Group items tagged

"The spike in the number of technology-enabled classrooms in the past few years clearly indicates what a crucial role technology already plays when it comes to education. The dawn of mobile phones has changed the way people access information. Almost everything we need is available at our fingertips and available on demand. The fact that the current breed of students is comfortable using cool new gadgets only goes to show that the influence of technology is here to stay. The market is full of apps that make any classroom an interesting place for both students and teachers. From easy-to-use user interfaces, to customizable features to suit individual needs, these apps have been built to deliver great user experience. My experience using these below listed apps has been great. While some of them were recommended to me by my colleagues, a few others were suggested by my students. I've greatly benefitted from their uber cool features and I hope you will, too. Here is my favorites list:"

Fortunately there are a number of free tools that do these things and they are available for use on any technology platform as they require nothing more than access to the internet. Recently Eric Sheninger used a set of these tools to give his audience at the Hawker Brownlow Conference on Thinking and Learning in Melbourne a voice.

"Here is a new infographic from Zapier featuring a number of practical tips and tricks to help you conduct effective Google searches. We are adding it to the resources we have compiled in our Google Search Tips' section here in EdTech and mLearning. Some of the things you and your students will get to learn from this visual include: how to get instant answers, drag and drop to search, how to use Google's search tabs and tools, how to search specific sites, how to search internationally, how to use search operators, how to use Google's advanced search pages, and how to tweak Google Search settings."

"My school is a STEM magnet school and unfortunately, that leads to a disproportionate number of male students.  This year the ratio was 65% male, 35% female, which led to many of my female students feeling disenfranchised.  I wanted to do something to help create a safe environment for my girls to explore STEM and to build a community with one another, so this year I partnered with several science teachers to start a STEMgirls club at our school.  At our first meeting, we talked about possibilities of projects and activities that we would like to do.  When I mentioned a workshop I had seen others do where you could sew light up bracelets, my students got really excited.  Thus, our Circuit Bracelet Workshop was born."

""How was skiing?" I asked my 14-year old daughter as she hauled her boot bag into the car. "Well, the ratio of snow to ground was definitely low," she replied, adding that she had tried to figure the ratio of snow-to-ground during practice but had received only mystified looks. "Stop the math!" demanded a coach. "You are confusing us!" Why do smart people enjoy saying that they are bad at math? Few people would consider proudly announcing that they are bad at writing or reading. Our country's communal math hatred may seem rather innocuous, but a more critical factor is at stake: we are passing on from generation to generation the phobia for mathematics and with that are priming our children for mathematical anxiety. As a result, too many of us have lost the ability to examine a real-world problem, translate it into numbers, solve the problem and interpret the solution."

"I still focus on fluency with multiplication facts in fourth grade but fluency has a completely different meaning to me now. The way I work on fluency now does not involve timed tests. It does not involve kids being anxious or feeling unsuccessful at math. Instead I focus on developing number sense which helps kids learn and remember strategies that make them fluent with their multiplication facts. To the untrained eye, it often appears as if my fourth graders have memorized their facts when they actually know their facts from memory. "

"In episode four of the hottest elementary programming podcast until Vicky Sedgwick launches a podcast, Beyond the Hour of Code, The focus is on how programming can support learning for students who cannot yet read. There are an ever-expanding number of tools out there that use non-text elements to help students express themselves. Some of my favorites,Kodable  and ScratchJR, are talked about in this episode of Beyond the Hour of Code."

"Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem solving process that includes a number of characteristics and dispositions. CT is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including the humanities, math, and science. Students who learn CT across the curriculum can begin to see a relationship between academic subjects, as well as between life inside and outside of the classroom."

"Taking friendship bracelets into the digital age, Jewelbots teaches young girls to tinker and code their way into the exploding world of wearable technology. Whether it's the Queen of Coding Grace Hopper or the new wave of women innovation engineers, fashion brand CEOs and musicians, young girls today have a growing number of role models who use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in their recipes for success. Having more role models is critical, but according to the founders of Jewelbots-the so-called friendship bracelets for the iPhone era-the next generation of women leaders and inventors will chase STEM endeavors at an early age, like a game of tag."

"Many teachers have added 'digital literacy' as number four on the list of literacies their students should have (or be working towards, in most cases). Reading, writing, and math are now followed by digital literacy. Obviously, depending on the grade level you teach, your students will have different abilities in each of the four areas, so your expectations and your teaching approach may differ quite noticeably from your colleagues. But the nagging question still remains for many teachers - what exactly is digital literacy?"

"When I'm not busy working on our teaching websites, I can usually be found playing Lego with our children! It's an incredibly creative toy, but it can also be used to support work in a number of different curriculum areas. Here is our HUGE list of ways to use Lego in the classroom. Many of these ideas have been contributed by our wonderful Facebook community. If you have any other suggestions, please add a comment at the bottom of the page. Don't forget that many of these activities could use Duplo too!"

"Higher education issues have been one of the hot topics of the current presidential race, with candidates touching on reducing student loan debt and improving college access. However, what has rarely come up is whether or not college is even the best option for each and every student. The general message in popular culture and political debates is that attending and graduating from a traditional four-year college is the only way to find a fruitful job after high school. However, there are a number of alternatives for students who don't necessarily want to take out loans or the academic focus of a traditional university experience, and these alternatives can still lead to fulfilling careers. Called career technical, professional, and trade or vocational training, these programs are typically offered at high schools, two-year colleges, and through other outlets."

" What are MakerSpaces? Makers build, fix, and create. They are students, teachers, tinkerers, cooks, technology buffs, architects, crafters, performers, hobbyists, builders, artists, engineers, scientists, and writers. They use the MakerSpace to solve real life problems with access to tools and materials. A MakerSpace is not confined to a school setting but can also be a community space like a public library where community members off all ages, means, and abilities can design, prototype, and create original works. On March 18th and 19th, we celebrated New Jersey Makers Day, and I had the opportunity to visit a number of different Maker events in various communities. These are some themes and big ideas that I noticed in my travels. Perhaps these big ideas will inspire you to create your own MakerSpace makeover in your own classroom, school, or local community."

"For our 50th issue of Make: (April/May 2016), we decided to talk to a number of people who have contributed to the magazine, shown at Maker Faire, written for the website, and who have basically been a huge part of the success of Maker Media, to share some of what they've been up to recently. We asked them about current projects they're working on, some of their favorite tips (on everything from practical shop workings to a maker pro's bottom line), and any inspiring memories they've had during their time in the maker movement. You can see the full feature piece in the magazine. We got responses from 28 people. As you can imagine, we received way more material than we could fit in the magazine. Since many of the tips were too good not to share, we decided to share the rest of them here on the website. Enjoy."

"For those lucky enough to have an iPad in the art room, there are a number of creative apps just waiting to be enjoyed. We've done a round-up of just some of the fantastic ones out there. But before you dive in, remember to set up a free account on Creatubbles, so that you can store and share all of the great results!"

"This paper captures the evolution of the Mozilla Web Literacy Map to reach and meet the growing number of diverse audiences using the web. The paper represents the thinking, research findings, and next iteration of the Web Literacy Map that embraces 21st Century Skills (21C Skills) as key to leadership development. As technology becomes more ubiquitous, and more people come online, Mozilla continues to refine its strategies to support and champion the web as an open and public resource. To help people become good citizens of the web, Mozilla focuses on the following goals: 1) develop more educators, advocates, and community leaders who can leverage and advance the web as an open and public resource, and 2) impact policies and practices to ensure the web remains a healthy open and public resource for all. In order to accomplish this, we need to provide people with open access to the skills and know-how needed to use the web to improve their lives, careers, and organizations. Knowing how to read, write, and participate in the digital world has become the 4th basic foundational skill next to the three Rs-reading, writing, and arithmetic-in a rapidly evolving, networked world. Having these skills on the web expands access and opportunity for more people to learn anytime, anywhere, at any pace. Combined with 21C leadership Skills (i.e. critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, creativity, communication), these digital-age skills help us live and work in today's world. Whether you're a first time smartphone user, an educator, an experienced programmer, or an internet activist, the degree to which you can read, write, and participate on the web while producing, synthesizing, evaluating, and communicating information shapes what you can imagine-and what you can do. follows:"

"Researchers and educators agree that cellphones have become fixtures in Canadian classrooms, but opinion remains divided on how best to address their presence. All agree that the presence of smartphones can be problematic if students are allowed to devote more attention to their screens than their studies. One research paper suggests the majority of schools are still treating cellphones as a scourge and banning the devices outright both in and out of class. But that study and a growing number of boards say they've had more success once deciding to stop fighting the technological tide and find ways to incorporate cellphones into schools."

"Expert says every school in Scotland should have a counsellor to help deal with teaching's unique demands Nearly half of respondents to a poll on teacher wellbeing said their mental health was poor, fuelling fears that growing numbers are struggling to cope with the profession's changing demands."

" lot of words have been added to the dictionary over the past few decades thanks to social media, but few have become so widely used and accepted as "hashtag." For a long time, the hashtag symbol (#) was known simply as the "pound" symbol. Now, I could swear that the only time I hear it referred to as a pound symbol is when I enter my PIN number to pay my cell phone bill. Manage and plan your social media content with the help of this free calendar template. While hashtags were originally made famous by Twitter, they're now used on many major social networks, including Facebook and Instagram. Let's explore what a hashtag is, why they're so great, and how they work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram."

"Besides the multitude of resources we have covering reviews of hundreds of educational apps, from time to time we create lists featuring our favourite picks from the piles. Our purpose is to provide teachers with tested educational iPad apps that they can try out in their instruction. The last thing to ask an overburdened teacher is to spend hours in iTunes apps store searching  for apps to use with students. We do the curation job for you and it is your turn to integrate and make the best of these resources in your teaching. That being said, here is a handy visual we created a few months ago featuring some of the best educational iPad apps to consider in your teaching. We know our selection is subjective and many other wonderful apps are missing but for practical reasons we only included a limited number of 20 apps. More educational apps are to be featured in future collections"