Group items tagged

A lengthy but worthy read for all non-programmers on code.

Explains code

At the start of each year we arrive back from our break hopefully rested and energised. The new year brings many new opportunities including new students, new team members and new teaching programmes. We begin again the climb up the hill with a fresh group of learners arriving at our doors full of excitement who will rely on us to meet their learning needs in the year ahead. All of this means we are at risk of starting the year with a certain level of panic. There is so much to do, our students are not accustomed to our routines, we don't know each other well, there are parents to meet, assessments to be done and before we know it we are back to being busy. 

Are software makers writing themselves out of a good living? Recent trends in the computer business indicate we are about to see a phenomenal growth in computing power and the relative ease with which software can be created to utilize it.

The current programme of information and communications technology (ICT) study in England's schools will be scrapped from September, the education secretary has announced. It will be replaced by an "open source" curriculum in computer science and programming designed with the help of universities and industry.

Making the News 2 (MTN2) is a website designed to introduce students to the world of online media publishing and broadcasting for the 21st century. Teachers may register, doing so will create a homepage on MTN for their school. The teacher may then create student accounts. Students can then login and create articles and programmes which will be submitted to the teacher and if approved published on the school homepage. Well rated articles will be added to the National MTN2 site. Articles may be text and images or they may be video, audio or a sequence of images.

"A programme that brings live fish into classrooms to teach the fundamentals of biology not only helps students learn, but improves their attitudes about science, a new study finds. The study of nearly 20,000 K-12 students, who raised zebrafish from embryos over the course of a week, found that kids at all grade levels showed significant learning gains. They also responded more positively to statements such as "I know what it's like to be a scientist." The results, to be published by the journal PLOS Biology, suggest that an immersive experience with a living creature can be a particularly successful strategy to engage young people in science, technology, engineering and maths."

Brief news report on changes to the spelling program/programme within Australian government and public service. Notes personal preferences of prime ministers Howard, Rudd and Abbott, and assumptions about what the differences signify.

thoughtful piece on what becoming a programmer/creator/modeler is all about. Good references to appropriate works. "The computer revolution hasn't happened yet. It is not about coding, it is about modeling of real world problems using technology to find or make a solution.

"A new study co-authored by researchers at Michigan State University and Case Western Reserve University found that "growth mindset interventions," or programmes that teach students they can improve their intelligence with effort - and therefore improve grades and test scores - don't work for students in most circumstances."

"Teachers in England are being invited to join a professional development opportunity through EarthEcho International sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. The 'EarthEcho Expeditions: What's the Catch?' programme leverages the rich Cousteau legacy of exploration and discovery to bring Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education alive for today's 21st-century learners and their educators. The free, expenses-paid opportunity is planned to allow secondary school teachers to participate as Expedition Fellows to learn first-hand from scientists and engineers the consequences of fisheries mismanagement and how this can be changed for the better with new technological approaches and discoveries."

"Name-calling, hair pulling or cyberbullying: About a tenth of adolescents across the globe have been the victim of psychological or physical violence from classmates at least once in their lives. A new study carried out by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has shown that victims and their perpetrators both suffer as a result of these attacks: They are more inclined to consume alcohol and tobacco, are more likely to complain of psychosomatic problems and their chances of having problems with their social environment increase, too. In the scientific journal "Children and Youth Services Review", the researchers plead for prevention programmes to place more emphasis on cohesion within the classroom."

This site is a playground for experimenting java programmers. Browse hundreds of user created examples or get your class to make their own. It's easy. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+&+Web+Tools

Technology and teaching - two words that seem to fit together perfectly today for most teachers and learners. So much so that a slew of new blogs have come on board to talk about education technology - or, edTech. This list of the 50 best education technology blogs are not inclusive, as there are so many new blogs available; however, if you look at links provided by many of these blogs to other edTech blogs, you may learn about even more blog that you aren't reading yet.

Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) are two technologies root together by XML

This isn't just about online learning! How many of these roles do you fulfill as a teacher, "facilitator," or admin? How successful have professional development efforts been in getting teachers to try out new roles? How successful have they been in getting kids to try out some of these roles? What other roles are there for students?

Article comparing the lack of knowledge about the role of the educator at the moment with the blame put on 'bad teachers'.