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"Makerspace or STEM projects for kids don't have to be complicated or expensive.  In fact, some of the best projects use recycled or repurposed items like cardboard or soda bottles which means nothing to buy. Below, we've compiled some of our favorite projects that are great for makerspaces. Learn how to make a boat out of a soda bottle, create a car from cardboard and many more. Let get started !"

"Let your students amaze you with their mathematical minds as they create art with turtle geometry!"

"The Makerspace movement has been steadfastly gaining traction in education, and rightly so; what better way to incite creativity, encourage inventiveness, and just generally let kids have fun than by giving them Things and asking them to Make Something? One great way to introduce the concept of making to your school is through a Maker Madness Tournament.  This structured, guided, tiered competition gives faculty and students some great exposure to what it means to be a Maker while cashing in on the inherent joy that children find in some friendly competition!"

"A Raspberry Pi and a 3D printer are a match made in maker's heaven. Here are the best Raspberry Pi projects you can do with a 3D printer. Got a Raspberry Pi? Need a use case for your 3D printer? Then let us inspire you with some of the greatest Raspberry Pi projects for your 3D printer we could find."

"How should teachers - both K-12 and college - deal with the use of computers and phones by students in class? On the one hand, those sleek little supercomputers promise to connect us to all human knowledge. On the other hand, they are also scientifically designed by some of the world's top geniuses to feel as compelling as oxygen. So where does that leave teachers? Should you ban these devices in the classroom? Let students go whole hog? Or is there a happy medium? This seemingly simple topic ends up being what one professor and pedagogy expert calls "a Rorschach test for so much that's going on in education.""

"How do you ensure students who excel at math remain engaged? Heidi Williams intended to solve that challenge by starting an after-school coding club while she was a gifted-and-talented teacher at Bayside Middle School near Milwaukee. Instead of using pen and paper, her students created an interactive children's book on Scratch, the MIT Media Lab coding suite that lets users create games, stories and simulations. And the more of this kind of coding activity they did, the better their math test scores got. Now a computer science curriculum specialist at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Williams researches this correlation. One possibility is that the computational thinking skills developed while coding help students break down complicated problems-on and off computers, she says."

"You've seen them before: Facebook posts designed to grab your attention and stop your scrolling. There are many versions.  Some tug at your heartstrings with lines like "Ten cute puppies that will melt your heart" or "Let Suzy know she is still beautiful, even after surgery." Other versions offer exciting prizes, such as "Like this post and click on the link for a free first-class flight to anywhere in the US!" Unfortunately, many of these posts are created by scammers, striving to collect as many Facebook "likes" as possible."

"I can't stop thinking about Caine's Arcade. If you haven't seen it, you gotta check it out. It's a bit dated - 2012 is ancient history in the EdTech world - but to date, this YouTube video has over 8 million views. Caine's Arcade is still inspiring people everywhere. If you still haven't seen it, then let me break it down for you. Caine, a nine-year-old boy hanging out at his dad's auto parts store in a rough East LA neighborhood, had an idea to use the stuff lying around - mostly used cardboard - to create his own arcade. One particularly inspired customer stumbled upon it and…well, just go watch the video. Trust me, it's worth your time."

"Here are some great questions for starting a conversation. There are a lot of random conversation starters to get you started and then conversation questions listed by topic. You can start with the random questions or find a topic that interests you. There's no right place to start, just scroll down to wherever you want and get started! There are tons of ways to use these questions. I find that the most rewarding way is for everyone to pull up this list of conversation starters on a phone or tablet, and then take turns letting everyone choose a question to ask the group. Remember don't be afraid to delve deeply into the conversation. Answering the specific question isn't the goal, having an interesting conversation is!"

At some point, we will need to pause. Lift our heads up and survey the scenery in this new world. Then, let us hope that we ask the right questions. Making time and space for a moment of pause and reflection will be crucial if it becomes clear that this is more than a brief fling with online learning.

"Even when schools are closed, you can keep the learning going with these special cross-curricular journeys. Every day includes four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. Kids can do them on their own, with their families, or with their teachers. Just find your grade level and let the learning begin! -The Editors of Scholastic Classroom Magazines."

"Whether you or your child is interested in learning how to code, there is a terrific tool to get you started. Hopscotch for iOS is free, fun, and ideal for beginners. With simple taps, you can let your imagination run wild and learn the basics of programming at the same time."

"While the original layout for the app was quite straight-forward, Snapchat has now evolved into a jack of all trades. The app offers direct communication like texting, calling, video messaging, and more with friends and family in a one-on-one messenger style, lets people record and post their videos and photos to their Snapchat Story that last 24-hours while giving people the option to save their Snapchat Stories to their camera roll, and delivers current news and information from credible sources and entertainment sites like IGN, The Economist, Refinery29, Mashable, Harper's Bazaar, VICE, National Geographic, CNN, The New York Times, and so, so much more."

"Today in our Inquiry we are going to look deeply at the affect some of these celebrations have on people. We would like to listen are learn about the Declaration of Human Rights. Many people in different countries and especially Australia have different beliefs about culture. Where immigrants should be allowed in to a country, whether cultures have the right to even celebrate their traditions. Lets take a look at what the Declaration of Human Rights tells us. "

"Social media's popularity means educators have a number of avenues to develop their professional learning networks and learn from one another. Blogging gives educators a platform to share best practices, pose questions to their peers, and explore new ideas about teaching and learning. Here, we've gathered 9 blogs that focus on technology integration, instructional technology, school leadership, and pedagogy. If you have a favorite blog that isn't on this list, use the comment section below to let us know."

"Madmagz is a neat platform for collaboratively creating online magazines. Madmagz provides you with a magazine template that lets you use images and text that you can edit alone or with invited collaborators. Unlike some other collaborative writing platforms, the original creator of the magazine has to approve or verify submissions from collaborators. When I was testing the platform I found the need to verify every change a little annoying, but I can see how many people would like to have that level of control over the editing process."

"So, let me share three ways to do innovative projects in the midst of standards and curriculum. Not because it is cool, or fun, or fancy. Because it is what works with our students, and has worked time and time again for retention."

"Q. How do you take screen shots of articles and then post them on Twitter, with sections highlighted and the URL of the article included? A. Annotating screen shots of text passages - and then posting the image and a link to the article on Twitter - is an effective way to make a point with the selected text. It also lets you get around the service's 140-character limit. You can mark up the screen shot's text in a few different ways on a mobile device or computer."

"A couple of years ago I featured Jeopardy Rocks. Recently, Jeopardy Rocks changed its name to Factile and added some more features. At its core Factile is a free platform for creating Jeopardy-style game boards to use in your classroom. Factile lets you create games and save them in your account to use whenever you need them. When you create your game you can include images in the answer display. One of the new features is a gallery of templates for creating games. You can browse the template gallery and make copies of the ones that you want to use in your classroom."

"The collection of prompts below asks young writers to think through real or imagined events, their emotions, and a few wacky scenarios. Try out the ones you think will resonate most with your students.  As with all prompts, inform students that their answers should be rated G and that disclosing dangerous or illegal things they're involved in will obligate you to file a report with the administration or school counselors. Finally, give students the option of writing "PERSONAL" above some entries that they don't want anyone to read. We all need to let scraggly emotions run free in our prose sometimes."