Group items tagged

"In Square Peg, Todd Rose tells the story of how a high school dropout became a Harvard professor in educational neuroscience. Diagnosed with ADHD in middle school, Rose was always in trouble. From his study of complex systems and neuroscience, he makes four points: variability is the rule: perceptions and reactions are much more dynamic and diverse than previously thought; emotions are important: emotional states influence learning; context is key: circumstances affect the behavior; and feedback loops determine success or failure: small changes making a difference. In Todd's TED talk on the Myth of Average, he makes the case that schools are designed based on the average. But the problem is that no student is average on every dimension, "Every student has a jagged learning profile." Rose said, "We blame kids, teachers, and parents, but it's just bad design.""

"I participate as a parent in our middle school Tech Club - the TechDetectives. The 8th graders in the club came up with this great end of year project idea - they wanted to take apart one of the lab computers and re-mount all the parts on the wall so that future students could easily see all the parts of this working computer. It was something they saw done on YouTube. I've been calling it the "CoW" (Computer On the Wall). I loved this idea - and quickly volunteered to help out after school - knowing we didn't have enough time in tech club before the end of their graduating year to finish it. As I described in a few posts previously, this project also turned into a great opportunity for some #3DPrinting solutions."

"I participate as a parent in our middle school Tech Club - the TechDetectives. The 8th graders in the club came up with this great end of year project idea - they wanted to take apart one of the lab computers and re-mount all the parts on the wall so that future students could easily see all the parts of this working computer. It was something they saw done on YouTube. I've been calling it the "CoW" (Computer On the Wall). I loved this idea - and quickly volunteered to help out after school - knowing we didn't have enough time in tech club before the end of their graduating year to finish it. As I described in a few posts previously, this project also turned into a great opportunity for some #3DPrinting solutions."

"One of the top browsers in the Android Market, Dolphin Browser has long wowed Android users with smart gestures, tabbed browsing, great add-ons, and the "web zine" a slick mobile news interface, among other features. Now all those features are available for the iOS ecosystem; both iPhone and iPad users can enjoy the great gesture recognition, speedy sidebar, and other awesome features previously available only to Android users"

"Building lesson plans is an integral part of every teacher's day. Integrating technology into lessons (that may have previously existed in a totally non-technology infused version) can sometimes be difficult, especially if the task at hand can be easily completed without technology - many of us wonder why bother if we don't have to. While there are tons of lesson planning sites online that offer either templates or ready made lesson plans for a fee, tailoring the lesson plans to your particular material and students is usually the best option. The handy infographic below takes a look at the lesson planning process broken down into a simple, four step process. Think of it as having four different buckets of building blocks, and you can choose one item from each bucket to piece together your final product. You could potentially use this to make a rubric style lesson planner for yourself - if you were feeling ambitious!"

"I've previously posted several times about how much I love the Shadow Puppet app - there isn't anything out there that's an easier tool for creating a quick audio-narrated slideshow. It's perfect for English Language Learners. Today, the company behind Shadow Puppet has just released another new and free educational app that looks like it could be very useful. It's called Seesaw, and basically lets students easily create digital portfolios that can be shared with teachers and parents. It's free for teachers and students, and has a free and paid version for parents."

"For many, Python is the programming language of choice for use in the classroom. Why? There have been many ways to get at Python and make it successful. As mentioned previously, and it will come up with any computer science teacher, there's nothing like a silly missing semi-colon to drive the introductory programming student crazy. In many cases, people will introduce Scratch or Alice as an introductory language since building with blocks overcomes this situation. The programming concepts are great for those getting started."

Digital audiobooks can be purchased online including Audible, eMusic, and iTunes. iTunes keeps audiobooks separate from your music library so as to make them easier to find. Also, it allows you to adjust the playback speed of the file as well as resume from the previously played chapter where it left. Just by tuning few settings, you can ready your iTunes and iPod to recognize any audio file or group of audio files as an audiobook.

"Write About is a new site co-founded by educator John Spencer (his name may be familiar with readers since I've previously shared his work many times here). His co-founder is Brad Wilson. And they've created what might be the Education Site of 2014. Write About provides many (and I mean many) images with writing prompts. Students can write their response and do an audio recording of it. Teachers can create virtual classrooms and provide individual written feedback to student writing. Student creations can be shared publicly or just with their classmates. Teachers can change prompts or upload their own photos."

"For too many students, doing mathematics means just plugging numbers into a memorized formula to get an answer. And because they don't understand the formulas they're using, they often fail to use the right one. Take a look at Isaac's work below, for example. He is a fifth grade student who tried to find the surface area of a rectangular prism by incorrectly adapting a previously memorized formula for calculating perimeter. He calculated two times the length plus two times the width (2L + 2W) and tried to account for the height by multiplying it by 4, then adding it to the previous sum. Unfortunately, Isaac is not alone in this type of approach. Students who use formulas by rote may never come to see mathematics as sense-making and may never understand the formulas they use. And there are so many formulas to memorize! Teachers who prematurely introduce students to formulas risk denying them opportunities to develop the necessary conceptual foundations for mathematical understanding."

"Teaching is a matter of design. That's not new, but in an era of change and possibility, it's more apparent now than ever. The SAMR model (which acts as a kind of continuum to reflect the possibilities of technology in learning) is a helpful tool to make sense of this idea, a visual reminder that ideally technology moves beyond Substitution phase (the "S") towards a Redefinition (the "R") of what was previously impossible without it. This, among other shifts, will help fully realize the potential of learning technology. When you take a Bloom's wheel, and smash it together with 60+ educational apps that allows learners to brainstorm, collaborate, research, create, curate, and create new knowledge-well, you have the image below, courtesy of Allan Carrington of Designing Outcomes."

"The single most important skill you will ever learn is in itself an oxymoron. It is dependent on your ability to vanquish procrastination and achieve something today with view to tackling the unknown that comes tomorrow. As I've written previously it requires the drive to tackle the modern world head on: doing nothing has never been so easy. Got a spare few hours? They can disappear as quickly as unlocking your smart phone. For me then this affords opportunity for those who have taught themselves the skill I allude to; to learn how to learn and have the desire to maniacally do so for the rest of your life. The ability to employ autodidacticism in your every day life is the single most valuable skill you can ever acquire and employ. Self-directed learning enables you to learn the skills that you are most passionate about and employ them in innovative way to achieve your goals and ambitions. We no longer need schools, universities or teachers to spoon feed us the information you are paying to acquire. Go out and try finding what interests you and expand your horizons through learning. Schools are broken, they teach you memory skills required to pass exams at the detriment of teaching you what it means to learn."

"My students come from a small, rural community and lack a broad understanding of the larger world around them. This inspired me to seek out a game, or online environment, that could provide more expansive experiences for them-a place that would allow them to explore, on their own or with others, and where I could embed history content for them to discover. On Twitter I came across an exploratory discussion of Minecraft's potential for school use. I dove in and began a journey that ultimately changed my perception of teaching and how I interact with my students. Minecraft is easy to use and implement in a classroom. It promotes student independence and creativity, but it is also an immensely collaborative tool that I have witnessed being integrated across all grade levels and content areas. Students can apply their understanding in truly unique and often unanticipated ways. Previously, my kids struggled with writing. Today, they are more creative and confident writers. Instead of getting 125 essays written in the exact same style with the same details, I now get unique historical narratives, rich with sensory experiences and observations made with their own eyes."

"Want to learn more about using industrial additive manufacturing? Here's a breakdown of the different technologies, applications, companies, and services. Year by year, the additive manufacturing industry continues to flourish in ways that were previously unimaginable. Currently, the market is divided into two primary factions: one for consumers and another for industrial purposes. In this "Additive Manufacturing Overview," we will focus in on the professional uses of 3D printing technology. Whether you're a manufacturing business owner, an industrial engineer looking to create a functional automotive prototype, or anyone else who could benefit from professional-grade additive manufacturing, we've strung together an incredibly comprehensive breakdown of the pros and cons of industrial additive manufacturing as well as an introduction to the different technologies, applications, companies, and services that are out there."

"YouTube is the premier destination for music videos today, which also makes it one of the most popular music streaming services. If you use YouTube to listen to music, the experience can be a whole lot better with the right extensions or web apps. We've previously talked about some of the best YouTube music players, but things have changed a bit since then. Browser extensions now give you lyrics with each video, while some apps and extensions will save bandwidth by playing only the audio without video. The bottom line is that anyone who uses YouTube for music needs to check out these cool tools."

"The workouts we completed years ago may continue to influence and improve our health today, according to a fascinating new study of the current lives and health of people who joined an exercise study a decade before. The findings suggest that the benefits of exercise can be more persistent than many of us might expect, even if people are not exercising to the same extent as they previously did. But the impacts also may depend on the types and amounts of exercise involved."

"Getting to teach economics lessons is one of my favorite things about being a social studies teacher. In economics lessons high school students start to see how many of the math concepts, logic concepts, and political theory they've learned can apply to them in the "real world" after high school. Econ Ed Link is a great resource for lesson plans, videos, and interactive activities for teaching economics concepts. They recently published an updated list of their Math In the Real World lesson plan library. Math In the Real World lesson plans include activities to teach students how to analyze business profit and loss, how the stock market works, and how distribution of income can influence government policies. The Math In the Real World lesson plans also include activities that have a more personal appeal to students. Those lesson plans include building credit, building a savings, and the dangers of payday loan schemes. The payday loan lesson plan is one that has previously been featured here on Free Technology for Teachers."

"How can programming for kids be fun? Through play, of course, and what better way than through apps! Learning to code is similar to learning a second language, and the younger a child begins to pick it up, the more rapidly he or she will understand it. In addition, programming apps can develop life skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Today´s generation of parents are raising their children in a unique world, one unlike anything the human race has previously experienced. Most families are immersed in technology, whether they realize it or not. These technological devices require programming, or coding, to function, and it is a skill set that is becoming more and more necessary on an international level. These 20 apps, in no particular order, are hitting the mark and making programming for kids exciting and challenging."

"I don't know about you, but when I logon to YouTube, I usually end up spending hours clicking from video to video. It's probably not the most productive way to spend an afternoon, but it's hard to control myself when there are so many amazing vloggers (video bloggers) talking about books! A couple of years ago I wrote A Beginner's Guide to BookTube, in which I highlighted some of my favorite channels and videos. Since then, so many new book lovers have joined the ranks and some previously small and unknown channels have grown to epic proportions. Choosing just ten favorites was hard and I spend hours agonizing over this list, but I'm happy with the result. Without further ado, here are my top ten favorite BookTube channels in no particular order:"

"We live in a stressful world, and the stress is heightened for students and educators when it's time to prepare for high-stakes tests. When test scores are tied to school funding, teacher evaluations, and students' future placement, the consequences of these stressors can be far-reaching. From a neurological perspective, high stress disrupts the brain's learning circuits and diminishes memory construction, storage, and retrieval. Neuroimaging research shows us that, when stresses are high, brains do not work optimally, resulting in decreased understanding and memory. In addition, stress reduces efficient retrieval of knowledge from the memory storage networks, so when under pressure students find it harder to access information previously studied and learned. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. Students (and their parents) often interpret suboptimal standardized test scores as a measure of the students' limitations in intelligence and potential. The consequence is a loss of confidence, further activating their brains' stress response, making it more difficult for them to employ their cognitive resources and knowledge during the tests themselves."