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"The National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council held a symposium to coincide with the release their report "Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects." Participants spoke about the recommendations and implementation of programs to include more engineering topics in primary math and science classes. The report assessed the value of developing and implementing engineering curricula for kindergarten through grade 12. It also describes what engineering concepts children are able to understand and at what age, and provides an analysis of more than a dozen engineering curriculum projects. "

What an appropriate time to celebrate the NSTA Conference with a tribute to an awesome collection of STEM resources! For those not familiar with STEM education, imagine the power in combining Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math into a program that brings cross curricular understanding with real world application. Those familiar with Daniel Pink even understand the importance of a fine arts contribution to STEM. Now combine the outstanding and first rate resources of Siemens Corporation and Discovery Education. Welcome to a posting that highlights a great web site based on STEM, PBL, and 21st Century education! Don't miss any part of this posting, including the conclusion which includes what may be the best free professional development opportunity for STEM educators this summer! As always feel free to follow me on twitter at (@mjgormans) and I will be sure to follow you back and we can learn from one another! You are also invited to visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! Please enjoy and share this post with others! Have a great week! - Mike

"Picturing America, an exciting new initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. Through this innovative program, students and citizens will gain a deeper appreciation of our country's history and character through the study and understanding of its art. The nation's artistic heritage-our paintings, sculpture, architecture, fine crafts, and photography-offers unique insights into the character, ideals, and aspirations of our country. By bringing high-quality reproductions of notable American art into public and private schools, libraries, and communities, Picturing America gives participants the opportunity to learn about our nation's history and culture in a fresh and engaging way. The program uses art as a catalyst for the study of America-the cultural, political, and historical threads woven into our nation's fabric over time. Collectively, the masterpieces in Picturing America, used in conjunction with the Teachers Resource Book and program Web site, help students experience the humanity of history and enhance the teaching and understanding of America's past."

"Use Flash, Scientific Notebook and LiveMath to explore mathematics and get a better understanding of what it all means. Go ahead - play and learn! Check out the extensive math lessons - easy to understand and easy to read. This site is perfect for... * Students of mathematics at secondary and undergraduate levels * Those studying for maths quizzes, tests and exams * Teachers of mathematics * Interested readers"

"Graphite, a free service from Common Sense Media, helps teachers find, understand, and share the best digital learning products available."

The world came to understand the Civil War through the eyes of battlefield artists. Living alongside the troops, combat illustrators risked death, injury, and disease to convey the blow-by-blow of battle with pencil and pen, charcoal, and crayon. Their work, sketched in the direst of circumstances, shows terrible violence but also moments of surprising grace.

Google's calculator tries to understand the problem you are attempting to solve without requiring you to use special syntax.

Do you foursquare? If you do, you may understand social getting together - networking?

Project New Media Literacies (NML), a research initiative based within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world.

This hands-on workshop will focus on understanding popular Web 2.0 tools, how these tools are being used in the classroom, and how a variety of assistive technologies can be integrated with Web 2.0 tools to allow all students to become effective users of these tools. Gain knowledge and skills related to the uses of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and experience using a variety of assistive technologies to foster the use of Web 2.0 tools in your classroom.

twiducate.com is a free resource for educators. Developed in 2009, our goal is to create a medium for teachers and students to continue their learning outside the classroom. We attempt to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners in a social networking environment. We understand that many social networking sites exist, however the control of content is limited for teachers. Also, many of these social networking sites are continuously being blocked by school firewalls and administrators. Our service proudly differs in that only teachers and students may view classroom posts, thus creating a private network for you and your students and a safer online learning environment.

Serious games are games with purpose beyond just providing entertainment. Examples include, but are not limited to, games for learning, games for health, and games for policy and social change. Designing effective, engaging serious games requires theoretical understanding of learning, cognition, emotion, and play.

"VocabSushi provides thousands of sentences that demonstrate any vocab word's contemporary usage in news articles. Compared to the brute force method of flashcard definitions, a deeper understanding of the word can be attained simply by reading several interesting sentences that contain that word."

"The best homework tasks exhibit five characteristics. First, the task has a clear academic purpose, such as practice, checking for understanding, or applying knowledge or skills. Second, the task efficiently demonstrates student learning. Third, the task promotes owner ship by offering choices and being personally relevant. Fourth, the task instills a sense of competence-the student can success fully complete it without help. Last, the task is aesthetically pleasing-it appears enjoyable and interesting (Vatterott, 2009)."

The National Academy of the Sciences has launched this new website that gives an overview of the U.S. energy system. It covers 4 main topics: energy uses, sources of energy, the cost of energy (in terms of the environment, national security, and sustainability), and energy efficiency. The site has easy to navigate content and links to source material, and it includes n energy quiz, a glossary, and a source library. The site's producers are also developing curriculum-based materials for high school and middle school classrooms. Two special features--Our Energy System and Understasnding Efficiency--are designed to actively engage visitors and enhance their understanding of energy, including what it is, h ow we use it, and ways to conserve it.

Specially designed games for musicians Learn to improvise and play music by ear Improve your musical sense Understand the patterns in music

Materials that combine audio, video and reading activities to offer a better perspective of the Hispanic world. All created in Spanish speaking countries, covering many topics. Our goal is to provide great videos that really show our country, and that can be interesting and understandable for a foreign student.

"OpenZine is a social publishing platform with browser based tools that provides regular people with the essential tools to create really amazing things, display it with equal quality and enables them to socially share, control and manage their ideas. The best way to describe what OpenZine provides is by understanding how magazines work. Magazines have a staff of writers, photographers, designers, illustrators and editors that create & contribute. Here at OpenZine you create & contribute on those same principles but your resources are other OpenZine users! "

"Math Snacks are short animations and mini-games designed to help learners "get it". Each snack presents a mathematical concept, particularly those addressed in grades 6, 7 and 8. Ideal for use in a classroom or on your own, they can even be placed on mobile devices for "homework". The accompanying print materials can assist learners in applying their conceptual understanding to math problems."

Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that's notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you'll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that's evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes.