Katrina Schwartz
KQED Public Media
Chicago, IL, United States
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Past articles by Katrina:
Bay Area: Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From?
For most of us in the Bay Area, the journey our water takes to reach us is hidden from view. It travels long distances, sometimes more than a hundred miles! That can leave us disconnected from the source. We go about our days oblivious to how precarious our water resources might be. → Read More
Wait, There Was A Volcano in the East Bay Hills?
Learn about the history of our very own Bay Area volcano: The remnants of it are in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the East Bay hills. → Read More
End of an Era: No More Toll Takers on Bay Area Bridges
Bay Area bridge toll takers are a thing of the past. The state removed them from their booths as a COVID-19 safety precaution, but is now using the abrupt change to speed up the move to all-electronic tolls. → Read More
The Bay Area Has a Housing Crisis (Obviously.) Could Prefab Be the Answer?
The Bay Area need more affordable housing. But high labor and land costs, complex financing, and complicated restrictions make it hard to build. Some experts think modular housing could help. → Read More
How a Berkeley Police Chief Gave Rise to the Modern Force
August Vollmer was Berkeley's first police chief and is credited with pioneering many common aspects of policing used today. Like many historical figures, however, some of his contributions have a darker side too. → Read More
The Story Behind the Golden Gate Bridge's New Howl
Have you heard the strange, ethereal noise coming from the Golden Gate Bridge? → Read More
The Unassuming East Bay Beach Strewn With Ceramic Treasures
A local beach strewn with shards of pottery is the last vestige of the Technical Porcelain and Chinaware Company, at one time El Cerrito's largest employer, that pumped out tableware for famous local restaurants for 50 years. → Read More
How Coronavirus Is Affecting Public Transit, and What That Means for You
Transit operators have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue since shelter-at-home orders were imposed in March. It's going to take an infusion of cash or a lot of time to recover. → Read More
Why Focusing On Adult Learning Builds A School Culture Where Students Thrive
Teachers and administrators in Monterey, California experimented with strategies to build school cultures where the adults are always learning and transferring that excitement and willingness to take risks to students. → Read More
Relationships Are Important. How Do We Build Them Effectively With Kids?
It's an education cliche to say that relationships are at the center of learning. But what tools can teachers use to actually build strong relationships with their students? Kent Pekel of the Search Institute has spent his life researching that question. → Read More
How the #DisruptTexts Movement Can Help English Teachers Be More Inclusive
The dominance of white-authored texts in school curriculum makes it hard for students of color and those in underrepresented groups to connect with the stories. The #DisruptTexts movement seeks to guide educators to develop a more inclusive and relevant canon. → Read More
Three Simple Tech Tools to Make Math Thinking Visible
High school math teacher Stacey Roshan explains how she uses technology to better personalize learning for each student, build relationships, and lower stress and anxiety levels. → Read More
Tips And Tricks Parents Can Use To Nurture a Love of Reading in Kids
Raising kids to love reading often comes down to forming habits, family norms and intrinsic motivation. A lot of it starts by parents modeling their own love of books. → Read More
Why Teachers Are So Excited About the Power Of Sketchnoting
Many teachers are using sketchnoting or "doodling for learning" in their classrooms as a way to make thinking visible. Many are finding the practice improves memory, engagement and comprehension. → Read More
Why Deeply Diving Into Content Could Be the Key to Reading Comprehension
Natalie Wexler contends that elementary schools have been teaching reading comprehension as a bundle of skills that can be applied to any text. In reality, cognitive scientists have known for years that knowledge and vocabulary play an outsized role. → Read More
How Art Can Help Center a Student’s Learning Experience
Art has often been relegated as an additional activity in schools. But schools that put art at the center of a child's learning experience through arts integration are seeing kids thrive. → Read More
Why Intentionally Building Empathy Is More Important Now Than Ever
Empathy is eroding, says Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki. The average American in 2009 was 30 percent less empathetic than their counterpart thirty years before. But there are ways to strengthen our empathy despite deep divisions in the world today. → Read More
Is Homework Valuable? Depends on the Grade. Teachers Share Their Approaches
Teachers and researchers agree that homework in elementary school doesn't correlate to better academic achievement. In the older grades, the research is mixed, but cognitive science offers ideas for how to make any homework you assign more effective. → Read More
Teaching 6-Year-Olds About Privilege and Power
Privilege and power play out in the world all around us every day. And kids notice. First-grade teacher Bret Turner has decided not to avoid the difficult conversations and questions his students bring to class. Instead, he's weaving discussions of things like racism and gender inequality into everything he does. → Read More
Your Strategies For Supporting Anxious Kids At Home And At School
Parents and teachers in the MindShift community share their tips and strategies for helping anxious kids succeed at school and in life. → Read More