"The following is an excerpt from the book The App Generation: How Today's Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis.
Let's dive directly into the world of educational apps. Our survey suggests that the majority - one might even say, the vast majority - of educational apps encourage pursuit of the goals and means of traditional education by digital means. They constitute convenient, neat, sometimes even seductive pathways to accomplish what were already goals in an earlier era: mastering concepts, learning arithmetical operations, identifying geographical locations or historical figures or key biological or chemical or physical processes. We could dub them "digital textbooks" or "lectures" or "pre-programmed educational conversations." Decades ago, major behaviorist B. F. Skinner called for teaching machines that would automate the traditional classroom, allow students to proceed at their own rate, provide positive feedback on correct answers, and either repeat a missed item or present that item via another pathway. Those sympathetic to Skinner's brand of psychology and to its associated educational regimen would easily recognize many apps today and would likely nod in approval at their slick, seductive interfaces."
"When I heard the news that Phil Schlechty had passed away it was sudden and I felt sadness. I've never met Phil but I've been deeply impacted by his work throughout the years. You see it's one of the things I'm learning about education and writing in this whole connected place: We get to know people through their work, we get to know people through their passions, and we get to know people who we actually don't know face-to-face.
Schlechty's work around engagement is one of the most enlightening and simple frameworks for educators to use. What I found fascinating about his levels of engagement is that I could see myself in the classroom working towards compliance instead of engagement."
"The process of combining more primitive pieces of information to create something more meaningful is a crucial aspect both of learning and of consciousness and is one of the defining features of human experience. Once we have reached adulthood, we have decades of intensive learning behind us, where the discovery of thousands of useful combinations of features, as well as combinations of combinations and so on, has collectively generated an amazingly rich, hierarchical model of the world. Inside us is also written a multitude of mini strategies about how to direct our attention in order to maximize further learning. We can allow our attention to roam anywhere around us and glean interesting new clues about any facet of our local environment, to compare and potentially add to our extensive internal model."
"To establish how we can maximize the impact of the iPad as a learning tool, we first have to establish what kind of impact we'd hope to have.
In this case, we'll settle on understanding (as troublesome a term as that might be): Students being able to think critically about chosen standards or curriculum, and apply understanding in diverse, academic and non-academic environments.
With that as the goal, here are some ideas."
"So how can teachers prepare for this surge of computer science in the classroom and integrate it into their curriculum in a meaningful way? It starts with understanding that technology is a tool-a means to accomplishing an end, but not an end itself. It's important to not just leverage technology for technology's sake. There needs to be a purpose behind it.
For example, besides simply having iPads in the classroom, schools need to have goals in place for using them. Perhaps the goal is enabling kids to create with the iPads-like build their own apps-versus simply reviewing materials on the device.
Through our work helping students, teachers and parents around the world embrace technology in the classroom and at home, I've learned some best practices for maximizing the opportunities that technology education offers:"
"Thought I would review this basic tip today since I helped two people at work with it on the same day. "I'm out of iCloud storage space! I haven't backed up my phone since October!"
I find a lot of colleagues are beginning to own multiple Apple devices, usually an iPhone and an iPad. With (only) 5GB to share between all devices, it's important to know which files should be backed up and which don't necessarily need backup."
"Educators, researchers, and students are discovering the benefits and advantages of cooperative, active, and engaged learning. Classroom spaces that support such a shift in teaching and learning have lagged behind. A significant opportunity exists for maximizing learning opportunities and creating meaningful experiences by rethinking the classroom experience."
"To establish how we can maximize the impact of the iPad as a learning tool, we first have to establish what kind of impact we'd hope to have.
In this case, we'll settle on understanding (as troublesome a term as that might be): Students being able to think critically about chosen standards or curriculum, and apply understanding in diverse, academic and non-academic environments. With that as the goal, here are some ideas."
"There's no doubt that students find making to be a creative and engaging activity. But as they tinker, design and invent, are they actually learning anything?
Making is too young a phenomenon to have generated a broad research base to answer this question. The literature that does exist comes from enthusiastic champions of making, rather than disinterested investigators. But there are two well-established lines of research within psychology and cognitive science that can inform how we understand making and help us ensure that making leads to learning. Taken together, these two strands of empirical evidence provide the best guide we presently have for maximizing the learning potential of maker activities."
Your iDevice needs to be fully discharged and recharged at least once a month to operate at maximum efficiency and keep the battery from dying. You’ll also want to make sure that you don’t store the device with a dead battery, as that can also cause the battery to lose charge capability—when your battery dies, make sure to recharge it quickly.
Wyoming science teacher London Jenks not only allows mobile technologies in his classroom, but he's also learned how to maximize them as educational tools, tapping the devices for assessments, research, and even student scavenger hunts using QR codes.
"I'm not a gambling person, but if I had to place a bet on one sure-fire method for engaging students, increasing test scores, reaching students who fall below standards, challenging students who exceed grade-level standards, accessing students' creativity and originality, maximizing brain connections formed, applying concepts to new situations, and making the learning process more fun for the students and teacher, I would place that bet on . . . teaching the core curriculum through the arts."
"Interested in maximizing your checks for understanding? Take these twenty tried and true strategies for a test drive, and let me know how your experiences inform your answers to the questions above. Know that while they are not my own, it's difficult to trace the originator of each. If you have a source to share, please do. I'll extend my gratitude and add."
"The Maker Movement has proved itself to be a valuable component of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystem. The underlying philosophy of this movement involves open-ended creativity, development of critical thinking and intellectual flexibility, as well as instill confidence and a sense of accomplishment. The blueprints for building a makerspace are fairly straightforward, and usually incorporates a few key items like 3D printers, sewing machines, power tools, soldering gear, and maybe a laser cutter. But is it as simple as "build it and they will come?"
To help answer the question of "So you have a makerspace, now what?" Jaymes Dec, middle school technology teacher and founder of NYC Makery, served up some valuable advice at our recent SOWING Circle Meetup (SOWING stands for Science Outreach Working to Inspire the Next Generation, and is a gathering for anyone who works as a STEM educator to share resources and brainstorm ideas). In his talk, Jaymes outlined a series of questions to help educators maximize the impact of making in STEM."