Category Archives: 1
Panel: Cell phones have much potential in classrooms | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com
Teachers are finding interesting and creative ways to include mobile phones in classroom instruction in an effort to bridge the divide between the technologies children use at home and what they use in school, education technology experts say.
Common Sense Media hosted a series of panel discussions April 21 that examined how mobile technology can both help and hinder children’s development and education.
Kipp Rogers, principal of Passage Middle School in Newport News, Va., said students at his school have used cell phones in class for the past three years. The practice began when he was teaching a math class and did not have enough calculators for every student during a test, until he realized he had a calculator on his PDA.
via Panel: Cell phones have much potential in classrooms | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com.
About | Untamed Science
When it comes to science, we’re an extremely passionate group of scientists, educators and filmmakers that have come to the conclusion that learning about science should be fun and easy. Anyone with a passion for nature can come to UntamedScience.com to learn about their favorite species, biology topics, and learn tips and tricks to make their own videos. And, to help teachers, we’ve integrated lesson plans into our content to make it as easy as possible for them to use the site in their classrooms.
Who We Are – About – explore – cultural and educational films and photos
explore is a multimedia organization that documents leaders around the world who have devoted their lives to extraordinary causes. Both educational and inspirational, explore creates a portal into the soul of humanity by championing the selfless acts of others.
explore’s growing library consists of more than 250 original films and 30,000 photographs from around the world. We showcase our work at film festivals, on over 100 public broadcast and cable channels, and on numerous online destinations including explore.org, Snag Films, Hulu and TakePart.
“At explore we are archivists,” explains founder Charles Annenberg Weingarten. “We strive to create films that allow the viewer to join us on our journey as we go on location and experience what unfolds. It’s like the viewers are traveling with the team.”
via Who We Are – About – explore – cultural and educational films and photos.
iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Simple Science
Simple Science is a collection of informative science music videos for use in the elementary classroom. The videos can be used to reinforce science learning objective and science concepts. The videos can be watched from the website for free or purchased on DVD. Simple Science video topics include: adapting, micro organisms, forces, changes, dissolving, how we see, changing circuits, keeping healthy, life cycles (flowers), gasses, water cycle, sun, earth, moon, changing sounds, moving and growing, habitats, keeping warm, solids vs. liquids, plants, friction, teeth, circuits and conductors, materials, rocks and soil, magnets and springs, light and shadows, air, atoms, DNA, Earth, electricity, insects, and magnetism. The format reminds me of School House Rock. Lyrics for all songs can be downloaded for students to follow along.
Education Week: Finding the Student’s ‘Price Point’
A couple of weeks ago, I learned about “price points” by speaking at a conference for those who design hotels and restaurants. As many readers may know, the price point is the approximate amount someone is willing to pay for such things as kitchen cabinets, faucets, sinks, and bathroom tile. All of these commodities come in a zillion different shapes, sizes, materials, and—of course—prices. If a designer does not know the customer’s price point, too much time can be spent promoting a gold-plated door knob when a brass one will do. On the other side, the designer can annoy a customer by promoting something plastic when only brass is acceptable.
The Royal Treatment: Augmented Reality: The New Simulation
In a great conversation with Professor Patrick O’Shea, who has worked on the Handheld Augmented Reality Project with Harvard School of Education Professor Chris Dede, I learned the reality of augmented curriculum today. The interview was set up by the great folks at Qualcomm. Three years ago, I had written a story about Qualcomm’s Project K-Nect classrooms, which used smartphones to enhance curriculum and engage student collaboration in a safe way. At that time, Qualcomm was a pioneer in use of cell phones in schools. But this meeting, while it does involve mobile broadband, was about Augmented Reality or AR and student learning.
When Dr. O’Shea asked how much I knew about Augmented Reality, I said that what I knew was more game related, mostly avatar manipulation for science and math. So, in reality, I knew very little about what was new. Rather than using AR mapping techniques of the past, O’Shea’s model is designed to have students interact and manipulate their virtual environment. Much of that is helped by the development of better handheld devices and connectivity today. Students can really get involve virtually to solve problems and complete tasks using their avatars—in a fun, game-related way.
via The Royal Treatment: Augmented Reality: The New Simulation.
Going High-Tech in Lawndale – The Daily Breeze
The future is now in the Lawndale School District.
With the help of federal and private grants, the 6,200-student district has implemented computers and online learning technology in middle school classrooms. The aim, district officials said, is to make learning more accessible to students.
Teacher lectures are supplemented with digital presentations on interactive whiteboards, students complete work on laptop computers, and they turn in assignments online. All the while, work can be monitored by teachers and parents.
Texas debates online vs. print textbooks – UPI.com
AUSTIN, Texas, April 19 (UPI) — Policymakers and stakeholders in Texas are wrangling over whether printed textbooks should go extinct in favor of online learning.
Advocates say putting textbooks on the Internet will save money and promote the use of interactive lessons for today’s high-tech children. Adherents of traditional textbooks say cost-savings may be overstated, given the cost of maintaining computer systems, and poor children may be left out.
How Much Energy Does a Tweet Consume? | Fast Company
How much energy does it take to shoot off a single tweet? Not that much, according to Raffi Krikorian. Earth2Tech tells us that the Twitter developer recently gave a talk at Chirp entitled “Energy/Tweet,” where he claimed that a tweet consumes approximately 100 joules of energy (0.02 grams of CO2 emissions). That means Twitter’s carbon footprint is relatively low–the 50 million tweets sent out daily emit one metric ton of CO2. In 2006, a single American family emitted an average of 24 metric tons of CO2 from home energy use and transportation combined.
