Group items tagged

"s an old-school marble run better than an iPad for teaching young children to code? Why educational toys that focus on the physical world rather than the computer screen are so effective"

"Dumpster diving and dollar stores. Purse-shaped post-it's and animal lubricant. When you're building a makerspace on a budget, you learn that resources are everywhere-and they aren't always what you expect.  Dumpster diving and dollar stores. Purse-shaped post-it's and animal lubricant. For three years I and my fellow cofounders Kim Martin and Beth Compton, have created, developed, and run Canada's first mobile makerspace-the MakerBus. As an entirely community-driven (pun intended) makerspace, we have had to master doing a lot with very little. As we have learned, while money is extremely useful, no amount of it can replace the value of an engaged, creative community. Below I share some ideas for creating makerspaces at various price points, offering advice for building a $100 and a (nearly) $0 community makerspace."

"Fact: Kids love Minecraft. The unique and ridiculously popular game is often compared to digital LEGO's, and at it's core, allows players to place and break blocks in a 3D world. With more than 22 million users in 40 countries, the Minecraft craze is only growing and kids can't seem to get enough. The draw of Minecraft? For kids, it's a blank slate and gives them the opportunity to let their imagination run wild. For educators, it is a perfect opportunity to fully integrate technology with learning. Minecraft is being recognized as an incredibly powerful, educational tool that acts as a medium for educators and students, alike, allowing them to unleash their creativity and fully integrate technology with learning opportunities. Because the game lives online, the multiplayer format can be utilized to emphasize digital citizenship and collaboration all through integrated project based-learning. Meet Connected Camps, an online summer camp for Minecraft that is breaking the rules in all the right ways. Yes, you read that right, Connected Camps is a virtual summer camp, that connects kids from around the country (and even the world) through a dedicated, monitored and secure Minecraft server."

"As laptops become smaller and more ubiquitous, and with the advent of tablets, the idea of taking notes by hand just seems old-fashioned to many students today. Typing your notes is faster - which comes in handy when there's a lot of information to take down. But it turns out there are still advantages to doing things the old-fashioned way. For one thing, research shows that laptops and tablets have a tendency to be distracting - it's so easy to click over to Facebook in that dull lecture. And a study has shown that the fact that you have to be slower when you take notes by hand is what makes it more useful in the long run. In the study published in Psychological Science, Pam A. Mueller of Princeton University and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of the University of California, Los Angeles sought to test how note-taking by hand or by computer affects learning."

"Our projects using the MaKey MaKey micro-controller from Joylabz offer participants the opportunity to develop a range of skills in science, programming, music production and art & design. MaKey MaKey The basic elements of our MaKey MaKey projects can be run individually or together and can be in the format of a drop-in activity, live stage show, workshop or series of lessons.  "

"Summer is upon us, and that calls for books to enjoy while lounging poolside. We asked MIND Research Institute staff to recommend their favorite mathematically themed reads, and their picks run the gamut of genres from sci-fi to psychology. Add a few of these to your summer reading list for completely guilt-free and possibly enlightening pleasure. "

"Could you really run a makerspace that is fun, dynamic, engaging, thought-provoking and inexpensive?  Take the twice a month "5 In a Bag" challenge using only household and easily obtainable items.  Add pics and videos of your creations on the padlet, and particpate in the Twitter chat using #5inabag.  Who knows what you will come up with!"

"Summer is upon us, and that calls for books to enjoy while lounging poolside. We asked MIND Research Institute staff to recommend their favorite mathematically themed reads, and their picks run the gamut of genres from sci-fi to psychology. Add a few of these to your summer reading list for completely guilt-free and possibly enlightening pleasure. "

"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."

"I came back from my morning run completely energized. I took my headphones out and continued to puzzle over Sugata Mitra's compelling segment on the TED Radio Hour of "Unstoppable Learning," which suggested that in many ways, teachers are getting in the way of learning. A tough pill for me - a teacher of seven years - to swallow. I scrawled some thoughts in my journal: "Students in pursuit of learning," "fostering curiosity," "CHOICE," "unstoppable learning," and grinned as I imagined what this transformation could look like in my classroom. A few weeks later, I told my students we'd be starting "Inspiration Time." I explained this time was designed for them to ask themselves what they are curious about and what they want to pursue."

"Whether you're running a sleepaway camp, working as a counselor at a day camp, or teaching at a summer program at your school, we salute our teachers who are working with kids this summer! We've gathered some fun, exploratory resources for you to use as you plan summer fun. This collection of resources is ideally suited for camp counselors and other summer staff looking for fun, educational activities to include in their daily schedule, as well as resources to help seed ideas for introducing topics to campers."

"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."

"As the school year draws to a close, many reflections are running around in my brain. The biggest one though stemmed from a question I have asked myself about our school mascot, the penguin. Why a penguin? They are cute, and fun to observe; but where is the value in having this little formal wearing bird as a mascot? After much reading and many discussions all via twitter chats, I have come to discover that being a penguin is an amazing feat...maybe even more amazing than one may realize. I have observed and interacted with my students in new, scary, unchartered, and sometimes crazy fun waters this year (Genius Hour, Maker Space, STEAM, getting ipads, etc.) and through it all have come to  realize what it means for my students to Live Like a Penguin. I am sure many of you educators out there have heard of the author, Dave Burgess, who wrote "How to Teach Like a Pirate", "How to Learn Like a Pirate", etc. In his books he assigns term to each letter of PIRATE that encourage innovation, risk taking, and determination.  Taking inspiration from him, I have come up with an acronym for our mascot, the PENGUIN that seems to truly fit how my students and I lived this year of teaching and learning and how I hope we both continue to so in our futures. ​Live like a PENGUIN:"

"The 22-year-old whiz kid who runs Apple's Twitter account shares his social media tips"

"Five years ago when I started DIY Girls, I envisioned a community for girls driven by an interest in making. I was inspired by the maker movement. The movement was making equipment and resources that were formerly only available in engineering labs more accessible and I wanted to teach girls to use and create with them. I was excited. Then reality hit. I started in the Los Angeles community I grew up in and I quickly ran into what I thought were barriers of working in an under-resourced public school. The classroom space where I was going to run the program for girls didn't have wi-fi, there were no computers and I didn't have enough money to buy the equipment I thought would make this a real maker program. People also thought I would prepare the girls to compete in expensive engineering and robotics competitions. That couldn't happen."

"The Arduino/Genuino 101 is a learning and development board which contains the Intel® Curie™ Module, designed to integrate the core's low power-consumption and high performance with the Arduino's ease-of-use. The 101 adds Bluetooth Low Energy capabilities and has an on-board 6-axis accelerometer/gyroscope, providing exciting opportunities for building creative projects in the connected world. More information about the technical specifications and documentation can be found on the Arduino/Genuino 101 main page. The Arduino/Genuino 101 is programmed using the Arduino Software (IDE), our Integrated Development Environment common to all our boards and running both online and offline. For more information on how to get started with the Arduino Software visit the Getting Started page."

"We, here at TWA, are restructuring our site to have a more user friendly experience and an easier way to find what you are looking for. Case in point, we have gotten too large and just today we received an email from a fan who wanted to know the best way to search our site for the "best apps for early literacy instruction (Pk-Grade 2)". Well, we're working on it and with a bit of diligence we should have it up and running soon. In the meantime, we will be posting lists of some of the best apps in different categories to help you out in the classroom or at home."

"Now that the iPad Cart in my building is up and running ( a process that was frustrating, confusing, annoying and ultimately rewarding ), it is time to start using the iPads in classrooms. "

"There is a running theme on this blog - 'it's not about the device'. I expected this view to be challenged by a visit to Essa Academy in Bolton where they refer to an 'ecosystem' using Apple technology. I was prepared for technological practice that would be difficult to comprehend and a new building with an infrastructure we couldn't hope to replicate. I couldn't have been more wrong."

"With the end of the school year, Apple is taking the opportunity to remind schools and educators about a free professional development program that it's offering. Called the Tune In Series, the program is a series of webcast events covering the iPad and many of the technologies that Apple introduced during its education event in January. The series is running every week through the end of August."