Art Education 2.0

http://arted20.ning.com/
Craig Roland created this site for fellow travelers and art educators in order to help colleagues find out how to use new technologies in their classrooms.

First-time visitors will need to start out by signing up for a free account, and after that they are most welcome to participate in forums, groups, blogs, RSS feeds, and photo and video sharing. Some of the groups include "Art Partners", "Students of Art Education 2.0", and "First Year Art Teachers".

The forums are quite useful, and recently they have included discussions on summer research opportunities, arts censuses, and the use of streaming video in the classroom.

For art educators, this site is quite a find, and others who are interested in art and technology more generally will also find it useful.

Bouncing Balls and Geometric Series

[Real Player, Windows Media Player]

http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/4/pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1550

The introduction to this intriguing exercise and article begins "If a ball bounces an infinite number of times, it must take an infinite amount of time to finish bouncing!" This piece appeared in The Journal of Online Mathematics and Its Applications in May 2007, and it was authored by Robert Styer and Morgan Besson of Villanova University. This particular article and its accompanying teaching module "explore the time and distance of a bouncing ball and leads to a study of the geometric series." Along with the actual article, this site also includes a video clip and several interactive Flash mathlets. It's a fun way to get students thinking about geometric series, and mathematics educators will definitely want to tell colleagues about the site as well

[From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2007. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Acting out the Water Cycle

http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/education/teachers/water/activities/activity03.html
This activity reinforces student’s understanding of the water cycle through the use of a role play. It will reinforce the concepts of evaporation, condensation and precipitation and provides the option of introducing the concepts of run-off, transpiration and groundwater.

Artificial Boy’ to be a learning companion

‘At 17 inches tall and 6 pounds, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at Hanson Robotics. They believe... Full Story

Animals of Antarctica

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources
A page of links to animals that live on and around the Antarctic continent.

Minimizing Classroom Disruptions

Computers and the internet have become welcome instructional tools in most schools, ushering a wealth of additional resources into today’s classrooms. Unfortunately, they also bring with them the potential for unwanted distractions—such as online content that ranges from off-target, to inappropriate, material.With the generous support of Faronics, a maker of solutions that help manage, simplify, and secure complex IT environments, we’ve assembled this collection of stories and columns from the eSchool News archives to help you leverage technology’s potential for education, while minimizing classroom disruptions. We hope you’ll find these resources helpful as you seek an appropriate balance in your own institutions..

Minimizing Classroom Disruptions

Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson:

For an inspirational moment, find 20 mins of peace to view this comment on education. Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate -- the talents of many brilliant people. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: "If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now."

NASA: Rocket Activities

[pdf]
http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/TRCRocket/RocketActivitiesHome2.html
There are many things in this world that are described as not being as difficult as rocket science. Then, of course, there is the actual science behind rockets. Understandably, this can be difficult for budding space scientists to grasp. Fortunately, NASA has created these fun and interactive activities which relate both to the science and math of rocketry. These particular activities are taken from the "Rocket Educators Guide", and they include activities related to altitude tracking, the world of pinwheels, balloon staging, and of course the construction of an actual paper rocket. Each activity comes complete with instructions, diagrams, and information on the necessary materials. Taken as a whole, these activities could be equally fun whether outside on a brisk fall day as in a classroom setting
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2007. http://scout.wisc.edu/