Quest to Learn: Creating a 21st Century School

We're teaming up with the MacArthur Foundation to support New York City's Quest to Learn, the nation's first public school based on principles of game design.  This innovative school is testing the notion that allowing young people to construct their own learning environments is the best way to help them achieve academically and acquire the skills necessary for the 21st century.

To learn more, watch the video below featuring Katie Salen as she discusses Quest to Learn, and how this new approach to teaching and learning could become a model for school innovation.

The Pearson Prize to Recognize Exemplary Students

We're happy to announce The Pearson Prize for Higher Education, a new student leadership award that recognizes and provides support to exemplary students who--while still completing their undergraduate studies--are distinguishing themselves by leading public service efforts that give back to their local community. The Pearson Prize will recognize 70 students for exemplary community service, providing 20 with financial assistance and additional support, and 50 more with a single one-time cash grant. All recipients will take part in the Pearson Foundation's mobile and digital media projects that support student leadership.

Learn more by checking out the press release here:

 http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3755514.htm

Announcing the Million Voice Project

We're excited to announce The Million Voice Project--a new, online administration of the My Voice Survey from the Quaglia Research Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA)--which aims to assemble the most substantial research-based understanding of student attitudes and experiences in the American education system. We're making the Million Voice Project survey and its results available to American schools and school districts at no cost. 

To learn more, please visit:http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3730954.htm

The Snowy Day is Chosen as Official 2010 Read for the Record Book!

Thousands of Americans have shown their ongoing commitment to ending the crisis in early literacy by picking up their cell phones and voting for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record’s official campaign book. Today, we announced, along with Jumpstart and the Penguin Young Readers Group, that The Snowy Day by Ezra John Keats has been selected as the official book to be read by millions on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

To learn more, please visit:

http://www.pearsoned.com/press/2010/03/11/america-chooses-the-snowy-day-as-campaign-book-for-jumpstarts-read-for-the-record-2010.htm

Jane Goodall to Receive Atlas Award

We learned earlier that Jane Goodall would be receiving the prestigious Atlas award from the Association of American Geographers, and it couldn't go to someone more deserving. Our work with the Jane Goodall Institute has given us a deeper understanding of this amazing individual, and we're thrilled for her and for JGI.The Atlas Award is designed to recognize and celebrate outstanding accomplishments that advance world understanding in exceptional ways, and the image of Atlas bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders is a powerful metaphor for this award program; nominees are those who have taken the weight of the world on their shoulders and moved it forward, whether in science, politics, scholarship, the arts, or in war and peace.

To learn more, please visit:http://www.aag.org/annualmeetings/2010/speakers/goodall.htm

Calistoga Students Collecting Pennies for Haiti

The Pennies for Peace movement continues to gather momentum, and in this instance, it's stretching all the way from Calistoga, California to Haiti. Following in the footsteps of so many children before them who have collected tens of thousands of pennies for children in Afghanistan, young people from Calistoga Elementary School established February as "Pennies for Haiti Month" and have been collecting pennies for those who need them ever since.  

To learn more about this heart-warming and inspirational story, visit http://www.weeklycalistogan.com/articles/2010/03/04/news/local/doc4b8efa5c5d900994765037.txt

The Digital World of Young Children

At the annual Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) International Symposium, we released a research white paper today called “The Digital World of Young Children: Emergent Literacy,” which discusses the effects of digital media on young children’s learning. Authored by early childhood education experts, Arizona State University’s Jay Blanchard and Terry Moore, the white paper examines the latest research on how young children learn using increasingly personalized and mobile media, including cell phones, television, video games, smart devices, and computers. The report focuses on the impact of these new ways of learning and highlights the degree to which these emergent literacies are rooted in young people’s use of common-place mobile devices - especially in developing and least-developed nations.

Want to learn more?  Check it out here:http://www.pearsoned.com/press/2010/03/01/pearson-foundation-releases-new-research-on-digital-literacy-among-young-children.htm