Group items tagged

"This week we've been reading a favourite winter time story! The children love the adventures the Gingerbread Man has as he runs away from the different characters in the story. They are always so sad at the end when he is eaten by the fox!     Today I challenged them to retell the story and help the Gingerbread Man outsmart the bakers, cow, goat, cat and fox by using a coding game. This activity helped the children to strengthen their retell as they recalled the story and sequenced the events of the story, and encouraged them to practise their coding skills, specifically oral language related to directionality and number.   We used a small stuffed Gingerbread Man, photos of the different characters from the text, our coding board (sensory table lid with tape), and directional coding cards. "

"Computational thinking is intimately related to computer coding, which every kid in South Fayette starts learning in first grade. But they are not one and the same. At its core, computational thinking means breaking complex challenges into smaller questions that can be solved with a computer's number crunching, data compiling and sorting capabilities. Proponents say it's a problem-solving approach that works in any field, noting that computer modeling, big data and simulations are used in everything from textual analysis to medical research and environmental protection."

"Do you sometimes find yourself thinking about how you can spice up a lesson with some engaging visuals, a pop culture reference, some humor or drama, or something else that gives it that extra "pop!"? Or … have you ever been watching a good movie and thought, "Wow! This totally relates to one of my lessons"? Well if you've experienced either of these notions, this site is for you (and even if you haven't, you'll probably want to check it out anyway). TeachWithMovies.org offers a collection of lesson plans and curriculum materials using movies to inspire, inform and motivate your students. There are subject-specific sections for English, Social Studies, Sciences, and Other Subjects (which include Math, Health, Music, and numerous other subjects). These subject areas are often broken down into sub-categories (for example, Social Sciences is broke down into US History, World History, and Civics)."

"We are excited to launch the Maker Space at NIST International School!  But what exactly is making, design thinking and Maker Spaces anyway? How do they relate to the NIST mission and values, and how do we integrate them authentically into learning? Who are they appropriate for? What does the research say? There are many questions which surround this hot topic-  which is a good thing!! This website was designed to help students, parents and teachers answer some of those questions and act as a guide as we go on this journey together.  So grab your goggles and tool belt, and come on in..."

"Washington, D.C. -The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) today released "Progress in the Making: Librarians' Practical 3D Printing Questions Answered" (pdf). Co-authored by 3DPrint360 CEO Zach Lichaa and ALA Senior Policy Analyst Charlie Wapner, the document poses and answers sixteen practical questions related to establishing 3D printing as a library service. All of the questions were fielded from library professionals interested in 3D printing technology."

"Playing with LEGO can be more than just a way to prevent boredom, for some children it has the power to boost their social skills and build self-esteem. LEGO-based therapy is a social development programme for kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or related social communication difficulties. "

"Librarians make a huge difference in our students lives. They are entrusted with a wide variety of educational tasks. Some of these tasks according to Queen University Library include: help students with information-related activities, assist students in developing information literacy skills that allows them to navigate and search the web effectively, collaborate with teachers in creating challenging project-based activities, run different literacy clubs, build library collections and many more."

"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."

"More people are living longer these days, but the good news comes shadowed by the possible increase in cases of age-related mental decline. By some estimates, the global incidence of dementia will more than triple in the next 35 years. That grim prospect is what makes a study published in March in The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease so encouraging: It turns out that regular walking, cycling, swimming, dancing and even gardening may substantially reduce the risk of Alzheimer's."

"One undeniable fact about teaching is that teachers not only need to be masters of content within their subject area, but they must also be masters of education as a subject. Another undeniable fact is that neither of those subject areas looks the same as when any teacher first mastered them. One effect of the integration of technology into our society is that change in almost everything is happening at a pace never before experienced by mankind. As much as some people may yearn for the simpler times of the past, life will continue to move forward as the natural order of society requires. The influence of additional information on any subject often affects how we deal with that subject. Once we had more information on the effects of smoking, smoking habits of millions of people changed. Once we learned what we now understand about the benefits of physical activity, several sports related industries were spawned. Once we learned what we now know of communication, music and print industries disappeared while being replaced with better in many ways."

"Here is a handy chart we have prepared for teachers using YouTube in their instruction and for anyone else interested in learning more about how to use YouTube effectively. The chart is based on guidelines featured in YouTube  Help and all we did is curating and organizing them in easily navigable categories. Clicking on any of the titles below will direct you to a page where you will access more details related to the corresponding feature."

Technology Integration in Education is an App that does away with the hours of searching the net for the right instructional technology resources for you. TIE is the one stop location for everything related to educational technology.

"Using personal iPhones and iPads in the office leads many people to work from them while on vacation. Our iPhones and iPads, which enable us to work and be on call virtually anywhere at any time, will lead to more than half of us working while on vacation. That's the result of a new study that looked at how technology impacts the work/life balance. iOS devices are common players in the bring your own device (BYOD) era. As BYOD programs lead many of us to use our personal iOS devices and other mobile technology for work-related tasks, they also encourage an "always on" attitude from employers and employees alike."

"Following further research in the use of mobile devices in other schools, feedback from personal use by staff and considerations around funding in relation to the size of the school, the decision was made to purchase iPods and iPads."

DIAGNOSER: In this web-based assessment program, we have designed sets of questions as formative assessments (e.g., assessments to inform learning and instruction rather than assign scores.) Students receive feedback on their thinking as they work through their assignment. Teachers can access reports on students' thinking related to the assigned content.

Learning trajectories have a number of specific characteristics when it comes to building, user context and target group. These attributes are directly related to the function of a learning trajectory. The following sections focus on the definition of learning trajectoriesvand also the characteristics.

"Children and teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are visual learners. Thus, there appears to be great potential in the use of iPhones and iPads, which are very visually-oriented devices, to help these kids achieve their educational goals."

Goals: The purpose of this wiki is to help the Teacher Librarians of New Hanover County Schools do the following: Explore and collect resources related to the Common Core Standards, the NC New Essential Standards and the Information and Technology Standards. Create and share best practices that show what implementing these standards look like in the school library environment. Create and share resources for other Teacher Librarians as they explore this same process.

"Some people have asked me "how do I integrate the iPad into my English classes?" I respond by providing some iPad related tasks that link and work well with the text types taught in Australian primary schools."

"The art of animation - a series of related images that depict movement - is arguably several thousand years old. The use of equipment that could display animated images in rapid succession to create the illusion of motion is a more modern phenomenon that gained wide popularity with the development of motion pictures. Cartoons and animated movies from the studios of companies such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon and others have had a tremendous impact on modern culture. Production of an animated movie requires skilled artists, expensive equipment and an investment of countless hours of labor. No longer. Mobile devices with built-in cameras such as the iPad enable budding animators to use a variety of easy to use animation apps to capture and stitch together photos of characters and objects into seamless, fluent animated movies. Further, the process of designing, scripting and staging animations has tremendous educational potential. Animation can be a wonderful mix of art, science, collaboration and problem solving."