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"Last week, Mona Lisa smiled. A big, wide smile, followed by what appeared to be a laugh and the silent mouthing of words that could only be an answer to the mystery that had beguiled her viewers for centuries. A great many people were unnerved. Ars Technica Join Ars Technica and Get Our Best Tech Stories DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX. SIGN ME UP Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy Mona's "living portrait," along with likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dali, and others, demonstrated the latest technology in deepfakes-seemingly realistic video or audio generated using machine learning. Developed by researchers at Samsung's AI lab in Moscow, the portraits display a new method to create credible videos from a single image. With just a few photographs of real faces, the results improve dramatically, producing what the authors describe as "photorealistic talking heads." The researchers (creepily) call the result "puppeteering," a reference to how invisible strings seem to manipulate the targeted face. And yes, it could, in theory, be used to animate your Facebook profile photo. But don't freak out about having strings maliciously pulling your visage anytime soon. "Nothing suggests to me that you'll just turnkey use this for generating deepfakes at home. Not in the short-term, medium-term, or even the long-term," says Tim Hwang, director of the Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative. The reasons have to do with the high costs and technical know-how of creating quality fakes-barriers that aren't going away anytime soon."

"Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There's great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained reading of materials they select for pleasure. But not all schools consistently offer this opportunity for all of their students. We regularly hear from teachers and teacher librarians who are concerned about the state of silent reading in schools. They're worried students don't have enough opportunity to enjoy sustained reading in school. This is important, as many children do not read at home. For some young people, silent reading at school is the only reading for pleasure they experience."

"We would love to hear what you are doing with coding within your school community. What programs and apps are you using? What books and eResources are you using? When does it take place? Are they coding at home to? Do you have special clubs? Give us the scoop....We will be sharing these stories in an upcoming webinar. Thank you so much, Shannon"

"Creativity is at the heart of a makerspace. The possibilities are endless and the supplies in a makerspace can spark ideas. One of my favorite creativity-fueling components of our makerspace is a Makey Makey, or as they're known as - an invention kit for everyone. The Makey Makey comes in a simple box with very little instructions. For non-techies, the wires and alligator clips could scare people from exploring. So, let's break this down, because there is no reason to fear the unknown. Picture The Makey Makey comes with a circuit board (your home base), a USB connector to connect to your computer, and alligator clips and wires (these help you connect and create). All of these components allow you to connect back to your computer to control what's happening on screen through the USB cord. You can connect the wires in any combination you'd like to work with different programs on your computer. "

"Today's teachers are key to the next generation's success. Barefoot supports primary educators with the confidence, knowledge, skills and resources to teach computer science. Resources aligned to the curricular for all UK nations. This includes FREE high-quality lesson plans and local CPD Workshops, all designed to help teachers gain confidence in bringing computer science to life in the classroom. CAS and BT are working together to support teachers in delivering the computing curriculum. BT - Barefoot Computing is part of BT's commitment to help build a culture of tech literacy and use the power of communications to make a better world. Find out more at www.techliteracy.co.uk CAS - For teachers who have found Barefoot Computing the first entry point on their CPD journey, Computing At School can be found by clicking here http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/"

"Songza is a music discovery service designed to play the perfect tune for whatever mood or activity you are doing. Think about Pandora and how it designs its stations based off of other artists and songs. Songza does the same thing, but bases its music off of activities such as "Relaxing at Home" or "Cooking." Let's find out more after the jump."

"Not so long ago, video games in the classroom were limited to educational computer games that taught skills like multiplication or parts of speech. A growing number of teachers, however, are integrating the popular games kids play at home (such as "Angry Birds," for example) into their curriculums. What's more, researchers say that video games can be a powerful path to learning since they allow kids to grow from their mistakes, develop problem-solving skills and find internal motivation."

"Projects in the classroom are as old as the classroom itself. "Projects" can represent a range of tasks that can be done at home or in the classroom, by parents or groups of students, quickly or over time. While project-based learning (PBL) also features projects, in PBL the focus is more on the process of learning and learner-peer-content interaction that the end-product itself."

"Everyone makes mistakes and children are no exception. What's important is how we learn from them. Yet, children grow up in a society that pressures them to be perfect and intelligent - to achieve the highest SAT scores, land prized scholarships, and get into the best universities. Parents reinforce this pressure at home when they cover up children's mistakes, correct homework to improve grades, or drill knowledge into kids until they get it right. Stress is increased when children are constantly praised for their intelligence. How does this focus on perfection and IQ affect learning? And how can we help children and teens believe in themselves by accepting their mistakes and learning from them?"

"Many schools will ask students to bring their own smartphones, tablets and laptops from home as a federal government program which gave every student in years 9 to 12 access to a computer expires at the end of this month."

"Chris Hadfield is making us love space again. He tweets, snaps stunning photos, and regularly connects with folks back home as he hurtles around the earth at 28,000 km an hour aboard the International Space Station. Hadfield is the first Canadian commander ever of one of the most complex and sophisticated examples of human technology ever built. "

"The National Association for Child Development and Blue Whale Apps have announced the release of their breakthrough app aimed at assisting children and adults with speech and articulation. The application, "Speech Therapy for Apraxia-Words," which is part of their NACD Home Speech Therapist line, is now available on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, and Barnes & Noble App Store for the iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook, and Android Tablets."

"Kids love learning about science with Bill Nye The Science Guy. Now they can learn about science with Bill Nye on his iPad app. The Bill Nye The Science Guy iPad app is a free iPad app on which students can watch Bill Nye videos, play games, and discover kitchen table science experiments to do at home with their parents. "

"Are you looking for a fun, hands-on activity to teach basic programming and maker skills at home or in the classroom? Arduino, and specifically, Arduino UNO are an excellent tool to teach and apply basic electronics and robotics skills."

"There's plenty of excitement surrounding virtual reality's applications in education. Teachers and administrators attending the ISTE 2016 Conference and Expo, for instance, flocked to the Samsung Gear VR and Google Expeditions displays to try their hand at the companies' respective VR teaching tools. Despite the interest, VR hasn't yet found a home in most schools. According to statistics cited in a recent Samsung infographic, only 2 percent of teachers use VR content in their classrooms. The data comes from a 2016 survey of more than 1,000 K-12 teachers. Survey results also indicate that educators would like to use VR to complement coursework in a variety of subjects, particularly science, history and social studies. Eight-three percent of teachers believe the technology could help improve student outcomes in those and other areas."

I can't tell you how excited I am… February's going to be BIG!! There are 28 days (plus an extra for leap year this year) pack-filled with hands-on STEM activities for kids.  I've partnered with some of my favorite bloggers and here's a little math to show you just how BIG this is…  60 activities + 29 bloggers = an AHmazing month of hands-on science, tech, engineering & math for your kiddos at home and in the classroom. We've broken it down into four different hot topics: STEM Goes Green, STEM Challenges, Coding for Kids and STEM On a Budget.  So bookmark this page & come back each day to see the next project!"

"So how can teachers prepare for this surge of computer science in the classroom and integrate it into their curriculum in a meaningful way? It starts with understanding that technology is a tool-a means to accomplishing an end, but not an end itself. It's important to not just leverage technology for technology's sake. There needs to be a purpose behind it. For example, besides simply having iPads in the classroom, schools need to have goals in place for using them. Perhaps the goal is enabling kids to create with the iPads-like build their own apps-versus simply reviewing materials on the device. Through our work helping students, teachers and parents around the world embrace technology in the classroom and at home, I've learned some best practices for maximizing the opportunities that technology education offers:"

""You may think you are prepared for a post-truth world, in which political appeals to emotion count for more than statements of verifiable fact," writes Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for The Washington Post. "But now it's time to cross another bridge-into a world without facts. Or, more precisely, where facts do not matter a whit." ADVERTISEMENT Because I teach American history, government, and journalism in high school, Sullivan's words hit close to home. I spoke with my students about Mary Beth Hertz's Edutopia post "Battling Fake News in the Classroom," and I sensed that many of my students, while skilled at what Hertz fittingly calls "crap detection," were still deeply troubled by what they characterized as a growing public aversion to the truth. When politicians and thought leaders can't or won't agree on a basic set of facts, how can we motivate students for the noble pursuit of truth and help them see why it still matters?  "

" Seymour Papert, whose ideas and inventions transformed how millions of children around the world create and learn, died Sunday, July 31, 2016 at his home in East Blue Hill, Maine. He was 88."

"Science is one of those subjects that really excite students because they get to see cause and effect, they get to create, record and then document results and they get to manipulate the variables that produce the data. Students then get to make connections between what they do and the real world. Add an iPad, a series of carefully chosen apps and a couple of probes and you can make all of these observations happen in a mobile environment - outside, at home or even on an excursion. I would love to be a student in a classroom with these tools!"