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"Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. Today marks what would have been his 134th birthday. Sure there are a lot of different ways to celebrate Einstein's legacy, but we hope you will take a moment to remember this remarkable scientist by checking out an Einstein-themed iPad app or two."

"Spark your students' curiosity in engineering and technology by introducing them to the designers, inventors, and clever thinkers featured in PBS LearningMedia. Use their stories to illustrate various themes of study like the engineering design process and the impact of technology."

"Critical thinking is the engine of learning. Within this complex process or so many other relevant themes that contribute to learning: creativity, analysis, evaluation, innovation, application, and scores of other verbs from various learning taxonomies. So the following infographic from Mentoring Minds is immediately relevant to all educators, and students as well. It's a bit of a mash of Habits of Mind, various 21st century learning frameworks, and the aforementioned learning taxonomies, promoting collaboration, problem-solving, and real-world connections (standard "critical thinking fare" with Habits of Mind-sounding phrases such as "Open-Mindedness.""

"Originally released in early 2012, Apple's education-themed ebook creation tool took bold steps as the first WYSIWYG program to export an ebook just as its author envisioned it. As I noted in my review of that software, however, the first version of iBooks Author was very much a 1.0 product, with strange omissions and odd workflows for users who didn't want to build textbooks. Ten months later, an updated version-iBooks Author 2.0 (Mac App Store)-brings simplified tools, new templates, portrait-only options, and a better publishing workflow to the table. Naturally, I couldn't resist taking the updated program for a spin."

"One of the readers here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learners just sent me this awesome Blooms Taxonomy wheel to share with you. I can't believe I missed this graphic before Blooms Taxonomy is one of the major themes in this blog and I have been scouring the web for several months collecting everything related to this taxonomy.In fact one of the great things about being a blogger is not only being able to share with others but also learn from them."

For Halloween 2016, I did a version of Halloween Wars (a Food Network show) with my two classes of gifted elementary learners. I am sharing this lesson through my blog post as it reinforces how I approach lesson planning and teaching. Background Information Principles that drive my instructional approach. regardless of theme, include: Instructional challenges are hands-on and naturally engaging for learners. There is a game-like atmosphere. There are elements of play, leveling up, and a sense of mastery or achievement during the instructional activities. The challenges are designed to be novel and create excitement and joy for learners. There is a healthy competition where the kids have to compete against one another. Learners don't need to be graded about their performances as built-in consequences are natural. There is a natural building of social emotional skills - tolerance for frustration, expression of needs, working as a team. Lessons are interdisciplinary (like life) where multiple, cross-curricular content areas are integrated into the instructional activities."

"Today as we were sifting through Open Culture's list of over 700 free audio books we came across this great resource from Internet Archive. This is a collection embedding hundreds of free audio books covering a wide variety of themes and topics meticulously curated by the folks in LibriVox. the collection is huge and you may want to use the integrated search functionality to search for specific titles. You can narrow down your search using criteria such as views, title, date reviewed/published/ archived, and creator. Once you find your audiobook, click on its cover page and you will be directed to a page where you can listen, download and access more details about it including publication date, usage licenses, and reviews."

"I normally tend to stay away from "stuff" lists when it comes to talking about makerspaces.  I believe that the stuff that goes into a makerspace should be based around the needs of the students and the school, not on a checklist of items to get.  But this list is different.  The holiday season is upon us, and what better gift to give to a young (or not so young) maker than something that encourages creativity? (Well, books, but don't worry, I've got those too). Here's some of my favorite picks for maker themed gifts for the holidays or any day."

"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. "

"At ISTE 2016 I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel, sponsored by Samsung Education, with other educators and industry experts, spending an hour talking about literacy in the age of technology. It was an engaging discussion that looked at how one district in Tennessee leveraged technology to improve reading in the middle grades and also how literacy instruction is being impacted by the use of technology. My role in the discussion was that of a former District Technology Leader and what I've seen when implementing district technology programs centered around literacy. For me this discussion really hit home. As a Father of a 2 daughters I see on an almost daily basis how computers, tablets and apps are impacting their literacy skills. For my 7 yr old she uses her tablet to find books she wants to read and also is able to practice her skills through read aloud and other features in the books. For my 3 year old she is able to use her manipulatives and other apps to practice her letters and letter sounds. It's truly incredible to watch both of them using the technology and its power to learn. As I've reflected on this panel a lot there are some important themes to remember when it comes to literacy and technology that we need to remember."

"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. "

"Every March, my students hold their book clubs.  It is something we work toward all year and by spring they are mostly all excited to do them.  As I have tweaked the process, one of the biggest changes I made was to step away from only a few selected books for them to read and instead open it up to as many books as possibly.  With the help of the great selection of cheap books at Books4schools.com our book club set selection is now over 50 different titles and I am always looking to expand.  We no longer have a theme to the books, besides whether or not they are a great book, and students seem to always be able to find several books that they would like to dig into."

"Physics and Mathematics are extremely important subjects. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. Physics and Mathematics allow us to peer out into the cosmos and understand the inner workings of the universe. At once, they show us our  insignificance and our remarkable potential; they give us a hint of the vast possibilities that exist-of what we could (and may) one day accomplish. They allow us to see the world and to see ourselves anew. That begins to scratch the surface of these subjects. No one can deny their importance; however, it is also a fact that many people don't know where to begin investigating these topics…what books to study, what themes to begin with. On top of this, many feel intimidated by physics and math-they seem to think that they are things which only the sharpest individuals are able to understand. But nothing could be farther from the truth. True, these subject areas might not be the easiest that you will ever happen across, but they are far from impossible. So. If you want to be a physicist or a mathematician,  or if you just want to understand the subjects, here's where to start. Huge thanks to the wonderful Moinak Banerjee for his work on this."

" 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."

Understanding responses to change is critical and with the predicted future of education increasingly being linked to innovative practices which prepare students for an unknown future change is a central theme

Freedom to Learn is a blog the theme of which is the promoting children's self-direction in learning from the viewpoint of evolutionary psychology.

"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."

"In some ways you can think of Ooomf as a kind of "Pinterest for apps." Users can build catalog of apps that follow a particular theme, and share catalogs with other users. Founder Mikael Cho says if you "identify as a creative, or a traveling nomad, or a hustling innovator, and we have different apps in each category, but the entire idea is to be a part of the whole life cycle of an app, from idea to creation.""

"This holiday season I have been as busy as one of Santa's elves getting all the book apps with Christmas themes reviewed in time. In fact, I wish I had a few elves myself with so many great new titles being released. Our original top 25 has quickly become a top 50 …"

Corbird: contributors share their stories about everyday life, organized by topics and themes.