Smartboards in the Classroom

Multilingual MATH Glossary

2009-10-09T21:17:00Z

Tech & Learning has an excellent Mathematics Glossary site that's multilingual. Once you're selected a term to define, the website generates a diagram to help you understand the concept.

Well Done!

Attention Science Teachers!

2009-10-01T22:04:00Z

Our friends at Teachers Love Smartboards have found a wonderful website that you absolutely MUST try.

http://www.freezeray.com/index.html

To quote FreezerRay - "This site offers a growing bank of imaginative, highly visual teaching-aids developed for use with interactive whiteboards in 11-18 Schools.

The resources are designed to be used as rich sources of visually stimulating material, making use of both animations and drag and drop interactivity. The appropriate Key Stage is indicated for each resource.

It is hoped that the resources will help students to make sense of some of the more challenging concepts they encounter.

Many of the resources can be used to support starter or plenary activities."

Be sure to look at the Physics section.

Just wonderful!

Learning Styles - Assessments - Edutopia.org

2009-09-28T22:34:00Z

Have you been looking for an assessment to help you determine your OWN learning styles? Here's one from Edutopia.

High Tech High - San Diego Leads the Way

2009-09-28T22:23:00Z

Here's a great video from Edutopia on San Diego's amazing High Tech High.

What If Magellan...?

2009-09-11T08:53:00Z

We are always looking for interesting ideas that will trigger critical thinking, stimulate creativity and strengthen communication in our students (See Standards - NYS ELA 1,2,3, ISTE 1,2,3,4 and NETS Students 1,2,3,4). So, today's New York Times article (see attached) on the impact of melting arctic ice on northern shipping lanes proved very interesting. Tying this development in global warming back to curriculum, we've come up with an interesting idea that fits in middle school (seventh grade) Social Studies (see pacing calendar: October on Explorers).

WHAT IF Magellan had been able to sail NORTH instead of SOUTH when his crew circumnavigated the earth?

Consider this map from today's NYTimes article by ANDREW E. KRAMER and ANDREW C. REVKIN, published: September 10, 2009:

click on image

QUICK HOW-TO

Insert this map on a page in your SmartBoard Notebook lesson. Use the dual screen tool. On the second page, insert the world map outline you'll find in "Essentials for Educators" - "Geography" - "Maps" - "World" - "Continents" and then "Notebook Files and Pages" - "World - Outline Map". Be sure to save.

Now pose the query: "Based on our examination of Magellan's journal around the earth, (1) contrast his path to that of the ship in today's NY Times article, (2) Redraw Magellan's path IF he had been able to use the Northeast Passage by sailing NORTH from Spain instead of SOUTH. What impact would this have had?

Now stand back and watch the intellectual fireworks! The first rule of education is "First get their attention by giving them something stimulating to think about!" If you are able to use this lesson with your students, please come back and share your students' reactions with our global learning community. Can't wait to read your comments!

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Technorati Tags: SmartBoard, Magellan, Northeast Passage, European Explorers, Global Warming, Arctic Shipping Lanes, Social Studies, Middle School

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NYSCATE 2009 Conference in Rochester, NY

2009-09-06T08:23:00Z

Keynote Speaker

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources and a New York Times Best-selling author. He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education? (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the United States, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2005 he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts and education. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.

Technorati Tags: NYSCATE, Robinson, "The Element", Creativity

Interesting New Findings from Digital Learning Environment

2009-09-06T07:58:00Z

Online Learning Gains Respect

A Department of Education study shows that students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The study is a meta-analysis of the research, and it is accompanied with the warning that the findings apply primarily to adults. Researchers were surprised to discover how few research studies of the effectiveness of online learning for K-12 students have been published.

The authors encourage more K-12 research and caution that their findings should not be applied to K-12 students. For adults, however, the benefits of online learning apply to undergraduate, graduate and professional learners. Online learning, points out the report, gained traction because early studies had shown it to be a cost-effective and convenient route to equally effective learning. However, as the tools and online environments have improved, it now appears to be superior. Even so, not all gizmos make a difference.

The study posed four key research questions:

How does the effectiveness of online learning compare with that of face-to-face instruction?
Does supplementing face-to-face instruction with online instruction enhance learning?
What practices are associated with more effective online learning?
What conditions influence the effectiveness of online learning?

Key findings include:

Blended and purely online learning conditions generally result in similar student learning outcomes.
Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.
Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.
When groups of students are learning together online, support mechanisms such as guiding questions generally influence the way students interact, but not the amount they learn.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

Technorati Tags: online learning

Interactive Story-Telling

2009-09-04T08:40:00Z

"The Opera House Mouse"

Our friends at "Teachers Love SMART Boards" have brought a wonderful site to us from the Oak Street Elementary School in Plattsburgh, NY. It has a range of interactive stories for K-5 classrooms. Here's an image from one of the stories. Enjoy!

The link is attached below.

Technorati Tags: SmartBoards, Interactive Story Telling, Literacy

Learning Strategies

2009-09-03T09:48:00Z

There are many resources available to us on how students' learn. Here are several new ones.

Strategies

http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/strategies.html

Learning Styles Chart

http://www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm

Personality Types

http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L6-1PersonalityTypes.html

Technorati Tags: Learning Styles, Personality Types, Learning Strategies

David Kolb and Anthony Gregroc's Type Delineator

2009-09-03T09:45:00Z

How do we know the learning style of students we face in our classrooms? There are many resources. Here's the link to an excellent one:

http://www.algonquincollege.com/edtech/gened/styles.html

Technorati Tags: Learning Styles

Learning Styles, Modalities and Strategies

2009-09-03T09:42:00Z

I found this link particularly helpful:

http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/styles.html

Technorati Tags: Learning Styles

Learning Styles - Dunn & Dunn

2009-09-03T09:38:00Z

Here is the link to Drs. Dunn & Dunn's homepage on Learning Styles.

http://www.learningstyles.net

Technorati Tags: Learning Styles, Dunn & Dunn

Differentiated Instruction - "All Students are NOT Created Equal"

2009-09-03T09:23:00Z

Technorati Tags: Differentiated Instruction, Learning Styles

Learn English - A Great Website

2009-08-31T16:39:00Z

This excellent website from the British Council provides resources for English Language Learners. It also has a section solely devoted to the VOCABULARY of Climate Change. Excellent!

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.htm

Technorati Tags: English Language Learners, Climate Change, Vocabulary

The Magic Gopher

2009-08-31T16:37:00Z

Here's a wonderful site for math games from the UK brought to us by our friends at SmartBoard:

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/magic-gopher-central.swf

Technorati Tags: Math Games

Smartboards in the Classroom

Multilingual MATH Glossary

Attention Science Teachers!

Learning Styles - Assessments - Edutopia.org

High Tech High - San Diego Leads the Way

What If Magellan...?

WHAT IF Magellan had been able to sail NORTH instead of SOUTH when his crew circumnavigated the earth?

QUICK HOW-TO

NYSCATE 2009 Conference in Rochester, NY

Keynote Speaker

Keynote Speaker

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D

Interesting New Findings from Digital Learning Environment

Online Learning Gains Respect

The study posed four key research questions:

How does the effectiveness of online learning compare with that of face-to-face instruction?

Does supplementing face-to-face instruction with online instruction enhance learning?

What practices are associated with more effective online learning?

What conditions influence the effectiveness of online learning?

Key findings include:

Blended and purely online learning conditions generally result in similar student learning outcomes.

Elements such as video or online quizzes do not appear to influence the amount that students learn in online classes.

Online learning can be enhanced by giving learners control of their interactions with media and prompting learner reflection.

When groups of students are learning together online, support mechanisms such as guiding questions generally influence the way students interact, but not the amount they learn.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

Interactive Story-Telling

Learning Strategies

David Kolb and Anthony Gregroc's Type Delineator

Learning Styles, Modalities and Strategies

Learning Styles - Dunn & Dunn

Differentiated Instruction - "All Students are NOT Created Equal"

Learn English - A Great Website

The Magic Gopher