By Marielle Byhouwer These are the words of my father. I am a biracial, middle class woman. My mother was adopted from South Korea as a baby and my father is white. As a white, middle class, heterosexual male, my father is among the most privileged individuals in our society. However, as the father of a biracial girl whose appearance was more dominantly Asian than white, he had more personally experienced different acts of racism and sexism that I encountered growing up. It’

By Amber Nicole Dilger, CEI Associate and Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director Are you incorporating music in your classrooms, cafeteria, and hallways? Perhaps it is piped into the school offices? Listen to a recording of the oldest playable flute Brookhaven National Laboratory. Music’s Effects. What effect does music have on the brain? With the help of neuroscience, researchers now have a clearer view inside the skull, which has led to  interesting discoveries as well as

By Jordan Gilliard, CEI Intern More than 60 educational studies showing that there is a significant effect on students’ academic achievement when games and activities are applied to their learning process. Activities help students form lovable memories that connect to the material. These positive connections certainly aid the learning process (Marzano, 2010). Meanwhile, students also gain skills of teamwork, creativity, positive sportsmanship, and critical thinking, factors t

By Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director Use of 21st Century Practices. For the purposes of the survey, CEI considered 21st Century Learning in terms of the practices CEI describes in our proposed approach ‘“ Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM), neuroscience, and Heart Centered Education, CEI’s signature approach to social emotional learning. Results suggested that use of mobile technologies and STEAM were most frequently. 49% reported using mobile techn

By Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director Most days, as I engage in yoga, I automatically feel gratitude for how I have learned to appreciate all my body does to support me, even as I discover a slight pain here, and even as I wish I were just a little more flexible, or that my body was a bit more perfect. I reflect during these times on how I can shift my focus from pain and feeling badly to feeling better. That’s the wonder of a few minutes of deep breathing– the thrill of

By Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director Dallas, Orlando, Minnesota, Baton Rougue, Charleston, Baltimore, Missouri, California, Newtown, Columbine.  Our hearts are heavy. At CEI, one of the reasons we have such passion for heart centered learning is we see all around us such a need for social justice, friendship, bridge-building, compassion, empathy, and courage. Our hearts go out to families who have lost loved ones, to communities who are grieving, to African Americans wh

By Amber Nicole Dilger, CEI Intern. The feeling of being safe and secure allows us to take risks and explore our world. This freedom to learn can be quickly destroyed, though, if a traumatic event is experienced. Research shows that students who suffer from adverse childhood experiences struggle in education, health, and social environments. The school community can provide a crucial support system as teachers, administrators, and all school personnel become vital contribut

By George White, CEI Education Policy Associate Inspired by a landmark study that concluded that a child’s academic success is related to the amount of talk the child hears from adults in the first few years of life, philanthropists, nonprofits, investors and governments are beginning to invest heavily in technology that encourages parents and pre-school educators to do more to ‘spread the words.’ Advocating for Higher Early Childhood Vocabulary Growth The effort to help earl

By Meghan Wenzel, CEI Intern and Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director What type of animal is a dog? Is ‘p’ a vowel or a consonant? What type of mathematical operation is 2 + 2? All of these tasks require us to recognize, identify, and use categories. By grouping individual items into collective cognitive basis for higher-level abilities like applying, analyzing, and evaluating (C8 Science, 2015). Thus it is a crucial skill to develop and use in school and in life. Categor