Group items tagged

"Even if your students are never going to become professional app developers, learning the fundamentals of programming can be helpful in understanding how software works. Learning programming basics also helps students develop a better understanding of "if, then" logic which can be applied to a wide variety of academic areas. Here are five iPad apps that can help students learn some programming basics."

"Now it's the phone's turn. The smartphone began with a promise of productivity. Its first "killer app," in the parlance of those developing for it, was email. Smartphones let us send messages without launching a computer; that's what made them smart. Web browsing followed, but the device was still seen as a surrogate for the computer at your desk-something to keep you productive while out in the world. Today, though, the phone has become something else. The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has turned into a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will affect our creative lives even more fundamentally."

"Finland's plans to replace the teaching of classic school subjects such as history or English with broader, cross-cutting "topics" as part of a major education reform have been getting global attention, thanks to an article in The Independent, one of the UK's trusted newspapers. Stay calm: despite the reforms, Finnish schools will continue to teach mathematics, history, arts, music and other subjects in the future. But with the new basic school reform all children will also learn via periods looking at broader topics, such as the European Union, community and climate change, or 100 years of Finland's independence, which would bring in multi-disciplinary modules on languages, geography, sciences and economics. It is important to underline two fundamental peculiarities of the Finnish education system in order to see the real picture. First, education governance is highly decentralised, giving Finland's 320 municipalities significant amount of freedom to arrange schooling according to the local circumstances. Central government issues legislation, tops up local funding of schools, and provides a guiding framework for what schools should teach and how. Second, Finland's National Curriculum Framework is a loose common standard that steers curriculum planning at the level of the municipalities and their schools. It leaves educators freedom to find the best ways to offer good teaching and learning to all children. Therefore, practices vary from school to school and are often customised to local needs and situations."

"Great writers don't rely solely upon their talent. They are characterized with discipline and great focus. If you lack these fundamental skills, your talent won't help you write outstanding posts and articles on schedule. Wait; that doesn't mean you should give up! There are many online tools, apps and websites that will help you achieve your full potential as a blogger or content writer. Start exploring these tools:"

"Schools are so caught up in teaching fundamentals like reading, writing, and good old "'rithmatic", as and knowledge required to pass standardized tests, but how often are they actually teaching students how to learn?"

"The Foos is part of a trend toward increasing emphasis on code as a fundamental literacy. You may have heard about the Hour of Code nonprofit initiative, which claims tens of millions of student participants; or New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio's recent announcement that he intends to require teaching of computer science in all grades for all students. "A computer science education is literacy for the 21st century," the mayor said at the announcement. Educators, researchers and entrepreneurs like Hosford are taking that analogy very seriously. They're arguing that the basic skills of coding, such as sequencing, pattern recognition and if/then conditional logic, should be introduced alongside or even before traditional reading, writing and math."

"Great writers don't rely solely upon their talent. They are characterized by discipline and great focus. If you lack these fundamental skills, your talent won't help you write outstanding posts and articles on schedule. But wait, that doesn't mean you should give up. Many online tools, apps, and websites will help you achieve your full potential as a blogger or content writer. Start exploring these 10 tools:"

"Questioning is a fundamental element of pedagogy, one you could read endlessly around, but the reality is using questioning to challenge and engage all learners is demanding and potentially problematic to get right. Recently I've been working with a team of teachers, shaping our CPD model in preparation for the new academic year. Engaging in dialogue around teaching and learning with colleagues is always a pleasure and extremely informative, and one aspect continually crops up; deep, challenging and engaging questioning. Firstly, I think it's crucial to outline what we are trying to achieve when we think about the purpose of questioning, for me it includes the following: Allowing students to develop a fuller understanding of a concept because they have tried to explain it themselves To easily recall existing knowledge To be able to link the ideas in the lesson with existing knowledge To tackle problems at a deep level and be able to extend their thinking To engage easily with a task because they are clear about what is expected To develop independence in the way they learn and think"

"Trying to figure out if your lessons are resonating? Time to consider the idea of becoming a 'sticky teacher' and seeing how it works in the classroom. Here are a few quick tips that will help you understand how to make your lessons actually stick to your students' brains. These are the fundamental ideas and reasons behind sticky teaching - a fun term that will help teachers think twice about the most effective ways to truly connect with students."

"Understanding the fundamentals of electricity is an important part of science education. Often, simple demonstrations work better than textbooks, lectures or even videos. Simple science projects get students involved and help hold their interest. There are several simple electric circuits that can be easily built."

"Rigor is a fundamental piece of any learning experience. It is also among the most troublesome due to its subjectivity. What does it mean? What are its characteristics? Rigorous for whom? And more importantly, how can you use to promote understanding? Barbara Blackburn, author of "Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word," shared 5 "myths" concerning rigor, and they are indicative of the common misconceptions: that difficult, dry, academic, sink-or-swim learning is inherently rigorous."

"The choice of that theme also speaks to a fundamental of getting children interested and invested in learning: It helps when it's fun. Fortunately, there's a growing universe of Web-based resources, many of them available free of charge to students, parents, and teachers alike. We've rounded up eight fun sites (in no particular order) for early STEM learners here, from programming to engineering to cybersecurity to outer space."

"Innovation is a trait that I desperately want to instill in my students, and many teachers I talk to seem to share that goal. In the current climate of high stakes testing, state standards, and prescribed learning outcomes, it can be incredibly difficult to foster an atmosphere of innovation and creativity that inspires students. But rest assured, it is possible. Here, I outline eight basic principles for the "Innovative Classroom," around which I designed a middle school course called Physical Computing. Some of the projects and tools are specific to that course, but I think the fundamental ideas could be applied to almost any course at any level."

"Maker education (often referred to as "Maker Ed") is a new school of educational thought that focuses on delivering constructivist, project-based learning curriculum and instructional units to students. Maker education spaces can be as large as full high school workshops with high-tech tools, or as small and low-tech as one corner of an elementary classroom. A makerspace isn't just about the tools and equipment, but the sort of learning experience the space provides to students who are making projects. Maker Ed places a premium on the balance between exploration and execution. Small projects lend themselves to indefinite tinkering and fiddling, while larger projects need complex, coordinated planning. Often, small projects can organically grow into larger and larger projects. This deliberate process strengthens and enriches a learner's executive functioning skills. Additionally, communication and collaboration are two of Maker Ed's fundamental values. Making allows learners to practice their social communication skills in a variety of groupings, whether affinity-based, role-specific or teacher-assigned. It's important for all different groups to be present in student learning spaces so that all students can practice their social skills in multiple settings. Lastly, Making presents unique opportunities to generate flow learning and allow the teacher to leverage high-interest projects and activities and turn them into learning objectives within a curriculum. Maker education provides space for real-life collaboration, integration across multiple disciplines, and iteration-the opportunity to fail, rework a project and find success. The benefits of a cooperative learning environment are well documented in a makerspace. If you are wondering how to connect these projects back to the Common Core Standards, check out PBL Through a Maker's Lens and Woodshop Cowboy."

Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects

This paper explores the role that notemaking strategies can play as part of an emancipatory pedagogy designed to empower students. We will argue that being taught active notemaking is fundamental in enabling students to use information with confidence and thus that notemaking allows students to gain a voice (Bowl, 2005; Burns et al., 2006) within their own education.

Drag, manipulate and animate visual mathematics to develop and generalize your understanding of fundamental concepts across elementary math, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and beyond. Based on the award-winning software The Geometer's Sketchpad®, the Sketchpad Explorer app allows you to interact with, and investigate, any document created in Sketchpad. With a simple, powerful multitouch interface, Sketchpad Explorer puts mathematical comprehension at your fingertips.

"The iPad has fundamentally changed how and what I teach in my Spanish classes. First of all, I no longer use textbooks. Ever. Why would I when everything I need and more is available online or through an app? As educators, we are often told to teach students "21st century skills", but let's be honest, more often than not; it is the teachers who need to become more proficient in how to reach young people through technology."