UWCSEA Teachers

good list of places where you can find reviews of children's story apps

resources from the earcos conference-on line courses etc

"Media Store serves the education market with an unrivalled collection of DVDs, including latest releases, classics and difficult-to-source titles covering a wide range of subjects and audience age range. Media Store is well known throughout the market for its high stock levels, honest prices, speedy delivery and friendly service which makes it a one-stop shop for all teachers and educators who need DVDs to support their curriculum delivery.

including resources on the iPods and iPads relating to literacy

Interesting Wordles on How Toy Advertising reinforces gender stereotypes. Worth a look!

"Poems for... supplies small poem-posters for public display - in class rooms, libraries, waiting rooms ..." You need to register before you can download, but it's free -- and the poems make lovely A3 posters printed out

ADE Madeline Brookes writes an interesting post about the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon integration model.  We're at 0 degrees right now. Should we be doing more of 1?

I finally got around to finding James's blog on the school website. Has anyone else been following it?

serious questions about the financial regularity and the truth of his stories -- expose of the author of "Three Cups of Tea"

Facebook Community Organization by grade 6 students

The American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project 2061 (an imitative to improve science, math and technology literacy) -- "A new Web site is taking aim at this challenge, providing educators with quick lists of scientific statements broken down by subject matter, highlighting concepts that tend to be misunderstood by students.... The site (which is accessible after free registration) also provides teachers with some 600 multiple choice questions for tests that could help pinpoint conceptual sticking points. Multiple-choice tests have drawn criticism for being too reductive, and DeBoer acknowledges that "too often test questions are not linked explicitly to the ideas and skills that the students are expected to learn." So to figure out just what kids know-or think they know-researchers involved in the seven-year-long project tested more than 150,000 students in some 1,000 classrooms and conducted interviews with many of them to try to figure out how well the questions were getting at the underlying understandings."

"Welcome to the AAAS Project 2061 Science Assessment Website The assessment items on this website are the result of more than a decade of research and development by Project 2061, a long-term science education reform initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Here you will find free access to more than 600 items. The items: Are appropriate for middle and early high school students. Test student understanding in the earth, life, physical sciences, and the nature of science. Test for common misconceptions as well as correct ideas. This website also includes: Data on how well U.S. students are doing in science and where they are having difficulties, broken out by gender, English language learner status, and whether the students are in middle school or high school. "My Item Bank," a feature that allows you to select, save, and print items and answer keys. Intended primarily for teachers, these assessment items and resources will also be useful to education researchers, test developers, and anyone who is interested in the performance of middle and high school students in science."

News and research about endangered species from around the world

Categories of lists: add & subtract, fractions, money, probability & statistics, time, geometry, problem solving, etc.  

"John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4'x5' plywood board -- and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches -- spontaneous, and always surprising -- go further than classroom lectures can.

David Dowling's website where he has created poetry and video to accompany them -- to teach kids about the sun, the planets, flower, the Great Wall, clouds, DNA, etc.

"How can you force YouTube videos to fill the browser and NOT show all the distracting stuff? If  the original YouTube video is located at .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs  (This is the Matt Cutts video on "How search works") You can modify the URL to include the modified argument "watch_popup"  (as below) http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=BNHR6IQJGZs

"What is constant multi-tasking doing to teens' brains? That's the question NewsHour Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien set out to answer as he interviewed teens and neuroscience experts around the country. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are currently studying whether teens' addictions to technology are wiring their brains differently than those of their parents and earlier generations. During adolescence, brain connections are "pruned" - those that are used a lot are strengthened, while those that are rarely used fall off. According to a scientist at UCLA who also studies the effects of technology on teens' brains, the brain's release of the chemical dopamine has a lot to do with why technology can become addictive for young people. When the brain experiences something pleasurable, like connecting with others via social networking, it is hard-wired to want more of it by releasing dopamine. Yet other researchers say multi-tasking and playing intense video games can actually help develop some skills like better vision and improved short-term memory. Because modern technology is still in its infancy, scientists are only uncovering the beginnings of how it will affect the human brain functions of tomorrow.

comic strip examples of what is irony and what isn't