Four Strategies to Spark Curiosity via Student Questioning British archaeologist Mary Leakey described her own learning as being "compelled by curiosity." Curiosity is the name we give to the state of having unanswered questions. And unanswered questions, by their nature, help us maintain a learning mindset. Strategy One: Equip Students to Ask Questions At its essence, curiosity is asking questions and pursuing answers. We often ask students if they have any questions, but we rarely teach them how to ask advantageous questions. Strategy Two: Provide a Launch Pad Even if students have mastered the full range of question forming, it is difficult to inquire about topics with which they have no familiarity. Strategy Three: Cast a Wide Net During the information gathering phase of learning, the brain does its best work in an active and receptive state. Keep the search active by praising student efforts to discover novelty. Strategy Four: Avoid Cutting the Search Short References 1Puriefoy, W.D. (2011).
Reluctance and Technology Integration One of the questions I am often asked in interviews for technology positions is how I would approach dealing with faculty members who are reluctant to embrace or integrate technology in their lessons. First, I think it’s an excellent question, and my answer to it says a lot about how well I would be able to work with faculty. It is a question to which any good technology integration specialist should have a good answer at the ready. Before I tell you what I think, however, it bears saying that I think a healthy skepticism of technology is not a bad thing. I personally feel technology has two propositions to answer before it should be adopted for integration in a lesson/class/school/activity: Will it make it easier to do what I’m trying to do? Having said that, sometimes a learning curve is wrongly interpreted as making something more difficult to do. On the other hand, sometimes using technology is not necessarily going to make our jobs easier, but will increase engagement.
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25 TED Talks Perfect For Classrooms The 50 Best Sources of Free STEM Education Online 12.05K Views 0 Likes Colleges, universities, and other educational forums in your community can be excellent places to learn more about a variety of STEM topics, but there is also a wealth of educational material available on the web for those who prefer to learn at their own pace or take a more individual approach. Facebook Meets College Apps with Mission Admission Teaching Strategies By Nathan Maton Games and Facebook: We know those are two sure-fire ways of getting kids’ attention. That’s the premise, anyway, for launching Mission Admission — to help students who don’t know what steps to take to get in the college application game. “These kids didn’t know what kinds of classes they should be spending their time on or basic vocabulary like what is a letter of recommendation,” said Tracy Fullerton, a USC professor and the lead game designer on the Mission Admission project about students she worked with, during a seminar at the recent SXSW conference. The process of applying for college is already a game, Fullerton says. The process of applying for college is already a game. In Mission Admission, you play a different student every week applying for the same school. “When they play the first time they’re just learning the game just like everyone would if they were playing the real game, the real college game,” Fullerton said.
chuck lawson One account. All of Google. Sign in to continue to Picasa Web Albums Find my account Forgot password? Sign in with a different account Create account One Google Account for everything Google 9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn, by Leo Babauta Kids in today’s school system are not being prepared well for tomorrow’s world. As someone who went from the corporate world and then the government world to the ever-changing online world, I know how the world of yesterday is rapidly becoming irrelevant. I was trained in the newspaper industry, where we all believed we would be relevant forever — and I now believe will go the way of the horse and buggy. Unfortunately, I was educated in a school system that believed the world in which it existed would remain essentially the same, with minor changes in fashion. We were trained with a skill set that was based on what jobs were most in demand in the 1980s, not what might happen in the 2000s. And that kinda makes sense, given that no one could really know what life would be like 20 years from now. We had no idea what the world had in store for us. And here’s the thing: we still don’t. How then to prepare our kids for a world that is unpredictable, unknown? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Print
venomous porridge - The Unprecedented Audacity of the iBooks Author EULA Apple just released iBooks Author, a free Mac app for creating digital books for the new version of iBooks. I haven’t played with it much, but so far it looks like a very good tool. However, a curious thing happens when you go to export your work in iBooks format: This restriction — that iBooks can be sold only in the iBookstore — isn’t enforced on a technical level. But if you look at the end-user license agreement (EULA) for iBooks Author, accessible via the app’s About box, the following bold note appears at the top: IMPORTANT NOTE: If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple. And in section 2: B. In other words: Apple is trying to establish a rule that whatever I create with this application, if I sell it, I have to give them a cut. Here’s the problem: I didn’t agree to it.
TeacherTube - Teach the World | Teacher Videos | Lesson Plan Videos | Student Video Lessons | Online Teacher Made Videos | TeacherTube.com Digital Differentiation Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills. At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. When combined with student-driven learning experiences fueled by Essential Questions offering flexible learning paths, it can be the ticket to success. Here is a closer look at three components of effectively using technology as a tool for digital differentiation. Note: The interactive graphics you see below have been updated. The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths. Essential Questions: Student-driven learning experiences should be driven by standards-based Essential Questions. Teacher Facilitated Learning Experiences:
‘iBooks Author’ Hits The Mac App Store, Aims To Revolutionise Textbook Authoring Amongst Apple’s many education-focused announcements today was another called “iBooks Author.” The new app, (available from the Mac App Store for FREE), aims to revolutionise the way digital textbooks are authored for mobile platforms, allowing both authors and publishers access to an easy-to-use, “drag and drop”-controlled interface for laying out their textbook offerings. Supporting multi-touch gestures, 3D models, and more, Apple may have just taken textbooks to the next level: Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Features Apple-designed templates • Give your book a great beginning with templates that include a choice of page designs with matching fonts, colors, and textures • Easily customize your book with text and images, create new layouts, and even save a custom template • Use the Book Navigator to organize your book and add a cover and table of contents Daily Updates
How to Create Great Screencasts At least a few times each week, I'm emailed about how I create the video tutorials that show up on the site each week. I think many of you are under the impression that it's much more difficult than it really is. If I can do it, anyone can. Step 1: Use Good Software If you've watched my screencasts, you know that I switch between using a Mac and a PC. PC Users Hands down, the best screencast software that I've been able to find is Camtasia Studio, from TechSmith. Camtasia Studio is wonderful because it was built for the sole purpose of producing screencasts. Alternatives Mac Users When recording on my Mac, I've found iShowU to be the best option. Step 2: Use a Decent Mic The biggest "mistake" that most beginning screencasters make is when it comes to their choice of microphone, or lack thereof (as it was in my case, initially)! The keywords in that previous sentence are condenser and decent. What you want is a good $75-$100 USB condenser mic. What I Use Why Condenser? Don't skimp on this. 1.
Developing Independent Learners « Reflective Teacher and Learner As part of the work I have been doing as part of my PLC group (see this previous post about PLC’s) I have been thinking a lot recently about different strategies that could be used to help pupils become better independent learners. The PLC group began our work by discussing what was meant by ‘independent learning’. Could you be an independent learner whilst working in a group? Could you seek help from other people and still be learning independently? Pupils’ ideas of ‘independent learning’ seemed to very negative. After some research we decided to split our PLC group in to two; one group would look at a language that could be developed and used school-wide. Our ‘language group’ came across Guy Claxton’s ‘Building Learning Power’ model. Our strategies group have come up with a central theme of ‘C3B4ME’. One pupil in the class will be chosen by the teacher to wear the ‘C3B4ME’ badge. Pupils will also be signposted to other sources of help such as: Like this: Like Loading...
iTunes U for iPad Retools the Learning Experience In the second half of Apple's education-focused media event today, the company turned its attention to iTunes U, the company's free educational podcast section in the iTunes Store. Eddy Cue took the stage to announce that over 1,000 universities are currently using iTunes U, with the program's content having seen over 700 million downloads to date. The new iTunes U app advances iTunes U from audio and video lectures to a full-fledged learning app, allowing non-traditional students access to huge amounts of free content but more importantly for Apple, allowing schools to adopt iTunes U as a learning platform. The all-new iTunes U app lets teachers create and manage courses including essential components such as lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses and offer them to millions of iOS users around the world. Courses are created via the iTunes U Course Manager, a web-based tool that allows teachers to build a course that includes a syllabus, handouts, quizzes, and other items.