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"Cardboard Creations Maker Education Camp utilized no technology (except for projecting images of example projects on the whiteboard) and low/no cost materials. Many of the discussions about and actions related to integrating maker education into educational environments center around the use of new technologies such computer components (Raspberry Pis, Arduinos), interactive robots for kids (Dash and Dot, Ozobots, Spheros), and 3D printers. These technologies are lots of fun and I facilitate Robotics and Computer Science with my gifted students and at one of my summer camps. The learners engaged in these high tech learning activities with high excitement and motivation. Such high excitement, engagement and motivation, though, were also seen at my low tech/low cost maker education camps: LED crafts, Toy Hacking and Making, and Cardboard Creations."

"Recently, my students gave me one of those golden moments in teaching.  Allow me to set the stage. We were over six weeks into a project-based life science unit in which students apply systems-thinking to closely examine the inner workings of a body system and relate that system to others as a subsystem. The set of standards housing our work is juicy with Crosscutting Concepts and ripe with potential for Science and Engineering Practices.  We began the unit exploring how cells themselves, a structure students often initially perceive as an end-all-be-all baseline to life, are instead a very complex system of subsystems.  That particular day, students were outlining components of their selected body system in preparation for writing  a podcast."

"Start the NEW YEAR the right way! For January we have one inspiring quote for you for every day of the month! Every morning, write down the positive quote of the day on a piece of paper, put it in your wallet so you can look at it a few times during the day. Write it on a post-it and hang it on your fridge or your computer. Take a picture and save it has your phone or computer background for the day! Make it your motto of the day! Share it! Every morning write down the quote of the day and make sure to hand that note to someone else on that day to spread more positive vibes and energies to those around you as well!"

"During CS Ed Week, countless teachers and students experienced computer science for the first time. Whether it was their first, second, or hundredth time, I hope that this taste of CS left them hungry for more. Code.org has created a great compilation of resources for how students can continue learning. In this post, I'd like to suggest some ideas for how teachers who are new(ish) to CS can go beyond the Hour of Code."

"Students are doing more reading on digital devices than they ever have before. Not only are many teachers using tablets and computers for classroom instruction, but many state tests are now administered on computers, adding incentive for teachers to teach digital reading strategies. But casual digital reading on the internet has instilled bad habits in many students, making it difficult for them to engage deeply with digital text in the same way they do when reading materials printed on paper."

"Five years ago, universities like MIT and Stanford first opened up free online courses to the public. Today, more than 700 schools around the world have created thousands of free online courses. Here are 250 Ivy League courses you can take online right now for free 250 MOOCs from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. medium.freecodecamp.com I've compiled this list of over 438 such free online courses that you can start this month. For this, I leveraged Class Central's database of over 7,000 courses. I've also included each course's average rating"

"Ed tech company Learning.com is partnering with Codesters, a platform for K-12 computer science instruction, to develop EasyCode Pillars, an online interactive curriculum that incorporates coding challenges and game design into the classroom to cultivate students' coding skills. This digital literacy resource is designed to offer students a dynamic, hands-on coding experience, while providing teachers with an easy instructional solution for use in the computer lab or in the classroom."

"Drawing on your phone or computer can be slow and difficult-so we created AutoDraw, a new web-based tool that pairs machine learning with drawings created by talented artists to help you draw. It works on your phone, computer, or tablet (and it's free!). So the next time you want to make a birthday card, party invite or just doodle on your phone, it'll be as easy and fast as everything else on the web."

"Computers intersect with every aspect of kids' lives, but most kids don't understand how they work. Through coding, students build essential literacy skills, gain an understanding of logic and sequence, and learn the mechanics of iteration. These tools support project-based learning and give students the freedom to create, collaborate, hack, remix, and tinker with their own unique designs. Using these picks, kids can unlock the logic of code and the basics of programming, turning computers into tools to make new things. If you're looking to begin coding lessons in your classroom, check out our Teaching Strategies for how to Get Started With Coding in Your Classroom."

"The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) this week named five technology trends to watch in the 2017-2018 school year. Serving approximately 100,000 teachers, administrators, ed tech specialists and other education stakeholders worldwide, ISTE has a comprehensive view of the K-12 education landscape and offers a unique perspective on emerging learning technologies, according to CEO Richard Culatta. "With improved connectivity and increasingly impactful educator professional learning around the use of technology, many students will have new experiences as the bell rings to start a new school year," Culatta said the announcement.   An ISTE educator from Wisconsin says coding can be taught to students as young as kindergarten. First, the organization called coding "the international language of problem-solving" and says every student will need to know the basics of computer science. "Teachers are helping students attain problem-solving skills by infusing coding and computational thinking into courses across the curriculum and encouraging students to become digital content creators," the organization wrote."

"Six years ago, universities like MIT and Stanford first opened up free online courses to the public. Today, more than 700 schools around the world have created thousands of free online courses. I've compiled this list of 430 such free online courses that you can start this month. For this, I leveraged Class Central's database of over 8,000 courses. I've also included each course's average rating."

"Last Friday, we mentioned how Google's artificial intelligence software DeepMind has the ability to teach itself many things. It can teach itself how to walk, jump and run. Even take professional pictures. Or defeat the world's best player of the Chinese strategy game, Go. The science of teaching computers how to do things is called Deep Learning. And you can now immerse yourself in this world by taking a free, 3-month course on Deep Learning itself. Offered through Udacity, the course is taught by Vincent Vanhoucke, the technical lead in Google's Brain team."

"In a few weeks, people around the world will celebrate Computer Science Education Week. Millions of kids and others will participate in an Hour of Code, a global call to action to spend an hour learning the basics of coding. Today, it's my privilege to announce that Microsoft has released a new Minecraft tutorial for Hour of Code, called Hero's Journey, that will be used in classrooms, at after-school programs, community centers and homes everywhere. The tutorial uses game elements loved by so many young people, and introduces a fun character called the Agent, to present computer science concepts in a fun and creative way. Learn more in a post today by Deirdre Quarnstrom, Minecraft Education general manager, and start planning your Hour of Code."

"Last year, I went to Nigeria with Mark Zuckerberg. One of the first stops on the trip was a program that taught kids how to code. When Zuckerberg entered the room, many of the young students had a hard time pulling themselves away from their projects, even to gawk at one of the world's richest men. Facebook's founder instead came to them. "What are you making?" he'd ask. And they would proudly say, "A game!" or whatever it was, and begin showing him how it works. Zuckerberg would stop them. "Show me the code!" he'd say, because, well, he's Zuckerberg, and any occasion is ripe for an ad hoc programming review. And that's when the kid would click on a menu that toggled from the game to the LEGO-like building blocks of a Scratch program. This happened several times, with kids ranging from ages 8 to 15. In every instance, the maker of a cool project could clearly show this famous visitor how he or she had methodically implemented a plan. Zuckerberg was clearly impressed. As we headed up the stairs to leave the building, Zuckerberg called out to me, "Scratch! Have you heard of this?" Oh, yes I had. Though it was not yet released to the world when Zuckerberg left Harvard to launch his quirky little startup, Scratch (developed just a couple of T stops away) is quickly becoming the world's most popular computer language for kids taking their first bite of programming. Last year, over 120 million people came to its site, and many of them built and shared projects, at a rate of a million a month. "It's the gateway drug for Silicon Valley engineering," says Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, a Scratch supporter."

"App Inventor is a free, cloud-based service that you access using a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). With these beginner-friendly tutorials, you will learn the basics of programming apps for Android devices. You will need:      * A Mac or Windows computer (see system requirements)      * A free Google account (Gmail or school email tied to Google      * An Android mobile device (phone or tablet). If you don't have a mobile device, you can still use App        Inventor with the on-screen Emulator To see your app on your phone as you build:      * Follow the instructions to connect your phone to App Inventor on your computer      * If you hit any snags, we're here to help! Teachers: Get support and tips for preparing for App Inventor hour of code with your students."

"Problem Solving through Computational Thinking for Educators, provides teachers with an understanding of what CT is, why it is important, and ways you can incorporate CT skills into your classrooms. Comprised of five distinct "bite-sized" learning modules that introduce the concepts behind CT will spark new ideas, expand teachers' skill sets, and provide concrete ways to help their students excel at critical thinking and problem solving. "