Education
Great minds lead to great solutions. Our education section features solutions and innovations directed at strengthening educational systems around the world.
A daycare built a 'forest floor', and it changed kids' immune systems
Time in nature is valuable for children’s physical and mental health, so one daycare in Finland decided to invest in a playground that replicated the forest floor. The results were amazing. Adding indigenous forest species to the playground The daycare replaced their sandy playground surface Read More...
7 clever ways to give your old egg cartons new life
While it’s possible to recycle old egg cartons, there are many ways you can repurpose cartons in order to give them a second life before being recycled. With that in mind, here are 7 simple ways to reuse egg cartons. Starting seeds Cardboard egg cartons have perfectly sized compartments for Read More...
A reader’s dream: Have a look at the world’s most stunning libraries
The powerful thing about books is that once you open one up, it can transport you to an entirely different world. Where you read your book doesn’t necessarily matter—the book will bring you to new places and new pools of knowledge. With that said, there’s nothing quite like visiting a Read More...
How a rickshaw driver’s son beat the odds to join a famed UK ballet school
Kamal Singh was 17-years-old when he first became transfixed by ballet dancers in a Bollywood film. At that moment, the son of a rickshaw driver in Delhi knew that he wanted to become a ballet dancer himself. Four years later, Singh has become one of the first Indian students to be admitted into Read More...
Research says arts and STEM depend on same type of creative thinking
Are you a math person or a writing person? Right-brained or left? New research indicates that the two might be more interconnected than we might have thought. Although we often think of arts and science as opposites, it turns out the same type of creative thinking is critical for both. A new Read More...
How a single Japanese tourist got to enter Machu Picchu alone
Like many of us have experienced in the past months, Japanese tourist Jesse Katayama had his vacation plans ruined due to the coronavirus pandemic. Back in March, Katayama, a native of Osaka, arrived in Peru with the dream of visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu—the ancient Inca citadel. But when Read More...
Iconic rock band performs live concert in socially distant bubbles
Social distancing at a live rock concert may sound like a pipe dream, but the iconic rock band The Flaming Lips recently proved otherwise. On Monday, the band performed its first concert since the coronavirus pandemic started for a live audience in Oklahoma City, where everyone was entirely Read More...
Philippines teachers start call center to help struggling remote students
To contain the spread of the coronavirus, schools in the Philippines have remained closed since lockdown ensued in March. This has pushed virtually all of the country’s students to continue their education online. Concerned that virtual learning may become a struggle for students, a local Read More...
Get lost in these incredible x-ray images of the universe
You would only need to be subscribed to the Optimist Daily for a little while to know we are geeks for outer space. That’s why we were over the moon when NASA released a gallery of jaw-dropping imagery of the universe captured by telescopes from around the world. The gallery is a “treasure Read More...
Archaeologists in Egypt unveil 59 coffins that date back millennia
Archaeologists in Egypt recently announced the exciting discovery of 59 well-preserved and sealed wooden coffins dating back to more than 2,500 years ago. The extraordinary discovery took place in the desert necropolis of Saqqara, believed to have served as an extensive burial ground for Memphis, Read More...