K-12 educators and students in training to be teachers or administrators in K-12 schools can access many free open courseware resources to improve their teaching styles and curriculum design. From promoting literacy in young children to learning new ways to encourage a global perspective among older students, open courseware classes provide teachers with ideas and strategies for educating confident, expressive, globally minded children. This collection aims to show just how diverse K-12 education open courseware classes are, and include courses like Using Visualization in Math Teaching; Encouraging Book Talk in the School Library; Promoting Positive Development Among Youth, and others. These classes are offered by The Open University and Tufts University.

Teachers and students taking these classes will learn leading edge theories in understanding K-12 psychology and development, the different learning styles of various students and age groups, relevant teaching trends in fields like science, math, and literacy, and methods for teaching students to become proactive, aware students in a global society. Lecturers cover topics in applied developmental science, historical teaching techniques and how they’ve evolved, new ideas for teaching geography, the role of the community in educating K-12 students, and the importance of encouraging peer-to-peer discussion among students. These classes also help busy teachers and students get ahead in their field by learning in an extremely convenient format online.

• A Global Dimension to Science Education in Schools [The Open University] – Science teachers wanting to expose their students to a more global view of the field can learn new teaching methods in this course.
• Teaching Languages: Language Awareness [The Open University] – Lessons in this class include Introducing Vocabulary, Encouraging Students to Think about Etymology, and Tracing World Histories.
• Using Visualization in Math Teaching [The Open University] – Math teachers learn a new teaching style to help their K-12 students learn.
• Encouraging Book Talk in the School Library [The Open University] – This course gives teachers ideas for encouraging child literacy and discussions about books. Lessons include Book Awards, Book Reviews, and What Makes a Good Book?
• School Geography [The Open University] – Learn new trends in how geography is taught in schools.
• Promoting Positive Development Among Youth [Tufts University] – This course uses theories from applied developmental science to help teachers of middle school and high school aged students understand how to communicate and motivate their students.