5 Things to Do Before School Starts

The new school year is almost here, which means it’s time to prepare and get back into your academic habits. If enjoying your summer break has resulted in you postponing your preparations until the last minute, you’re not alone. Here are some things that will help you be ready for the new year:

Read through your syllabi

Chances are, your teachers have made their syllabi for their courses available well ahead of the new academic year. The first step in being prepared for these new classes is to read through these documents and become familiarized with the schedule, concepts you’ll be learning, and the expectations your teacher will have of you.

Review notes from last year

Too often, students will leave their previous learnings in the past. This only puts you at a disadvantage in your new classes. Going to school is all about building on what you’ve learned, so make a point to spend part of your day reviewing older notes, lesson documents, and tests so you can put your best foot forward this year.

Pick out school supplies you like

There are countless supply options available to students nowadays. It’s a much better option to spend a little extra money on supplies that you like and will last than it is to get cheaper materials that will wear out quickly. If you have all of the materials you’ll need to help you make sense of the content you’ll be learning, you’ll be more likely to receive great grades.

Make sure your summer assignments are completed

Some courses require that you read certain books or complete certain assignments before the course starts. If your teacher has assigned a project like this, there’s a reason. If you want to be on solid footing at the beginning of your course, make sure that this work is done and that you have questions prepared for discussion once the class starts.

Evaluate your wardrobe

There’s a reason there’s a season for school clothes shopping. Bodies change and clothing wears out, so take some time soon to double check that you have all the apparel you’ll need to be comfortable and successful this year. If your school has a dress code, make sure the items you’ll be wearing align with it.

The summer holiday is almost over, so once you feel well-prepared for the new academic year, enjoy the rest of your break. It’s important that you begin your classes with a clear and focused mindset. Enjoy the summer and good luck!

4 Ways to Stay Focused While Learning Remotely

COVID-19 has turned the public’s educational expectations upside down. Despite the uncertainty, the nation’s teachers will continue to do excellent work with their students; though the scope of this will likely continue to be different from traditional setups. The biggest change that has been implemented is the use of remote learning. Adjusting to this method of education can be a challenge, so read on for some tips on how to stay focused:

Maintain a regular sleep schedule

Staying at home can really mess up your routine if you’re not careful. When your home becomes your place for both relaxation and school/work, it can be hard to keep track of what you’re supposed to be doing and when. Mitigate the effects of this by going to sleep and waking up at a set time every morning/night. Your executive functioning will improve and you’ll be able to accomplish more throughout your studies.

Establish a routine

If your classes are held virtually at the same time throughout the week, use a scheduling/agenda app to put that information in your phone. Schedule breaks in between classes, as well as blocks of time that you will use to complete your homework. Getting yourself in the habit of completing specific tasks at specific times of the day will help you focus.

Eat well

Our brains need us to eat healthy food on a regular basis in order to function well. When you establish your routine, set designated times throughout the day for you to eat a balanced meal. Staying energized will keep your brain focused while taking notes, doing homework, attending virtual classes, and studying remotely.

Cut out distractions

Just as your teacher would expect you to have your phone put away during class, you should have that expectation for yourself as well. Learning remotely can tempt you to look at your phone or other tabs on your browser when you’re supposed to be studying, but this behavior will only set you behind. Instead, only keep necessary windows open on your computer and set your phone to “do not disturb” mode. Better yet, keep your phone in a different room until it’s time for a break.

Learning remotely may be a new situation to get used to, but it doesn’t have to be a major headache. If you need help focusing, follow these tips and always remember to reach out to your teachers or counselors for assistance! You’ve got this!

4 Ways Technology is Revolutionizing Education

In order to foster intelligence and innovation across future generations, the world of education is constantly changing. As technology evolves, it brings about new and exciting avenues for educators to give their students the most fulfilling and successful learning experiences possible. Here are some examples:

Analytics

Data is an invaluable tool. Modern analytics allow teachers to discover which methods are successful in their classroom, as well as which approaches may need adjusting or eliminated altogether. In addition, teachers across the world can share their data with each other. This gives them fresh and new ideas to implement every year. When teachers keep fresh perspectives, they’re sure to come up with consistently innovative and engaging practices.

Remote instruction

The internet has managed to bring education by qualified teachers right to our homes. This shift in possibilities has opened up doors for students across the world. It has also allowed the nation’s educational system to keep functioning during the midst of the 2020 pandemic. Even outside of these aspects, being able to receive instruction or tutoring at home can, for many students, foster a stronger sense of comfort and ease during their learning experiences, making them more capable of retaining information.

Project management platforms

Platforms like these are often used by team members in a professional work setting, but teachers have begun applying them in their classrooms as well. These programs can help students keep track of their individual assignments, as well as encourage productive collaboration with their classmates regarding group projects. These tools are especially valuable to high school and university students, since their studies and assignments are more complex than those of students in elementary and middle grades.

Educational games

It’s no secret that students are much more receptive to learning when the material is presented in a way that interests them. This is especially true for younger students. Board and card games have been used by teachers for years, but with the evolution of technology, countless apps and programs specifically designed for this purpose have become available.

By the time we reach the middle of the century, there’s no telling what the world of education will look like. While some school districts may resist technological advancements, over time, a majority of schools and universities will keep pace. With time, learning will only become more interesting, which will engage more students than ever and bring the societies of our world to new heights! How exciting!

4 Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding Your Career Path

Throughout your life, you’ll hear people all around you telling you which career you should choose and why. Despite everyone’s opinions, you are the expert on what kind of profession would bring you the most fulfillment. If you’re having trouble deciding which direction to go, ask yourself these questions:

“Will this job allow me to live the lifestyle I want?”

A job likely shouldn’t be chosen on just the factor of how much it pays, but it is definitely one of the major aspects to consider. Part of living a fulfilling life means being able to live comfortably at home in whatever way is most meaningful to you. Keep these goals in mind when beginning a new professional endeavor.

“Will this career bring me joy?”

Many people dread going to work, but this doesn’t have to be the case for you. You’re at a prime opportunity to shift your life into a direction that could bring you true happiness. If you are excited to participate in your chosen field, getting up for work on a daily basis will be a breeze. Choosing a career you love will provide you with a sense of freedom – don’t overlook this.

“Will I be able to have a healthy work-life balance?”

For most people, working a fulfilling job means having solid boundaries between their professional and personal lives. Being overworked will take away from time you have with your family and friends, likely lowering your overall happiness. If you’re not given enough work, it could affect your financial health, which would also lower your happiness. Aim for a career that will encourage prosperity in all aspects of your life.

“What are the major pros and cons of this career field?”

Research is incredibly important when you’re choosing a new career. If you know people who work in the specific field you’re considering, ask them what they love most about their jobs and what they would like to change about them. If you don’t know many people in the field, research reviews and discussions online regarding the topic. You’ll likely find a lot of input from professionals all around the world.

Beginning a new career is an exciting endeavor and likely seems daunting at first glance. It doesn’t have to be. If you clearly understand what you want from your new path and do the research required to get a good grasp on what the field can bring to your life, you’ll be able to make a sound decision for yourself. Good luck!

Why High-Quality 2D Games Sell Much Better Than High-Quality 3D Games- And Why There’s A Lack Of Them

By Ethan S., Age 15

If you think about some of the best selling indie (independent developer) hits, you’ll probably come up with a list that includes “Hyper Light Drifter,” “Undertale,” etc.; this is due to the fact that high-quality 2D games perform really well. However, there is a relative lack of memorable 2D games as compared to 3D games. Yet it isn’t so much of a lack of good 2D games but a lack of good 2D games surfacing from under the ocean of 3D games.

The reason 2D games do much better is because of how handcrafted they are. There is an abundance of high-quality 3D games because of how many prebuilt assets game engines have for them. On the Unity asset store, a place to buy models and software to help your game, there are many 3D assets (and not many 2D character or environment assets). Generally, this is because of how custom a 2D game needs to be. In a 2D game, you could have the creatures of your wildest dreams. It is easier to get these crazy creatures in 2D- but there’s not many assets. You need to draw the character yourself, which is pretty hard for some developers like myself, who aren’t the best at art. With a 3D game, most people make the characters humanoid, so developers make a lot of models for 3D human clothing and similar items. They also tend to follow a hyper-realistic art style and shooter-type gameplay, so there are plenty of assets for that. 3D gaming also includes many advances in graphics. Game players want to look at high-quality graphics, so they look at games like “Far Cry 5.” Developers thus make the obvious choice and switch to 3D games.

That abundance of 3D games contributes to the lack of 2D games. However, there is another side to the equation; some of the 2D games, because of the lack of resources, make quick, bad 2D games with garbage graphics. 2D games like Undertale perform so much better than 3D games because they’re handcrafted. 3D games tend to stick to a formula whereas 2D games are all over the board. Think of games like “Rayman’s Adventures” or “Regular Human Basketball.”

People are searching for different experiences in their games. When a good 2D game comes out, it could get popular a lot quicker in comparison to 3D games. Tons of good 3D games get suffocated by the wave of other “OK” 3D games. Because of the lack of good 2D games, well-designed 2D games stick out in the market. However, it seems to be getting better, as the Nintendo Switch store is full of them, and at least on the Nintendo Eshop the aren’t being drowned out.

5 Underrated Skills Programming Teaches

While knowing how to code is a skill that will get your foot in the door of a great career, there are other soft skills your studies will teach you that will help you become a more well-rounded person and team member. Coding is more than just a technical skill; it is a basis for becoming a knowledgeable and intuitive creator. The key to expressing this is to realize and incorporate these soft skills into your endeavors:

Empathy

Empathy is about more than understanding other people’s feelings and emotions. It also includes the ability to understand a person’s goals, intentions, and needs. This information is vitally important for you to understand when you begin a new project so that you can produce your best work (and perhaps make a solid professional connection along the way).

Logic

This one is a core soft skill that coding teaches. When you try to interpret or express information through written code, you adopt an analytical mindset that exercises your logic faculties on a regular basis. This will make you an even better problem-solver, both inside and outside of your coding projects.

Attention to detail

Knowing how to code requires you to understand how to create a comprehensive product, accounting for all of the small details that make a user’s experience as seamless and positive as possible. Learning this skill will also reaffirm your ability to notice errors and implement long-term solutions in correcting them.

Creativity

Understanding coding provides you with an expansive toolbox that you can use to express creative ideas through programs, apps, and other projects. This will lead to you creating some great results to showcase in your portfolio. If you have ideas and the skills in which to bring them to life, the possibilities are endless!

Perseverance

Coding is a challenge and can come with many frustrations throughout your various projects. However, staying consistent in your studies will teach you that you can make it through all of the roadblocks you may face and achieve your goals. It’ll also teach you that creating something successful requires time, patience, and commitment, which is a valuable concept for everyone to understand across all walks of life.

At first glance, the benefits of learning how to code seem very black and white, when in reality they are much more expansive than that. Many of the skills you will learn during your studies will transfer into your professional and personal lives, and will help you excel at being adaptable and successful!

5 Projects to Help Practice Coding

Learning how to code is a constant and productive challenge of wrapping your mind around new concepts, patterns, and possibilities. This means that just like any other skill, if you want to excel, you’ll need to practice! The idea of beginning your own projects may seem daunting, especially if your long-term goals are big, but the reality is that you don’t have to jump right into them. Read on for some smaller projects that will help you build your coding skills:

Create a mobile app

Being able to create interfaces that are friendly to mobile devices is a skill that is absolutely relevant to your field of study. HTML and CSS can be used to create interesting and appealing layouts that can be integrated into an Android or iOS app. When brainstorming for this project, feel free to start out with a basic concept, such as a countdown timer, recipe manager, or interactive to-do list.

Virtual pet simulator

For those who would like more cuteness in their life, building a virtual pet simulator is a great project to start out with. First, choose a creature you’d like to design, and then give your pet characteristics such as age, health, happiness, and a name. Another step toward making this project functional is to program your pet to have responses to stimuli. The more interactive you make your pet, the more fun this project will be!

Build a calculator

This is one of the most popular projects for beginners to try. It allows you to practice creating a layout, as well as implementing logic that reads the layout and processes information to produce a result. It’s a very simple project to start, but also provides a solid challenge in building your core skills.

Create a rock, paper, scissors game

This type of project requires you to account for both user input and random result generation, making it a great standard project to use for practice. It provides novice coders with the instant gratification of being able to play the game immediately after it is finished, which can go a long way in maintaining long-term inspiration.

Build a basic HTML5 website

This is a project that has the potential to be immensely educational. Creating a basic website requires you to combine your knowledge of basic design principles such as web hosting, file linking, and coding logic. This project could also be a great example of your work to put in your portfolio.
Learning to code requires you to build upon your skills regularly. The key to this is maintaining a regular flow of projects that challenge you to expand your knowledge and encourage you to believe that you have the power to learn as much about coding as you set your mind to!

4 Benefits of Working Remotely

The sudden circumstances that COVID-19 has created for businesses has required them to make changes quickly for the sake of their employees. One of these major changes is implementing remote work. While this type of work was already popular, its desirability has only increased in recent months, and for good reason. Here are a few reasons why you should consider continuing (or even beginning!) work from the comfort of your own home even after businesses begin returning to their offices:

Better work-life balance

Working from home really helps you be conscious of how many hours you dedicate to your job-related duties. If you’re known for overworking yourself, being home during the week will remind you of the other parts of your life that might want to make more time for. To make matters even better, many remote jobs offer the option of creating your own schedule, allowing you to more easily tend to the responsibilities of your personal life.

More job opportunities

Being a remote worker provides you with the ability to access professional opportunities across the country, not just the ones in your city. This can lead to better pay and benefits than what your local job market can provide. This benefit may be a bit difficult to reap while current travel restrictions are in place, since some remote positions require periodic business trips, but it will definitely be a great perk when circumstances begin to return to normal.

Less money spent

If you think about it, working in an office can add up a lot of extra expenses that you may not realize. Commuting to an office requires gas. The coffee you drink every morning costs money, and so do those breakfasts and lunches you may buy when you’re on-the-go every day. Working from home allows you to cut down on unnecessary expenses and will likely save you a lot of money in the long run.

A better workspace

While some employers may have restrictions on customizing your workspace in their building, you don’t need to worry about that when you create your own office. You can hang as many pictures of your loved ones as you want, as well as play music as loudly as you’d like. The ability to create your own comfortable office will allow you to relax and produce high-quality work.
While the pandemic has forced millions of workers to work remotely, there are many reasons apart from it to enjoy and continue this new trend. Go forth and discover all of the benefits and freedom it has to offer!

Advanced Machine Learning Techniques: K-Means Clustering Algorithm

By Camille D., Age 17

K-means clustering is one of the most widely used and straightforward machine learning algorithms. Its goal is to find groups or clusters within a set of data, the number of which is denoted by k. It is an iterative algorithm that partitions a dataset into subgroups such that the subgroups don’t overlap and each data point only has only one unique subgroup. Each cluster has a centroid, or its own arithmetic mean of all of its data points. Centroids can be used to label new data.

K-means clustering allows the user to find groups that have been created organically, rather than groups defined before the data comes up, making k-means an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm. The value of k itself, however, must be pre-defined.

Some applications of k-means clustering can be defining personalities based on interests, determining characteristics of images based on stages or categories of a disease, and dividing by activities on a mobile application or a website.

The two inputs to the algorithm are the value for k and the dataset. Centroids are first initialized by shuffling the dataset and then randomly selecting k data points to be centroids for each cluster. The algorithm then follows two iterative steps:

1. Data, centroid assignment

2. Centroid updating

Steps one and two are repeated until a terminal case is met (there is no change to the centroids, assignments of data points to clusters isn’t changing).

Something to note about choosing the value of k is that we can use something called the Elbow Method. For example, start by running k-means on a dataset for a range of values of k (i.e. 2 to 10), and for each value of k, calculate the sum of squared error (average within-cluster distance to centroid). If we were to plot the SSE for each value of k on a line plot, and we detect an inflection point, we would use the value of k at which that inflection point occurs. Here is an example of such a plot, showing the ideal value for k:

An example of k-means is as follows: suppose we have four objects that each have two attributes, and we want to group these objects into k = 2 clusters based on the two attributes.

We can represent these as coordinates in an attribute space below:

Suppose we want to use Object A and B as the centroids. Thus, the coordinates of the centroids are (2, 3) and (1, 4).

Next, use Euclidean distance to calculate the cluster centroid to each individual object. We will obtain a distance matrix at iteration 0:

Each column of this matrix represents the objects successively. The first row represents that object’s distance to Object A on the plot, and the second represents that object’s distance to Object B on the plot. Next, we do the actual clustering based on the minimum distance. We will define two clusters for each centroid as C1 and C2. For example, since Object A’s distance to itself is obviously smaller than Object B’s distance to Object A, Object A will belong to the C1.

Let’s define a new Group matrix, where the columns again correspond to each object, but their values will be assigned to either 0 or 1 based on whether they are in C1or C2. The rows correspond to each cluster successively.

Now that we have assigned data points to their clusters, we can compute the new centroids. Since C2 has only one member, which is Object B (1, 4) itself, the centroid will remain (1, 4). C1, however, has three members, so its new centroid will be the average coordinate of its three members:

We continue these two steps until the terminal case is reached, which, in this case, occurs when the number of elements in C1 is equal to the number of elements in C2.

Tech Tips to Increase Your Productivity

The pressure to produce more has become commonplace in most industries. Leading to less time to complete tasks and projects and more stress on workers. And since there isn’t a way to lengthen the day, not yet anyway, the key to getting your work done on time is efficiency. So, finding new methods to increase your productivity is vital in staying ahead in our modern busy world. Well, you’re in luck because we are going to provide four tech tips to make you a more efficient, productive worker.

Improved typing/keyboard shortcuts

Improving your typing speed and accuracy can make a big difference in your productivity. You may think you are a typing virtuoso, but even the slightest improvement can impact your output. Additionally, investing time to learn keyboard shortcuts will pay big productivity dividends. You’ll spend less time clicking and more time shortcutting your way to outstanding efficiency. Imagine if you will, putting together a proposal without looking at your keyboard and barely touching your mouse. Now that’s productivity.

Leverage the power of multiple monitors

Using only one monitor is so 20th century. According to a study conducted by NEC and the University of Utah, individuals using a two-monitor setup were 44 percent more productive than those using a single display. How about more than two monitors? That depends on your own personal needs. In most cases, two displays are sufficient.

Reduce distractions

As incredible technology is at increasing our productivity, the same cutting-edge machines tend to be great time wasters as well. Whether it’s the latest mobile game, or the temptation to see what’s happening on social media, distractions are everywhere. How can you navigate through this sea of diversions? First, put your phone away. Yes, smartphones are necessary for many occupations, but setting it aside for a time won’t lead to the end of the world. Also, consider avoiding social media while working. This includes watching videos of kittens and other hijinks. You’ll get more done, and you’ll still have plenty of time to watch your favorite YouTuber later.

Productivity Apps

If you want to produce more, and have fun, gamify your tasks. Productivity apps like Do It Now and Productivity Challenge Timer help you focus on the job at hand. Additionally, they provide a game-like user interface that motivates you to complete projects and stick to your goals. Seeing your progress will help you entertainingly stay on task. Being productive has never been so much fun.

Now that you are armed with these four useful tech tips, you’ll be more productive and maybe even have more fun. The best part, you don’t even need a time machine. Although that would be awesome.