iLearn Technology – Page 18 – Integrating technology in the classroom

Numberphile: a series of numberly videos

January 28, 2013February 1, 2013Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3594 views

What it is: Numberphile is a series of “numberly” videos by Brady Haran. This is the same guy behind some other great projects including periodicvideos and sixtysymbols. These videos reveal some of the mystery behind numbers and math in fun, short snippets! I could give a long, drawn out explanation about the site…but really, you should go have a look and play a few videos. Or, try out the video below:

How to integrate Numberphile into the classroom: Numberphile can make a math geek out of anyone, myself included! I don’t tend to geek out very much about numbers or math, but show me pattern and reveal some of the mystery that numbers hold and I am in. This is what Numberphile does beautifully! Numberphile would make a fantastic opening for math class. Start each math class with these short videos to get your brain’s math muscles working. I’ve watched 3 videos in a row and I am seriously geeking.

Ask students to each choose a different video to watch. Students can learn a new math “trick” or pattern in math to teach their classmates. The goal: creatively teach the concept! They could create their own video, stop motion animation, infographic, story, illustration, etc. Hold a math day (3/14 would be fun…pi day) where students get to spend the day teaching one another.

You may assume that these videos are best for older students, not so! At Anastasis, our 2nd and 3rd graders had a ball learning about Fibonacci and will happily explain it to any who enter their classroom. Find an area of interest and share the passion!

Tips: All of the videos on Numberphile are YouTube videos. If you don’t have access to YouTube in your building, try one of these methods for accessing the videos:

YouTube for Schools- This is a YouTube that has been created just for schools. Network administrators must be involved so that they can add this option for YouTube into your filtering system. This is a completely customizable option that lets teachers and administrators add videos to a playlist that you have predetermined you want students to watch. Teachers can find videos by Common Core Standard, subject or grade. Students can watch videos that teachers and administrators have approved or any YouTube Edu video (think Kahn Academy, PBS, TED, Stanford, etc.).
SafeShare TV- This site lets students watch YouTube videos without ads, links, comments and related videos. You also have the option to crop videos and share videos with a unique URL.
YouTubeXL- This is a service that YouTube provides that lets you watch videos on large screens without the ads and comments. Neat tip: if you time “quiet” before the YouTube url, it takes you to a safe page where you can watch a YouTube video. WAY cool and easy to do on the fly!
Clean VideoSearch- This site lets students search through YouTube videos without the comments, ads and busy sidebar. It has additional features like the ability to choose how many videos you want to see on each page in your search.
Clea.nr– This service (a browser plugin) deletes all of the obnoxious extras that hang around videos (ads, comments, related videos). You can also search YouTube without all of the extras showing up.
ViewPure– This site cleans out all the clutter and gives you just a video. Bonus: There is a quick button that you can add to your browser so that you can go to a video, click on “Pure” in your bookmark bar and instantly have a clean video.
Dragontape– This service lets you drag videos into a timeline and share them easily with students. This is great for mashing up several videos, or cropping multiple videos into one.
Movavi– This is a video conversion service. Wonderful for teachers who can’t or don’t want to access a video directly from YouTube. Copy/paste the url you want to convert, choose a file type, done!
Zamzar– This is another great video conversion service. Works quickly and easily!
SaveYouTube- This site used to be called KickYouTube. Here you can enter the url and download it to your computer to play offline.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Numberphile in your classroom.

Popcorn Maker: Mashup video with images, articles, text, maps, etc.

January 23, 2013Kelly Tenkely2 Comments5203 views

What it is: Popcorn Maker is a super cool site that I learned about from Michael Zimmer’s blog, The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness. Popcorn Maker is an online video mashup tool that makes it easy to integrate several different forms of online media into a video. A clip from YouTube can be enhanced with article clips, images, text, audio, maps, other live feeds and social media content. Add some “bling” to any video clip…interactive is better! Videos can be mashed without logging in. Creating a user profile let’s you save and share the finished project.

How to integrate Popcorn Maker into the classroom: Popcorn Maker is a great way to enhance videos. Teachers can use Popcorn Maker to mashup media for students to engage with. This could be adding a map to an historical video so that students can better visualize where an event is taking place, adding a wikipedia article to expand on an idea that a video touches on, adding a live social media feed with student comments as a “backchannel” video, etc. This type of use is great for expanding on Kahn academy type instructional videos (which can be a bit boring/dry), educational videos, etc. Wouldn’t it be great to have a real-life example pop up during a Kahn academy instructional video? Students can connect number sense and computation. (What a novel concept!) For young students, create a video with embedded directions (audio or text) and next steps for learning. This would make for a great learning center for completing a science experiment, multi-step directions, or next steps of learning.

Students can use Popcorn Maker to enhance videos that they have created, to further expand on an idea, to help explain a researched topic to the rest of the class, or to share reflections on a video with others. Because students can add text, it is easy for them to add their “blogged” reflections directly in a video to be shared with others. So often our students start their research with a video search. Ask them to create a mashup of all of their research using Popcorn Maker. This will help them to dig beyond the video for other relevant content that adds to their understanding.

In the “flipped” classroom, Popcorn Maker takes the videos to the next level. Popcorn Maker could be a great way to help apprentice students in the art of learning. Students can see the way that connections are made among different media types and are led through how to think and expand on an interesting topic. After students have viewed a few mashups, ask them to create their own. This could be really helpful in discovering misunderstandings in learning, gaps in the way research is being completed, or difficulties in making connections.

Tips: The tutorial on the first page is really useful. I recommend it before beginning a project!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Popcorn Maker in your classroom.

Happiness is…

January 21, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1598 views

Believe it or not, I have a life outside of education and technology. I know…it is shocking! When I’m not thinking education or technology I’m a big fan of cooking, decorating, sewing, creating. Because I can’t fully ever leave technology behind, I started a blog to contain all of these extra passions. Happiness is a Project is a blog that I started to chronicle my other passions. Some of the posts are creations from my talented, genius of a husband. Others are my creations.

If you find yourself occasionally needing a break from education and technology, head on over and be inspired by our passions. We hope that it ignites your sense of creativity and connection to more. The full blog is at http://happinessisaproject.wordpress.com You can also find us on my Happiness is a Project Pinterest board.

We are at our happiest when we have projects. We love to create and putz around with new ideas. Give yourself permission to pursue passions outside of education and tech. I find that my creativity within education and tech is spurred on when I take a break to pursue other passions!

Maybe you fall in LOVE with my husband’s projects as much as I do. If you aren’t down for recreating your own version, Jonathan just opened an online store where you can purchase some of his creations. Check it out at http://LegacyGoods.com That boy I love is TALENTED!

Physics Central: Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair

January 9, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2554 views

What it is: Physics Central is a fantastic website full of…you guessed it, physics! There are fantastic sections for students to explore science, activity books, experiments and activities. Students can learn more about physics in action (physics as found in the world around us), meet physicists, and learn about physics research. Physics Central will ignite a students curiosity in: sound, electricity and magnetism, force and motion, light and optics, material science, quantum mechanics, space and the universe, and thermodynamics and heat. My favorite find on Physics Central so far (I’m sure there will be many more favorites the longer I explore) is the Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair section. Here, students will find a downloadable kit that includes a manual, comic book, and four related activities.

How to integrate Physics Central into the classroom: Physics has always been among my favorite sciences. There is something about it that is fascinating to me. Physics Central is packed full of great resources to enrich your classroom. The comics are a fun way to learn about famous scientists, inventors and events in science history. The complementing activities bring the comics to life and invite students along on the journey of discovery.

Work with your students on a “PhysicsQuest” like Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair and see what they come up with. Compare their results with the actual solutions (posted on the site). Join the current PhysicsQuest with your students to help students recognize the fun and relevance of science. You can register now for the Spectra: Turbulent Times quest.

Tips: Start a PhysicsQuest with your students, as an after school club, or as a home extension investigation.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Physics Central in your classroom.

Playfic: create, play and remix text-based games

January 8, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment7768 views

What it is: Playfic is a site that let’s users create, play and remix online text-based games. I may have lost some of you already…but don’t leave yet! A text-based game is a genre of game that uses no graphics or sound, but instead, uses text to tell a story in an interactive world. Think of a choose your own adventure tech-style. Students can create a story that others can interact with by directing the story using words and phrases. As an example, the story might be about a forest, describing what you can see East, West, North and South. The player would type in a direction “East”, hit the return key, and the story progresses. You can try out a sample text-based game here.

How to integrate Playfic into the classroom: Playfic has all kinds of good stuff for classrooms. To create a story, students must first learn a little bit of coding. Tutorials are included on the Playfic site, and are easy enough to get your students up and running in no time. There is even a link to an Inform 7 (coding language) recipe book that will have your students dreaming up new scenarios and actively researching how to make them come to life. Students can create games for each other while strengthening their writing and grammar skills. This is wonderful for fictitious writing, but could also be used for students to explore “what ifs” in history and science. Students can take a moment in time and dream up what might have been different about the world if the event hadn’t happened the way that it had. As they are researching and learning about the actual event, they will also be analyzing why the event is important and critically thinking about it’s impact on the world we live in. Similarly, students could explore a science experiment, hypothesizing what will happen and the different outcomes that might occur.

Teachers could create these choose your own adventure stories for students for new learning or review of a topic. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a story using sight word vocabulary that prompted practice with the sight words?

I know a handful of students who really struggle with writing…it is PAINFUL. These students are brilliant. They have great ideas to share. One of the students I have in mind came up to me today and said, “over break I taught myself Lua (programming language).” Students like these will be all over this type of writing. What a cool way to engage them and excite them about the writing process in a new way.

One of the things that I really like about Playfic is that it takes a lot of planning, organizing, and thought to create this type of story. For some students the planning/organizing portion of writing is a real struggle. This site would be so useful in teaching students the importance of those steps. I also love that it will have them researching and looking up solutions for how to make their ideas come to life. Just like we do every day in the “real world.”

Tips: The Inform 7 Recipe book can be found here.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Playfic in your classroom.

E is for Explore: discovery, science, math, art, literacy, social studies and more!

January 7, 2013Kelly Tenkely3 Comments4327 views

Happy New Year!! I have to say, I wasn’t heart broken to see 2012 go and welcome a year of new beginnings. 2012 felt…hard. And uninspired. I think that is what happens when you see a dream realized and then comes the part where you are in the middle of it, making it work and doing the HARD work. 2012 wasn’t a year I felt particularly creative. I miss that, it is part of my essence. I’ve been so incredibly busy, just working to keep everything going, that I had nothing left over. I’m hoping that 2013 is a different story. Step 1: the first post of 2013. Here is to creativity and passion!

What it is: I discovered a new blog that I am absolutely loving! It is hard to beat a place where exploration is not only welcome, but encouraged. E is for Explore is that place. Here you will find new learning activities and a fantastic collection of ideas from other sources. There is a handy-dandy index that helps you find just what you need quickly and easily. I’ve been working on collecting resources for this inquiry unit and E is for Explore has been an absolute treasure trove. Topics include discovery/exploration, science/engineering, mathematics, art, literacy, social studies and seasons/holidays.

How to integrate E is for Explore into the classroom: E is for Explore is a great tool for unit, center, and inquiry planning. I am really enjoying the huge bank of hands-on activities and projects all designed to encourage exploration in learning. The wide range of activities will keep sparking curiosity in a variety of disciplines.

As I plan out inquiry units and gather resources, I am always on the lookout for activities that will encourage students to explore and spark new curiosities. E for Explore made this process infinitely easier, bringing me an easy-to-search collection of activities, with great instructions, all in one place. Many of the activities are manageable enough for a center activity within the classroom…great for differentiation and individualization!

I shared E is for Explore with some of our students, they had a great time looking through the science experiments and learning about how to make mini robots and floam. This would be SO much better than a small tic-tac-toe board for students to choose an activity from. Students can explore the entire site and choose an exploration that is of interest to them and complete it accordingly.

Tips: My hope is that iLearn Technology does for you what E if for Explore did for me. Did you know that you can search by keyword (at the top of my website) or through a multi-category search (in the sidebar on the right)? Choose as many variables as you want and see what you can find! I categorize every post by keywords, Bloom’s Taxonomy level, Grade Level, Resource Type, and Subject Area. After 7 years of free resources, I’ve amassed quite a collection of awesome, free classroom tools. Go ahead, give it a try and see what new fun finds you come across!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using E is for Explore in your classroom.

National Center for Atmospheric Research

December 17, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3318 views

What it is: Today Anastasis students were lucky enough to visit the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. It was a truly fantastic experience (if you ever find yourself in Colorado, it is worth a visit! Open free everyday!). The center has some fantastic interactive exhibits, much like what you find at Exploratorium in California. In addition to the physical location, the National Center for Atmospheric Research has some wonderful online games, activities and resources for the classroom.

In the Interactives and Simulations for weather, climate and atmospheric science section you will find:

A virtual laboratory for creating a weather balloon.
A simple virtual climate model.
The build a tree dendrochronology activity where students can explore past climates.
Compare IPCC scenarios interactive where students forecast carbon dioxide levels.
The climate sensitivity calculator.
The Earth’s Energy balance virtual lab.
Compare solar eclipse photos activity.

In the Games for weather, climate and atmospheric science section students will find:

Solar eclipse memory
Sun-earth connections memory
Clouds memory
Atmospheric chemistry memory

In the classroom activities section, you will find:

Paleoclimates and Pollen where students can study pollen.
Model a moving glacier where students make a model of a glacier and create an experiment to study movement.
Glaciers then and now where students study pictures of glaciers taken in the 1900’s and compare them to pictures of the glaciers today.
The systems game where students observe a system.
Looking into surface Albedo where students inquire into how color affects the way that the sun interacts with Earth’s surface.
Feeling the heat where students investigate which parts of their school yard have a higher temperature.
CO2 How much do you spew where students analyze energy consumption.
The nitrogen cycle game where students play the role of nitrogen atoms traveling through the nitrogen cycle.
The water cycle 0-18 and ice cores where students look at proxy data to determine past climate.

In addition to the fantastic activities on the site, students can learn more about the sun and space weather, weather, atmosphere and climate on the NCAR website.

How to integrate the National Center for Atmospheric Research into the classroom: If you are studying weather, climate or atmospheric research with your students this is a must stop site. It is FULL of great activities, virtual labs and easy-to read and understand information. Really, take a few minutes to dig in. Today, when we visited we got to explore some of these virtual labs and games first hand. Our students watched a short video introducing them to NCAR and what scientists do there. Next we entered into a classroom where the fun began!

Today we learned about the North and South Poles. The fine people at NCAR had made globe paddles that had the north pole on one side and the south pole on the other (glued to giant tongue depressors). They gave the students different facts about the north and south pole and students had to hold up their paddles with the correct answers. Next, students learned about how polar bears were equipped for the COLD temperatures. There were tubs of ice water on the table. Students were asked to place their hands inside the ice water. We timed how long they lasted in the cold water. Next, students put their hands in a “blubber” paw and tried the experiment again. The hand inside the layer of blubber could stay in the cold for a long time with no discomfort. These blubber paws were actually made with 2 ziplock baggies with Crisco in between the layers and duct-tape at the top of the baggies so that they were sealed together around openings where the two baggies came together. This left a Crisco pocket that formed the paw. Students also learned about penguins and how they find their mate in hundreds and hundreds of penguins. Penguins have particular sounds that help alert their mate. The penguins can distinguish between the particular sounds that each penguin makes to find their mate. Students simulated this by each taking a film canister with an object/objects in it. The students had to shake their canister and find their match using the sound alone. They had a ball with this! They also practiced transferring a styrofoam egg from one pair of feet to another without using their hands the way that the penguin does. Our students also did the glacier matching project (listed above) where they worked in teams to match the original pictures to the new pictures. Some of these were really challenging as the second picture had NO glacier to be seen! The kids learned that every glacier in the world is shrinking with the exception of two glaciers in Norway. Fascinating!

Our classroom today…can’t beat the view!

Our students got to follow the activities above with an exploration of weather, climate, and atmosphere science exhibits. You could easily recreate the activities above and follow up with virtual simulations, videos and games. These could be set up as centers for students to explore (the virtual centers on classroom computers). There is SO much here that exploration of all that the NCAR site has to offer could take days. The simulations and games would also be appropriate on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer where students can explore and interact as a whole class. Allow students to take turns playing scientist.

Tips: While we were at NCAR, our guide, Tim, told us that NCAR was originally established in the 1960s to learn how to control the weather. This brought up a great discussion about what could happen if humans could control the weather, and what unintended consequences might come along with that. This would make for a great creative writing exercise or comic strip. Our students came up with some insightful thoughts on this topic!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using NCAR in your classroom.

It’s a major award! #edubroawards

December 12, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1072 views

In case you didn’t catch it, the title is a quote from a Christmas Story. If you haven’t seen this classic…it is time to change that!

Last night was the Edubro Awards. I got the best award of my life: The Best Smile that kills award. (not sure about the “that kills” bit but will take it none the less).

For the record this is the best education award show I have seen. Well done @tgwynn and @thenerdyteacher

If you missed the award show, you can see the archive and list of winners here.

Media 4 Math: Math in the News

December 10, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3314 views

What it is: Media 4 Math: Math in the News helps students view current events through the “prism of mathematics.” Every week features a new story that makes headlines and the underlying mathematical story gets extracted. The Math in the News site is a little bit confusing to navigate at first (it isn’t really clear where to find each issue of Math in the News). Scroll down to see an archive of stories. Each entry has a Slideshare version of the presentation, a YouTube version or the Math in the News app version. These presentations are full lessons with embedded background knowledge articles and videos, data sets, current event explanations and a walk through of how to solve.

In addition to Math in the News, Media 4 Math also has Math Tutorials, Promethean Flipcharts, Powerpoint slideshows, Math Labs, Print Resources, a Video Gallery, Math Solvers and more. I really like the Math Solvers, students can choose a problem type, input their own data and see a breakdown of how to solve the problem. The Math Labs include PDF worksheets and YouTube Videos that lead them through real-math problem sets.

How to integrate Media 4 Math: Math in the News into the classroom: Media 4 Math: Math in the News is a fantastic way to help your students make the connection between the upper-level math they are learning and life. I’m fairly certain that every math teacher in history has heard “what are we ever going to use this for?” This site helps students not only see that math is everywhere, but also walks them through how to think mathematically. There are plenty of resources that walk students through common mathematical functions. This site is a great supplement to any math curriculum!

With new content weekly, your curriculum will be fresh and relevant! Share Math in the News using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer, as a math center on classroom computers, individually with laptops or iPads, etc. Flip your math class and have students explore a Math Tutorial to prepare them for the next day of learning. Then they can test a few scenarios in Math Solvers and come up with their own explanation of the concept. In class, students can work with you to solidify and practice the learning.

Tips: Sign up for the free weekly newsletter to have Math in the News delivered right to your inbox. Do you have a classroom iPad? Math in the News now has an app!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math in the News in your classroom.

Unitag: Custom QR Code Generator

December 6, 2012Kelly Tenkely4 Comments9107 views

What it is: QR codes are becoming more and more prevalent in education and everywhere else (advertisements, TV, your bag of chips, soda, etc.). These codes are easy to make and can lead to some fun learning opportunities. Unitag is a QR code generator that lets you customize the look of the QR code. First, choose a type of QR code to generate. This can be a weblink, text, a business card, an email, a geolocation, a text message, a phone number, a calendar date, a wifi network, or a mobile page. Next, you can customize the QR code with pre-made templates, personalized color palette, a special look, a logo or picture, “eye” colors, and more. When you are finished, the QR code can be downloaded or shared on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. This process could take seconds (it is SO fast to create) or several minutes depending on how fancy you like to get with your customizations.

How to integrate Unitag into the classroom: So, what in the heck can you use those codes for? A lot! Use Unitag to create customized codes for back to school night; instead of sending parents with stacks of papers, offer a QR code by the door where they can snap a picture that takes them to your expectations/important dates/syllabus/special projects. Include QR codes next to parent teacher conference signups so that parents can instantly upload the date to the calendar on their phone. A QR code linked to your business card helps parents and students know what office hours you keep and how to keep in touch.

For older students (who have a phone) offer QR codes to help them remember important dates, homework, special projects, etc. This could be posted next to the door so that on their way in or out they can instantly snap a picture and have all of the upcoming assignments in their calendar.

QR codes can be used by students to create choose your own adventure type stories. The codes can link to different twists and turns within the story. This would be fantastic for student created fiction but could also make a really cool book report. Students could write one version summarizing the story as it was, a QR code could lead to an alternate ending that they created themselves.

When studying history, QR codes could be used to show different angles of the same event, different outcomes depending on population…and how cool would it be if those QR codes were included on a map where the events took place?! Students can link the QR codes to different views of the same event. For example, one from the viewpoint of explorer Christopher Columbus and another from the point of view of Native Americans. A QR code classroom timeline would also be very neat. Students can create reports/content that is linked to a QR code that gets placed on a giant timeline. Customize the code with images that are related to the event or colors that represent the event in some way.

Create a bulletin board with a map of the world. Place QR codes over different places for an interactive board. Students can use the QR codes to reveal the name/capital/key features of the place.

Have a secret clue or math problem each day that students can reveal using a QR code. It sounds so simple, but honestly, students love the mystery and hidden challenge!

In science, QR codes can be used at different stations to reveal the steps that students should follow for an experiment. How about a periodic table of QR codes that reveal what each element does or a video that shows the element in action?

At the beginning of last year, we created a school wide school scavenger hunt that used QR codes to help students learn where different classrooms/resources could be found. It was great fun!

Anytime you have a center activity, include a QR code that links to instructions, supplementary videos or websites. This saves students from having to spend learning time typing in URLs or looking for directions that the last group wrote on or piled things on (or does that only happen to us?).

Do your students create a LOT of digital work like ours do? One of the challenges we face at Anastasis is the lack of worksheets going home. I know…it doesn’t seem like that would be a challenge, but it is. Parents aren’t quite sure where to look for their child’s work since it is all digital. QR codes could go home in lieu of a Friday folder that link to student work.

This time of year, it would be really neat to create a QR code advent calendar where students reveal some new piece of learning every day.

Tips: I hope that your mind is racing with the possibilities these little codes offer. There is something to the mystery of them that appeals to students, they are like unveiling a surprise. Don’t keep all the fun of creating them to yourself, students can easily create these and use them within their work. I honestly can’t think of a subject or discipline that these wouldn’t be useful in.

Art: Share some art history or steps to an art project through a QR code.

Foreign Language: Create a word bank wall that has QR codes that reveal the translation of the word.

Geography: Create a map with QR codes that reveals additional information about the place.

Government: QR codes that lead students to political cartoons and related learning.

History: Exploring multiple points of view within a historical event.

Language Arts: Choose your own adventure story creation.

Math: Problem of the day. Multiple methods for solving a problem. Instructions for a math center activity.

Music: An exploration of world music through QR code link/videos.

PE: Links to examples of different exercises/warm ups.

Phonics: Video library of phonemes through QR code.

Science: Periodic table of QR codes with links to element information or videos.

Apps for scanning QR Codes: QR Reader, Qrafter, QR Scanner, Scan, Red Laser, Quick Scan Pro, Quick Scan, ATT code scanner. There are hundreds of these, search your app store for “QR code” and find the one that best fits your needs and device.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Unitag in your classroom.