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"About two decades ago The MIT Media lab introduced the concept of block-based programming. The idea was to develop an interface that allowed computer programs to be built by simply dragging and dropping puzzle blocks to represent complex programming constructs and commands. With this new method for teaching and learning computer science, the hugely popular Scratch platform was born. This approach lowered the bar for experimenting with programmatic thinking, making it possible for students to create interactive animations and small games without writing a single line of code. This simple concept removed the need to learn the syntax of a formal programming language, and made teaching and learning the basics of computer science accessible to younger learners and to teachers with no formal coding background. Outside of the classroom though, coding has always been, and still remains, a process of typing letters, numbers and symbols. This text-based programming, used in programming language such as C, Javascript and Python, requires coders to obey and conform to formal syntax. Despite the pain of dealing with typos in names of variables and inevitable syntax errors, no other coding method designed to be more "user friendly" has really caught on. Tools have been offered for managers to define business logic through a graphical user interface without writing lines of codes. Or for web developers to add interactive behaviors to their websites without learning Javascript. But in reality, neither of those substitute the power and flexibility of text-based programming. And with neither winning significant adoption, the demand for the classic skill of text-based coding continues to grow and grow."

"Regardless of whether you think every infant needs an iPad, I think we can all agree that technology has changed education for the better. Today's learners now enjoy easier, more efficient access to information; opportunities for extended and mobile learning; the ability to give and receive immediate feedback; and greater motivation to learn and engage. We now have programs and platforms that can transform learners into globally active citizens, opening up countless avenues for communication and impact. Thousands of educational apps have been designed to enhance interest and participation. Course management systems and learning analytics have streamlined the education process and allowed for quality online delivery. But if we had to pick the top ten, most influential ways technology has transformed education, what would the list look like? The following things have been identified by educational researchers and teachers alike as the most powerful uses of technology for learning. Take a look. 1. Critical Thinking In Meaningful Learning With Technology, David H. Jonassen and his co-authors argue that students do not learn from teachers or from technologies. Rather, students learn from thinking-thinking about what they are doing or what they did, thinking about what they believe, thinking about what others have done and believe, thinking about the thinking processes they use-just thinking and reasoning. Thinking mediates learning. Learning results from thinking. So what kinds of thinking are fostered when learning with technologies? Analogical If you distill cognitive psychology into a single principle, it would be to use analogies to convey and understand new ideas. That is, understanding a new idea is best accomplished by comparing and contrasting it to an idea that is already understood. In an analogy, the properties or attributes of one idea (the analogue) are mapped or transferred to another (the source or target). Single analogies are also known as sy

Read online, or download this book from NASA. Also a teacher's guide for K-2 and 3-4. "The IMAGERS (Interactive Multimedia Adventures for Grade School Education Using Remote Sensing) Program is NASAÕs comprehensive Earth science education resource for the introduction of remote sensing and satellite imagery to children in grades K-8." ""The Adventures of Amelia the Pigeon" was launched in the fall of 2002. Amelia is IMAGERS second interactive web site with multimedia components to engage the K-4 audience and illustrate Earth science concepts. The Pigeon Adventure presents science concepts through metaphors and analogies that relate to inner-city life. The use of a pigeon as the vehicle for the web site provides a metaphor familiar to inner-city children, and Amelia is utilized to introduce the concept of perspective. Through aerial photography created by Pigeon cameras, the web site focuses on the benefits of a birdÕs eye view. Throughout the interactive adventure portion of the web site, aerial and satellite imagery are used to demonstrate the advances of remote sensing through the century. Amelia the Pigeon presents new insights into habitats as she explores the urban environment of New York City."

Online, interactive, standards-based science curriculum www.science4us.com

"The space shuttle program may be over, but NASA's ability to inspire the next generation of science, technology, engineering and math experts is as strong as ever. On Tuesday they released a free iPad app, the Visualization Explorer, which "allows users to easily interact with extraordinary images, video, and information about NASA's latest earth science research." "

"People use the Scratch language to create interactive stories, games, and animations. Includes an active community to share projects. In the simplest terms, the Scratch language is a free programming language where you move blocks (also called bubbles) into a set order, then configure some of the blocks to create interactive stories, games, and animations."

"Thousands of schools are participating in Hour of Code, a global initiative to get more kids engaged in computer science. Tynker, a creative platform to help children develop programming skills, has launched 10 new coding activities to support the hour of code. Tynker's unique approach motivates students to learn because they can create their own characters, animate them, and rapidly build their own games and interactive stories, using visual block-based programming. The real excitement is best heard in the voices of students who previewed an Hour of Code with Tynker:"

"We are strong proponents of children learning to code, but we have concerns about the motivations and methods underlying many of these new learn-to-code initiatives. Many of them, motivated by a shortage of programmers and software developers in industry, focus especially on preparing students for computer science degrees and careers, and they typically introduce coding as a series of logic puzzles for students to solve. We co-founded the Scratch Foundation in 2013 to support and promote a very different approach to coding. For us, coding is not a set of technical skills but a new type of literacy and personal expression, valuable for everyone, much like learning to write. We see coding as a new way for people to organize, express, and share their ideas. This approach to coding is embodied in our Scratch programming software developed at the MIT Media Lab and available for free online. With Scratch, children ages eight and up snap together graphical programming blocks to create interactive stories and games with animated characters. They can share their projects in the Scratch online community, where others can try them out, give feedback and suggestions, and even revise and extend the projects with their own ideas."

Learning programming using Python - from U Waterloo - great for beginners to programming.

"Use the e-Textiles-in-a-Box tutorial and get ready to teach young people about electronics and computing. Based on the Computational Textiles Curriculum and Sew Electric from MIT, e-Textiles-in-a-Box provides instructions for sewing soft circuits and programming an Arduino microprocessor on the way to creating a bookmark book light and an interactive felt monster that lights up and sings. NCWIT is pleased to offer e-Textiles-in-a-Box in cooperation with the MIT High-Low Tech Group, and with funding from the National Science Foundation."

The purpose of NASA's Virtual Skies (VS) website is to provide an engaging, yet informal, way to present aviation topics to students. The target audience is high school students, although academically advanced middle schoolers and college students have also found the site useful. In addition, after school programs, home schools, and civil aviation clubs have successfully used Virtual Skies as a supplement to their regular educational and enrichment programs.

"Explore what kinds of important clues scientists can find on bones."

"A couple of years ago NOVA aired a program called How Does the Brain Work? The show explored what scientists currently know about the human brain and the research that will help us to know more about the human brain in the future. One of the online supplements to How Does the Brain Work? is this interactive collection of images of brain scans. The collection of images, titled Mapping the Brain, allows you to choose from six imaging methods and choose the part(s) of the brain that you want to see highlighted in the scans."

The Spang Gang Web Program Homepage. This is crazy busy but has many links to good resources