Group items tagged

"video of my talk on kids, privacy and social media ("A Skinner box that trains you to under-value your privacy: how do we make kids care about online privacy?")

"It doesn't seem to matter what age group or demographic that I talk to, kids (and adults) everywhere are fans of Angry Birds. As I was playing around with Angry Birds (yep I'm a fan too), I started thinking about all of the learning that could be happening. I have watched a two year old tell an older sister that "you have to pull down to go up higher". I have watched as kids master this game through trial and error. Being the teacher that I am, I started dreaming up a transdisciplinary lesson with Angry Birds as the base. I happened to be writing an inquiry lesson that has students look at inventions throughout time and thought: the catapult-that is an invention that has technology and concepts that are used even today. This is one of those inspirational moments that comes when you are drifting off to sleep and has you frantically searching for paper and pen to record as fast as the ideas come. So what did I do? I got myself out of bed and went to work sketching out a super awesome plan. Here is the embedded learning that I came up with"

"The reality is the power of social media is enormous. It's what students are using to make a difference, our president used to get elected, and what Egypt used to start a revolution. Educators must get over their fears lest they make themselves irrelevant and leave their students unprepared. As I shared in my post Being Safe Online Is Being Safe In Life, the lesson is this. It's not primarily having a social networking profile, or giving out personal information that puts kids at risk. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with strangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web like going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there, kind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil. As the post is titled, the rules for being safe online are really just the rules for being safe in life. "

"LOOP SCOOPS are short, funny videos to get YOU thinking about the stuff in your life and what this stuff can do to the environment. Each SCOOP tells the story of something you use or see everyday - a juice box, a magazine, an electronic gadget, a glass of juice, a pile of garbage. We hope the videos will get you thinking in new ways and asking new questions, like: What is this made of? Where did it come from? Who made it? What happens when I throw it away? The SCOOPS are also special sneak peaks into a mysterious Top Secret project. We can't tell you much about this project-it's a surprise-but we can tell you that there are a bunch of kids, a mysterious and powerful video game, and a ton of adventure in a magical world.

Great search engine for kids!

"Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal."

The video is a great example of what kids are able to do with Minecraft and what educational value can be derived.  And kudos to Ethan's teacher for being open-minded enough to accept a Minecraft creation in lieu of a traditional history project.

"Welcome to the distribution center for BYOB (Build Your Own Blocks), an advanced offshoot of Scratch, a visual programming language primarily for kids from the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. This version, developed by Jens Mönig with design input and documentation from Brian Harvey, is an attempt to extend the brilliant accessibility of Scratch to somewhat older users-in particular, non-CS-major computer science students-without becoming inaccessible to its original audience. BYOB 3 adds first class lists and procedures to BYOB's original contribution of custom blocks and recursion. "

"Do you learn from your mistakes? Many don't. Different people deal with their own flaws, foibles and flat-out wrong-doings very differently. Healthy people look carefully at their screw-ups and learn whatever they can. Others ignore or minimize their errors, or worse, start blaming circumstances or someone else for whatever it is they did badly. But those who can examine their own mistakes learn more than others. Period. They learn more skills, more deeply and more quickly. "

"Welcome to MinyanLand, home of Hoofy the Bull and Boo the Bear. In our cool little town you get to play games and make friends, while you learn about earning, saving, spending and giving. Remember, MinyanLand is free for everyone to use! "