In a zippy demo at TED U, AnnMarie Thomas shows how two different flavors of homemade play dough can be used to demonstrate electrical properties — by lighting up LEDs, spinning motors, and turning little kids into circuit designers.
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering — using cool tools to teach and help others.
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.
Aaron is a 6 year old boy from California with a love for dinosaurs, science and a desire to share what he learns with others.
Together with his daddy, Aaron helps produce each episode of Aaron’s World. This takes quite a bit of time and work which isn’t always easy for a 6 year old. Aaron is in charge of choosing each episode topic and putting together all the information in a way that kids his age can understand. Daddy takes care of the dinosaur sounds and special effects to help make each episode fun and exciting.
Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world's largest freestanding bamboo building.
California Digital Library: “How to Host an Effective Virtual Meeting”
We spend our days attending lots of meetings, yet the well-managed meeting stands out as a rare gem. It’s not easy to run a good meeting, and in our increasingly virtual world it’s even harder to run an effective virtual meeting. But it’s a skill worth practicing, and your teammates will thank you for it.
Wall Street Journal: “Using the iPad to Connect”
The rise of mainstream tablet computers is proving to have unforeseen benefits for children with speech and communication problems—and such use has the potential to disrupt a business where specialized devices can cost thousands of dollars.
“Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover”
Today’s math curriculum is teaching students to expect — and excel at — paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. At TEDxNYED, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to stop and think.
Dan Meyer asks, “How can we design the ideal learning experience for students?” As a part-time Googler, a provocative blogger and a full-time high-school math teacher, his perspective on curriculum design, teacher education and teacher retention is informed by tech trends and online discourse as much as front-line experience with students.
Meyer has spun off his enlightening message — that teachers “be less helpful” and push their students to formulate the steps to solve math problems — into a nationwide tour-of-duty on the speaking circuit.
“I teach high school math. I sell a product to a market that doesn’t want it but is forced by law to buy it.” — Dan Meyer
Brian Bridges at CLRN writes in his blog,
With reviews now complete for the 17 books submitted to Phase Two of the Governor’s Free Digital Textbook Initiative, it’s time to collect data again. Last fall, more than 1,000 administrators and educators completed CLRN’s digital textbook survey. Now, in preparation for Phase Three, the Governor’s office has posted an online survey to learn more about how these resources are being implemented. All 1000 district superintendents will receive an invitation to participate, but we welcome you to take part as well.
See more at “Digital Textbook Initiative: Phase 2 Survey”
NYT Opinion: “Some Thoughts About E-Reading” by Verlyn Klinkenborg.
As always, I am reading several books at a time — actually, several stacks. One is the stack of heirloom books by my bed, which begins with the engaging and soon-to-be-published “Camel” by Robert Irwin and works haphazardly outward to Rose Macaulay’s “The Towers of Trebizond” and Bronislaw Malinowski’s “A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term.”
And then there is a virtual stack of e-books. There is Alvin Kernan’s “Crossing the Line,” which I’m reading on my laptop via ebrary. I’m using other e-book software, like Kindle for the Mac and Stanza. My iPad is on its way.
In one way or another, I’ve been reading on a computer ever since it meant looking at green phosphor pixels against a black background. And I love the prospect of e-reading — the immediacy it offers, the increasing wealth of its resources. But I’m discovering, too, a hidden property in printed books, one of the reasons I will always prefer them. They do nothing.
