UWCSEA Teachers

blogs - making paper blogs to prepare for real blogs

Sugata Mitra's second TED talk (2010) in which he talks about how far he has taken his experiment.... children teaching children technology.... SOLEs (Self-Organizing Learning Environments)

"Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. His research has found nine "planetary boundaries" that can guide us in protecting our planet's many overlapping ecosystems."

Compelling video exploring words and word play using visual imagery.

a powerful argument for the power of videos for learning and innovation - crowd accelerated innovation -- based on 1) crowds, 2) light (clear visibility), and 3) desire

photos of amoeba etc. -- beautiful

Article on examples of cross-species breeds -- a zorse (horse + zebra), a liger (lion + tiger), etc. "While one might think that these oddities are examples of some kind of moral breakdown in the animal kingdom, it turns out that hybridization among distinct species is not so rare. Some biologists estimate that as many as 10 percent of animal species and up to 25 percent of plant species may occasionally breed with another species. The more important issue is not whether such liaisons occasionally produce offspring, but the vitality of the hybrid and whether two species might combine to give rise to a third, distinct species."

Lure of the Labyrinth is a digital game for middle-school pre-algebra students. It includes a wealth of intriguing math-based puzzles wrapped into an exciting narrative game in which students work to find their lost pet - and save the world from monsters! Linked to both national and state mathematics standards, the game gives students a chance to actually think like mathematicians.

online list of texts that support writing workshop

Started by Alyssa Fraser in Colorado -- she's looking for collaboration with some of our students

Wesley Fryer's digital storytelling presentation info from Shanghai 2010

Step into the role of an explorer in a futuristic lunar settlement

a Biblioburro -- library by donkey -- in Colombia -- good complement to the book, My Librarian is a Camel

Creative Projects for the PreK-Sixth Grade Classroom

"Monster Exchange is designed to encourage the development of reading and writing skills while integrating Internet technology into the classroom curriculum. Classrooms from a variety of schools worldwide are paired together; the students in each classroom are split into groups, each of which designs an original picture of a monster. The students must then write a description of the monster. The partnered classes then exchange their descriptions via e-mail and the Internet. These students are then challenged to use reading comprehension skills to read the descriptions and translate them into a monster picture. The true challenge involves creating a redrawn picture as close to the original picture as possible without looking at the original and using only the written description of the monster."

"Global SchoolNet's mission is to support 21st century learning and improve academic performance through content driven collaboration. We engage teachers and K-12 students in meaningful project learning exchanges worldwide to develop science, math, literacy and communication skills, foster teamwork, civic responsibility and collaboration, encourage workforce preparedness and create multi-cultural understanding.  "

"The 2010 Global Education Conference will be held November 15 - 19, 2010, online and free.  Sessions will be held in multiple time zones and multiple languages over the five days.  We are now accepting proposals for presentations.  The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives.   (To clarify, this is a worldwide conference on globally-connected education, not a "global conference on general education").  All sessions will be held in the Elluminate platform, will be broadcast live, and will be available in recorded formats afterwards."

Video clips from the documentary - The Pleasure of finding Things Out - plus links to other great resources from the BBC Archive re Science & Nature

Fabulous collection of online tools -- started by Joyce Valenza, teacher-librarian