Heads in the Cloud

Look for upcoming video-conferences with scientists

Technology and science project ideas, some with instructions to download. Process and project illustrated in photos. Useful for those working with IB ICT and Design technology.

Games that relate to concepts like factoring, combining like terms, and perimeter. Join as parent, student, teacher. Players can work against the computer or challenge other members to a game. Fun to play! Appropriate for Upper El and Middle School.

Fun, free photo-editing with refined results

Candy, pickles, eggs, seasoning, bread, meat all explained through activities, virtual tours, scientific explanations and cultural context. Very engaging, and VERY interdisciplinary. Great for elementary!

With the election coming up in 2012, it is important to remember that "current events" does not have to be limited to a humanities classroom. This lesson could make a nice starting point for an interdisciplinary lesson on math and government.

Our money is tied to our culture, so an interdisciplinary lesson on math and history would be be a logical choice. This website would be good for 2nd to 4th grade students. Adventure, Art, Facts and Collecting Games have some potential for use in a classroom. You can go on a virtual tour of the process of making coins on this site. My favorite feature is the Coin News page because it had some links and coin facts for holidays.

The interactive map is the best content on the site. Being president for a day is a fun activity - using facts from throughout Presidential history. Teachers may like the activities suggested for more learning activities in the classroom. Writing style is best suited for the 4th to 6th grades.

Easy to create your own QR codes. Great for K-3 or Special needs to access sites easily - can even be differentiated by color ( eg. green code is for the plant website). Challenging puzzle work for Gifted, MS, or HS to comprehend or create -( eg.make a map and document great websites to explore about cities with a QR code for each location).

Add content to a picture - label it, color it, include lines and shapes, and add links to closeup pics. Lots of possibilities with the editing tools. Could be used with diagrams from science, maps, historical photos or artwork. Easy to embed or share. Below is a picture annotated to give more information about JFK's assassination.

NPR has a number of podcasts and other media available on current events and global issues. It is easy to share the information with students to start discussions. When creating websites and other resources, I have used some of their multimedia resources.

Rather than get into all the possible uses, I will just explain how I have been using my account. I choose to follow or get tweets from many different individuals and institutions that post education-related information. I also look for new sources of information here - my favorites might get transfereed into my reader if they have a feed and I think reading through all of their posts would be valuable. Many of the tweets have links to new posts, articles, or studies that I may want for reference so I will retweet them. I have linked my twitter and diigo accounts so my diigo records those links in my bookmarks. I do this on my mobile, since Twitter is blocked at my school, but since Diigo is in the cloud it all ends up together. I have worked with students and teachers on trying to tweet an idea - to capture the essence of something, but we used pencil and paper/word processing because of the block. If you are interested in who I follow - I am @txchat

For students studying geography, these interactive maps could be a great study aid. I was most impressed by the responses to incorrect answers -it responds by prompting, "No, that is...," and the student only has a limited number of chances before it moves on to the next question.

Audio, video, images, text, and links to information about world religions, ethics, and current issues. Excellent quality.

Support for educating students and adults about how to be aware on the web. Tips for safety in a variety of situations and links to more information. Special pages for parents, educators, kids 7-10, tweens 11-13, and teens 14-17. The animations would b great to include in classroom presentations - access them directly at http://wiredsafety.org/flashandvideo/index.html.

Lots of math activities and some tools. These are a little less intuitive and the graphics are less sophisticated than some other sites, but the activities are fun and valuable. The fraction equivalence activity requires students to use their spatial understanding and gives some opportunity for design. The activities and tools can be sorted by grade level (3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and Undergraduate) or by Topic.

One of a number of Earth Labs for Educators available at http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/index.html. Topics include fisheries, hurricanes, corals, climate, and drought. Each topic has multiple labs, which are often accompanied by printable resources. These labs use a variety of resources from around the web to present concepts in lessons for MS/HS. This lab in particular maps marine biodiversity as a part of a larger lesson on balance in the ecosystem.

An online global collaboration examining water resources

Exceptionally interesting and creative ways to look at music. Four interactive experiments with sound, one set of videos showing the process of others experimenting, and a very interesting module called "Take the Beat Back" that looks at the origins of different instruments as well as the scientific explanations of the sounds they produce.

Students work through virtual labs on magnitude and travel time. There are tutorials explaining and illustrating the concepts of lag time and latitude/longitude. Assessment exams can help the teacher see if the student is achieving the objectives of the lesson. Best for HS, but appropriate for some advanced MS classes or individuals.