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Apple makes you more creative…

I read this article on March 25th in the Wall Street Journal and am just getting the opportunity to post it. I’m pretty sure I always knew this was true “You don’t need to be a Mac owner to be a cutting-edge hipster. Just thinking about Apple Inc. can make you more creative. That’s according to researchers at Duke University and the University of Waterloo, who found that exposing people to a brand’s logo for 30 miliseconds will make them behave in ways associated to that brand. In Apple’s case, that means more creativity, said Gavan Fitzsimons, one of the Duke professors who conducted the study. The study will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Scientist have long debated whether subliminal messages, the idea that subconscious exposure can shape behavior, really work. In recent years, the consensus has tended toward no. But most studies measured whether subliminal messages caused people to buy products. Mr. Fitzsimons and his colleagues wondered if the exposure resulted in behavioral changes that don’t show up on the balance sheet. To find out, they exposed subjects to imperceptible images of brand logos for Apple and International Business Machines Corp., among others. Surveys found that people felt similarly about the two companies in ever way except creativity, where Apple came out ahead, and competence, which was IBM’s perceived strength. After exposing them to the brands, the researchers asked subjects to describe as many uses for a brick as they could. The Apple-primed subjects averaged 30% more answers and independent reviewers also deemed their answers more creative. It’s harder to measure competence, but Mr. Fitzsimons says that IBM-primed subjects had strikingly uniform answers. Does this mean businesses wanting to inspire creativity or competence in a handful of areas should buy Macs or IBM equipment for their offices? (IBM sold its PC division to Lenovo Group Ltd. while the study was in progress.) Mr. Fitzsimons isn’t ready to go that far: The key to shaping behavior is unconsciously planting the brand image. ” Worthen, B. “Apple: Just Think About It.” In , (p. ). : . (Reprinted from Wall Street Journal, 2008, March 25) So for those of you who need a jolt of creativity today…here it is: You are welcome!

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Interactive Advent Calendars

Posted by admin | Posted in Fun & Games, Interactive book, Language Arts, Math, Primary Elementary, Secondary Elementary, Social Studies, Websites | Posted on 01-12-2009

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What it is: It is December!  This means the beginning of Advent along with the anticipation and excitement that it brings.  The Internet is full of interactive advent calendars that you can use in your classroom to teach about how the Christmas season is celebrated all around the world.  These advent calendars reveal fun facts, interactive activities, and stories.


Santa’s House Advent Calendar- This advent calendar tells a fun story.  Each day reveals another secret about what goes on inside Santa’s home on the 24 days leading up to Christmas.  In each picture, there is a little mouse hiding.  When students click on his ears, he jumps out.

Picture 1

Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar- Each day students click on the date to reveal a fun fact about how countries around the world celebrate Christmas.  The facts are accompanied by great illustrations and pictures.  This site shows up very small inside my Internet browser (Firefox).  To remedy this problem, click on “view” in your menu bar and choose “zoom”.  You may need to zoom in several times.

Picture 2

Christmas Mice Advent Calendar- This calendar tells the story about a mouse family who celebrates Christmas.  Each day a little more of the story is revealed.  Each picture includes some animation.

Picture 3

Santa’s Advent Calendar- On this advent calendar, each day reveals a new song or activity for students to complete. There are some fun Christmas themed mysteries to solve, stories to read, and activities to work through.

Picture 4French Carols Advent Calendar-  This is a French advent calendar.  Each day contains a new French Christmas carol sung by children.  This advent calendar would be a fun one to include in a study of Christmas around the world.

Picture 5

Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar Quiz-  This advent calendar tests students knowledge about how other cultures celebrate Christmas.  Each day students are asked a question and given hints to help them answer.  When the answer is revealed, students can click on links to learn more about the Christmas celebrations in that country.  This site also includes great activities and teaching resources for Christmas.

Picture 6

Christmas Advent Calendar- Follow the adventures of Zac the elf as he tries to find a Christmas present for Santa.  Each day a little more of the story is revealed.

Picture 7

Christmas Activity Advent Calendar-  This advent calendar has fun little games and activities to play each day.  The games and activities are quick and easy to complete, building mouse and keyboard skills.  This advent calendar would be a good one for the classroom computers as a center activity.

Picture 8


How to integrate Interactive Advent Calendars into the classroom: The season of Advent is always filled with eagerness and expectancy. Build some of that anticipation into your school day by allowing students to unlock a new secret on the advent calendar each day.  Use these advent calendars with the whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or set them up as a quick center activity that students can visit.  Use the advent calendars that reveal a story to practice looking for foreshadowing clues, using context clues to guess what will happen next, or as story starters for students own stories.  The Christmas around the world advent calendars are wonderful for teaching students some of the history of Christmas and the way that other cultures celebrate the familiar holiday.


Tips: Each of these advent calendars has some fun goodies and hidden surprises, find the one that best fits your classroom needs.


Leave a comment and share how you are using Interactive Advent Calendars  in your classroom.

Comments (7)

Cyndi Danner-Kuhn said on 01-12-2009

Here is an Advent Calendar for teachers, created by Mary Fraizer, Tech Integration Specialist in the Buhler, Ks School District. Check it out and Join the fun.

This Countdown to Christmas wiki, an advent calendar for teachers, is my Christmas gift to you this year. I hope you experience the thrill of clicking on each page as a new link becomes active each day and seeing something new (or maybe something old) that you’ll be able to use in your classroom and in your home!
You will be able to respond to each topic by clicking on the Discussion Tab on each page. Please share how you might use this in your classroom. We’ll learn so much from each other by sharing in this manner!
Join the wiki and you’ll be able to upload photos of any of your projects. You should see the words Join This Wiki in the upper left hand corner. Further instructions are on the first page of the wiki.
http://christmascountdown.wikispaces.com/
Tina Coffey said on 01-12-2009

These are great! Thanks for sharing! :)

Johanna said on 01-12-2009

Very useful, thanks. I always wonder if there’s a tool out there to make these interactive advent calendars?
Johanna
ian prattt ( sciencelabman) said on 02-12-2009

thanks for the great selection of calenders i use them at the start of the day with my year 7 class, problem is they get toooooooo excited!!!! thanks again.
Ian
Christmas Sites for Primary Classrooms | Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom said on 08-12-2009

[...] Tenkely has written a post on interactive Advent calendars which would be great to use with children on an IWB on the countdown to [...]
Tech Chick Tips » Blog Archive » 0065 TCT – That’s how we roll! said on 08-12-2009

[...] iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Interactive Advent Calendars “The Internet is full of interactive advent calendars that you can use in your classroom to teach about how the Christmas season is celebrated all around the world. These advent calendars reveal fun facts, interactive activities, and stories.” tags: Christmas, interactive, calendars, advent, technology, ilearn [...]
mathan said on 10-12-2009

Awesome collection of calendar. Thx 4 ur posting

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