Group items tagged

"Since its publication in 1956, Bloom's Taxonomy has been a foundation of most modern education systems. While the overarching principles have remained the same, changes in understanding, experience and technology have seen the Taxonomy take on a number of different forms, for a number of different purposes and applications. The below overview shows the progression of Bloom's Taxonomy, how each thinking skill applies in practice, and examples of activities using digital tools."

"The classroom is changing. Well, the students in our classrooms are changing. Our students are connected. This is not about particular devices or apps. Their connectedness is their ability to share and collaborate with anyone at anytime for a given purpose, whether it be to find information or to collaborate on a project. Our students are doing this without adults. As responsive educators, we need to understand this shift. We are asking our connected students to drop their devices at the door, walk into the classrooms we grew up in, and thrive in an ever-changing, connected world. Is this what is best for our students?"

"Research Says / Evidence on Flipped Classrooms Is Still Coming In"

"In spite of the before-mentioned dynamics, Kindergarten classrooms are really magical places where kids are able to collaboratively and independently create and design. Kids move like a well-oiled machine from one center to the next with very little if any teacher direction. These students, most of whom have never been a part of such madness, are able to find structure and are able to be trusted to do the right thing. Students are able to 'playfully work together and learn about the creative process: how to imagine new ideas, try them out, test the boundaries, experiment with alternatives, get feedback from others, and generate new ideas based on their experiences.' Kindergarten classrooms are a hotbed for makers and the maker movement. Kindergarten classrooms are spilling over with exploration and discovery. Kindergarten classrooms beam with pride as kids put their best efforts forward to please their teachers and expand their knowledge of the world. Kindergarten classrooms are indeed a magical place. "

"iPads are amazing learning instruments that can improve instruction and student engagement dramatically. Those of us privileged enough to work in 1:1 iPad classrooms can attest to that. But lets be realistic: most classrooms around the world do not have access to the funds and resources necessary to equip a full classroom with iPads for each student. There are numerous teachers who have access to only one iPad at school, or they just own an iPad and think it would be a great idea to be able to use in the classroom. Luckily, there are several EdTech tools teachers can use in the One iPad Classroom in order to create lessons that are exciting, and provide unique educational experiences for all students."

"Good news! Explain Everything is finally available on the iPhone.  After tinkering with it a little bit on my iPhone I found it really amazing. It syncs seamlessly with iPad version and provides almost the same features you will find on iPad."

"Over the last couple of months, Google added several new updates and features to Google Drive the latest of which is the New Google Drive. As you know, Drive is full of tons of hidden gems that allow you to enhance your productivity beyond measures. One of the features I like the most of about Drive is the third party extensions. Some of these add-ons are really wonderful and add way more functionality to Drive. In today's post, I am sharing with you two examples of good extensions to use in Google Drive. "

"St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School hosted Miami Device, a conference held on their campus November 6 & 7, 2014. Felix Jacomino, the school's Director of Technology, managed to lead a team that pulled off an incredible learning event. The speakers, sessions, food, venue, and even the name tags surpassed all expectations. The opening keynote speaker was Kevin Honeycutt.  Kevin's wisdom, humor, expertise, kindness, charm, and wit set the stage for the two days. I had the privilege of being the closing keynote speaker. I had a great time encouraging educators to give students as much ownership over their devices and learning as possible. "

"Nobody likes hearing their own voice played back. Now there is a science to why this is, but it really is no excuse for avoiding the time saving, class improving and future embracing process that is screencasting. And with amazingly simple, adaptable and free tools such as Screencast-O-Matic the excuses are even more thin on the ground. Just a matter of clicking a link and hitting record, it's easy to see why Screencast-O-Matic is the number one pick for screencasting educators everywhere."

"Below is a set of good iPad apps that you can use with your kids and students to enhance their mathematical thinking. These apps are meant for young learners and are specifically useful when introducing kids to those rudimentary notions of mathematical computations. The purpose of teaching kids to think mathematically, as detailed in Kaye Stacey's paper, is three folds: First, it will allow kids to conduct mathematical investigations by themselves. Second, it will help them acquire other thinking skills particularly problem-solving and as mathematician Paul Halmos (1980) stated, 'problem solving is the heart of mathematics'. Third, it helps kids get a deeper appreciation of mathematics and use it in their daily and working lives."

The following blog post is part of the Alliance's Future Ready blog post series. The Future Ready initiative working...

The following blog post is part of the Alliance's Future Ready blog post series. The Future Ready initiative working...

"While NASA is well known for its cutting edge space exploration and technology, the organization actually does an amazing job sharing their inspiring advances with educators and students through a huge number of STEM focused mobile apps and websites. Their flagship app, the 'NASA App' continues to be one of the most popular government apps and while it has been around for a few years now, it continues to grow in popularity with an ever expanding media catalogue and regular feature updates."

"One of the things I love about being connected on social media is that I get new ideas for my teaching practically every day. It must have been three or four years ago, when I was on Twitter and I saw an educator (apologies for not remembering who it was!) posting about using story cubes in class and then a lot of teachers got into the Twitter discussion, talking about how there were using them in class, others said they were also discovering them then and there like me…I found it a brilliant idea and they work a treat, not only with Young Learners, but also with my teenage students - I have also used them with adults and they loved them!"