Tutor and Teacher Educational Resources

Coding is what powers our digital world: it is how you tell a computer what to do. Whenever you open up anything from Google, to a phone or calculator, code is being run. But why should kids learn coding?

Learn how to code to learn a new language

Coding is not only considered to be a language, but is also a very useful one. In this age of technology, coding is a widely spoken language in the digital world. The language of coding will help your children understand the technology they are surrounded by in their daily lives. According to Douglas Rushkoff, “in a digital age… whoever owns the keys to programming ends up building the reality in which the rest of us live.” Children should not just know how to use their computers, iPads, and phones, but how they are programmed. By gaining these tools, they will learn to be innovators and creative thinkers.

Get started in computer science by learning coding

By learning how to code, kids will learn computational thinking skills and important problem solving techniques. These skills will get them started in learning about computer science. Coding also provides a great opportunity to expose kids to a new field in order to help them find something that interests them. When kids are interested in a subject, it will spark their desire to learn.

Learning programming is fun for any age

Kids as young as six can learn to code, and there is no age limit either! Code.org also has a variety of games that will draw kids based on their interests, from Minecraft to Frozen!

Learn coding easily

Making a subject fun and accessible will also help spark kids’ desire to learn. Websites like Code.org will allow your kids to have a quick start in learning computer code with the following steps:

1. Choose a level that is right for your child – most will start at a beginner’s level.
2. Pick a game: this makes it fun and will capture your child’s attention.
3. Learn to code!  At first, you start off with blocks, which is a method used even at the university level. Gradually, your child will learn the expanded versions of code they are delving into.
4. Play for one hour at a time. You can easily track how far along you are with a bar at the top of the page.
5. Work your way up!

Coding is part of an ever-growing world of technology, and is even being added into many educational curriculums. Encouraging your kids to learn how to code now will give them a head start in this field that will be with them the rest of their lives. So check out a website like code.org and get coding!

To teach teens about sweatshop labour and the fashion industry is a hard topic to address because many of us ‘grown ups’ are guilty of it ourselves. As role models we are probably wearing brand names, or clothing that was mass-manufactured in another country, likely in a sweatshop. In our Western cities it’s hard to avoid. The cottage industry of clothes-making and textile crafting is virtually over. We seem desensitized to the poor working conditions of those in less-fortunate countries who are making our clothes, and our kids follow our example. So where does that leave us? To the shopping mall we go! Again…

This Vice News reporter exemplifies our desensitization to sweatshops by visiting Cambodia during its fashion week, seeing how terrible factory working conditions are, and then caving in to buy a “giant Barbie dress” anyway. Sound familiar?

When we think of the bigger picture, our idea that fashion should be cheap and plentiful can be a problem to our society’s moral conscience. Many of us would agree that kids should make informed decisions about their buying choices. The effects of teen knowledge about the fashion industry today could make a difference in our world’s future. As John Oliver explained in his rant on the subject, sometimes exposed companies with sweatshops get exposed, and try to make a difference. The problem is, the ‘mistake’ keeps happening over and over again.

How do we get our fashion-crazed teens interested and taking action on this issue? After all, we’ve been their age once, and know they are likely evaluating themselves and those around them by what everyone is wearing. And according to The School of Life, what others around us have is how we evaluate wealth. It’s not about “first world problems” per se.

Here are some creative ways to get kids thinking about the perils of the fashion industry, and how closely they play a part in it:

Teach teens about sweatshop labour and know how economies work by researching countries their clothes came from

We are living in a commercial, interconnected global village. But trade is not new, nor are factories. In teen history lessons they’ll learn about the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression. But they may not learn about today’s cost of labour, or how spending affects our economies and thus, our quality of life. Believe it or not, there is an economic argument for the existence of sweatshops.

Classroom learning idea:

Ask students to bring their favourite article of clothing to school. Have them all look at the tag and see where it was made. Now get them look up the country on a map and write a report on the country’s living conditions.

What is the average wage of a worker in that country? If the stats are in U.S. dollars, ask teens to learn about exchange rates and what the buying power of a U.S. dollar is in that country. Could you buy a meal with the same dollar amount in Bangladesh as you can in North America? What about paying rent? What about transportation? How much are cars in Bangladesh (or another fashion-producing country)? Are they the same price as they are in North America? Pretty soon, the teens can get an idea of how hard it can be to make a living on the other side of the world.

Now ask the students, with their newfound knowledge, if they would pay more for their clothes if it meant living conditions could be better somewhere else. And, what would change in that other country? What would change in this country if we all paid more to have our clothes manufactured here? This could spark interesting debate.

Teach teens about labour cost and shortages by asking them what they want to be when they grow up

It might sound silly, but when you ask teens in your classroom what they want to be when they grow up, you may find that very few will mention factory work. They may not even know what it is, really. But you may find someone who says they want to be a fashion designer. Or a computer programmer. Or an astronaut.

Classroom learning idea:

So now you have the perfect opportunity to ask the future fashion designer how thread is made, or where fabric comes from. And ask the computer-programmer-to-be what components are needed to make a hard drive, or the dust-free buildings that manufacture microchips. And then ask the aspiring astronaut to research where space suit material is made, and if you need a mask to make it.

Ask teens to find someone to interview about the materials they will need to do their future jobs. And ask the teens to get to know those people. It may lead them down a path to forming a pen pal in another country! But parents beware: kids should be protected from Internet prying and strangers they shouldn’t be talking to. Ask if overseas schools will participate in an exchange, if possible.

Here are some resources to get you going:

Who makes your iPhone: a discussion about sweatshops

Teacher Resource: Re-thinking Fast Fashion Lesson Plan

Now that they know where their future job materials come from, it’s time to pose the question of why those materials are not made in their home towns? Or, if they are, why is there a price difference, if any? What do companies save, really, by sending jobs overseas? How does that affect a person in North America who doesn’t get the education to become the fashion designer, computer programmer or astronaut? What happens to our society when people who used to work in factories in North America no longer have their jobs?

The needs-only challenge: teach teens about needs versus wants by getting them to wear one outfit all week

Remember the ice bucket challenge? Well that was easy compared to what we’re about to ask teens to do now: try to survive a week wearing only what they need. Turn it into a school fundraiser if you want. But the main objective should be to get our young generation thinking about our wastefulness in fashion. It’s true we waste food, but what about other materials?

Classroom learning idea:

Use this challenge to ask kids to reduce their wardrobe to the items available to the workers in the countries they have researched where clothes come from. If a sweatshop worker only has one pair of shoes, one t-shirt and one skirt to wear every day, challenge the teens to wear only that for an entire week. This might only be effective if everyone commits to it.

Note: don’t accept the excuse that something is dirty and therefore can’t be worn two days in a row. Ask the kids to wash their clothes every night if they need to.

At the end of the week, ask the teens to hold a class discussion on the topic. Did they die without their sneaker collection? Were they worried about what other people thought, even though everyone else was wearing the same thing every day? Why or why not? And, now that they know they survived without their selection of fashion choices for a week, will that stop them from visiting the shopping mall from now on? Why or why not?

To conclude: this lesson about sweatshop labour is not just about shopping

Teaching teens about sweatshop labour and the fashion industry can take many forms, and we encourage you to do more research on the topic. At School is Easy Tutoring, we believe that our younger generation should be aware of the world around them, and how they are connected to people in other countries. The fact is, we live in a globalized economy, and our actions can have a domino effect on people in other places.

The point of these lessons is not to get teens to stop shopping for clothes (though that would be nice on parents’ wallets!). The point is to teach them that their shopping excursions are not standalone experiences. It’s also to teach them that they can do something to make a difference in the world, even if that does mean less clothes shopping!

At School is Easy Tutoring, we’re always looking for ways to make the old new again. It’s an approach that we’ve explored on numerous occasions in this blog, from using bowling to teach kids math to helping kids understand statistics with baseball. Today, we’re going to take another everyday item — the barometer — and try to see it in a new light. We’ll examine some ideas on how to teach kids math and meteorology with barometers.

A short background on barometers

Barometers are used to measure atmospheric pressure, often in the form of millibars. The higher the reading, the more likely it is that the weather is or will be sunny. Lower pressure is usually associated with rain.

Going over the entire history of the barometer will take a bit more than a blog post, but in a nutshell, it was invented by scientists who were trying to prove whether or not a vacuum could exist. According to this TED video, for many years, people believed that vacuums were an impossibility because it was a theory that had been popularized by Aristotle. However, this theory was questioned when the famous Galileo Galilei suggested that the force of a vacuum could pressure over water being pumped from the ground.

Gasparo Berti heard Galileo hypothesis and sought to investigate it by filling a tube with water and placing it vertically in a tub of shallow water. He opened the tube, and some water from the tube did flow into the tub. But much of the water still remained in the tube, demonstrating that the air surrounding the tub exerted pressure on the water. Why? Because if the air didn’t exert any force, all the water from the tube would have spilled out. On top of that, the a small bubble devoid of air or water was created, proving that vacuums were possible!

Later, water was replaced with mercury, and these new barometers were tested in areas of higher elevation, showing that differing air pressures created different readings. These eventually evolved into the barometers we know today.

Teach kids simple arithmetic and temperature with barometers

Simple arithmetic is probably one of the first lessons that you can teach children once you have explained how a barometer works. Perhaps one of the most simple barometers you can start with is the common temperature barometer. You can start by asking children to keep a log of temperature change. Ask your students to write down the temperature at specific times of the day. For example, once at 9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. Do this for several weeks and show them how to measure a temperature fluctuation. You can ask them to compare differences between morning, noon and evening temperatures. Then you can ask them to compare and contrast temperatures between weeks and, if you choose to do this for a while, between months.

This would also be a great opportunity to teach them temperature conversions. For example, have them record temperatures in Celsius. Then ask them how hot or cold the readings are in Fahrenheit or Kelvins.

Explore simple fractions and percentages when teaching kids about barometers

Many barometers, especially aneroid barometers, have a lot in common with pie charts that are often used to teach fractions to children. This can be used as a novel teaching tool. For example, you ask children to calculate the distance that the measuring needle travels in a day. Then you can relate the distance to a slice on a pie chart. You can then ask them if the distance covered by the needle was, for example, 1/8th of the total barometer. Then you can convert that fraction into a percentage to teach simple percentages. There’s a math lesson you can cover when teaching kids math and meteorology with barometers.

Use barometers as a ‘gateway’ into teaching meteorology

Once you teach kids about barometers, they may be interested in learning about weather, once they understand how air pressure relates to sun and rain. Take this as a chance to delve into more meteorological concepts. For example, turn on the weather forecast or go to Environment Canada and compare the readings on your kids’ homemade barometer with the official readings. When browsing through the diagrams and charts, children will probably encounter terms like ‘probability of precipitation’ and so forth. This would be a great chance to learn more!

Spark interactive learning!

A barometer is just the first step to learning about weather. Next, you can pursue other lessons, such as explaining how a rain gauge works. Use the momentum you create in this lesson to spur more learning!

Teach kids more subjects with things they will be interested in! Check out these blog posts on our tutoring blog:

• Use bowling to teach kids math
• Helping kids understand statistics with baseball
• Teaching kids math with cars
• Brain-stimulating activities for kids outdoors
• Showing children how to navigate without a GPS

Many kids grow up with pets. However, in some cases, kids either are forced to give up their  animal friends or lose interest in taking care of them. So how can we turn these unfortunate events into learning experiences? One way is to look at it as an opportunity to teach kids about invasive species. It can be an important lesson, since it can teach children how to give away their pets responsibly.

Why is this an opportunity to teach kids about invasive species?

Because it can be a child’s first instinct to ‘free’ their pet into the wild. Some kids may be inclined to release their goldfish and turtles into local ponds. And if you’ve been to Richmond or Vancouver Island, it’s probably not too hard to guess where the abundant rabbit populations got their start. Sometimes children don’t realize it, but the act of releasing a pet into the wild often introduces an invasive species.

What should we teach kids about invasive species

We’d suggest you teach your children about the food chain. There are plenty of great online resources to help with that. Once you’ve explained to your kids how this concept works, start asking them questions.

For example, you can ask what will happen if a rabbit is introduced into a habitat that doesn’t normally have rabbits. Will there be a predator that can keep rabbit populations in check? If not, what are the consequences of having too much rabbits? What will they eat? If they eat too much of a particular food, what will that mean for other animals who eat the same things?

DNews on YouTube has a great video about what happens when you release pets into the wild. Check these out:

7 Pets You Should Never Release In The Wild

And also this one about how to make invasive species work for us:

Making Invasive Species Work For Us

SciShow has a video on invasive species, as does MinuteEarth, with plenty of resources in the description of this video.

These are just some examples of questions you can ask that will get children thinking about the consequences of releasing pets into the wild.

Give examples of high-profile invasive species. Then you can start focusing on local Vancouver cases. The Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver is a great place to consult for further information.

If possible, focus on the bigger picture

If you think your kids can handle a more complex lesson, you can elaborate on economic and environmental impacts of invasive species. For example, blueweed is a plant that has been known to clog up farmland in British Columbia, resulting in extra removal costs. This could also potentially suck up nutrients in the soil that could’ve been used for growing agriculture.

So what should kids do with unwanted pets?

It can be good to start with preventative measures. For example, ask children if they are willing and able to take care of additional pets if their dog or cat has offspring. If you decide with your kids that it would be too much of a responsibility to take care of additional puppies or kittens, teach them about sterilization. The SPCA has a great resource for this.

You can also teach them about animal shelters — such as the SPCA — and take them on tours. Some organizations will offer guided educational tours of their facilities, so don’t hesitate to send an email or pick up a phone!

Other suggestions include finding trusted friends to give unwanted pets to. And if not, advertisements on classified services like Craigslist are another option.

But hopefully, if you teach children about the impacts of invasive species, your kids will take extra care when deciding to buy or adopt an animal friend!

One of the things that we love to do at School is Easy Tutoring is make seemingly abstract concepts accessible to children. It’s a shame many students complain their schooling is useless in the ‘real’ world, because ‘book learning’ can often be very practical. Sometimes it just takes the right approach to show children how their academics can be used to inform many real-life decisions. We’ve done this approach in the past by showing how you can teach math when bowling or how baseball can be a great way to learn statistics. Now we’re applying this method to something new — we’re teaching kids math with cars.

Looking at the speedometer is a great tool for teaching kids math with cars

The speedometer may be the most obvious way you can start teaching kids math with cars. It would probably be best to first explain what a speedometer is to your students and how it functions. The next step would be to try doing some basic arithmetic drills with cars regarding speed. This can be the fun part — you can make it a game!

For example, ask your children to look at the speed limits for each area you are in. When you want to go on the highway, tell your students to look at the speedometer, then look at the signs indicating maximum speed. Ask your kids to tell you how much faster you have to go to get up to speed on the highway. This can be a great exercise in real-life applications of arithmetic.

Then you can lay it out as a math equation:

How much faster we need to go = speed limit – current speed

So in other words, let’s use this example:

30 = 80 (typical highway speed limit) – 50 (typical city speed limit)

You can also make a game out of slowing down. For example, if you are coming off a city road and entering a school zone, ask your students how much slower you need to be to drive safely.

Look out the window of your car, and you can even teach children simplified physics

If you are so inclined, you can even teach one of the most basic parts of the theory of relativity. While going in depth into this topic may be asking a little too much from children, you can give them a little taste about what relativity is all about.

At its simplest, relativity means that everything is moving at a speed relative to something else, and observations can differ depending on how fast you are going. This For Dummies article gives the example of two spaceships. This may be a little too complicated for children, but you can teach a similar — albeit simpler — lesson by looking at cars on a road.

For example, let’s pretend you’re driving down a road and you are going 50 kilometers per hour. Let’s say there is a vehicle in a lane beside you going 50 kilometers per hour as well. You can point out that relative to your car, the other vehicle is travelling at zero kilometers per hour. Show your students that it looks like the vehicle is standing still right beside your car when they’ve matched speeds.

In simple math, it’s

The speed of the other driver – your speed = relative speed

So 50 – 50 = 0

As another example, if you are travelling 50 kilometres per hour and another car is travelling at 60, it will look as if the other car is racing ahead at 10 kilometres per hour.

In this case, it’s 60 – 50 = 10

Teaching kids math with cars can make the subject ‘real’!

The most important thing about these focused math lessons is making ‘book learning’ relevant to ‘real life.’ See if you can find other parallels between driving and math (there are lots). For example, you can teach kids math with cars by examining tire pressure, gas prices and engine sizes. Have fun with it!

See related posts on our education blog:

• Focused math lesson — Teach students statistics using baseball
• Backgammon math lessons to teach kids
• Focused math lesson — using bowling to teach math to students
• Focused lesson — teach kids math and meteorology with barometers

The annual salmon run has either started or will be starting in many parts of British Columbia. These fish will be travelling to reach their breeding grounds. This is a great opportunity to teach students about the B.C. salmon run, and the issues surrounding salmon. Learning about this event can educate kids on the province’s ecosystem, global warming and the environment. It can also introduce kids to the idea of political debate. It can show how governments can step in to interfere in the lives of their subjects, in a way that is tangible to kids.

First things first: where can you watch the B.C. salmon run?

You can watch the salmon run up close and personal at any spawning stream in the province. During the run, salmon travel up B.C.’s rivers to find the original place where they were birthed. This is a process called natal homing. Once salmon arrive at their destination, they dig a small nest called a redd and lay their eggs.

Spawning streams and the rivers leading up to them are often the best place to get a look at the salmon run. But if you don’t have access to a spawning stream, there are also plenty of hatcheries that you can visit. Take a look at this government list to figure out the stream, river or hatchery closest to you.

Fish ladders are also a great place to observe salmon. They are passageways that mimic rivers. These structures are built in areas where dams or other facilities have prevented salmon from accessing their spawning grounds. Think of it like a highway, but for salmon! Hell’s Gate in Boston Bar , B.C. (near Hope) has one you can check out while also taking a ride on the airtram.

But what if you want to watch salmon runs in other parts of Canada?

The same principles apply. Both Pacific and Atlantic salmon go back to their birthplace to spawn. Spawning streams, hatcheries and fish ladders are the best places to view the run, regardless of where you are in Canada. Salmon Atlas has a fantastic collection of maps that show where you can watch the fish.

Teaching the importance of salmon in our history, culture and food system

It’s important for kids to know that salmon isn’t always as available as we want it to be for a food source. And usually, our human behaviour is at the centre of this problem. This has caused multiple political discussions, especially when salmon populations decline significantly. Historically, government regulations have had to control our fishing habits. In fact, that’s what salmon hatcheries are for! When you visit a hatchery, make sure your kids know it’s not just a zoo or museum, but that it has a real purpose – to keep us fed!

But salmon is not likely to fall out of our diets soon. Salmon essential to First Nations culture, and our government sees that as an important practice to protect, despite the disputes it has caused. Ask your kids how they feel about conflict over fishing. Do they know why First Nation people are allowed some rights that other Canadians aren’t? What’s their take on this? Try not to induce opinions, but see what your kids or students might say. It can help you learn about their thought processes.

Aside from that, salmon farms are another way of producing fish, which may be hard to imagine after watching such strong fish freely swim upriver. Some kids may have heard about this term, “wild salmon.” What does that mean? Why do restaurants and grocery stores need to point out that a salmon is “wild” in order for you to want to buy it? This is another controversial topic that kids can be introduced to. While a health debate may be premature, an understanding of our food supply system can help draw a fuller picture for kids who may not yet know how a salmon dinner landed on their plate one evening!

Teach students about the B.C. salmon run’s relationship to the ecosystem

Learning about the salmon run is crucial to learning about how British Columbia’s environment works. For example, many predators depend on the salmon run as a source of food. Bears can often be seen waiting at a river to snatch the fish. If children are interested in learning about this, the BBC has a great video clip they can check out. Eagles spend a lot of time perched in the trees, looking for carcasses to eat because the fish die after they spawn, while seagulls or other birds hover together to eat eyeballs and other parts. The dead salmon contribute to the nitrogen cycle of the surrounding area. Their bodies fertilize the trees help allow rich foliage to grow.

How the salmon run relates to global warming

You can even use the salmon run as an educational tool to show the effects of global warming. According to the State of Salmon in Watersheds report, higher temperature caused by climate change can hurt the salmon run. Water temperature becomes warmer and salmon get more stressed under these conditions. It’s easier for them to die on the journey, and CBC reports we are seeing that happen right now. Record droughts we’ve encountered this year are also lowering the river and stream levels, making it harder for the fish to swim.

Be proactive!

The value of teaching kids about the B.C. salmon run is that it has so many lessons attached to it. Students get to learn about the food chain, the nitrogen cycle and global warming at the same time! If kids show interest, take them to see a fish ladder, spawning stream or hatchery!