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Earth Day is April 22. Here are lesson plans for Earth Day that you can then use to tie into Arbor Day the next week. Environment, sustainability are both important topics that should be discussed in every school.

As I'm reading on inquiry based learning, I came across another article, I'd like to share. In this article, it discusses how inquiry-based learning projects are driven by students. This very much aligns with the questions we ask on the Flat Classroom and other projects. The one point of meaning that I'm working to understand (and finding different answers depending upon the site) is that some differentiate that students should develop the questions rather than teachers "handing them" the questions. I have a lesson plan I sent through Diigo where the instructor designed a lesson around the question "Can there be giants?" and called in inquiry based. Under this article, it may not be called true inquiry based, and yet, I'm wondering if the question is intriguing and of interest and can be used in a way to teach if it really matters where the question originates.  My class is a mix of student-created inquiries (Freshman project) and project-generated inquiries (Digiteen, Flat Classroom). Interesting. Look forward to reading and understanding more (and sharing with you.) This is another nice article on the topic. Feel free to share yours. "Inquiry-based learning" is one of many terms used to describe educational approaches that are driven more by a learner's questions than by a teacher's lessons. It is inspired by what is sometimes called a constructivist approach to education, which posits that there are many ways of constructing meaning from the building blocks of knowledge and that imparting the skills of "how to learn" is more important than any particular information being presented. Not all inquiry-based learning is constructivist, nor are all constructivist approaches inquiry-based, but the two have similarities and grow from similar philosophies.

Another lesson with an activity called "agony aunt" that lets students discuss things affecting body image. More materials on this important topic.

Scott McLeod has pulled out a set of five slides about education from the Flickr pool about "Great Quotes about Learning and Change" that are worth reading. They would make great fodder for discussions. My favorite is the first one. "The danger of lectures is that they create the illusion of teaching for teachers, and the illusion of learning for learners." Albert Camus

SEveral hundred lessons and information on the European union that you can download and use in your classroom. This is very topical with the current crisis in Greece that is worth a discussion in the globally literate classroom.

Add, discuss and organize ideas from multiple locations before, during and after (or instead of) your meetings.

It is important to read things even if you know from the title that you'll disagree. This article is sure to spark controversy and be embraced by those who want to keep a traditional classroom in rows where kids listen to lecture. While I'm not in an ivory tower, my experience in the power of the face to face classroom has convinced me that when I teach and integrate all different senses that students learn better. I've also seen (and quoted in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds in the Choice chapter that discusses differentiation) that dual encoding (listening to words while reading them) improves the ability to learn to read. (I'll have to look in the book for the sources of research.) I do think, however, there are some good points here, although I firmly believe their conclusion that students are going to learn no matter how they relate to content -- is inaccurate. The lines are being drawn between those who want to change and use technology and those who want the status quo. Nonetheless, if you lose your ability to read things you do not agree with, and engage in thoughtful conversation, then you miss the point of being well educated. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this study.

we use this for discussions with students on their digital footprint 

Julie and I spent some time with Silvia Tolisano talking about global collaboration, telling the story of how the flat classroom started and why we kept it going and the reason for the book. Also we snuck into the things shared in the book that we hope will help those involved in global education make it scalable and consistent. Probably the most fun was our discussion near the end about how Silvia and I "met" online and how we covered ISTE2006 from afar on our computers (pre twitter.) it was a fun talk.

Make your own Twitter-like discussion forum for your colleagues or students. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Lots of conversation about why Steve Jobs wasn't named the Time Person of the year. This would be a fascinating discussion for a social studies or current events class. Who would you name as the person of the year and why.

Google Digital Literacy Tour along with videos. Here are some great lessons and videos and a full curriculum. Just realize that you should involve students in discussions and activities, this is a pretty poor candidate for lecture-based delivery because it is changing so quickly. I use Digiteen but these are great resources. (Hat tip to Theresa Allen for sending this through the Digiteen google group.)

I was rereading this old post for some writing I'm doing about filtering and it struck me that although this post was written in 2008 it reads like it was written this morning. I think there are some very valid arguments to share as you discuss content filtering in your school. When asked about how to help kids with allergies, researchers have made the bold statement , "Let them eat dirt! " As I read these articles, I was struck with the parallel to the content filtration debate that rages in education today.

What if we had presentations without a set topic? Where people show up without an organized agenda. Where the discussion goes this way and that way - as the experience and knowledge of those in the room dictate and NOT as the set delivery of the typical presentation would dictate.

Hi there! OK, so I just read this, as you well know I share similar viewpoints as you, but here's my question (and I may be missing something obvious here, but, when I read this, it describes more of the EdCamp model, no? Or is even that too formal to rid the room of the pink elephant? Just wondering.

I think that every school should have a safety week. Discuss the accidents and safety precautions that kids can use to protect themselves. While some schools celebrate "child safety week" in June - this is a great topic when school gets out for the summer or to be run in summer preschools or camps. It is also something that could be scheduled during the month that students return to school. Children should be empowered to protect themselves. Here are some age appropriate ways this is done by schools now.

Discovery has some great resources to help you plan and work on your science fair project. The summer time is a great time to plan and discuss science fair projects for next year (hint to parents) and you can get started here. This is also something you can send to parents to help them guide their child in this area.

June 28 is the anniversary of the outbreak of World War 1. As you discuss this topic, here are some activitiesa and lessons to help you. There are some "causes" activities to introduce World War 1 that may interest some social studies teachers.

Welcome to your new Google smarthome - not smartphone - smarthome. They've bought a smart thermostat maker - I can imagine all kinds of cool things with Google Glasses, Droids, and other Google integrations with this. This interesting article covers many of the things Google has gone into besides their traditional search box/ advertising model and it tells you about the future of our world as a major giant positions for the Internet of Things which moves far beyond our screens into the air we breathe. This will impact our schools beyond what we understand as our surroundings become smarter and able to be controlled remotely in ways we can't really understand today. These are trends I'll be discussing in my Intro to Computer Science classes. "Google Inc announced plans to acquire smart thermostat maker Nest Labs Inc for US$3.2bil (RM10.54bil), signalling the Internet company's intention to expand into a broader array of devices and bringing valuable hardware design expertise in-house. "

#ukedchat summary and archive discussing the possibilities of a longer school day