CCSICT

Great discussion by Steve Collis regarding the (non?) impact of social media and similarities to ancient philosophers

The quality of the teacher doesn't affect how much students learn (that doesn't mean it doesn't affect other factors - e.g., interest and motivation). Low ability students learn just as much as high ability students when exposed to the same experiences. More able students learn more because they seek out other learning opportunities. Tests, more than measuring a student's learning, reflect the student's motivation.

how to use BIE's Project Planner that creates a simple two-page Project Overview form that can be saved and shared online. http://www.bie.org/project_planner

In the discussion over learning styles and measuring achievements, it's important to take into account what educators see first-hand in class. To get a sense of their perspective on the subjects, I asked educators who are part of the Powerful Learning Practice to weigh in on what they've observed in their classrooms. Here's what they say.

Duke of Ed video tutorial and instructions. Great for Outdoor recreation and geography.

A Blog Post about a grade 4 project looking at waste in their world and how they can deal with it.

Tool for collaborative authoring of e-books.

Online game making. 

Famous historical speeches available for download

Excellent tool for student learning and research. 

Michelson-Morley Experiment This movie simulates the set-up used in the Michelson-Morley experiment, including the non-existent aether wind they were trying to detect! The basic idea is to detect the time difference between light going "upstream then downstream" and light going "across shore and back."

Youtube video of Erosion and Weathering

In this post I referenced a statistic that said that studies show that on average 50% of students are not engaged, 20% are actively disengaged - the reason - not interested In Dan Pinks book 'Drive - the surprising truth about what motivates us' he suggests that the reason they are not interested in their studies is because we have taught them not to be.

Exploratree is a free web resource where you can access a library of ready-made interactive thinking guides, print them, edit them or make your own. You can share them and work on them in groups too.

Human Body Facts and Human Body Systems Facts, Human Body Trivia, Circulatory System Facts, Digestive System Facts, Endocrine System Facts, Skeletal System Facts, Respiratory System Facts, Lymphatic System Facts, Muscular System Facts, Nervous System Facts, Human Fingernail Facts, Human Hair Facts, Brain Facts, the Five Senses, Human Hearing Facts, Sense of Sight Facts, Sense of Smell Facts, Sense of Taste Facts, Sense of Touch Facts, Human Skin Facts, Human Teeth Facts, Common Cold Facts, Allergy Facts, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Smoking and Its Effects on the Human Body, First Aid Remedies, Living a Healthy Life Style, and Healthy Physical Activity

Fantastic resource drawing together technologies and learning activities.

Krechevsky and Stork (2000) stress the importance of learning from other people, as opposed to individual learning, but lament that 'many of our cultural images of teachers, parents, children and schools themselves stand in the way of realising such communities of democratic participation'

Great list of ipad apps for education

Amazing news wiki items on pretty much anything you like. Embed them into Moodle - there is even an iPad app. Must have for OCS. 

Great thoughts about professional learning for educators