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  • Computational Thinking | MindSpark Learning

    Discover the world of computational thinking with this blog post: 'AI Here, AI There… AI Who, What, Where?' and unravel the power of AI. AI Here, AI There… AI Who, What, Where? Learn how to teach your students to solve real-life problems using AI. Get access to AI teaching tools and resources, such as a sorting activity that activates prior knowledge about AI, an engaging game that teaches computational thinking, and a curated collection of videos that illustrate how AI affects future jobs, shapes social media experiences, helps keep communities safe, and more. Register Here What previous attendees have said about this webinar: “This was a very informative and interesting session. I learned how AI is used in our everyday life and how it can be used to make so many more things possible through applying human novel ideas and creativity. I also learned practical activities that I can use with my students to help them understand how AI works and how they can make it work for them.” "I have learned what machine learning is and that the information needs to be quantifiable and what quantifiable information is. I can see having discussions with students about this as we talk about research-backed presentations." By the end of the online webinar, you will have: An understanding of how to develop AI solutions to problems with data Activities & resources to implement immediately to create authentic projects for your students An extensive toolkit of resources A graphic organizer to capture your thoughts and learning Topic: Context and modern-day applications. Format: On-Demand

  • Diversity & Inclusion | MindSpark Learning

    MindSpark Learning's Diversity & Inclusion program offers educators on-demand courses to explore the roles of gender, race, and bias in technology and STEM fields. Participants gain resources to diversify their computer science and STEM programs, empowering students to understand AI's impact and combat algorithmic bias. Building a Culture of Inclusivity Register Here Examine your own tech experience as you explore the roles of gender, race, and bias in technology and STEM fields. Grow your toolkit with resources for diversifying your own computer science and STEM programs so that your students can gain awareness of how AI affects them, and join the fight against algorithmic bias and injustice. What previous attendees have said about this webinar: “I was already aware that industry and education in computer science are not very diverse. This course introduced me to some resources that I can use to show my students why diversity matters and more importantly why being inclusive needs to be a student's default mode of action.” “The gender bias in AI was very interesting. I think it will spark good conversation with students.” By the end of the online webinar, you will have: An understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion in STEM fields Resources for making your STEM environment more diverse and inclusive Access to a community forum of educators implementing solutions and sharing An action plan to implement solutions in your community Topic: How AI Addresses Diversity and Inclusion (Note: This topic is exclusively available on-demand.) Format: On-Demand

  • Press | MindSpark Learning

    Explore our press page to discover compelling stories of transformation, groundbreaking partnerships, and educational breakthroughs. From upskilling educators to uplifting communities, MindSpark Learning is at the forefront of educational excellence. Stay informed about our latest achievements, partnerships, and initiatives that are shaping the future of education. Media Coverage Meet Kellie Lauth ↗ CanvasRebel - 01/21 /2025 MindSpark & Todd County: Native Community Partnership for Resiliency↗ Anthem Awards - 11/19 /2024 Life & Work with Kellie Lauth of Lakewood ↗ Voyage Denver - 11/12 /2024 New Research Reveals Vital Professional Learning Insights↗ eSchool News - 03/20 /2024 Promoting Responsible AI: Nonprofit Launches New Tools to Address Ethical Concerns↗ Medriva - 02/13 /2024 Learn Applied AI with MindSpark: New Certification and Free Resources for Educators↗ eSchool News - 02/08/2024 MindSpark Learning® launches AI certification for educators↗ Noah Ne ws - 02/07/2024 Cedaredge High School and Paonia K-8 receive $50,000 grants due to outstanding science scores; DMS eighth-graders win energy contest ↗ D elta County Independent - 12/05/2023 Educating the Next Gen ↗ Gianforte Family Foundation - 11/10/2023 How Busi nesses Ca n Connect With Gen-Z Students ↗ Fast Company - 10/16/2023 Freebies for Science and STEM Teachers: Elementary ↗ National Science Teaching Association - 09/05/2023 Unlocking the Power of PBL+: Samsung’s Teacher Academy Empowers U.S. Educators to Boost STEM Education with Entrepreneurship & AI ↗ Samsung - 08/09/2023 COVID isn’t over for America’s classrooms—especially in STEM learning. But we can fix that ↗ Fast Company - 06/21/202 3 Working With Data? Think Curiosity Over Closure ↗ EdWeb - 05/18/2023 MindSpark Learning Offers New Responsible AI Course for Educators ↗ THE Journal - 04/20/2023 New Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) Course for K-12 Educators Seeks to Change How AI is Implemented in Learning ↗ eShool News- 04/04/2023 Campaigns With Heart Honored As 2023 Halo Award Finalists ↗ 3BL CSRwire - 02/14/2023 Greeley-Evans District 6 ‘exploring’ changes to district calendar in future years ↗ Greeley Tribune - 01/23/2023 The Morgridge Family Foundation Launches $1.4M Initiative to Disrupt the Child Welfare System ↗ Digital Journal - 11/29/2022 25 Organizations Win Career-Connected Learning Awards ↗ Forbes - 09/13/2022 Empowering Students with Innovative Risk-Taking Skills: A Colorado Magnet School’s Success Story ↗ The Denver Post YouHub - 09/05/2022 Samsung Teacher Academy Explores New Era of Classroom Learning ↗ Samsung Newsroom - 07/28/2022 Without A Solid Foundation, Even the Best Educational Programs Will Fail ↗ Voices of E-Learning, MarketScale - 07/01/2022 Foundation Source Blog: How a Family Foundation is Supporting Educators ↗ Foundation Source - 06/17/2022 Morgridge Family Foundation Gifts $3M to CSU Spur and College of Agricultural Sciences ↗ Colorado State University College News - 06/06/2022 You Don’t Have to be a Rocket Scientist ↗ National Science Teaching Association - 06/01/2022 Comp uter Science Convention a First for District ↗ Pueblo School District 60 - 05/20/2022 Approaches to Prosocial I-O Psychology Work: Dr. Joshua Caraballo ↗ Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology - 03/23/2022 MindSpark Learning® Receives Transformative $10 Million Gift from Morgridge Family Foundation ↗ Associated Press News - 03/24/2022 MindSpa rk Learning® Invests in Educator Sustainability with Launch of Momentous ‘Engage New Teachers’ Initiative ↗ Associated Press News - 02/14/2022 Equitable Practices as a Blueprint for Disruptive Change in K-12 Education ↗ Equity & Access - 12/01/2021 Marking a New Era in Education, MindSpark Learning® Launches First of Its Kind Certification in Disruption ↗ eSchool News - 08/04/2021 K-12 Dealmaking: MindSpark Learning, Frontline Education Make Acquisitions ↗ EdWeek Market Brief - 06/17/2021 MindSpark Learning Impacts Record Number of Eductors Amid COVID-19 with 207% Rise in Professional Learning Participants ↗ eSchool News - 12/01/2020 STEMpathy in Schools: A Conversation with MindSpark Learning ↗ Samsung Newsroom - 11/17/2020 Space Foundation and MindSpark Learning Partner to Bring Virtual Lea rning Series to More Coloradans Through reSOLVE for Families ↗ Earth Imaging Journal - 11/17/2020 MindSpark Learning and Olsson Partner to Bring Education Accelerator to Southern Colorado School Districts ↗ YourHub - 10/26/2020 Succeeds Prize honors Colorado educators during ceremony Saturday night ↗ 9News - 09/10/2020 MindSpark Learning Expands Grad-level STEM Certification Program to Educators Nationally ↗ TecHR Series - 09/03/2020 Collaborate With Colleagues to Make It Through This School Year ↗ EducationWeek - 08/07/2020 Solutions-Based Nonprofit Offering Next-Generation Fellowship Program for Educators ↗ Language Magazine - 07/02/2020 The F uture of Jobs ↗ NewsDay - 06/25/2020 MindSpark Learning Awarded $25K from COVID Relief Fund for reSOLVE ↗ YourHub - 06/08/2020 Support the Nation’s School Leaders Navigate 2020-2021 ↗ eSchool News - 06/03/2020 Colorado School District Deploys Mobile Technology Hub to Deliver STEM Curriculum During School Closures ↗ 3BL Media - 05/28/2020

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Blogs (66)

  • Welcome Home, Couragion!

    Today is a   monumental day for MindSpark. We are thrilled to announce we’ve acquired long-time partner, Couragion . Not only are we adding this wonderful organization to our family, Couragion’s former CEO Melissa Risteff is joining us as our Chief Strategy Officer.  You might recognize the name. While we’ve personally known Couragion and Melissa Risteff since 2015, many of you might know them through our partnership that created STEMpath , our 24-credit grad-level Computer Science (CS) certification program. Since its launch in 2019, it remains one of our most coveted professional learning offerings, proven to boost the capability and diversity of STEM and CS teachers, and increase the number of students ready to pursue STEM careers. Couragion provides STEM career literacy and workforce development solutions for educators, students, and advocates. With intentional impact-first methods to encourage the participation of underrepresented students, Couragion advances student intention, motivation and confidence rates to pursue rewarding career pathways. Like any extraordinary partnership, Couragion and MindSpark are completely aligned in beliefs, passions, and approaches. You’ve read about MindSpark’s “Our Spark”   by now. Here’s how Couragion supports our why: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Couragion elevates diverse role models to build awareness of what’s possible and has demonstrated outcomes serving underrepresented and highly-impacted students. 70% of Couragion role models are female and 40% are from communities of color. The experiences are virtual and accessible to all users. Couragion’s design inherently examines bias and assumptions while providing access to robust career pathways.  Workforce Literacy: Couragion nurtures ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships with industry partners to highlight role models and the jobs of today and tomorrow. Couragion is a key resource to directly support the early exposure and continued immersion in what is the future of work and the workforce. Educators are upskilled to understand labor market needs and students are enlightened about potential career pathways and opportunities.  Resilient and Healthy Communities: Couragion layers onto MindSpark’s work with intentional outcomes, activities, and immersion in occupational identities. From inception, Couragion has focused on exploring self-awareness and aspirations, capturing student voice, cultivating motivation-confidence-intention metrics for STEM career pathways, and analyzing key performance indicators to prove a broader impact is being achieved. All of this contributes to building healthy occupational identities for students. Disruptive Practices: Couragion exemplifies disruption as an exemplar platform that is different from other career awareness and readiness tools. Couragion models systems thinking, sees problems as opportunities, doesn’t accept the status quo or complacency, and celebrates change. Couragion understands that disruption is a process.  What Does This Mean For You?  Together, we will continue to work together with educators and administrators, industry partners, and communities to reengineer education into a high-impact sector that solves society’s biggest challenges. Our combined teams and Couragion’s technology platform will offer our customers and partners more accessible and equitable solutions on a global scale. We will be integrating Couragion’s platform across our experience offerings.  For more information on the acquisition, check out our press release .

  • Why Has AI Become Such a Hot Topic in Education?

    As an educator, chances are you have heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) recently. It is becoming an increasingly common topic amongst teachers. Some of your peers may already be teaching about or driving awareness to AI in their classrooms. So why is AI relevant in education today?  The short answer: Students of all ages are already interacting with AI every day and the jobs of tomorrow will depend on at least a fundamental understanding of AI. Who Should I Teach AI? AI may seem like a subject that is best left to computer science and technology classes, but that approach is too limited. Looking at the future projections of AI’s impact, isolating this technology to computer science or tech courses is a missed opportunity for teachers to prepare their students for an AI driven future. According to a 2018 study by   Code.org ’s Advocacy Coalition , only 35% of high schools across 24 states offer computer science courses. Additionally, students who are Black, Hispanic, or from rural areas are less likely to attend a school that provides access to computer science courses. By limiting the education of AI to classes that only teach one or two specific subjects, students will be left behind and miss opportunities to learn about a key technology that is already in use, and will only continue to expand in the future.   AI is Already Here Both you and your students are already experiencing the effects of AI in your daily life when you are on social media, using digital assistants or smart home devices, searching on Google, or streaming on platforms like Netflix. AI is not some futuristic technology; it is already impacting how we live, work, and play. Teaching AI and its fundamentals to students at an early age will help them understand how and where this technology is being used. Children will learn to think critically about the AI they are currently interacting with and think creatively about the possibilities of this technology in the future.   Your Students’ Future Success Depends on AI Understanding this technology will be an essential skill in the workplace of the future. AI has the potential to increase productivity and efficiency across all industries and in fact, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, education, banks, and tech companies are all currently using AI. Within organizations, AI is used in a wide range of job functions from sales and marketing to operations and finance. AI has shown its potential in increasing efficiency and productivity across many different industries. The growing prevalence of AI will shift job demand and impact careers in all industries. While AI is expected to create a net total of 97 million new jobs worldwide by 2025, AI is also expected to overtake many jobs. Jobs of the future will rely more heavily on the skills that complement AI, so teachers should help students understand the strengths of AI and the role they as future members of the workforce will be expected to play. Skills like creativity and critical thinking will be essential for success. AI isn’t strictly a new technology anymore, it has already made a profound impact on the world around us. As an educator, you are committed to providing the best education for your students and preparing them for the future. Incorporating AI-based content and learning into your curriculum is one key way to help your students prepare for the ever-evolving future. Looking for more resources? Check out our Artificial Intelligence page or OnDemand courses for in-depth AI lessons.

  • You’re a Creative and You May Not Know It

    The best things in life money can’t buy.   That’s a cliche. And we all say it. Dan Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard, says what modern research suggests,  “Once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn’t make a lot more happiness.” But when you say money doesn't buy happiness, like we all have at some point in our lives... Do you feel it in your chest? Often, we’re going for more money and more acclaim, but it’s creativity that gives you something more valuable than those two impostors.  Creativity gives you self-exploration. And struggling to explore limits inside yourself is a reward that a check cannot cash. We work for money, but money can’t teach you to be at ease with a room full of people staring at you. Only a combination of practice, failure, and vulnerability gives you that power. As an educator, I’ve had my knowledge, authority, and character tested for 6,552 classroom hours. So, when I get up to speak publicly--I’m not worried.  And I don’t think, “I’m ready for this class period because I have my degree in education, I’ve passed the PRAXIS exam, and I earn almost $45k a year.” As a comedian, I’ve been ignored, heckled, and told to give up while trying to make people laugh. And that happened in my 11th grade English class too. So, when someone tells me that they don’t agree with my opinion or I look stupid in the shirt I’m wearing--I don’t sweat it.  Often, we work and desire validation for what we do. When you’re young, it’s a gold star, praise from the coach, or summa cum laude. In the  “real world,”  you’re trying to be a top performer in your office. But, validation, acclaim, clout, recognition, they're all empty without authentic creativity and self-expression.   It's like when your smartwatch miscalculates your activity, but you know all you’ve done is wave your hand to ask for more kale chips. Seeing that number doesn’t make you feel good. Working toward something that you actually earned  is what makes you feel good. Because without the actual work, and I mean the internal work of pushing through difficulties to become a sharper version of you, that external praise is empty.  It’s not about the numbers; it’s about the struggle to get those numbers.  I used to reinforce this idea with my students. Some of them didn’t care about school, and most of the ones that did were only working for the grade.  I’d say, “The goal of school is getting a good grade? Ok.“ Then I’d point to each student individually. “You get a 95. You get a 98. You? I like you; you get 100.” Do you feel accomplished now? Do you feel different? No. Because a grade is just a number or a letter on a piece of paper that is SUPPOSED to signify what you’ve accomplished. And it reinforces external validation.  Adults, with all our stockpiled wisdom, think,  “Yeah, I didn’t buy into grades in high school, and it’s silly to buy into them for your self-worth.” But I would argue, when you become an adult, money becomes to us what grades are to students, and the same plot unfolds. And yes, money is a lot more valuable because it can buy healthcare, a car, and a Dyson vacuum.  And, no, they won’t accept 11th grade history papers as down payment for a jetski. No matter how tight the thesis is.  If you care about what you do for those eight or so hours a day, you want to do well. And you want to be recognized for it. And compensated for it. Money is used for motivation, and it is SUPPOSED to signify what you’ve accomplished.  But we all know people with more money than what they’ve accomplished.  Students sometimes think that they don’t want to learn or do any classwork but still get an A. That would be the dream, right? But if you get an “A” without the internal struggle, you won’t feel challenged, curious, accomplished, or fulfilled. And more than an easy life, kids need those things. People sometimes think that they want to win the lottery so they never have to work and can stay on a beach. But if you stay on the beach for more than a few days, you won’t feel challenged, curious, accomplished, or fulfilled.  And more than an easy life, you need those things.   The purpose of school is not to get a good grade; the purpose is to be a lifelong learner. The purpose of money is to get you the things you need, not to make you feel whole. When you don’t put in “A” work, and you get an “A,” you don’t feel proud because you know inside yourself, somewhere, that the measure that matters most is not external validation, which is precarious, but the limits to which you pushed yourself.  I didn’t become a teacher because I love semicolons, my pay, and high school poetry. I became a teacher because my 11th-grade teacher, Mr. Guerrero, turned back the work that got me solid C’s throughout all of my NYC public schooling and said,  “I know you can do better than this.”   And at the end of that assignment, which I don’t remember my grade for, and I turned in three more times, I felt more intelligent, more powerful, and more capable than I ever felt. I teach because I want my students to know what they are capable of. I study education and how people learn, and I was surprised to learn how much our own identity and self-beliefs factor into our ability to do things and learn from the things we do. In kids and adults, this looks like, “I’m not a math person.” “I don’t know how you do that; I’m not a creative person.” But the goal of creativity is not to be good  at creativity (whatever that means). The goal is not to get an “A” or make a lot of money (which are the metrics our hustle-focused culture understands.) The goal isn’t the end result. The goal is to create, and as we say in our equity-centered design thinking training, it is about the process . And enjoy all the messy parts of it by accepting there is no “right way.” And that is  the way. Have you created a new lesson or activity that ended up falling flat? Cool. You’re doing it; you’re a creative.   Did you bake a terrible cake after watching a baking show? Cool. You’re doing creativity. And you don’t need followers to prove it because you’re not just making yeast rise or stirring the good parts of your lesson together. You’re baking parts of yourself into the final product. When you come with the intention of enjoying the process you feel the reward. And your heart will feel flambé-d. I’ll take it easy on the baking shows. What I really want you to know is: Creativity as a process is the metric of success that matters. Because when you treat creativity as a process, learning and improvement is the product.  You’re a successful creative. You don’t need to wear a beret or a turtleneck to prove it.  I do. But you don’t have to. When I look back at my small accomplishments in comedy, I don’t think about winning a new comedian contest. Instead, I think about the man in Greeley who came up to me to give me dap with his eyes shining, from laughter or something else, to tell me that watching me on stage felt like he was talking to his boys back home.  I think about the woman who heard my jokes about being mixed and told me that she grew up with people asking her, “What are you?” and trying to find a funny way to deal with it. She settled on, “I’m a human; what are you?” As an educator, I don’t think about my English Language Learner’s improvement scores on the I-Ready or PSAT or SAT. Instead, I think about my mistakes in Spanish with my Guatemalan student.  And how much we laughed at my mistakes. But I kept going until he felt comfortable enough to start making his own mistakes in English. Humor can be a great teacher.  At the end of the year, He ran past me in the hall and yelled, “wassup Mister,” with his new friends running alongside him. That’s the way we’re wired--with all the stats and info, or “A”’s and dollars, we’re still emotional creatures that are emotionally motivated  and inextricably linked to stories . Our own especially.  We’re all creative creatures. And we’re all creating our story.  Starting right now, at the end of this sentence. How does your story of today start?

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