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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Duane Sharrock

Duane Sharrock

Students Learn Better With Star Trek-Style Touchscreen Desks | Popular Science - 3 views

  • A UK study involving roughly 400 students, mostly aged 8-10 years, and a new generation of multi-touch, multi-user, computerized desktop surfaces is showing that over the last three years the technology has appreciably boosted students’ math skills compared to peers learning the same material via the conventional paper-and-pencil method. How? Through collaboration, mostly, as well as by giving teachers better tools by which to micromanage individual students who need some extra instruction while allowing the rest of the class to continue moving forward.
  • the researchers have concluded that these new touchscreen desks boost both fluency and flexibility--the critical thinking skills that allow students to solve complex problems not simply through knowing formulas and devices, but by being able to figure out what the real problem is and the most effective means of stripping it down and solving it.
  • This kind of stuff can be really hard to quantify,
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  • It’s going to take a lot more time, research, and money
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    UK study involving roughly 400 students, mostly aged 8-10 years, and a new generation of multi-touch, multi-user, computerized desktop surfaces is showing that over the last three years the technology has appreciably boosted students' math skills compared to peers learning the same material via the conventional paper-and-pencil method.
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    UK study involving roughly 400 students, mostly aged 8-10 years, and a new generation of multi-touch, multi-user, computerized desktop surfaces is showing that over the last three years the technology has appreciably boosted students' math skills compared to peers learning the same material via the conventional paper-and-pencil method.
Duane Sharrock

Medical devices powered by the ear itself - MIT News Office - 1 views

  • Health Sciences and Technology (HST) demonstrate for the first time that this battery could power implantable electronic devices without impairing hearing.
  • The devices could monitor biological activity in the ears of people with hearing or balance impairments, or responses to therapies. Eventually, they might even deliver therapies themselves
  • “In the past, people have thought that the space where the high potential is located is inaccessible for implantable devices, because potentially it’s very dangerous if you encroach on it,” Stankovic says. “We have known for 60 years that this battery exists and that it’s really important for normal hearing, but nobody has attempted to use this battery to power useful electronics.”
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  • The ear converts a mechanical force — the vibration of the eardrum — into an electrochemical signal that can be processed by the brain; the biological battery is the source of that signal’s current. Located in the part of the ear called the cochlea, the battery chamber is divided by a membrane, some of whose cells are specialized to pump ions. An imbalance of potassium and sodium ions on opposite sides of the membrane, together with the particular arrangement of the pumps, creates an electrical voltage.
  • Low-power chips, however, are precisely the area of expertise of Anantha Chandrakasan’s group at MTL
  • The frequency of the signal was thus itself an indication of the electrochemical properties of the inner ear.
  • in cochlear implants, diagnostics and implantable hearing aids. “The fact that you can generate the power for a low voltage from the cochlea itself raises the possibility of using that as a power source to drive a cochlear implant,” Megerian says. “Imagine if we were able to measure that voltage in various disease states. There would potentially be a diagnostic algorithm for aberrations in that electrical output.”
  • “I’m not ready to say that the present iteration of this technology is ready,” Megerian cautions. But he adds that, “If we could tap into the natural power source of the cochlea, it could potentially be a driver behind the amplification technology of the future.”
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    "For the first time, researchers power an implantable electronic device using an electrical potential - a natural battery - deep in the inner ear."
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    "All of D-Lab's classes assess the needs of people in less-privileged communities around the world, examining innovations in technology, education or communications that might address those needs. The classes then seek ways to spread word of these solutions - and in some cases, to spur the creation of organizations to help disseminate them. Specific projects have focused on improved wheelchairs and prosthetics; water and sanitation systems; and recycling waste to produce useful products, including charcoal fuel made from agricultural waste."
Duane Sharrock

Enterprise Efficiency - Pablo Valerio - Finally, Unbreakable Message Encryption - 1 views

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    A new concept is starting to appear in encryption services for data and messaging: zero knowledge. Providers of such services claim that they do not know who you are, and that they never store the encryption key anywhere outside of your device. One such service from FoxyFone of Switzerland (a country famous for bank security and secrecy) is now available on the Apple App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The app, Foxygram, lets the user encrypt data on the device, including contacts, email, pictures, and video, with 256-bit AES security.
Duane Sharrock

minecraftinschool [licensed for non-commercial use only] / FrontPage - 6 views

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    This wiki is devoted to hosting ideas, lessons, implementation strategies and more related to using the game, Minecraft in a school setting. Whether you use it in a computer/gaming club, as part of your regular curricular instruction, or even at home with your own children, Minecraft's simple yet scalable "sandbox" virtual environment can be an excellent tool for engaging student learning. The open-ended nature of the game lends it to application in a variety of subject areas. Game-based learning, virtual worlds, and simulations are emerging tools for reaching our learners. That's why this wiki was created. Are you an educator who also plays Minecraft? Perhaps you're considering using the game in your school or district. Do you have ideas about how Minecraft could enrich your teaching while providing a fun and exciting game world for your students? Then join us and share those ideas! This is an opportunity for crowd-sourced lesson building! -Lucas Gillispie, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pender County Schools, NC
Duane Sharrock

2 | When The Internet Is Your Brain: - 8 views

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    In H+: The Digital Series, a post-apocalyptic techno-thriller that debuts today from producer Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X2, House), a consumer device that allows people to stay connected 24-hours a day directly results in the demise of one-third of the Earth's population. That's a scary vision for any epoch, but perhaps especially one currently salivating at the prospect of new iThings. The culprit in H+, which is shorthand for a real-world movement called transhumanism, is a wonder chip that we implant in our brains, thereby eliminating the need to hunch over physical electronics forever. But the price paid for this technological leap is a steep--when a global virus strikes the implants, the system failure is fatal.
Duane Sharrock

Digital scrapbooks for student creativity, self-expression, and imagination - Beeclip EDU - 17 views

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    Creativity made easy Amazing digital scrapbooks for student creativity, imagination, and self-expression. Combine images, videos, text, and more! Manage students, classes, and projects Collaborate, share, download & print Astoundingly easy to use
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