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Research shows that food insecurities and food system struggles are disproportionately felt by people of color and people with low incomes. In response to this and other concerns, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences created Project SOW (Seeds of Wonder): Food Gardening with Justice in Mind. The project provides a food gardening curriculum program for educators who work with youth ages 13–19. The curriculum covers topics such as introducing the concept of land, stewardship in gardening, and having youth reflect on their values.

Field trips are often one of the most exciting events in a student’s education. Research from the Journal of Human Resources found that students who go on field trips experience exhibit fewer behavioral problems, have higher attendance rates, and perform better on end-of-year tests. Edutopia has released an article summarizing the study, explaining how students benefit from field trips and offering ways that educators can create low-stakes yet meaningful trips outside the classroom.

Music is a part of everyone’s lives. But can music also be part of the classroom? The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments has released an article explaining how music can assist student learning and development. It also provides strategies that educators can use, such as using songs to help students remember math formulas and having students use color-coded cards to help map their emotions onto songs.

The arts are an essential outlet where students can express themselves. They also offer a way to enhance brain development. Edutopia has released an article describing the cognitive benefits of music and music education and how to use music to improve language learning.

Many educators teach students what they should learn but not how to learn. Edutopia has released an article describing metacognition, or a student’s knowledge of their own thought process. The article offers planning, monitoring, and evaluative strategies that educators can use to help students develop their metacognitive processes. This practice will help youth create self-regulation techniques and establish more concrete goals.

Youth need practical feedback from others to move forward with their education. However, receiving feedback can often feel stressful and fearful, as youth are afraid of being wrong or feeling inferior in front of their peers. Harvard Graduate School of Education provides ways that educators can make feedback less overwhelming for students.

As educators support education recovery amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, they need strategies for high-quality tutoring. Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West has published an article that describes high-quality tutoring and produced three videos from their webinar series about the topic.

Youth engagement is a “win-win proposition” that benefits youth, adults, and organizations. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has created a brief that provides five youth engagement strategies that organizations can use, including preparing youth and adults to be successful, building community and positive relationships, and embracing a culture of vulnerability.

Project-based learning is a unique and fun tool for students to use. However, educators need to make sure that students are learning something meaningful. Experts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education created a blog post that provides three ways educators can produce high-quality PBL. The blog post shares that educators who implemented PBL helped engage students in disciplinary practices, meaning youth were acting and thinking like professionals in their desired fields of study.

Are you unsure how to incorporate project-based learning (PBL) with your students? Edutopia has created a blog post describing how educators can begin to incorporate PBL with three easy steps.