18 Free Mind Mapping Tools for Teachers and Students 1- SpiderScribe This is a great mind mapping tool that allows users to easily visualize their ideas by connecting various pieces of information together and create free style maps. It also combines elements like text, images, files, calendar events and geographic locations. 2- EdistormEdistorm is a great web2.0 tool for educators. It allows you to work on your ideas during a structured brainstorming and organize them into sticky notes for others to see . It has two plans one is free and limited and the other is paid. 4- Bubbl.usBubbl.us allows its users to create concept maps in such an easy way with the minimum tools possible .You can create your project and invite your colleagues to join you in editing its content and when done you can share it with others via a generated link . 5- Wise Mapping Wise Mapping is a free online mind maps editor that allows you to create and share your mind maps with others. 6- Lucid ChartLucid Chart is a flowcharts and mind map making tool .
Educational Technology Buzzwords Jul 22 Thanks to Boundless and Getting Smart for putting together and sharing this great infographic outlining the latest trends in Educational technology. It helps to cut through all the buzzwords flying around and pinpoint what we may or may not be incorporating in our learning and teaching. It also gets me thinking a lot about educational technology and brings up a lot of questions. Do we need this many technology based eystems in the current education climate? Education buzzwords have for a long time driven me insane as we spend our lives in schools latching on to phrase after phrase that tries to make us sound more knowledgeable without actually being more knowledgeable. Clearly from reading this blog, you would know I have great hopes for the impact educational technology can have on learning and teaching.
Economists Do It With Models — Warning: “graphic” content… Questioning – Top Ten Strategies “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein Questioning is the very cornerstone of philosophy and education, ever since Socrates ( in our Western tradition) decided to annoy pretty much everyone by critiquing and harrying people with questions – it has been central to our development of thinking and our capacity to learn. Indeed, it is so integral to all that we do that it is often overlooked when developing pedagogy – but it as crucial to teaching as air is to breathing. We must ask: do we need to give questioning the thought and planning time something so essential to learning obviously deserves? Do we need to consciously teach students to ask good questions and not just answer them? Most research indicates that as much as 80% of classroom questioning is based on low order, factual recall questions. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Q1. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Added Extras: Like this: Like Loading...
Quick and Dirty Tips™ One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is whether it’s acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. I know many of you were taught that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, but it’s a myth. In fact, I consider it one of the top ten grammar myths because many people believe it’s true, but nearly all grammarians disagree, at least in some cases (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). So before I lose you, let's back up. What Is a Preposition? A preposition is a word that creates a relationship between other words. When Can a Sentence End with a Preposition? Here's an example of a sentence that can end with a preposition: What did you step on? I can hear some of you gnashing your teeth right now, while you think, “What about saying, 'On what did you step?'” I've read long arguments about why it's OK to end sentences with prepositions when the preposition isn't extraneous, but the driving point still seems to be “Normal people don't talk that way.” [Where you at?] Cover Letter Grammar
critical-thinking - home The Teacher’s Quick Guide To Pinterest The following article is by Julie Delello of the University of Texas at Tyler. She can be reached at jdelello[at]uttyler.edu if you have any questions or comments. Children learn social skills by interacting freely with peers. Playgrounds provide an opportunity for children from different classrooms to interact and enhance skill development. For some, the relatively new social network site Pinterest has become a virtual playground allowing users to “pin” inspiring images from around the web. As a new teacher, it’s easy to become overwhelmed trying to create motivating lessons while managing the responsibilities within the classroom. Pinterest, created in 2009 and launched in March of 2010, has been ranked 10th out of the top visited social networking sites across the world, allowing users to search for pins with a specific theme or subject. Getting Started Pinterest is straightforward and doesn’t require a lot of technological experience to get started. Set up an account. References
High School Teachers These Thinker's Guides are available through electronic license for educational institutions. Faculty and administrators - email cct@criticalthinking.org to inquire. This set includes the thinker’s guides which focus on the foundations of critical thinking. It also includes those guides useful in contextualizing essential critical thinking concepts and principles for classroom instruction. And it contains the thinker’s guides we recommend for student use.