Conference for Beginning and establishing teachers

Spirit of Learning 2006– a residential conference for beginning & establishing teachersSaturday 29 April & Sunday 30 April 2006 - Carlton Crest, Brisbane

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education
teachers

Australian Computers in Education conference in Queensland

Australian Computers in Education Conference – Cairns – October 2-4 2006

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education

Literacy - framework for action

Literacy is at the heart of a student’s ability to learn and succeed in school and beyond.It is essential we give every student from Prep to Year 12 the best chance to masterliteracy so they can meet the challenges of 21st century life.Children in Queensland’s state schools come from diverse backgrounds. While manystudents perform well, the priority is to enable all students to progress to a higherliteracy standard, taking into account their diverse circumstances.Literacy-the Key to Learning: Framework for Action 2006–2008 details the practicalsteps we need to take to achieve this.The Framework for Action recognises that quality teaching can make the single biggestdifference to students’ literacy outcomes. All teachers, including those teaching subjectssuch as mathematics and science, are teachers of literacy. It is integral to all areas oflearning. Read the whole report


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literacy
education

The great plant escape - interactive learning about plants

Detective Leplant and his partners Bud and Sprout unlock the amazing mysteries of plant life

Interactive


education
teaching

Transforming research into practice

by Ruth V. Small

In her research, Carol Kuhlthau discovered that students not only demonstrate patterns in their learning of research skills but also demonstrate patterns in their motivation as they progress through the research process. For example, she found that students become anxious and overwhelmed at the very beginning of the process when they must choose a research topic and experience the frustration and anxiety of information overload when their information search presents them with mountains of information.

In my own research, I have sought to discover what librarians did, motivationally speaking, when they taught information literacy skills to their students, using John Keller’s ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) Model as a framework for analyzing what we observed. Read on …

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education
library
information literacy

Confused about copyright? Looking for public domain content?

by Marilyn P. Arnone

The purpose of this TIPS column is to provide a brief introduction to three types of copyright issues and provide suggestions of where you can find some public domain sites for acquiring photos, clipart and other media for use in your S.O.S. lessons.

Read on …

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education
public domain

ANZAC Day chats with veterans and Defence personnel

The Learning Place will host a series of chats with WWII Veterans and defence force personnel.

Online guests will share their powerful stories and experiences providing students with a unique insight into life during war and life in a prisoner of war camp. It is also a time where students can share their feelings and appreciation for our Veterans.All the details that you need for registering including the timetable and materials to support this event can be found in the Learning Place Anzac Day Project Room.

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education

ANZAC Day

Bullying among young children

Bullying Among Young Children - A Guide for Parents - PDF

Bullying Among Young Children - A Guide for Teachers and Carers - PDF

The guides provide useful advice to parents, teachers and other carers on recognising changes in moods and behaviours that are associated with bullying. They also provide strategies to help children who bully and those who are bullied.

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education

>bullying

Web 2.0 - a new source of innovation in education and learning?

Read this article in the EDUCAUSE Review

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education
innovation
web 2.0

Minister supports tutoring for disabled students

Parents whose children struggle in literacy and numeracy could soon be eligible for a taxpayer-funded voucher system for private tuition.

Education Minister Julie Bishop said she would also support an expansion of the voucher programs to include children with disabilities.

Ms Bishop told The Australian she was supportive of the notion of vouchers across the board, including a system to cater for children with special needs.

Read more

Tag:education

PowerPoint 4 Teachers

The website is designed to provide tips to improve technical aspects and ideas to help you make your powerpoint engaging in a classroom setting.

education

powerpoint

Educational Blogging Links

From Educational Information sources online

"Here is the list of blogging resources from the presentation:

Ways To Use Blogs In Education"

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education

blogging

Soil science education

Interactive pages and information for students and for teachers about soil e.g. How much soil is there?,. and Filtering Qualities of Soils.

Visit the site

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education

'i-Schools' expand concept of IT education

The notion of "information technology" (IT) as a separate field of study is undergoing a radical shift at some of the nation's foremost colleges and universities--and it is this shift that drew more than 250 deans, faculty members, and graduate students to Pennsylvania State University's University Park campus for a first-of-its-kind conference last week.

Conference participants came from schools where computer and information science departments have evolved into something known as "i-Schools." At what organizers called the first-ever i-Schools conference at Penn State, participants sought to clarify their definition of what an "i-School" is and address the challenges that such institutions face.

Read on ...


education

How to evaluate a web source

Is It Worthy of a Citation?

Believe it or not, the Web does not always contain accurate information. In fact, every once in a while, you might come across something that (gasp!) is not true. Well, that’s to be expected, really – the Web is made by people, and people aren’t perfect, and people make up a LOT of coo-coo-crazy stuff.

Read the whole article

tags:
education
information literacy

The Digital Library for Earth System Education

The Digital Library for Earth System Education Provides Individualized Reports for Teachers on the Effectiveness of Educational Resources in Their Own Classrooms
Abstract

We have developed and tested a system in which teachers and their students who have used an educational resource in the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) both submit on-line reviews of that resource using DLESE's Community Review System. We aggregate the students' reviews and generate an individualized report for the instructor on how his or her own students view the resource. The report for science teachers is formatted to show how well, on several dimensions, the resource worked. The report for science education professors is formatted to highlight how well students reflect on their own learning processes and identify what makes an educational resource effective.

Read the whole article

Schools need to catch up

“…The old paradigms of trying to manage or control the information flow pretty much goes out the window when everyone has a platform. What can schools in general do? Well, here are some pretty straightforward ideas, I think…” Read the whole blog post

Building vocabulary for reading success - PD

Grades K–3Research suggests that vocabulary is an especially important element for reading success because it serves as a bridge between word-level processes such as phonemic awareness and phonics, and the cognitive processes of comprehension. In this new Scholastic RED online course, teachers learn how differentiate vocabulary instruction for first and second language learners, use assessments to guide effective instruction, and employ a variety of research-based strategies to extend students' vocabularies. Visit the site

The no time slam dunk digital lesson

By Jamie McKenzie

Teachers are so busy that they just don't have much time for lesson design and development. They need to throw together a lesson in a few minutes on a Tuesday night that they can use with their students the next day. They need an approach that takes very little time but delivers good results.

To meet this need, I have been working on a kind of Slam Dunk Digital Lesson (SDL) that is quick and easy to build. I call this lesson type, the NoTime SDL

Read the whole article

Does it matter if we redefine literacy?

“…I have a deep feeling that ability to read and write text is so important that anything that diminishes its importance ("waters is down") is so dangerous that we shouldn't do it. I also have another deep feeling that everything changes and that the changes are speeding up - so what does it really matter if we modify the meaning of the word, "literacy"?...” Read the whole blog post form Bill Kerr

April 12 D.E.A.R. Day (Drop Everything and Read)

April 12 has been named national Drop Everything and Read Day, in honor of author Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday. Cleary's spunky character Ramona Quimby is the day's spokesperson because it was in Cleary's 1981 book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, that Ramona's school started having D.E.A.R. time. Several organizations have joined with HarperCollins to establish this nationwide initiative, meant to encourage families to take at least 30 minutes a day to put aside all distractions and enjoy books together. Resources and ideas for celebrating the day are available here. Printed materials, including a poster and reproducible handout, can be obtained by contacting HarperCollins.

Womens History Month - origins

Extra!: Women's History Month

(CNN Student News) -- March is Women's History Month, a federally recognized, nationwide celebration that encourages all Americans to reflect on the ways in which women have shaped U.S. history. But how did this celebration come to be, and why is it held in March?

Read the whole article

Brain POP at school

BrainPOP is an educational program, providing content spanning 6 main subjects including: Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Health and Technology. Within each subject, you will find hundreds of short, animated movies that speak to kids in a language and voice that they understand. Developed according to national standards (NCTM, NSES, & NCTE), BrainPOP's topics present students with an engaging, enlightening, and entertaining view of a given subject.

Visit Brain Pop

Resources for Women's History Month

In recognition of Women's History Month, Thomson Gale launched a free Web site of biographies, quizzes, activities, timelines and more to complement classroom topics.

More...

Parents back union rejection of new reporting system

The ACT Parents and Citizens Council has supported the education union's decision to reject the controversial A-to-E reporting system. Article continues

Teaching students to teach

… that with blogs and podcasts and screencasts and others we really have an opportunity to ask our students to become more than just receivers of knowledge. They can become transmitters of that knowledge, teachers of it in easy, meaningful ways. …
If you've ever taught, you know that the best way to learn something is to not only do it but to teach it to others.

Read the whole blog post

April Fools Day

Check out snopes.com for April Fools Day prank news articles and press releases, famous April Fools Day pranks and the origins of April Fools Day.

Google digitises historical video clips

Web users now have free access to 1940s newsreels and more

Through an agreement with the National Archives, Google Inc. has added historic video footage of such events as the Apollo moon landing and Japan's surrender in World War II to its internet search engine. Students, teachers, researchers, and others now can access these digital video clips free of charge through the Google Video search portal.

Read the whole article

Micromodules - short Internet lessons

IMSA's Free Online MicroModules teaching and learning packages are short, self-directed lessons covering a wide range of Internet topics.

MicroModules address knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to locate, evaluate and use Internet resources in a learning environment. Taking only 10-60 minutes to complete, the individual modules can be used by anyone from sixth grade through adult learners. Many modules have audio/video components, making them more interesting.

Minister supports tutoring for the disabled

Parents whose children struggle in literacy and numeracy could soon be eligible for a taxpayer-funded voucher system for private tuition.
Education Minister Julie Bishop said she would also support an expansion of the voucher programs to include children with disabilities.
Ms Bishop told The Australian she was supportive of the notion of vouchers across the board, including a system to cater for children with special needs.

Read more

Tag:

education

WannaLearn - free instruction on the web

Over 350 categories of free, first-rate, family-safe online tutorials, guides and instructionally oriented Websites!

Visit the site

Tagging - the latest way to search the web

Jeff Jarvis The latest trend sweeping the web - as trends are wont to do - is tagging. Last month, Yahoo! bought the leading tag service, Del.icio.us, which enables you to save a web link and associate it with labels so you can find it later.

Read the whole article

Deep web research

By Marcus P. Zillman

Bots, Blogs and News Aggregators is a keynote presentation that I have been delivering over the last several years, and much of my information comes from the extensive research that I have completed over the years into the “invisible” or what I like to call the "deep" web.

The Deep Web covers somewhere in the vicinity of 900 billion pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats that the current search engines on the Internet either cannot find or have difficulty accessing. The current search engines find about 8 billion pages at the time of this writing.

Read the whole article

New image search

Ask.com introduces its image search

Students testing worse on federal exams

WASHINGTON --The nation's students do glaringly worse on a tough federal test than they do on state exams in reading and math, raising doubts about how much kids are learning.

Article continues

Bill targets bullying over the internet

A new bill seeks to help public school administrators curb the newest form of bullying -- menacing Internet postings.Article continues

Mac patches serious OS flaws

Apple Computer on Wednesday released a security update for Mac OS X that fixes 20 vulnerabilities, including a high-profile Web browser and Mail flaw disclosed last week.

Article continues

Parents complain about book's undertones

A children's book about two male penguins that raise a baby penguin has been moved to the nonfiction section of two public library branches after parents complained it had homosexual undertones. The illustrated book, "And Tango Makes Three," is based on a true story of two male penguins, named Roy and Silo, who adopted an abandoned egg at New York City's Central Park Zoo in the late 1990s.

Read the whole article

Interactive abbreviations and acronyms

AbbreviationZ.com

http://abbreviationz.com/

“Launched on 2001, AbbreviationZ.com is the largest human-edited acronyms and abbreviations directory on the internet with more than 350,000 entries classified by over 120 different categories and sub-categories.

The new innovative meta-search feature allows users, who are searching for acronyms and abbreviations definitions on the local AbbreviationZ.com directory, to locate additional meanings on the internet by using a meta-search engine, which is based on proprietary natural-language-processing algorithms, that lookup and parse multiple search-engines simultaneously.”

Unique and compelling educational resources

“What does the Internet bring to your classroom?
The Internet can be an overwhelming educational resource. Learn how the idea of Unique and Compelling can help educators take advantage of some of the Internet's most powerful learning opportunities. “

Explore Unique and compelling …

New Interactive healthy eating calculator

Finding customized information about what and how much to feed your child is just a click away, thanks to the CNRC's new Interactive Healthy Eating Plan Calculator.

The calculator is available on the web at http://www.kidsnutrition.org/HealthyEating_calculator.htm

"By entering a child's sex, age, weight, height, and physical activity level, parents can obtain a general eating plan that provides all the nutrition and energy their child needs to grow and be active without excessive weight gains," said Joan Carter, an instructor in the department of pediatrics and CNRC dietitian who developed the calculator.

Test scores not lowered by television - study

Does television rot children's brains? A new study by two economists from the University of Chicago taps into a trove of data from the 1960's to argue that when it comes to academic test scores, parents can let children watch TV without fear of future harm.

Article continues

Talk it up Website - about health strength, happiness and growing into adulthood

Talk It Up is a website about health, strength, happiness and growing into adulthood. It is designed to connect young people across urban and regional Australia, at school or after hours, in a safe online environment.

Make eating 5 a day fun

Dole – 5 a day –makes eating 5 a day fun – includes teaching resources

At school not all computers are equal

n“ … Though Florida promises an equal education for its students, children get anything but equal treatment when it comes to computer equipment. And the disparity is growing even as the ability to navigate an up-to-date computer is seen as being just as key to learning as the ability to read an up-to-date textbook. ..“
Read the whole article

An interactive tour of the brain + Alzheimers

What happens in the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease? This tour explains how the brain works and how Alzheimer's affects it.Taking the tour: There are 16 interactive slides.

Image searching supplemented

Ask.com introduces its image search

Chess as a school subject

Back in January, I noted the news story about Chess as a subject at school.

It was American.

Now, the indefatigable Bill Kerr has reported that

“My school has agreed to let me teach chess as a subject. It will be a SACE Stage 1 Integrated Studies Unit delivered off line to students from Years 8-10.”

Read the whole blog post where he shares his curriculum outline.

A unique example of how a community can work together on the web

From Alan Levine’s CogdogblogWhatever your way of describing what “social software” is how, submitted below is a nice example of the informal way the web, blogs, maybe even RSS play a role in collectively building something in a way not previously possible.  Read the whole post.

Has eLearning revolutionisied education?

“Does eLearning have the ability to ease many of the pressures that educators are currently facing? As we entered into the 21st century, leaders in this field argued that eLearning could respond to accelerating global competition, increase the quality of learning experiences, remove situational barriers, and be more cost effective.   …   While the unbridled enthusiasm we saw for eLearning 10 years ago is now being replaced by growing disenchantment, these problems are now being overshadowed by the possibilities offered by eLearning. One example of the possibilities that eLearning can provide is the Professeurs pour la liberté. This Canadian-led collaborative initiative aims to provide free online education to Africans by having one course donated from academic institutions from the G8, European and Scandinavian countries, along with re-useable computers, books and volunteers. This innovative and self-funded initiative is possible only through eLearning. So, while eLearning has not delivered on the promises made by technologists at the turn of the century, it does have great potential to widen access, cost effectively, under certain circumstances.”Read the whole article

Reading is fundamental - website

Reading Is Fundamental, UK is an initiative of the National Literacy Trust that helps children and young people (aged 0 to 19) to realise their potential by motivating them to read.We promote the fun of reading, the importance of book choice and the benefits to families of having books at home. Our projects provide motivational activities, opportunities for family and community involvement, and free books for children to choose and keep.

Mind rewind - brain runs in reverse

When faced with a new learning task, our brains replay events in reverse, much like a video on rewind, a new study suggests.This type of reverse-replay is also used in artificial intelligence research to help computers make decisions. The finding could explain why we learn tasks more easily if we take frequent study breaks: the pauses between sessions give our brains time to review information.  Read the whole article

RSS Ideas for educators

RSS Ideas for educatorsBy Quentin D'Souza from TeachingHacks.com

The Professor as intant messenger

By Kathryn Wymer
Determined not to be left behind, I decided last semester to follow the lead of those pioneering instructors who have become IM buddies with their students. If my students found e-mail a clunky and outdated way to communicate, I wanted to reach out to them and use instant messaging.  

Read the whole article

Study: "Power Users" drive pedagogy

Research suggests tech-savvy students are having an impact in the classroom Students who excel in the use of technology are driving change in classroom instruction, according to a new survey of educators. Dubbed "Power Users," these ultra tech-savvy students have a growing influence over what--and how--teachers now teach, the survey saidArticle continues

Microsoft - accelerating search in academic research

Live Labs is a partnership between MSN and Microsoft Research (MSR) focused on applied research for Internet-enabled products and services at Microsoft. Live Labs includes people with many different skills and perspectives on internet technologies -- researchers, engineers, developers and designers. Together, they foster Internet-centric research programs, rapidly prototype and launch emerging technologies, incubate entirely new inventions, and improve and accelerate Live product offerings. The Live Labs team will collaborate closely with the academic research communities through research grants, fellowships, workshops, conference sponsorships, sabbaticals, internships, and more. More information on Live Labs is available at http://labs.live.com. This Request for Proposals is in support of Live Labs’ collaboration with the academic research community and is focused on the Internet Search research area.

National Youth week: just add you

National Youth Week  1-9 April 2006
NYW is a joint Australian Government, State, Territory and Local Government initiative.
The Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA), in collaboration with the Departments responsible for youth affairs in each State and Territory, coordinate NYW.
NYW aims to encourage young people to:
share ideas
attend live events
have their voices heard on issues of concern to them
showcase their talents
celebrate their contribution to the community
take part in competitions, and have fun!
Find out more

Loomia - podcast and videocast search engine

Loomia is a podcast and videocast search engine plus much more. Our goal is to help you discover, share, and manage things of interest to you. We make use of the likes and dislikes of an ever-increasing community to filter through thousands of channels to help you find good stuff.

Paying kids to attend school?

And for Perfect Attendance, Johnny Gets... a Car - New York Times"I was at first taken a little aback by the idea: we're going to pay kids to come to school?" said the principal, Morton Orlov II. "But then I thought perfect attendance is not such a bad behavior to reward. We are sort of putting our money where our mouth is."Read the whole article

Schools open up to single sign-in

Open source software provides foundation to transform UK education
The Government's educational technology agency has picked an open source solution to give every student, parent and teacher a single secure sign-on for all web resources in schools.

International Polar year Portal launch

The National Science Foundation (NSF) today launched a portal Web site to provide the general public and members of the news media with easy access to news releases, classroom resources, listings of museum and gallery exhibits, and catalogs of video and still images and other materials produced or supported by the federal government as part of the U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008.The site is at http://www.us-ipy.gov

Norman Lindsy festival of children's Liyerature

The Norman Lindsay Festival of Children's Literature Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th March 2006Norman Lindsay Gallery 14 Norman Lindsay Crescent Springwood, Blue Mountains NSW Featuring:  Andrew Daddo, Kim Gamble, James Roy, Mark Macleod, Emily Rodda, John Hockney, Bruce Whatley and Suzanne Gervay. There are workshops for adults and children included in the cost of admission. For more information and to download a copy of the registration form visit the NSW Branch of the National Trust's website : http://nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/

Using instant messaging for collaborative learning

 “…In this article, I describe the results of a pilot study involving the provision of corrective feedback to ESL learners through collaborative work utilizing the text-based chat and audio features of Yahoo! Messenger (Yahoo IM), a form of synchronous desktop videoconferencing (DVC). I also discuss the implications of such studies for enhancing language learning outside of traditional contexts and possibly encouraging connectivity and informal collaboration with colleagues and students." Read the whole article

Cooee! Aussie books

Get lost in Aussie books
Cooee! website live all year
www.connectqld.org.au/cooeeThe Cooee! family summer reading club 2005/6 was developed by the State Library of Queensland in collaboration with Qld Public Libraries to engage children and young people in the discovery of great Australian books, reading, writing and art activities during the summer holidays.  The program was conducted in public libraries throughout Queensland and via the interactive website www.connectqld.org.au/cooeeThe website will remain online for use in schools as curriculum support.In levels 1, 2, & 3 you can access:
Choose your own adventure stories by Queensland authors Jill Morris, Rebecca Johnson, Anita Bell, Josie Montano and Pat Flynn
What happens next? Continuous stories by Narelle Oliver
Book Reviews
Activity sheets
In the ‘for the whole family’ section you will find: Reading Compass – young readers can match a book to their interests
Transcripts of online chats with Andy Griffiths and Meme McDonald
Pirate Plunge fun interactive game
A-Z: know your library
Celebrity readers
…..and test your own knowledge of Aussie books, play the adult book quiz.

Earthworks- interactive game for kids promoting sustainability

"Earthworks is a new interactive game aimed at children to encourage them to be more aware of sustainability issues and the environment. The game was commissioned by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and funded by the EDF."

Google Earth for Macs released

Google Earth in a Mac world (PC too)
"We feel like proud parents around here. Our eldest, Google Earth for the PC, is officially leaving beta status today, and we couldn't be more pleased. For those of you who downloaded early, upgrade to the latest and discover Google Earth all over again.And we have a brand new member of the family -- Google Earth for Macintosh."

Teachers' Guide to Scientriffic

Teachers GuideThe Teachers's Guide supports articles and activities in each edition of Scientriffic. With blackline masters, extension activities and links to the curriculum, the Teacher's Guide has been designed to assist teachers to stimulate young minds about science.

Student book reveiws WANTED for YARA

From Barbara BraxtonYARA is live again for 2006 and we are seeking student reviews of books by Australian authors with a publication date of 2005-2006. 
So if you are including book reviews in your planning, you might like to consider reading the criteria at  http://www.yaraonline.org/main_pages/write_review.htm  and submit your students' work.  ONLY reviews which meet these criteria can be published because of our limited web space.
Later, I am hoping to be in a position to send review copies of books to schools and I will ask for expressions of interest when I have some titles to share.
Barbara

Virtual professional development

  VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS
The ICT Learning Innovation Centre is pleased to present a number of 'Virtual Presentations" which allow teachers and other staff, who may not be able to make it to the Centre, to connect with us virtually to build their skills and knowledge in the quest to make the use of ICT integral to learning. Some of the presentations can be downloaded from this site, whilst other CD and DVD resources are available usually  through a small charge to recoup duplication and postage charges  
Visit the site

Digital literacies and learning in the information society

Digital literacies and learning in the information society
5th International Conference on eLiteracyLoughborough University,Loughborough, East Midlands, UK 28 - 30 June 2006
eLit2006 is the 5th international conference examining the challenge of eLiteracy. eLit2006 will draw together teachers, educational researchers, policymakers, trainers, librarians, IT support staff, learning technologists, and many others to share experiences and to talk and think through issues such as the embedding of eLiteracy skills in the curriculum to the challenges of creating online education.

Information Literacy: food for thought

INFORMATION LITERACY: FOOD FOR THOUGHT
 by Marylaine Block 
 Students sometimes seem to have a kind of magical view of the net, without a great deal of understanding of the information landscape on it and beyond it. The invisible net (and the visible library) remain largely invisible to them, because they appear to believe everything they need to know is available for free with a simple Google search -- and, if they don't find it there, that it doesn't exist at all.   My guess, though, is that, if absolutely forced to think about it, they'd readily admit this is not the case. So I'm offering here a few leading questions to ask at the start of information literacy sessions that might force students to examine their assumptions.  
Read the whole article

refurbished PCs for low=income students

Kentucky offers refurbished PCs to students Some low-income eighth-graders throughout Kentucky soon will get used personal computers through a program that teams the Kentucky state government with Microsoft and Lexmark.

Early childhood interventions

Early Childhood Interventions
Proven Results, Future PromiseRead the e-book

Computers a drag on learning

Contrarian finding: Computers are a drag on learningBy G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor For all the schools and parents who have together invested billions to give children a learning edge through the latest computer technology, a mammoth new study by German researchers brings some sobering news: Too much exposure to computers might spell trouble for the developing mind. Article continues

Google Earth for Macs released

Google Earth in a Mac world (PC too)
We feel like proud parents around here. Our eldest, Google Earth for the PC, is officially leaving beta status today, and we couldn't be more pleased. For those of you who downloaded early, upgrade to the latest and discover Google Earth all over again.And we have a brand new member of the family -- Google Earth for Macintosh.

Classroom Toolkit

ClassroomToolkit
"ClassroomToolkit is an Open Source movement for teachers. We offer strategic planning and management tools and tell-it-like-it is advice. We offer creative materials, reproducible modules, and tutorials that save teachers time and reduce stress. We provide a newsletter and eZine."

Enrich teaching with technology

Download presentations from the Microsoft conference (link)
Enrich teaching with technology and two presentations by Innovative teaching award winners

Chess in school

Chess, the Game of Royalty, Is Now the Game of Grade Schoolers, Too“… In Philadelphia, which has the seventh-largest school system in the country, 18 of the city's 280 public schools have added chess to their curriculums in a pilot program. About 4,000 students are getting chess instruction this year, according to Marjorie Wuestner, executive director of the school district's office of health, safety, physical education and sports administration.The goal, she said, is to have all second and third graders receiving chess instruction by next year.Paul G. Vallas, chief executive of the school system, said anecdotal evidence showed that chess is a great educational tool. "Chess seems to improve problem-solving skills," he said. "It improves discipline. It improves memory. It certainly seems to improve mathematical skills." Teaching chess, he added, is meant to enrich the curriculum, not replace another subject….”  Read the whole article

Pew report on the internet at school

The Internet at School
The internet is an important element in the overall educational experience of many teenagers. Schools are a common location where online teens access the web, although very few online teenagers rely exclusively on their school for that web access. Further, there is widespread agreement among teens and their parents that the internet can be a useful tool for school. However, 37% of teens say they believe that “too many” of their peers are using the internet to cheat. And there is some disagreement among teens and their parents about whether children must be web-literate by the time they begin school. Additionally, large numbers of teens and adults have used the web to search for information about colleges and universities.  

Read the whole Pew report

Awesome stories

AwesomeStories.com uniquely uses the Internet to link its story content to hundreds of thousands of the world's best on-line primary sources. Enjoy an interactive learning experience as you see relevant maps, pictures, artifacts, manuscripts and documents, IN CONTEXT, within each story. Take advantage of human-based searches for a safe, fast and fun way to learn the real story behind historic events, famous people, heroic exploits, legends, disasters, movies, plus topics of current and general interest.

Learning vs Education

Learning vs Education

“…what learning is (as opposed to education) and what the future might bring in

terms of "Personal Learning Environments" (PLE). And the underlying question here is what role do schools and teachers play in all of this.”  

Website warns parents about new technology

Parents warned over new technology
The need to educate children and teens about the new risks associated with devices such as webcams and mobile phones has sparked a revamp of a Government advisory website.  

Article continues

Teaching vs Learning

Our learning environments need to change to take advantage of the people and information and ideas that we can now connect to. We cannot continue to be enablers to our students' dependence on a school selected, force fed curriculum that was in some ways necessary 50 years ago but is quickly becoming irrelevant today. Our students need to learn how to learn, because there is so much more to learn from, and they need to be given the license to start making some of those decisions on their own

Read the details

Bush pushed to promote science and technology education

Bush pushed on science, innovation
Former ED Sec. Alexander urges president to promote science, technology education Responding to what he believes is a critical need for the future of American industry, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., former U.S. education secretary, has urged President Bush to make science and technology research and education key themes during the remainder of his presidency.  
Article continues

Curbing education dropouts

Education quandary: curbing dropouts The past year has seen unprecedented attention paid to the shortcomings of America’s high schools, prompting national leaders to pledge to transform high school and toughen graduation standards. But that means little to the nearly one-third of high school students who fail to meet current standards and don’t graduate on time.  Read the whole article

Merit based pay for teachers?

Houston Ties Teachers' Pay to Test Scores
HOUSTON, Jan. 12 - Over the objections of the teachers' union, the Board of Education here on Thursday unanimously approved the nation's largest merit pay program, which calls for rewarding teachers based on how well their students perform on standardized tests.Article continues

Virtual software for schools

'Virtual' software: The future for schools?
Software virtualization could greatly simplify IT management A new paradigm in software delivery, called "software virtualization," is poised to transform school IT management, some experts say--making software independent of an operating system and simplifying network administration. 
 Read the article

Teens optimistic about innovation

Study: Teens optimistic about innovation

Curbing eduction dropouts

Education quandary: curbing dropouts The past year has seen unprecedented attention paid to the shortcomings of America’s high schools, prompting national leaders to pledge to transform high school and toughen graduation standards. But that means little to the nearly one-third of high school students who fail to meet current standards and don’t graduate on time.  Read the whole article

New Intel Macs

Jobs: New Intel Macs are 'screamers'
SAN FRANCISCO--Addressing a packed crowd of the Mac faithful, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday served up the first Intel-based Macs, introducing a new high-end laptop and a revamped iMac.  
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Making schools work

PBS finds a recipe for "Making Schools Work"
A companion web site to the PBS television series "Making Schools Work,"this online resource invites educators to follow host Hedrick Smith and his production team into classrooms from coast to coast to see how different communities, large and small, are coping with the challenge of preparing students for success in the face of higher federal standards and a new global economy. Among the site's many features are best practices detailing effective reform efforts underway in individual schools; a look at district-wide initiatives in New York City, San Diego, and Charlotte, N.C.; and a library of community-focused resources meant to help teachers and parents gauge how much work still needs to be done in their schools. "The common denominator"of all these programs, producers note as they welcome visitors to the site, "is results--lifting scores and closing achievement gaps, not just for a few hundred children but for nearly 2 million, from our inner cities to rural America."

Interactive learning does not improve literacy

Interactive learning fails reading test
INTERACTIVE computers used in British schools to teach children to read are harming their learning, research shows.  

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New science resouces on the web

Applied Math and Science Education Repository (AMSES) – A portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use by those in community and technical colleges, which is open to everyone. AMSES highlights new science resources on the Web

TV time increases

We're Spending More Time Watching TV
Even with increased competition from video games, the Internet, DVD's and portable devices, the average television viewing time has risen four minutes a day so far this season over the same period last season.

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Hector Protector

Hector Protector is a "safety button" to protect children frominappropriate Internet content.  The Hector safety button is the first stage of the Internet Safety Group's education initiative - Hector'sWorld - designed for children between the ages of 3 and 10.  For more information see www.netsafe.org.au

Human minds like computers?

Is the mind like a computer? Evidence that it is not“What is your mind doing when you think about something? For decades, the prevailing wisdom was that when you imagine, say, the scent of a flower or your lover’s perfume, your mind is doing something different from when you actually smell those things. The metaphor was a computer: The hardware for sensing things was distinct from the software for thinking about things.More recent evidence suggests that the way we understand concepts relies on the sensorimotor system. When you think of the sound of a dripping faucet, the same parts of your brain are activated as when you are actually hearing a faucet dripping. (Computer geeks should see how the computer metaphor breaks down: it’s as if searching a database of images required the server to access its video card.)”

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Web 2 and learning

Tech Tools For Learning“Over the last few years, our relationship with the Web has been changing dramatically. Simple new technologies like weblogs and podcasts are allowing us to not only create content like text, audio, and video more easily, they are also allowing us to publish and share that content on the Web with very little effort. Instead of a “read only” Web, we’re entering the age of the Read/Write Web, where contributing knowledge is as easy as consuming it. Being able to publish worldwide this easily does raise legal and ethical issues for educators to be aware of, but it also facilitates a whole range of new learning potentials for students and teachers in the classroom. Here is a quick look at some of the technologies that are changing the way educators think about and deliver instruction.”

English teaching should incorporate techology

English 'must reflect technology'

English in schools must adapt to reflect the use of text messaging and communication via new technologies, a report says.
Research by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority says new skills are needed to keep pace with change.
It says schools should take advantage of the range of texts now available to teach the language, including online.
The recommendations come in a report which examined the future of the major curriculum subjects.  Article continues

Myths about video games

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked
A large gap exists between the public's perception of video games and what the research actually shows. The following is an attempt to separate fact from fiction.  Read the whole article

TESOL pages

Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom
A Project of The Internet TESL Journal

This is a place were English teachers can share games and activities that they have found useful in the classroom.