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Explain 3D has simulations explaining all kinds of machines and more. This is a 3D simulation built upon the "unity" platform, so you can move around the object in 3D. If you are teaching engineering, run a STEM lab, or work with physics, you'll want to check out what they've done on this site.

"Put the tools in kids' hands. * Interactive whiteboards: They don't call 'em interactive for nothing. When these large-display screens that connect to a computer and a projector arrived at Forest Lake, Williams gave teachers six months to wean themselves from their interaction-less overhead projectors. Students can touch the interactive boards to solve math problems, play games, or write and edit text. When one student is running the board, Williams suggests keeping others engaged using remote clickers, personal dry-erase slates, or manipulatives. (Download this idea guide for interactive whiteboards.) "

This is an interesting article from the Guardian's teacher network about running an independent newspaper using a Grammar school as a case study. I thought this quote is telling: "The key to the success of the newspaper is to establish a trust relationship with the students involved so that they know the boundaries of their independence and know where their responsibilities lie. The editorial team is appointed and led by the editor in chief, a student selected by an interview with me and the outgoing editor."

Ransomware is a new kind of malware. The worst Ransomware to hit in some time is the Crypto virus. This virus encrypts your hard drive and you have to send them a $300 certificate (untraceable) so they'll give you the encryption key to decrypt your drive and get your data back. In an interesting twist, the US government disabled the servers running this ransomware scan and now all of the people with the virus have no hope of getting their decryption keys. This is another reason you should be very careful NOT to open suspicious attachments even from legitimate sounding sources. (Many of these messages appeared to be from Fedex and UPS.) The greatest internet filter ever created is the human brain. Educate teachers and others - not through fear but through a skeptical empowerment that always thinks before it clicks and especially before it downloads.

"CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images. Simple sharing * Anything you paint will show up for all other users in the room in real time. * One click to save a sketch as an image for embedding on forums, blogs, etc. Zero hassle * Runs in all common browsers without plugins or installation. * Free and without registration. Now with Google Maps support! * Use google maps as the background for your sketches to show directions or share trips."

Short Zotero.com overview and tutorial and great tip for college students whose college computers do not run Firefox.

From A Very Short List:  Based on a chilling contingency speech written for Richard Nixon titled "In the Event of Moon Disaster," this nostalgia-laced 15-minute radio broadcast, courtesy of American Public Media, tells its story entirely through the radio communication between Mission Control and the astronauts. Seconds after tuning in, you'll witness Apollo 11's crash landing on the moon. Buzz and Neil are okay, but the lunar module is destroyed, and the men are running out of oxygen. The story is haunting in its plausibility, and despite the fact that the astronauts sound less like test pilots from the Air Force than hipsters from Brooklyn, the quality writing and sound effects bring this macabre counterfactual deliciously close to reality.

I've seen teachers who worked for hours on their lessons, who were scholars in the field fail miserably, and I've seen teachers who, if you gave them five minutes before they walked in to glance over their material, they could run a class for an hour on any topic under the sun. In the end, what makes a great teacher?

NetGenEd Sounding boards. Kim Cofino is an expert at this model and is running this: "The Sounding Board process is a very easy, fun and eye-opening way for younger students (upper elementary, middle, and lower high school) to participate in one of these amazing, global projects. Basically Sounding Boards act as peer reviewers for the students participating in the project. Small groups of students in the Sounding Board classrooms will review one NetGenEd student group's work and offer very simple peer feedback. This time around, I have to admit, the project is even more exciting because it's part of a larger project organized by Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. Here's his intro to the wider project:" Please put a call out and join in! Thanks!

The goal of RubyGrade is to provide an opensource online gradebook system similar to Engrade and Chalksite . RubyGrade enables teachers to keep track of students' grades and attendance records. The main difference being that RubyGrade is open source, free to use, and can be downloaded to run on a local server.

The metaphors of education systems speak volumes about what each system ultimately achieves. Ask any student to compare education or school to something completely different, and you'll likely get a list that looks like this: "School is a prison," "School is hell," "School is a babysitter," or "School is a machine." Sadly, many schools are run quite like this last example-students enter the machine, are shuffled through a number of arbitrary gears, are forcefully bent to fit those gears, move according to bells, and leave the machine knowing they'll be back the next day to repeat the process until they become the desired product of the machine.

If you run Microsoft Office 2007 and you are a teacher, you simply MUST download this learning essentials 2.0 set of tools. From periodic tables to all sorts of things, it is really cool. I'm going to email it to my teachers now.

The must download pack of goodies for Microsoft Office 2007 for educators. Periodic tables, etc. I don't know why I missed it.

The race is on! Yuil give Cuil a run for it's money! What does Google think?

Website started by students advocating environmentally sound actions.

Some students have started this to promote environmentally sound actions. This is run by students and I saw a little profanity on the home page.

October 1st, Office Max giving away grants. US teachers should register at adoptaclassroom.org.

One thousand teachers will be surprised on October 1st by Office Max, but you need to go to adoptaclassroom.org to be in the running. If you are in the US and don't have enough resources, please go and apply. What can you lose? You don't have because you don't ask!

There was a time when Republicans campaigned on their ideas, programs and values. This year-lacking ideas, programs or values-John McCain and Sarah Palin are running for the White House on an elaborate fictional narrative of victimhood. Their supposed persecutors are Democrats and the news media, and the aim of this whole charade is to keep Americans from talking about ideas, programs and values.

That notion has helped to rekindle the browser wars and has resulted in the latest wave of innovation. Firefox 3.0, for example, runs more than twice as fast as the previous version while using less memory, Mozilla says. The browser is also smarter and maintains three months of a user's browsing history to try to predict what site he or she may want to visit. Typing the word "football" into the browser, for example, quickly generates a list of all the sites visited with "football" in the name or description. Firefox has named this new tool the "awesome bar" and says it could replace the need for people to maintain long and messy lists of bookmarks. It will also personalize the browser for an individual user. "Sitting at somebody else's computer and using their browser is going to become a very awkward experience," said Mitchell Baker, chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation.

It's all about empowering students to be responsible for their own learning… whether teaching them content in a class, having them explore an area of interest, or having them run a school-wide activity as part of a leadership program.

Program during May to promote effective comments and communications in the blogosphere.

the 31 day comment challenge is a program to promote effective, meaningful comments run by several amazing edubloggers -- this is an example of something that those interested in facilitating effective communications should discuss and participate in.

BWO Twitter: htjoshua @downingstreet what chance PM invites pupils 2write2 Mugabe on behalf of persecuted teachers who ran poll stations returning "wrong" results

In the light of post election persecution of teachers who ran poll stations returning the "wrong" results in Zimbabwe's recent elections, I have just asked our Prime Minister if he is going to invite pupils worldwide to write to Robert Mugabe expressing concern for: * teachers in fear of their lives, * pupils who miss learning, and * exams that cannot be run even. It happens the form of the question was by way of Twitter: