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Great information shared by Bob  Sprankle on why you should use Scratch with kids. If you work with elementary curriculum or teach in an elementary STEM or computer lab read this. "THIS is the true intent of Scratch. Mitch Resnick made Scratch with his team at MIT. The team is (purposefully) called "The Lifelong Kindergarten Group" because in kindergarten we are allowed (or used to be allowed) to try things out, build things and knock them down, make a mess, experiment, fool around with tools, CREATE! Resnick says that we should be allowed to be working like that ALL the time -for our entire lives-because that is HOW WE LEARN BEST. It is the natural way the brain operates."

Here is a beginner guide for Scratch. This is a great set of resources to help you get started with computer game production in Scratch. This was developed to cover the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, Experience, and Outcome for Game Production. This is a fascinating way to start. I hope others will share their resources in the comments. I want to use Scratch in my classroom.

Scratch is a great free game-making animation-style program. This is a nice beginner guide teaching a beginner or students how to make a quiz in Scratch. I had some students in Scratch earlier in the year and am going to go back and give this to them.

This might be good for introducing programming without needing to touch a computer. I've students who aren't initially engaged by jumping into programming with a computer even with something like Scratch. Maybe this is a way to get them in the correct mindset first. When I first found this, I hoped there might be program cards that required using loops or variables but from looking at the game rule book that does not appear to be the case.  It appears that movement is the only command types, which can result in automatic laser firing or bumping another robot. Still seems like a good game though.

Excellent article overviewing why makerspaces are popular with quotes from Sylvia Martinez and Pam Moran.

"dTech tools themselves are simple to use, the real challenge is knowing where to start. I don't know about you, but I get completely overwhelmed by the number of EdTech tools out there. I'm bombarded constantly by emails and tweets telling me I *have* to sign up to the latest app or website. I'm no technophobe and I know it can save me time, or help me create more engaging lessons, but where do I even begin?"

"From now, Spotify users can follow and listen to UKEdPodcast episodes directly within the app, available on SmartPhones, desktops and Smart Devices."

"No law school, polymer science, or engineering faculty can take the offer."

EdTech Live Stream hosted by @ICTmagic News, reviews, interviews, and 'how-to' guides Join the next live broadcast by going to http://eepurl.com/cSuSo1

"A major research publication recently released in the journal "Psychological Science" has called into question the notion of mindsets in academic achievement outcomes. The theory holds that individuals with growth mindsets (beliefs that attributes are malleable with effort) enjoy many positive outcomes-including higher academic achievement-while their peers who have fixed mindsets experience negative outcomes."

"From authors and actresses to CEOs and engineers: Women prove time and time again that they can perform any job just as efficiently and professionally as any man can."

"UKED UPDATE 12TH MARCH 2018"

If you use Wordpress the Yoast SEO plug in is by-far the best. This is the definitive guide to optimizing your SEO for Wordpress and is something appropriate for serious bloggers or school webmasters/ IT to read and understand, especially if you're using their SEO optimizer for wordpress (which is free and awesome.)