these practices were based in research. And they were harmful.

But that night at the board meeting I also learned that I wasn’t alone. There were other parents, just as outraged as I, sitting next to me. There were parents of students with dyslexia who were forced to bus their children to private, specialized, schools just so they could learn to read. There were parents, like me, who took it upon themselves to order “Bob Books” and teach their kids to read on their own.

This was in January of 2020 and we all know what happened just a few short months later.

“There were parents of students with dyslexia who were forced to bus their children to private, specialized, schools just so they could learn to read.“

Zoom school was the new normal, and parents across the country gained insight into how their children were being taught: guess the covered word, look at the first letter and guess, look at the picture and guess… guess until you get it right! Does it look right? Does it sound right? They took to YouTube and Twitter to share what they saw, wondering if anyone else was as concerned as they were?

It turns out over 68% of teachers were using this flawed approach. Despite the National Reading Panel’s findings two decades prior, several publishers and most credentialing programs clung to an outdated theory about how our brains best learn to read.

Parent and child practice sounding out words

Pandemic parents started Googling how to teach their kids to read. They began reading books like Overcoming Dyslexia and the National Reading Panel’s report. The term ‘science of reading’ took over the internet — a colloquial term for a wide body of neurological and empirical research showing us how brains learn to read.

Then came a podcast series that really put the literacy world on its head: Sold a Story. A journalist named Emily Hanford did a deep dive into the history of this flawed belief system about the way students learn to read, and how those beliefs took hold across America. She also discussed how much damage those beliefs, and curriculum that adheres to those beliefs, is still doing today.

Teachers listened to the podcast, texted their colleagues, and discussions were sparked in teachers’ lounges everywhere. Justifiably angry parents took to the podiums at board of education meetings. They ran for open seats. They petitioned their representatives in state legislators.

31 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted legislation related to the science of reading. Some require teachers to receive special training in the science of reading, some ban methods such as three cuing, and others require the adoption of new teaching materials aligned to the science of reading.

The science of reading is now a national movement.

31 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted legislation related to the science of reading

My child, now in 3rd grade, is reading on grade level. It took a lot of expensive tutoring and extra support at home to get him there. But most of these stories don’t have a happy ending. Students in privileged neighborhoods get private tutoring while the majority of bright, intelligent students continue to struggle.

Research shows 95% of students can be taught to read by the end of first grade. Yet, recent NAEP scores show only 33% of 4th graders can read on grade level. And it has devastating effects on their future. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will end up in incarcerated or on welfare.

Some folks are still resisting change. They find the ‘science of reading’ movement to be adversarial. To that I say, why yes — yes it is. It’s an emotionally charged issue because students deserve the right to read. There are many factors that play into a student’s ability to read and it’s a monumental challenge to address them all, but research-based materials and professional development in the science of reading for our teachers is a good place to start.

Students across the country are counting on us to do better.

About the Author – Carolyn Snell

Carolyn Snell started her career in education teaching first grade in San Bernardino, California. A passion for the way technology and stellar curricula can transform classrooms led her to various jobs in edtech, including at the Orange County Department of Education. Her knack for quippy copy landed her a dream job marketing StudySync—an industry leading ELA digital curriculum. Now, as the Senior Content Marketing Manager for Imagine Learning, Carolyn revels in the opportunity to promote innovative products and ideas that are transforming the educational space for teachers and students.

The Science of Reading Applied

Imagine Learning’s solutions make it easier for teachers to apply the research.

Learn How
Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

May 22, 2023 11:18 am

Creating a Framework for Impact

Today’s schools are measuring success by more than test scores and graduation rates. That’s why Imagine Learning built an Impact Framework: to collaboratively set goals and chart student progress as partners in success.

There are as many ways to make an impact in education as there are students in school. By ‘zooming out’ from only measuring impact the traditional ways – retention, test scores, graduation rates – educators can explore how comprehensive their impact is and could be.

Some days, seeing a student show empathy toward another classmate is evidence of a well-implemented social and emotional learning program. On other days, you can hear the impact of comprehension lessons as you listen to a small group literature discussion. A school’s growth can look like: more languages being heard on campus, math and science bowl awards in the trophy case, connecting courses to career paths, and the student-led pursuit of ‘what’s next.’

The success of a school or district’s impact is often all in how it’s measured.

How can we help?

More educators – from the classroom teacher to the superintendent – are adding metrics like student agency and engagement to how they track positive impact. With that in mind, Imagine Learning set out to determine how we could help chart success as we work closely with them.

Elizabeth Lehnertz, Vice President of Marketing, explains: “We really want to work in partnership with our customers to set a growth trajectory. Growth is the ultimate outcome for our products, but the road to get there isn’t something that happens overnight. That’s why we’ve been thinking about the metrics that lead up to growth.”

After discussion and consideration, the Imagine Learning team identified the metrics of its Impact Framework, as well as questions to consider and examples at each step:

  • Engagement
  • Progress
  • Achievement
  • Growth

Each metric builds on the one before it, so setting goals according to each one provides a strategic road map to growth. Lehnertz states, “The use of these performative metrics can vary by the [Imagine Learning] product you’re using and by the year of implementation, which is why we’re interested in working collaboratively with our customers to set goals that will drive growth.” 

“Each metric builds on the one before it, so setting goals according to each one provides a strategic road map to growth.”

Are students engaged?

It all starts with engagement. Students who aren’t engaged are significantly less likely to achieve the measurements of success outlined by their school and district. For Imagine Learning, questions around student engagement include ‘Are administrators monitoring and encouraging program use?’ ‘When are students actively working?’ ‘Are the students spending enough time in the program?’

Assessing things like logins, active time, the number of student users, and students’ use of motivation features helps measure engagement and inform the next steps in the educator/Imagine Learning partnership.

Are students progressing?

Determining student progress requires assessing the number of activities and lessons completed and checking students’ pacing and grade level progression. It also means asking if teachers ensure students have content to work on and examining how teachers monitor progress. By considering these questions, we can target areas of the program’s implementation that need more connection between our customer success team and partners. When we can ensure teachers are able to use the program at its fullest capacity, everyone is better positioned for progress.

Are students achieving?

This is where scores take their turn as key examples of a metric:

  • Grades
  • Activity Score
  • Lesson Score
  • Quiz Score
  • Pass Rate

When focusing on student achievement, we examine whether students are mastering the content and where they struggle. Looking at whether teachers are providing challenges or support based on individual and small group needs also helps. The more in-depth our understanding of teachers’ and students’ experiences, the better we can provide support and develop programs that equip customers for success.

Are students growing?

Finally, the big question. Pulling insight from what we learn about students’ engagement, progress, and achievement, we look at demonstrations of growth on benchmarks and pre- and post-quiz growth. We also explore how our partners’ students’ growth compares to the expected growth rate to determine our programs’ impact.

Imagine Learning Impact Framework

Look back to look forward

Thanks to the Impact Framework functioning as a roadmap, we can look back through the metrics to troubleshoot any development gaps and generate solutions. As Lehnertz explains: “We’ve identified these metrics – engagement, progress, achievement – as ways to lead to growth. We’ve been looking across our products and across the stages of implementation to really work with our customers to identify goals for each. We then use those goals as a formative way to adjust the implementation and the approach, ultimately leading to growth.”

Combined with the often-immeasurable, personal impacts educators are making every day, the potential is nothing short of exciting. 

Elizabeth Lehnertz

Elizabeth Lehnertz

Vice President, Marketing

Elizabeth brings over 25 years of experience in education, first as a classroom teacher in Texas before moving into educational publishing and technology. She has held leadership roles in product marketing, product management, and corporate marketing at Pearson, Renaissance Learning, and McGraw-Hill.

With the passion to improve education for teachers, students, and families alike, Elizabeth brings the insight and experience to build and lead industry-leading teams to solve complex problems in a dynamic market.

About the Author — Kallie Markle

Kallie Markle lives in Northern California with her family of humans, house plants, and dogs. The humans take up the least amount of space. Before joining the education world, she wrote her way through national parks, concerts, tourism, and brewing.

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

May 2, 2023 2:21 pm

Why Teachers Teach

A teacher’s job is challenging. From classroom management to individualized instruction, we ask teachers to accomplish much with minimal resources. So, why do teachers teach?

Most of us can reflect on our school years and think of a teacher who inspired us: one who made a difference in our learning, changed the way we saw the world, or even the way we saw our own potential. Yet, a teacher’s job is challenging. From classroom management to individualized instruction, we ask teachers to accomplish much with minimal resources. So why do teachers teach? And what motivates an individual to become a teacher?

Why teachers become teachers

If you ask a teacher why they became a teacher, they’ll often say, “I had a teacher…” as they share the story of an educator who inspired them. Today’s teachers hope to have the same impact on their students, making a difference for each unique learner and making a social contribution for an entire generation. Some love the subject they teach and want to share their love of math, literature, art, music, language, science, or history with others. Some come from a long line of educators. When a person has a parent who was a teacher, they are more likely to become a teacher.

“I teach for future generations of teachers, plumbers, electricians, law enforcement officers, nurses, military personnel, pastors, welders, servers, engineers, drivers, firefighters, tellers, mechanics, and all of the endless possibilities ahead.”

Why teachers teach

There are numerous demands and stressors on today’s teachers, and many of these demands continue to increase each year. So, how and why do teachers remain motivated to continue when they have so much asked of them? Teachers share that the reasons they stay motivated to continue teaching despite the challenges include their desire to “enhance student motivation, advance educational reform and fulfill teachers themselves.” Some teachers note their relationships with students motivate them to continue. Other teachers cite knowing their work matters and valuable colleagues as a few reasons they continue to teach. At the bottom of this page, you can read a poem by Ava Littlefield, Virtual Teacher at Imagine Learning, sharing her reasons for teaching.

Supporting teachers

Research acknowledges that today’s educators are at high risk for stress and burnout from the demands of their job. Teachers recognize this risk, even providing teacher-to-teacher suggestions to conquer burnout, such as setting daily intentions, updating their workspace, utilizing motivational quotes, and trying new approaches or changes to routines. Other sources suggest teachers can avoid burnout and feel supported by reaching out to inspiring colleagues for inspiration and mentorship, self-care, utilizing organizational systems, preparation, and reflecting on moments of meaning and connection with students. Providing respectful and equitable places of work, increasing teacher pay, and offering comprehensive mental health support are strategies teachers say will greatly help to alleviate burnout.

Appreciating teachers

May is Teacher Appreciation Month, and teachers share that being acknowledged and valued by their principals goes a long way to feeling appreciated, as well as gifts of time and having fun together as colleagues. Others say a note of gratitude, school supplies, gift card, or small gift from students and parents are appealing tributes of appreciation.

We have each been impacted, instructed, and inspired by teachers. This spring, take some time to thank the educator in your life. You might give a teacher just what they need to continue to educate and encourage others.

Why I Teach

By Ava L., Virtual Instructor at Imagine Learning

I teach for…

The students who want to participate in a rigorous and quality curriculum need alternative platforms to achieve educational success.

I teach for…

The students I have had for several semesters are now more confident in their own abilities because they were (and are still) encouraged to do their best.

I teach for…

Students who will be first-generation high school graduates (like me) who wish to move beyond the barriers.

I teach for…

The students who make what I do so rewarding because their accomplishments are what it is all about.

I teach for…

The parents, guardians, families, colleagues, support staff, and stakeholders who are also investing and supporting our mutually shared students.

I teach for…

Future generations of teachers, plumbers, electricians, law enforcement officers, nurses, military personnel, pastors, welders, servers, engineers, drivers, firefighters, tellers, mechanics, and all of the endless possibilities ahead.

I teach for…

Imagine Learning and the opportunity to be One Team!

I teach for…

Selfish reasons because I get to be a part of something beyond myself that makes a difference in the lives of others, and I find so much joy in doing so.

About the Author

Sherri Walker

Sherri Walker is an Employee Communications Manager at Imagine Learning who comes from a long line of teachers. Sherri taught Public Speaking and End of Life Communications classes at The University of North Carolina in Charlotte and loves writing, editing, reading, hiking, her four boys, and the incredible views of the Utah mountains right out her front window.

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

March 28, 2023 3:43 pm

Getting Personal: Transforming the Educator-Curriculum Provider Relationship

What makes a relationship between districts and curriculum providers deepen into a true partnership with improved student outcomes? And what makes that partnership successful? Discover what three Imagine Learning customers and their Customer Success Managers say.

In education, the best relationships between districts and curriculum providers deepen into true partnerships — where there’s collaboration, give-and-take, and improved student outcomes.

But what makes that partnership truly successful? We talked with three districts and their Imagine Learning Customer Success Managers to see what makes their partnerships tick. Though every educator is from a different geographic location and plays a different role within the education world, the similarities between their partnerships were impossible to ignore.

What we discovered: both professional and personal trust is key to building partnerships that work.

After you’ve decided to use Imagine Learning, what happens next? (Besides amazing student learning breakthroughs!) A dedicated Customer Success Manager walks you through each phase of implementation: rostering, getting started, finding the right professional development for your team, and even analyzing your data and results.

Customer Success Manager Kristy and the Baltimore City School District (BCSD)

Communicative Partnerships

“Regular communication is the key to partner success,” said Kristy. “You already have a professional connection from working together. Meeting in person to make a personal connection, and talk about kids and grandkids, is so important.”

Kristy Mitchell, Customer Success Manager

Kristy M.

Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Michael from BCSD agreed: “I think you have to like people to want to work with them. The Imagine Learning team we work with shows us that they’re humans. It’s not robotic.”

Trusting Partnerships

“Partnership is exemplified in the relationship with Imagine Learning,” said Kerry from BCSD. “When we reach out, they’re responsive; communication is so key in this partnership. It shouldn’t feel like the partner is dominating and selling, but rather listening to us and coming up with solutions together.”

“The give-and-take is what makes this partnership unique,” said Kristy. “They’re a very data-driven district. The school has a long game, and this partner trusts the data. This is a factor that differentiates this partner from others: they trust you and they trust the numbers. They count on me to be correct.”

For an education partnership to work, customers can’t just trust the people with whom they work — they must also trust the product. Kerry from BCSD said, “We also see how much time and thought goes into creating the product. We can tell it’s not been thrown together quickly. We’ve never been able to see that with another group that we’ve worked with.”

Aligned Partnerships

“We looked for alignment in a partnership,” said Kerry from BCSD. “We needed a partnership aligned to our district initiatives, as well as easy-to-access and with implementation support. Working with a partner, we’ve been able to build and grow.”

One BCSD customer was shocked to hear that Kristy had other districts for customers because she’s so responsive and focused on their needs. She laughed, “It’s really flattering that they thought I worked only for them! But I have 70 other customers, too.” Michael from BCSD added, “Every day I’m emailing Kristy, saying, ‘Help!’”

Kristy vows, “I will get to know you, your goals, and your implementation. There are lots of options out there. I want them to feel like they have this valuable tool because someone is part of their team.”

When asked to describe the partnership with Imagine Learning in one word, Kerry from BCSD joked, “One word? We’re math people,” but quickly added, “Supportive.”

Colleague Michael added, “Considered.”

“We also see how much time and thought goes into creating the product. We can tell it’s not been thrown together quickly. We’ve never been able to see that with another group that we’ve worked with.”

Kerry S.
Director of Mathematics, Baltimore City School District

Kristy Mitchell, Customer Success Manager

Mark C.

Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Customer Success Manager Mark and Joanne, the Hope Center for Autism

Relational Partnerships

“Trust is important when you’re dealing with something as important as a child’s education,” said Mark. “And trust requires honesty and difficult conversations.”

Especially in an education partnership, trust is essential. Mark said, “Partnership is not transactional, but relational; we work toward shared goals for the students’ best interests. If a customer doesn’t make that leap and jump the transactional fence, then we’ll run into some obstacles.”

Mark adds, “I have some clients that don’t trust as easily, and because they don’t trust as much, they’re not getting the best service.”

Joanne said, “Usually I am that person who’s like, ‘Yeah, we got it. Let me be. I got it.’ But, Mark, you’ve been so helpful, and we’ve needed that. I don’t do this with anybody else.”

Personal Partnerships

“Hope Center has a lot of heart,” said Mark. “The people who work there have a lot of heart and they really are invested in their students’ wellbeing. And I could tell that right away, because everything mattered to them and was important.”

The work is personal to Joanne, but also to Mark, a former classroom educator. “I’ve always recognized, as a brick-and-mortar teacher, that students can get left behind, so the work that Joanne’s doing is phenomenal, and it really drives me.” He added, “As a customer success manager, I get to wake up and continue doing that great work with Imagine Learning because I’m able to see the impact.”

Mark said, “It’s not just a course, it’s about truly transforming somebody’s life. That just touches me.”

Collaborative Partnerships

For Mark, realizing that the Hope Center helps students who have never succeeded in a traditional brick-and-mortar setting was pivotal. He said, “We’ve had to step out of the box and had to really redesign what the box looks like for those students.”

Joanne said, “In all honesty, if we didn’t have that flexibility, I don’t think we would have been successful. We’ve needed a lot of support to get through to where we are at this point now. We are a small school, and we have more than 50 people on staff for 86 kids… We need a lot of adjustment, a lot of understanding, and what we adjust… may be a little bit different next year.”

Collaborating with the larger Imagine Learning team to pool knowledge and experience truly gives partners like the Hope Center the best solutions for their needs. Mark says, “The benefit to the partner is that they can get exactly what they want and need — even if it’s offbeat from other, typical customer needs.”

How would Joanne describe the partnership with Imagine Learning? Without missing a beat: “Collaborative.”

“Trust is important when you’re dealing with something as important as a child’s education, and trust requires honesty and difficult conversation”

Mark C.
Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Customer Success Manager Tiffany and Dr. Randy, Director of Education Management and Networks in Michigan

Trusting Partnerships

“Partnership equals team,” said Tiffany. Her background as an athletic coach shines through in her approach to her customers’ needs: “We’re on the same team and we want to win. What does your win look like?”

Tiffany Gilsbach, Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Tiffany G.

Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Tiffany added, “I need to be able to actually meet my district administrators. I need to know that they’re really telling me what they think and feel and need.”

Dr. Randy said, “Trust is important because we’re not just buying software. I believe that we’re also buying expertise. I’m asking the partner to boost and support us.”

Tiffany said, “Dr. Randy trusts us. He believes in the partnership.”

Responsive Partnerships

Dr. Randy said, “Partnership is removing the silos and bringing everything together. I know that when we need them, they’re there. I need people who are responsive to our needs, not just invoicing me every six months. The vendor/vendee relationship doesn’t always lend itself to a partnership, but we’ve felt heard.”

Even when things don’t always go smoothly, he added, “True partners can demonstrate that problems will get fixed and solved.”

Tiffany leverages her relationships within Imagine Learning to get her customers the best answers possible when they want to dive deeper into certain products, even if it’s not her area of expertise.

For her customers, she said, “What is it that [customers] need to see so that they feel like they’ve had their return on their investment? That’s really what it comes down to. It’s finding out what it is that our customers really want.”

Personal Partnerships

“When I wake up in the morning, and I’m turning my computer on, and I’m feeling stoked — that has everything to do with people that I work with internally. But also, I have some really rad customers,” said Tiffany. “I’ve got some really, really wonderful districts — people who are wonderful humans who I get to work with.

About Dr. Randy, Tiffany added, “This is a man who will do anything for his staff, to make sure they’re supported. I would work for him in a heartbeat.”

Dr. Randy said, “In a word, I’d describe the relationship with Imagine Learning as ‘fulfilling.’” From a district’s perspective, he added, “We could get the software anywhere. I need the people.”

“We’re on the same team and we want to win. What does your win look like?”

Tiffany G.
Customer Success Manager, Imagine Learning

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

February 24, 2023 12:02 pm

The Future of Speech Pathology is Virtual

Speech teletherapy services are an excellent way for students in the public school system to obtain the federally mandated minutes assigned during the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting, especially when an in-person speech pathologist cannot be hired or located from the area to fill these posted positions.

Poet Hermann Hesse once said, “Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.”

As a speech-language pathologist, I can relate to the sentiment. Speech-language pathology, in particular, has been shaped by recent events in ways we never expected. Thanks to the pandemic, “teletherapy speech services” became part of our collective education vocabulary.

Speech teletherapy: a little background

During the spring of 2020, every speech-language pathologist was thrust, seemingly overnight, into the virtual world of service provision. Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) began a journey in teletherapy they never intended to begin. Some SLPs flourished and determined how to make it the best possible scenario for their students. Other professionals struggled due to lack of resources, support, and understanding, and couldn’t wait to return to in-person therapy. Many companies jumped on the bandwagon offering virtual services with very little research on how to be effective in that endeavor. 

For those who embraced the ability to provide services virtually to students in need, however, it was a wakeup call — and an opportunity to provide these services virtually in areas where a qualified SLP could not be found or hired. By embracing this new and exciting service delivery model, SLPs delved into the world of technology and discovered the endless possibilities for students: interactive and eye-catching activities could motivate, enthrall, and inform their students, leaving them excited and engaged.

Imagine Learning responded by hiring licensed and certified speech-language pathologists with both school-based and teletherapy experience who:

  • Are passionate about helping students in an educational environment succeed
  • Offer interactive and skill-appropriate student activities focused on IEP goals
  • Focused speech therapy sessions on required grade-level academic standards that each student must master

Looking forward: the future of speech teletherapy

Speech teletherapy is an excellent way to provide consistent and well-planned therapy to students, ensuring that all students are provided with their federally mandated IEP minutes each week. Parents expect schools to deliver those minutes as scheduled; they also expect schools to offer insight into their child’s progress at regular intervals. Parents are usually unhappy when their child’s school has no one to provide speech and language therapy, and often don’t want to spend the summer trying to fit in compensatory minutes missed throughout the school year.

Transitioning to teletherapy is typically easy for students who have grown up with access to technology in their homes and school environments. And, when speech teletherapy is provided in real-time (one-on-one or in small groups of 2 or 3 students) via a platform that is FERPA- and HIPAA-compliant, it mirrors in-person therapy in its effectiveness and student progress.

One Imagine Learning SLP shared:

“My students love signing in to therapy with me, and are very interactive and engaged with the help of my speech paraprofessional who brings the students to the session.”

Continuing teletherapy collaboration

Speech teletherapy also allows for collaborative interaction with school staff and parents, just as in-person speech therapy does. The Imagine Learning SLP handles all aspects of a student’s case management, from screening to direct therapy minutes. IEPs are held virtually, which allows parents to participate from anywhere, and has increased the probability that the parent will be able to attend the IEP meeting and have an active role in planning for their child’s academic success. Parents often say that meetings held virtually are less stressful, more convenient, and less intimidating than in-person IEP meetings, which is thrilling to hear.

The convenience, effectiveness, and equity of speech teletherapy is unparalleled. Now that students, schools, and parents have gotten a taste of the benefits of virtual therapy, we’re unlikely to return to solely in-person speech-language therapy anytime soon. The future of speech-language therapy is virtual — and bright.

Additional Reading: Speech and Language Telepractice

Explore these additional resources that discuss the efficacy of speech and language telepractice:

Coufal, K., Parham, D., Jakubowitz, M., Howell, C., & Reyes, J. (2018).  Comparing traditional service delivery and telepractice for speech sound production using a functional outcome measure.  American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(1), 82-90.

Gabel, R., Grogan-Johnson, S., Alvares, R., Bechstein, L., & Taylor, J. (2013).  A field study of telepractice for school intervention using the ASHA NOMS K-12 database.  Communication Disorders Quarterly, 35(1), 44-53.

Grogan-Johnson, S. (2021). The five Ws meet the three Rs: the who, what, when, where, and why of telepractice service delivery for school-based speech-language therapy services.  Seminars in Speech and Language, 42(02), 162-176.

McCullough, A. (2001).  Viability and effectiveness of teletherapy for pre-school children with special needs.  International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 36(S1), 321-326.

Towey, M. P. (2012a).  Speech telepractice:  Installing a speech therapy upgrade for the 21st century.   International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 4(2), 73-78.

About the Author

Marva Mount, Related Services Director, Imagine Learning

Marva Mount, M.A., CCC-SLP, F-NAP

Related Services Director, Imagine Learning

Marva Mount, M. A., CCC-SLP, F-NAP, is the Related Services Director at Imagine Learning. She has almost 40 years of experience as a speech-language pathologist and special education administrator. Her passion has always been providing exceptional services to students with disabilities in the public-school setting. Marva is a published chapter author, journal author, and international speaker. She is a distinguished fellow in the National Academies of Practice, and she received the Texas Speech and Hearing Association (TSHA) Hall of Fame award in 2018 for her contributions to the field of speech-language pathology. She is licensed to practice in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Hawaii, and California, and she holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

February 22, 2023 3:22 pm

Building — and Keeping — Trust with Imagine Learning

Imagine Learning’s customer experience is about much more than just implementing a digital learning program. Discover how our Chief Experience Officer, Leslie Sobon, and her team build partnerships with customers to empower educators and ignite learning breakthroughs.

I enjoy a fantastic position at Imagine Learning — Chief Experience Officer. As an advocate for our customers, one of my missions is to ensure that new features, functions, and implementation processes result in good experiences for our customers. I do that by having a team that deeply understands the many facets of how customers engage and use our products. We know what success looks like and what it doesn’t.

For my team to execute our jobs well, we must build and maintain partnerships with our customers that span their entire journey with us — from presale and onboarding to implementation and product support. We work hard to earn and keep our partners’ trust, putting ourselves in their shoes to celebrate the learning wins and to share the urgency if something goes wrong.

What we hope for in a partner:

The most successful partnerships and those that help us improve our solutions and services are when customers are fully engaged in implementation success. When they commit their precious resources and time, we can bring the full breadth of Imagine Learning…

  • Our resources and our people
  • An understanding of good pedagogy
  • Knowledge of what success looks like in other districts
  • Experience with what works and doesn’t work in implementation

…and the customer is able and willing to own and advocate for it in their learning community. When both sides trust that the other is dedicated and knowledgeable, it’s much easier to hit the ground running, troubleshoot along the way, and build success. In many ways, the partnership’s health matters more than the product working perfectly every time.

“When both sides trust that the other is dedicated and knowledgeable, it’s much easier to hit the ground running, troubleshoot along the way, and build success.”

Building advocacy

Sometimes a school or district doesn’t designate anyone to advocate for our solution, and that’s when my team needs to make better connections and regain their trust.

To develop a stronger relationship, we often connect internally, asking, “What can we do better?” and “Who do we know that cares about this type of implementation?” Sometimes it’s a connection the salesperson has; other times, it’s a customer success manager or a  services person.

Another way we try to bridge the customer-advocate gap is by continuing to touch base with that account regularly, stepping up our engagement until we find the right level for that relationship.

In addition, we’ve developed a program to proactively look at customers who have low usage. We came up with about 65 customers, and we’re working to foster better partnerships by:

  • Meeting with them face-to-face
  • Offering free product training
  • Providing student growth data and other data to show the success of implementations in their state or district
  • Incentivizing our customer success managers

We’re also exploring possibilities for doing more webinars, carving out more dedicated time for those customers, and even showing up for ‘office hours’ in the cafeteria. By determining what works for this set of customers to drive usage, build trust, and grow relationships, we’ll discover new ways to serve more customers better.

Why customers deserve collaborative partnerships

Because: technology.

Our drive for collaborative partnerships matters because we’re not just shipping a textbook and saying, “good luck.” The nature of our solutions — hello digital learning — dictates that we must ensure the technology works for students, teachers, and admins. That only happens if customers understand how the products and solutions work.

When customers don’t understand the product, they don’t use it, and the implementation is poor or fails.  So, it’s Imagine Learning’s responsibility to ensure that knowledge transfer happens — and continues to happen — from our team to the classroom.

We’re in this together

The Imagine Learning/Customer partnership is a relationship; like any relationship, it’s only good if it’s built on trust. Both parties need an understanding, a mutual appreciation for what’s required, and a common goal.

Our partners must be able to trust not only the tech but also the people by their side to respond quickly and be helpful and empathetic. That’s the experience I want my team to bring to educators every day.  

Hear more from our partners

About the Author

Leslie Soban Chief Experience Officer

Leslie Sobon

Chief Experience Officer, Imagine Learning

A veteran of technology marketing, Leslie was drawn to Imagine Learning by the opportunity to make a real difference within the education industry. “Each day, I am overjoyed to see first-hand how Imagine Learning has helped inspire positive change for teachers, students, and families across the nation.”

Before joining the Imagine Learning team, Leslie spent her career building and invigorating brands, launching products, developing innovative marketing models, and helping to drive growth at Texas Instruments and Dell. As Corporate V.P. of Worldwide Marketing at AMD, Leslie led marketing for their mobile, desktop, and server products.

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

February 13, 2023 12:45 pm

Competition & Student Motivation: Bowl Champions

School-vs-school competition increases student engagement & learning in math & literacy instruction as Georgia & Idaho schools are named national champions of the 2023 MyPath Bowl & Literacy Bowl.

Educators and researchers know that student engagement and motivation is crucial to student learning and many tactics aimed at increasing student motivation have been suggested, tested, and refined. Motivation is a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that goal. Studies highlight how teachers play a vital role in motivating students and examine the function intrinsic and extrinsic motivation perform in student learning.

One approach to motivating students is incorporating learning-based gaming or competition. Competition has been proven to have a positive impact on students’ learning and motivation, though educators must be careful to connect competition to the desired learning and not invoke negative actions toward students who do not achieve. Additionally, academic competitions can serve as strong motivators for students by providing a compelling reason to study and work hard. Research shows that participation in academic competition enhances students’ learning motivation, and when students work together in groups or teams to compete, they develop collaboration and cooperation skills which are crucial in learning and work environments.

Academic competition in action: the 2023 National MyPath Bowl & Literacy Bowl

While millions of fans watched pro football playoff games during the fall of 2022 and the first weeks of 2023, students from around the nation completed digital math and literacy lessons to compete in the bracket-style 2023 Imagine MyPath Bowl and Imagine Literacy Bowl contests. This weekend, the top schools from the East Conference and the West Conference of each contest competed in the final battles—and champions emerged. Congratulations to Northcutt Elementary of Clayton County Public Schools, Georgia for winning the 2023 Literacy Bowl and to Juniper Hills–Nampa Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections for being named the 2023 MyPath Bowl champion.

Schools qualified for the playoff rounds throughout the Fall semester by using Imagine MyPath and Imagine Language & Literacy digital education programs. The top usage schools in the East and the West battled in the playoff rounds to represent their Imagine Learning Conference. Week by week, the leaderboard was whittled down by the stiff competition—until only two schools remained in each contest. This past weekend, the champion schools were left standing above the rest.

“We’re proud of the accomplishments of this year’s MyPath Bowl and Literacy Bowl winners and for all the students that competed in this year’s contests,” said Sari Factor, Vice Chair & Chief Strategy Officer at Imagine Learning. “These competitions are a fun way to engage students in math and literacy, and it’s remarkable to see how enthusiastic they get about their learning. Congratulations to everyone involved—students, teachers, and parents. We know it takes a team to inspire learning breakthroughs, and we feel privileged to work alongside you.”

It was a rematch in this year’s Literacy Bowl with Northcutt Elementary from Clayton County Public Schools in Georgia defending their title against returning finals competitor Abraham Lincoln Middle School of Selma Unified School District in California. This was a historic win as Northcutt Elementary is the first school to be a repeat Literacy Bowl champion.

In a contest that came down to the wire, Juniper Hills–Nampa Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections squeaked past Goliad Elementary School of Goliad ISD, Texas to win the second annual MyPath Bowl.

“Congratulations to everyone involved—students, teachers, and parents. We know it takes a team to inspire learning breakthroughs and we feel privileged to work alongside you.”

Sari Factor

Vice Chair & Chief Strategy Officer at Imagine Learning

Competitions lead to engagement, usage, and learning

During these academic contests, increased usage of Imagine Learning’s digital math and literacy programs is observable for competing schools. This evidence shows that the competition engages students and motivates them to complete more lessons than the schools who do not participate in the contests. This is also compelling information as multiple studies show students who use Imagine MyPath, Imagine Language & Literacy, and other Imagine Learning programs outscore their peers in state and national tests.

Winning schools receive a trophy and are honored in a school-wide awards assembly where top class and student efforts are recognized. Each runner-up school receives a certificate and a gift card for school supplies. Additionally, the top 20 MVP schools in each contest receive an e-gift card to celebrate their achievement during the competition.

About the Author

Lisa Wise, Customer Engagement Manager at Imagine Learning

Lisa Wise

Customer Engagement Manager at Imagine Learning

Lisa Wise has worked in the edtech industry for over 24 years, most recently as the Customer Engagement Manager at Imagine Learning. Lisa loves the opportunity to honor student achievement through engagement programs that get students excited about learning. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Lisa lives with her family, dog, and beautiful array of plants in Pittsburgh, PA. She loves sports, gardening, and visiting her local garden center.

Posted on by Imagine Learning Corporate

January 23, 2023 8:00 am

ChatGPT: What Are We Doing About It? 

Worried about how AI technology will impact student writing and academic integrity? Deborah Rayow, Imagine Learning’s Vice President of Product Management, Courseware, shares her thoughts about the future plus tips you can implement today.

If your family is anything like mine, you spent several hours over the holidays playing with a new technology called ChatGPT. For those of you not familiar with ChatGPT, it’s an OpenAI program that can write… well, anything. I’ve asked it to write a sonnet comparing Bali and Mars, a narrative essay about a one-eyed dog that goes back in time and meets Leonardo da Vinci, and an answer to the question, “Do you think Star Trek: Discovery should be considered Star Trek canon, and why or why not?” 

And yes, I’ve also asked it to write answers to several of the writing prompts in Imagine Edgenuity courses. Which it does exceedingly well. 

As ChatGPT is now broadly (and freely) available to anyone, we know that students have already started using it to “help” them with their work in Imagine Edgenuity. We know that educators are concerned. So are we. We’ve already begun the conversations internally about what steps we can and should be taking to help teachers determine when AI was used to generate a written response. 

What We Can Do Now 

Along with ChatGPT, OpenAI also created a tool that can analyze a piece of writing and predict the likelihood that it was created by artificial intelligence. Teachers can access this tool for free here. In our testing, we’ve found it to be remarkably accurate. We highly recommend using this tool if a student has submitted work that seems out of character — more formally written than usual, slightly robotic, or with details that don’t match what you know about the student. For example, one of our teachers read an essay from a sixth grader that talked about the difficulties he had fitting in on his first day at a large, public high school; something was clearly off, and the AI detector confirmed it. 

What We’re Working on for the Future 

We will be incorporating this kind of detection within the Academic Integrity toolset available now in Imagine Edgenuity. Just as we can currently report on the percentage of a written response that appears online or has already been submitted by another student, we will provide information to teachers on whether AI was likely involved in crafting the text. We are working to have this feature available before the end of the current school year.   

What Can Teachers Do to Promote Academic Integrity in Schools?

There are several things that teachers can do to ensure academic integrity in schools:

1. Clearly communicate expectations.

Teachers should make sure that students understand what is expected of them in terms of academic integrity. This can include guidelines for proper citation of sources, rules for collaboration on assignments, and consequences for academic dishonesty.

2. Use plagiarism detection tools.

There are a number of software tools available that can help teachers identify instances of plagiarism in students’ work. These tools can be especially helpful for detecting copied content from online sources.

3. Encourage responsible research practices.

Teachers can teach students how to properly research and cite sources and encourage them to ask for help if they are unsure how to do so.

4. Monitor for academic misconduct.

Teachers should be vigilant in looking for signs of academic misconduct, such as copied assignments or cheating on exams. If misconduct is suspected, teachers should follow the school’s policies for addressing it.

5. Promote a culture of academic integrity.

Teachers can set a positive example for students by demonstrating integrity in their own work and by stressing the importance of honesty in academic pursuits.

By taking these steps, teachers can help create a culture of academic integrity in their schools and ensure that all students are held to high standards of honesty and professionalism. 

And, in case you didn’t notice: that entire last section was written by ChatGPT.  Told you it was good. 

Deborah Rayow Imagine Learning’s Vice President of Product Management, Courseware

About the author

Deborah Rayow

Imagine Learning’s Vice President of Product Management, Courseware

A former classroom teacher, Deborah has also previously worked with an array of educational publishers and consulting organizations, including Scholastic Education, Kaplan K12 Learning Services, and the New York Times Learning Network. Her expertise includes curriculum planning and professional development, online and hybrid learning, instructional design, and product management/development.

Deborah holds a B.A. in Child Development from Tufts University and a master’s degree in Mathematics Education from Rutgers University. Her areas of academic focus have included early literacy, problem-based learning, and comparative studies in mathematics instruction.

Posted on by

November 22, 2022 8:00 am

The Four Cs of STEM in Computer Science

Celebrate Computer Science Education Week and the international Hour of Code by exploring the four Cs of STEM. Students can learn about real-world applications of the four Cs in computer science from Chicago to Mars and roll up their sleeves for their own practice with Imagine Robotify, a fun online quiz, or an adventurous robot named Axel.

Digital tools, automation, network security, and AI are shaping our future. Recognizing the increased demand for digital literacy in the workforce, more than 500 CEOs recently petitioned education leaders to prioritize computer science instruction in K–12 schools. The U.S Department of Education followed that by launching the YOU Belong in STEM initiative to enhance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for all students.

Computer Science Education Week, December 5th–11th, is the perfect time to get involved! A great way for educators at any grade level to explore STEM (which includes computer science!) is to teach its essential skills. Four of the most important abilities in STEM are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication, also known as the four Cs. These skills are necessary for 21st-century college and career readiness, in STEM and beyond:

  • Critical thinking involves analyzing systems, assessing evidence, integrating prior knowledge to make connections to new situations, and the ability to interpret information. 
  • Creativity is necessary to come up with new ideas. The ability to “think outside the box” when challenged, improve ideas, work within constraints, and learn from failure are all components of iterative design, which require creativity!
  • Collaboration means working in groups, sharing responsibility, and making decisions and compromises. 
  • Communication is critical in our global world. It’s the ability to express ideas, understand their meaning, and demonstrate concepts to different audiences.

The four Cs in the real world

Computer Science Education Week presents a great opportunity to learn with your students about how the four Cs are applied in the real world. Here are three examples.

1. Trashbot

Urban Rivers creates solutions to transform urban waterways, including a volunteer-controlled robot called Trashbot that cleans the Chicago River. The creators of Trashbot used critical thinking to recognize the complex system in which Trashbot would operate while also ensuring the safety of wildlife, civilians, and infrastructure.

The team realized the robot would need to be controlled because an automated robot could pose a risk to wildlife habitats. However, financial and personnel constraints made having a manual operator 24/7 impossible.

Urban Rivers tapped into their creativity and learned from previous failures to find a solution: volunteers could control Trashbot throughout the day to clean the river safely. Next, they collaborated with volunteers to make the solution possible, using media communications to teach them how to operate the equipment. Now, Trashbot is run by community volunteers who can clean up the Chicago River regularly.

Watch this video to learn more with your students.

2. UTM Project

An unmanned aircraft system (UAS) consists of drones or satellites, and the potential uses are limitless! NASA’s UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project aims to find ways for low-altitude drones to operate in large numbers, enabling businesses like Amazon to offer drone delivery services. 

The UTM team uses critical thinking skills to identify problems before they arise, such as how extreme weather could affect a drone or what happens if it is lost. The UTM project also researches how future technology would be managed. Drone technology could reduce traffic, fight wildfires, and perform dangerous tasks. 

The project is complex, with many interested partners in corporations and governments. The UTM team knows collaboration and communication are the keys to the project’s success, allowing them to include the needs and challenges of different groups in the research and share that research with the public. 

NASA’s UTM website provides up-to-date information and updates about the project. 

3. Mars Rover

The Perseverance Mars Rover roams the red landscape of Mars with the help of NASA’s scientists. On one mission, the team was challenged to drive Perseverance as far as possible. However, the rover would be self-driving, so the team needed it to drive effectively while avoiding obstacles.

The amount of possible paths to take on Mars is endless, but some paths are better than others. That’s why critical thinking is crucial to the mission: it’s used to assess the situation, make connections, and interpret data. Critical thinking also helps the team learn from previous Mars missions and determine new solutions.

Using creativity, they can overcome obstacles and imagine new ways to program the rover. The team coding Perseverance also understands how to collaborate. By working with teams across NASA and using clear and thorough communication, they can share and interpret data to put the rover on the right path.

Empowering the next generation

The significance of the four Cs of STEM is apparent across these three real-world examples. Critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication are key to any mission. From cleaning up a river to exploring space, computer scientists use the four Cs daily.

What about the future STEM professionals in your classroom? Students can start their own journeys to Mars and practice the four Cs by celebrating Computer Science Education Week and participating in its international Hour of Code.

Hour of Code

Hour of Code is – you guessed it – a one-hour introduction to computer science, using activities to show that anybody can learn the basics. If your school doesn’t already have a coding program, a few fun options to spark engagement and pique students’ interest could include:

  • Testing their computer science brain power with a themed quiz on Kahoot
  • Coloring Axel the robot’s many adventures with downloadable coloring pages
  • A special Hour of Code Imagine Robotify project. If you’re using Imagine Robotify, head to the projects tab on your menu to find an Axel drawing project in either Python or Blockly. Students can learn to create programs to draw common shapes on a coordinate plane. 

Whether you celebrate Computer Science Week and Hour of Code with robots and crayons or by exploring essential skills, you’ll create more STEM possibilities for your students’ futures.