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"Up late marking? Up early preparing for the day ahead? Did you know that after an average of four hours of sleep a night for four or five days, you will develop the same level of cognitive impairment as if you had been awake for 24 hours. This is the same level of impairment as having a blood alcohol level high enough to be considered legally drunk. Not only does this greatly lengthen reaction time, impede judgment, and interfere with problem solving, I think you will all agree, that it is no state to be teaching or learning in. So how important is sleep? Well, in his fascinating TED talk circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster discusses exactly why we need to sleep and talks about some of the concerning effects sleep deprivation can have."

"Welcome to the Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge! This is the Bebras Australia Challenge Server. Looking for the information pages? Try www.bebras.edu.au The Bebras questions are grouped under three levels of difficulty: A (Easy), B (Medium) and C (Hard). You will find the difficulty level of each question in the overview before you click on it.  The level of difficulty of a task determines how it will be scored. "

"If you haven't said it yourself, someone has said it to you: "I'm just not that creative." Most of us wouldn't mind being just a little more creative. Fortunately, you can. Not only are there proven ways to increase your creativity, but also, according to research, all of us have a creative gene. In a longitudinal test of creative potential, a NASA study found that of 1,600 4- and 5-year-olds, 98 percent scored at "creative genius" level. Five years later, only 30 percent of the same group of children scored at the same level, and again, five years later, only 12 percent. When the same test was administered to adults, it was found that only two percent scored at this genius level. According to the study, our creativity is drained by our education. As we learn to excel at convergent thinking--or the ability to focus and hone our thoughts--we squash our instinct for divergent, or generative, thought. The 5-year-old in us never goes away, though. Here are four ways to rediscover your creative genius."

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades; however, with the introduction of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, there has been a newfound focus on how technology tools can impact the educational landscape. The AI revolution in industry is upon us and is beginning to establish itself as a permanent part of educational practice as evidenced by Lucarillo, Nagel, Hardman, and others. Therefore, it is crucial to equip teachers with the skills to use AI in ways that ensure a high-quality education for the students in classrooms across the globe. The urgency to upskill teachers is highlighted by the gap in skills that already exists in classrooms today, underscoring the digital divide. Just as in any content area, students come to classrooms with varying readiness levels and educational needs; using AI is no different. For example, there are preschoolers who play games on an iPad with empowered intelligent tutors. My prereading granddaughter uses AI predictive text programs, dictation technology, and iconography to text me from her mother's phone and to locate videos and programs she wants to watch. Some children, like her, have access, while there are many others who have no exposure or use of AI. Educators are encountering students at different AI literacy levels, and this divide will continue to grow. Therefore, teachers need to build the skillsets to increase their AI literacy and integration to develop more digital equity, serving students who are at a low readiness level, as well as those who are using AI as a writing partner."

"Declining attention span as a result of increasing use of smartphones and social media are just a few challenges teachers deal with in the modern classroom. Children today deal with more stimuli around them than ever before. Mobile phones, tablets,and other technology have become so intertwined with our children's daily lives that it's hard to imagine keeping it out of the classroom. Even though some believe these can be distractions, embracing technology can make learning more fun and impactful. Smartphones, iPads and other devices have become so intuitive for kids, it only makes sense to harness these powerful learning tools to engage a classroom full of tech-savvy students. And the best part? You can use these ideas in one form or another for any student in any content area and grade level."

"I'm very excited to share this awesome technology tip with you! I will show you how to do a Google search by reading level."

Adams County School District 50 in Colorado throws out grade levels and groups students by mastery levels.

"Twurdy is actually based on Google, but it analyses Google results for readability, so it can help you to find more lower level texts for learners without you having to read through every result from Google to see if it's simple enough. "

Twurdy is actually based on Google, but it analyses Google results for readability, so it can help you to find more lower level texts for learners without you having to read through every result from Google to see if it's simple enough.

"If you're familiar with multi-level books, you'll want to check out Books That Grow. Books That Grow is a free digital reading platform with a library of books that range from myths and folktales, to primary source documents and informational texts. Whether you want to teach the Greek myth "Arachne" or Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," Books That Grow has you covered."

"Citizen Maths is for people who want to improve their grasp of maths, and become more confident in using maths at work and in life. Maths may have passed you by at school. Or you may be rusty. Maybe you've passed maths exams but find it hard to apply what you know to the types of problem you need to solve now. Problems like using spreadsheets, judging amounts or assessing odds. If so, then Citizen Maths may be for you. The course is at 'Level 2' - the level that a 16-year-old school leaver is expected to achieve in maths. (For questions about certification, please see our FAQ.) The course is based on solving the kinds of problems that come up at work and in life. And it is free. All you need is access to a computer, the internet and a basic grasp of maths. Sign up straight away, or try our nine-point check-list to see if Citizen Maths can help you."

"A follow-up to their free basic power searching course, this new course promises to help you "take your search strategies to a new level with sophisticated, independent search challenges.""

"Powers of Minus Ten: Bone is a neat iPad app for biology students. The app takes students through ten levels of viewing the inside of human bones. Students can zoom through and explore each of the microscopic levels. "

"To start with, SAMR model is a system which you can use to measure your application of technology, or its level of use. This system consists of four levels: Redefinition, Modification,Augmentation, and Substitution. Let us now have a look at what these terms mean starting with the least important and moving up to the most important :"

Create a class spelling competition or play in the world spelling bowl. Change your year level to suit your ability level.

"I'm so honored to be a part of the 28 Days of Hands-On STEM Activities series hosted by Left Brain Craft Brain this year. The free, printable "Coding a LEGO Maze" activity that I've created as part of this series can grow with kids. Children as young as 5 or 6 can attempt the easiest challenges, while the concepts introduced in the harder challenges are covered in any introduction to programming class. There are so many baby steps involved in learning how to think like a programmer. Throughout the past several years, I've programmed in at least 6 different computer languages (C, C++, Java, Fortran, Matlab, and Python). For a beginner, what's important is not the specifics of a language (called the syntax). Rather it's better to understand the commonalities between languages which are the building blocks of any programming language. These LEGO mazes, which can be solved with "code" using paper rather than a computer, illustrate 4 levels of difficulty and include a variety of programming concepts. While these Levels will be described in more detail below, here is a quick overview:"

"Even after teaching for a decade, Pamela Baack found herself battling the calendar as she tried to keep her students on track. She's the first to admit it wasn't easy to change the way she had been teaching for a decade. "We were always on someone else's pace, not our kids' pace," says Baack, who teaches at the Bella Romero Academy of Applied Technology, a K-8 public school in Greeley, Colorado. Most lessons were taught to the entire class, requiring Baack to constantly search for opportunities to help the students who struggled. "It was hard to differentiate, because it was hard to find the time to go back," she says. Today, students in Baack's third-grade classroom work through addition, multiplication, and division activities at their own pace. Some progress through lessons quickly, while others get the opportunities they need to relearn and practice key concepts until they are ready to move forward. Importantly, Baack says, even the students who struggle the most are at grade level. "They're still doing what every else is doing, but at a different pace," she says. "They're exposed to grade-level standards and content and will be able to move up." "

"Does the thought of doing long division, or solving a bit of algebra give you the shivers? You're likely to have maths anxiety. In our recent research, my colleagues and I found that in 80% of countries, girls have more negative feelings towards maths than boys. But this higher level of maths anxiety in girls is not justified by their actual level of performance and may put them off continuing a career in maths-related subjects, such as physics and computer science."

"I watched my 12 year old spend 35 minutes working out how to advance to the next level on a character based game on a console the other day. I was amazed at how determined she was to discover how the game worked and what she had to do to complete the level. As a teacher I sat wondering how we could harness this type of motivation in the classroom. "

"Slice It! is a sneakily simple and completely engaging way of teaching users of all ages to visualize geometric figures. The goal of Slice It! is really quite simple: cut the provided shape into whatever number of pieces the level asks for, with just the number of lines the level offers you. Oh, and just to keep it interesting: make all of the pieces EQUAL."