skills – iLearn Technology

DIY: a maker site for kids

March 8, 2013March 8, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5027 views

What it is: I LOVE everything about this site. It truly embodies everything I love about learning and technology. DIY is an online club for kids to earn maker skills. Kids (otherwise known as Makers) share their creations and work with a larger online community and collect patches for the skills they learn. Each skill has a set of challenges that help kids learn different techniques and create something fantastic. When a child completes a maker challenge, they can add photos and video to their online portfolio to show off their creation. DIY is a website where kids get a public portfolio, an app that they can use to upload videos and pictures of their projects, makers can choose to do challenges to earn “Skills” badges, and a parent dashboard where teachers or parents can follow along on all activity.

Maker identities are always secure, children are asked to choose an animal and a nickname to help protect their privacy. Parents get access to see what their kids are posting online.

I love that this site encourages creativity, reflective portfolios and using technology constructively. It is an outstanding balance of online and offline activity!

How to integrate DIY into the classroom: At Anastasis, we strive to encourage a maker community. We do have a 1:1 iPad environment. For many, this equates to a technology rich environment (it is) where everything is done or consumed on a device. I can think of nothing sadder than reducing learning to a device! We most often use our technology to capture and share our learning. DIY is a fantastic site that makes way for kids to be curious about the world around them, create something new and use technology to innovate.

DIY is a great place to help students discover the love and joy of being a learner and a creator. It fosters a classroom culture of innovation and sharing of learning and accomplishment. So many of the challenges incorporate learning that support standards and other learning that is “required” in the classroom. These challenges would be great to take on as individual makers, in small groups of makers, or to tackle as a whole class. Don’t think of DIY as an “extra” thing to add into your classroom routine. Instead, look through the challenges through the lens of how it can enhance the learning objectives in your classroom. Embrace the maker culture in your classroom and allow room for creativity and innovation. The inquiry model of learning lends itself beautifully toward this. DIY could be the catalyst to making the shift away from more traditional learning and into an inquiry based model.

Tips: Instead of assigning “traditional” homework (read: piles of worksheets), assign a challenge from the DIY site. Better yet, let students choose their own challenge to tackle and make time in the classroom for them to share their creations and accomplishments.

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

Zoo Whiz

December 13, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3486 views

What it is: Zoo Whiz is a new education site that encourages kids to be “whizzes” in math, reading and word development. There are levels and content for students from 5 to 15 years old. There are over 11,200 interactive activities to help unleash the whiz in every child. The games and activities go beyond simple drill and skill to build higher order thinking skills and problem solving strategies. The activities build fluency in math, reading and word development. Zoo Whiz has kids practice math, reading and word skills through a series of activities and games that gets progressively difficult. As students play games, they earn Zoo Whiz “money” that will allow them to purchase animals to build up their zoo. Young students will really enjoy this aspect of Zoo Whiz!

In the math sections, students will learn:

Numeration: integers, operations, money
Addition & subtraction
Multiplication & division
Fractions & decimals: ratio, percentages
Patterns & algebra: patterns, relationships
Data: recording, displaying and interpreting data
Measurement: length, area, volume/capacity, mass, time
Space & geometry: 2D, 3D, position, angle, transformations, symmetry

Currently Zoo Whiz is in public beta. There are still some areas that are being developed and released. There are two versions of Zoo Whiz: a free account and a premium account that provides students with additional content and abilities within the game. In the public beta, both versions are free. While the site may have curricular material for students up to age 15+, I’m not sure a 15 year old student would spend any amount of time on this site. It is definitely more geared for the under 10 crowd.

How to integrate Zoo Whiz into the classroom: Zoo Whiz is a fun new way for students to hone their math, reading and word skills. Because every student has their own login, they can practice the subjects at their own level and at their own pace. The site makes a great center activity, providing students extra practice for basic, key skills. I like the way Zoo Whiz activities present concepts in a variety of ways to ensure that students have a real understanding of a concept (instead of memorization of a fact alone). Zoo Whiz is a great place for students to build fluency.

I like the way that Zoo Whiz has set up the school and classroom accounts to be linked with a home account. This makes it easy for both parents and teachers to stay aware of what skills students are working on, where they are successful, and where they could use some additional help.

Students will enjoy earning money to purchase animals for their zoo.

If you don’t have the opportunity for students to play these games individually, consider using a projector-connected computer or an interactive whiteboard to play the games as a class. Create one class account for students to play from. Students can take turns helping the class earn money for their zoo and decide which animals should be added. When I had only one computer in the classroom, I turned activities like Zoo Whiz into a class game. Sometimes I would split the kids into teams to see which team could earn the most points and others we would work collaboratively to get to a benchmark that we predetermined. Either way, all students should be involved in game play.

Tips: I learned about Zoo Whiz from iLearn Technology reader, Tania. Thank you Tania! Zoo Whiz looks like a fun addition to the classroom. Be sure to let parents know about Zoo Whiz, this could be a fun way to continue practice at home.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Zoo Whiz in your classroom!