Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Smart sheep

Sheep smarter than we think
Armidale sheep put to the test in a complex maze
Sheep are smarter than we think. They can learn and remember according to CSIRO researchers from Armidale in NSW. The team is working to identify and breed smarter sheep as part of their work to improve animal welfare and production.   Article continues
Watch the maze test - Video of sheep going through the maze (10 Mb)

Einstein versus Newton

Einstein versus Newton
Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are regarded as two of the greatest, if not the greatest, scientists who ever lived. The Royal Society is seeking to find out who scientists and the public think made the bigger contribution to both science and to humankind through a national poll of the general public and a poll of the Fellowship of the Royal Society, representing the UK and Commonwealth's leading scientists.
The results of the polls will be announced on 23 November 2005 at a Royal Society public debate: Einstein vs Newton.  Read the background to this issue

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Discovery Health Connection

Discovery Education Announces Discovery Health Connection Updates

Discovery Education has announced a complete update and redesign of Discovery Health Connection—its digital health and prevention education resource that incorporates K-12 classroom curriculum programs covering nine critical topics of youth health and prevention education. Discovery Health Connection now includes 16 curriculum programs, three Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Model Programs, correlations to every state's educational standards, and more than 100 new literacy lessons, according to the announcement.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Testing technology skills

Learning.com Partners with Districts to Help Test Technology Skills

Learning.com has announced partnerships with key school districts across the country as they pilot TechLiteracy Assessment, its online authentic assessment of the technology proficiency of elementary and middle school students. The pilot programs are designed to help districts demonstrate that both state and national education technology standards are being met. Along with the national mandate stating that every student should be technologically literate by the eighth grade, many states have also aggressively adopted and implemented their own technology standards.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Free videos

Free Resources: ScienCentral, Inc. Video Stories
“ScienCentral, Inc. recently contacted us about their videos on the latest research and developments in science and technology. They are currently providing their video stories free to educators who wish to use them as teaching tools or in presentations, and they are working further with educational publishers to provide their science content.
You can get a sense of ScienCentral's content by visiting the site <http://www.sciencentral.com/>, browsing or using various search features to find stories that interest you/your students, and viewing them online. (A sampling from today's home page: Remote Control Flies, Defeating Dyslexia, Spider Silk Strength, Alzheimer's Eye Test, and Living to 100.) There are nearly 1,000 stories archived on the site.
A ScienCentral spokeswoman wrote us: "If a teacher sees our site and wants to use our videos for educational/classroom purposes, they usually contact us by phone or e-mail and we provide the video clips free of charge. We can provide them in QuickTime, Real Media, Windows Media or on VHS/DVCam/Beta. The teacher just signs our license form allowing permission to use."”

Multimedia music curriculum

NEA jazzes things up with new multimedia music curriculum "Jazz in the Schools" is a new web-based, multimedia curriculum from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that explores jazz as an indigenous American art form and as a means to understand American history. The five-unit, web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit are available free of charge to high school teachers of social studies, U.S. history, and music.  Article continues

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Video game violence

Punishing video game violence: Does it reduce aggressive behavior?
Carmageddon 2 (source: Gamespot) is a gory racing game where players control drivers with names like “Max Damage” as they tear through city streets mowing down pedestrians and forcing competitors into bloody collisions. The game settings can be adjusted so that running down innocent bystanders actually increases a player’s point total. Surely, if there’s any video game that might raise a parent’s ire, Carmageddon 2 is one of them.
Studies have shown that violent video games are more likely than non-violent games to induce aggressive behavior, even after very short playing sessions. But more recent research (by Dmitri Williams and Marko Skoric) has suggested that violent game play does not always lead to aggression.  Article continues

Chatrooms

Chatrooms: help needed

Parents are showing an alarming level of ignorance and indifference towards their children's participation in Internet chat rooms, with boys in particular being left to their own devices.  Article continues

Literacy world wide

Literacy: a right still denied to nearly one-fifth of the world’s adult population
09-11-2005 1:50 pm Governments and donor countries are curtailing progress towards Education for All (EFA) – and broader poverty reduction – by according only marginal attention to the 771 million adults living without basic literacy skills, says the fourth edition of the EFA Global Monitoring Report, “Literacy for life”.* “Literacy is a right and a foundation for further learning that must be tackled through quality schooling for all children, vastly expanded literacy programmes for youth and adults, and policies to enrich the literate environment,” says Nicholas Burnett, the Report’s director.  Article continues

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Virtual cafeteria for good eating habits

'Virtual cafeteria' teaches good eating habits To improve student health and enhance parent understanding, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (ISD) in Carrollton, Texas, has put $95,000 into developing a program to give parents, students, and other community stakeholders a new way to learn about the foods offered in its schools: a virtual cafeteria.  Article continues

Free online calendar

Free online calendaring service aims to get parents involved To help bridge the home-school connection and get parents more involved in their children's classes, global children's publishing and media company Scholastic Inc. and Trumba, a provider of digital communication services, have joined together to give America's teachers a new online tool. The companies are providing free access to Trumba's new calendar tool, OneCalendar, for every classroom teacher in the country.  Article continues

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Girls doing it tough as boys take up trades
It is harder than ever for teenage girls to find a full-time job once they leave school, but teenage boys are having more success, a report shows.
More boys are taking up trade apprenticeships, or have found full-time work in expanding male-dominated industries such as construction and warehousing.
But girls are going backwards, says the report, How Young People are Faring 2005.Article coninues
Can one write love poetry in txt?


This is worth a look. A study at Cambridge has found that young people's writing skills have not, as some continue to say, fallen, in fact they seem to have improved. Read the whole post

Monday, November 21, 2005

Digital Natives Digital immigrants

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
It is amazing to me how in all the hoopla and debate these days about the decline of education in the US we ignore the most fundamental of its causes. Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.
Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, Read the whole article

Microsoft IT showcase

UMass first Microsoft IT Showcase School The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has been designated Microsoft Corp.'s first-ever "Information Technology (IT) Showcase School," under a new Microsoft program that aims to highlight IT excellence in higher education.  Article continues

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Blummy and information literacy

Blummy and Information Literacy


(From the weblog-Ed blog)

If you want a nifty little tool for teaching basic information literacy in these days of the Read/Write Web, go to Blummy, create a bookmarklet with the links outlined below, and put it on every computer in your school. Why? Because not only can you replicate much of Alan's multi-post bookmarklet (which I'm still keeping, btw,) but you can also add links that will (using my homepage as an example):
  automatically look up who owns any website you're on (pick the "Whois" bookmarklet.)
  show who is linked to a particlular site (pick the "who's linking" bookmarklet with the Google logo.)
  and shows (literally) the page that every link on the site, well, links to, creating a page of active mini-browser windows. (Pick the "linked sites" bookmarklet) This takes a while, but it's worth the wait, and you can even set the size of the screenshot that comes up. Amazing.
As Alan November likes to point out, those are three basic pieces of information that every teacher and student needs to begin to evaluate the authority and accuracy of a particular site. Knowing who owns the site tells you something. If every outgoing link is a link back to the originating site, that tells you something. If every incoming link is a link from some spam blog, that tells you something too.
There's more to talk about here, and I'm sure this isn't any huge programming marvel, but the big news is that I haven't seen an easier way yet to get this crucial information. Very cool.

Teen content creators

Teen Content Creators and Consumers:

More than half of online teens have created content for the internet; and most teen downloaders think that getting free music files is easy to do

American teenagers today are utilizing the interactive capabilities of the internet as they create and share their own media creations. Fully half of all teens and 57% of teens who use the internet could be considered Content Creators. They have created a blog or webpage, posted original artwork, photography, stories or videos online or remixed online content into their own new creations. Read the full Pew/Internet report

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Dynamic PowerTrainer

Dynamic PowerTrainer
"Dynamic PowerTrainer® is a proven eLearning authoring software tool to create, run and manage eLearning content. It's a user-friendly, state-of-the art solution, offering an impressive price/performance ratio."
Download a free trial version

Friday, November 18, 2005

Statins for learning disorders?

UCLA Scientists Use Statins To Overcome Learning Disabilities In Mice
In a surprise twist that recalls the film classic "Flowers for Algernon," but adds a happy ending, UCLA scientists used statins, a popular class of cholesterol drugs, to reverse the attention deficits linked to the leading genetic cause of learning disabilities. The Nov. 8 issue of Current Biology reports the findings, which were studied in mice bred to develop the disease, called neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1).  Article continues

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon – smokeless version
In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.
In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.  Article continues

Teacher standards

Reframing the debate
Letter from SMH today. Now this is 'reframing the debate'Double standards again?Dr Brendan Nelson continues to disparage the literacy of university graduates ("Teachers told: prove you can read and write", November 8). He also frequently criticises numeracy standards among Australian students. At the same time the Government insists that all workers, regardless of education, can readily understand the personal and financial implications of a complex workplace agreement offered by their employer. Am I missing something here?Steve Bright, North Avoca

Filters hinder research

Study: Overzealous filters hinder research
The internet-content filters most commonly used by schools block needed, legitimate content more often than not, according to a study by a university librarian. Her report was presented at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Pittsburgh last week.  Article continues

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The value of reading to children

Does reading to children help them learn to read?
“Eric Durbrow pointed me to this article in the Globe and Mail. Its lead sentence offers a surprising claim:
Parents take note: Reading to your preschoolers before bedtime doesn’t mean they are likely to learn much about letters, or even how to read words.”
And my comment has to be that they will learn so much more.  Visit my page on literacy and find the multitude of sites that prove the value of reading to children.  

Monday, November 14, 2005

ITs Now ICTs 2006

IT’s Now ICT’s 2006

Date: 18th April (Pupil-free day for State Schools)  
Time: 8.30 am – 3.15 pm.
Venue: Morayfield State High School, Visentin Rd Morayfield.
 
IT’s Now ICTs! 2006 will happen at Morayfield SHS on Tuesday 18th April 2006. The day will feature a range of ICT activities and workshops for primary and secondary teachers, supported by presentations and trade exhibits promoting the latest in educational hardware and software.
 
In-service opportunities available on the day include:  
 
Use of Wacom Pen Tablets in the classroom
Digital multimedia applications using Macromedia
New technologies such as digital white board
Flash animation and web page making
Visual Communicator and Movie Maker 2
PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Word
Tools to make school administration tasks easier
Web Mail and searching the web.
Learning Place web pages and tools
Curriculum Exchange and Macquarie Net
Robotics and Technology
Concept Mapping Software
PDA Computing in the curriculum and more…
Activities for all ability levels from beginner to advanced.
  
Invitation to Present a Session
 
If you or one of your staff members can present a session on the day, please send a brief synopsis of the topic so it can be added to the program. Session presenters will receive free registration for the day.
 
Please mark this event in your diaries for 2006. More information will be available closer to the date.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Students in a digital age: some implications of ICT for teaching and learning

"...not only have advances in technology changed the way today’s learners communicate and socialise, but have fundamentally impacted the way they approach learning. Already, the fields of technology and education have been all but inextricably linked ..." Read the whole report

Friday, November 11, 2005

Web universities ranking on the web

Lists the world’s top universities by their web presence – research published and how much it is cited. Top 1000 and top 100 for each country are just 2 of the rankings included.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Education Podcast Network

Education Podcast Network
ABOUT EPN
The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century

Reading



For years, studies have shown that the most significant therapy for young offenders is not Outward Bound camps, not psychological counselling, not tough love or family healing, but remedial reading. While no one would deny the importance of all those other approaches to troubled, destructive behaviour, many studies for over 30 years have consistently shown that help with literacy has a more profound and lasting impact on the rehabilitation of antisocial kids than anything else.  Read the whole article

OAses for open access


Oases, the Open Access Toolbar
OAses, a toolbar for Internet Explorer, is designed to make internet searching easier for students, academicians and scientists.  OAses searches many open access resources, free databases, and search engines.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The real Shakespeare

Focus: Is this an impostor I see before me?
Scholars claim they have finally identified the real Shakespeare. But the drama is not over yet. Richard Woods reports The most enigmatic and mysterious drama ever created by William Shakespeare is about to reach its denouement. Or so certain scholars hope.
This tragi-comedy — let’s call it Where Art Thou, Will? — has for years beguiled and bamboozled audiences with a simple theme: who really wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare? The answer, say these scholars, will be revealed in a book to be launched on October 19 at the Globe theatre in London, a replica of the playhouse where Shakespeare once trod the stage.  Article continues

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Games in Higher Ed: When Halo 2, Civilization IV, and Xbox 360 Come to Campus
The evolving technologies committee is charged with identifying and monitoring evolving technologies and their impact on higher education institutions. This submission is on gaming in higher education.

UQ is a `hub` for new online teaching facilities
The University of Queensland is one of only seven universities worldwide taking part in an international online collaboration to improve the student learning experience.

Monday, November 07, 2005

UMass first Microsoft IT Showcase School

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has been designated Microsoft Corp.'s first-ever "Information Technology Showcase School," under a new Microsoft program that aims to highlight IT excellence in higher education. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer made the announcement at the university's W.E.B. Du Bois Library as UMass-Amherst officially opened its new technology center, the Learning Commons....
Article continues

Leigh Blackall critiques how digital literacy, for the use of social software, affects teaching practices in Australian education in Digital literacy: How it affects teaching practices and networked learning futures - a proposal for action research.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Teachers Domain

Teachers' Domain
“is a multimedia digital library for the classroom that provides learning experiences in ways no textbook can.”
RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators
Whether you're just starting out with Weblogs and related technologies or you've dug in pretty hard, this RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators (.pdf) will hopefully help you see the potential for RSS feeds in your classroom.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Playsport

Welcome to PlaySport - an awesome website with all kinds of great activities designed to teach kids games by playing games!
PlaySport allows you to search for activities based on the equipment you have, the skills you want to teach, the complexity of the game or the space you have available.
Teachers, coaches and camp counselors can all benefit from this resource.
PlaySport games encourage fun, free play while helping kids develop the skills needed to participate in all kinds of sports.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Yahoo bans teens from chat rooms

YAHOO will ban under-18s from chat rooms as part of an agreement with the US states of New York and Nebraska designed to prevent predators using the online meeting places.

Yahoo's decision, which includes an undertaking to shut down chat rooms used by predators, marked the first time an internet media company has employed system-wide controls over chat rooms, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and his Nebraska counterpart Jon Bruning said. Article continues

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Want to know more about designing interactivity? Visit Interactivity for design suggestions, evaluations and promotional ideas and much more...

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Facing the Future develops young people’s capacity and commitment to create thriving, sustainable, and peaceful local and global communities. We do this by equipping teachers and schools with the tools and strategies to help students:
• Understand global issues and sustainability in a way that shows the connections between population, environment, consumption, poverty and conflict
• Develop a global perspective
• Learn critical thinking skills Be inspired to take personal action

School orders students to remove blogs

A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove their online diaries from the internet, citing a threat from cyberpredators. Article continues