March Madness

With March Madness is just a day away, I'd like to pass along a couple of seasonally appropriate sport science videos that you might be able to incorporate into a science or math lesson.

ESPN's Sport Science analyzes two prominent features of basketball: Three Point Shooting and Distraction.

Three Point Shooting uses Ray Allen as an example of phenomenal three point shooting skills and the development of the perfect shot.

Distraction illustrates whether or not all of those waving, screaming fans behind a basketball hoop actually impacts the player's free throw success.

To solve the YouTube issue- both videos available here

Still no lesson on the "Science of Picking the Winner!" :)

Disaster Simulation -STOP THE DISASTERS

This morning's earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan provides an opportunity to incorporate current world news into a science lesson. Here is a fun resource for teaching about earthquakes and tsunamis( and other potential disasters)
Stop Disasters is a game designed for students to learn about natural disasters, disaster prevention, and city design. The game is sponsored and created by ISDR the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. This group brings many organizations, universities, institutions together for a common objective: reducing the number of dead and injured by disasters triggered by natural hazards. They say of their game:" The on-line game aims at teaching children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. Children will learn how the location and the construction materials of houses can make a difference when disasters strike and how early warning systems, evacuation plans and education can save lives. Children are the future architects, mayors, doctors, and parents of the world of tomorrow, if they know what to do to reduce the impact of disasters, they will create a safer world."


There are five game scenarios that students can play: tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires. The scenarios are set in geographically accurate contexts of Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean. The Information tab provides a wealth of information and teacher resources on the 5 disasters. The game overview gives students their goals: building and housing, a budget and limits of acceptable destruction as well as the time allotted.

The game would be really nice on a SMARTboard as a whole class project. It's interactivity allows the students to create, warn and save their "population". I suggest that you play it first to see all of the options available. Enjoy!

Doodle Time!

It is that time of the year again - It's time to "DOODLE FOR GOOGLE"!!

This is yearly a competition where K-12 students are invited to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google’s homepage logo for millions to see. This year GOOGLE wants young people to dream about future possibilities--so this year they are asking U.S. kids to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "What I’d like to do someday…"

Whether students want to find a cure for cancer or take a trip to the moon, it all starts with a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper. And, one lucky student artist will take home a $15,000 college scholarship and $25,000 technology grant for their school, among many other prizes. In the past there has been a cap on the number of entries that a school could submit- Not this year-- The only stipulation is only one per student.

Student submit their 'doodle"on white, landscape sheet of 8.5" x 11" inch paper PLUS a supporting statement of up to 50 words explaining the "What I’d like to do someday…" theme.

Entry deadline is March 16- For more information: Doodle for Google

Recycling in the new year

Welcome back!!
Maybe you got some new gadgets over the holidays.

Maybe you're just cleaning out old "toys" in the new year.

Maybe you are preparing for the new Iphone.

Whatever the reason, you've probably got electronic gadgets that need to go.

There are more and more options for recycling and quite probably I will miss some, but, here is a list of companies, web sites and organizations that are equipted to recycle electronics:

The EPA( Environmental Protection Agency)
Ecosquid (included on the EPA list)- a place to compare cash offers and recycling options from across the web in one easy search.
The Consumer Electronic Association
A chart of "big box" stores that have programs.
Apple has it's own program- available only online

All of the programs are responsible, ecological, and (mostly) free recycling.
Be a good consumer and steward of the earth!

The Magical Shoe Box

In the spirit of "remember what it was like to be a first year teacher?"-- I share with you THE MAGICAL SHOE BOX.

My niece is a first year teacher in the Chicago Public Schools and following in the footsteps of "the queen" she decided to blog about her experiences.

If you are even remotely interested in re-kindling that first year enthusiasm, it is worth the time to read. She is a wonderful young woman and I like to think that I played a small part in her decision to go into education( the truth is-- both of her parents are teachers!).

Enjoy the read and follow if you wish!

Tracking Santa

Here is a fun web-site for the child in all of us-- Not school related, but certainly a series of fun activities-- especially for those of you with small children as we lead up to Christmas.

NORAD is the bi-national (U.S.-Canadian) military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada. Simply said, the men and women of NORAD watch the skies.

NORAD Tracks Santa is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program produced under the auspices of NORAD. Every year on Christmas Eve, "NORAD Tracks Santa" purports to follow Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole and delivers presents to children around the world.

The program began on December 1 with a "Countdown Village" website. This portion of the site has a series of interactive pages for children regarding Santa and his village and workshops.

Even a big kid like me can enjoy visiting Santa as he makes preparation for the "Big Day". On Christmas Eve, you can even track Santa using Google Earth.
Finally, the site is multilingual--ENJOY!

Google Science Fair

Another cool GOOGLE idea to share!

On January 11, 2011 Google will kick-off a global science fair. There weren't that many details , but here is what I can report.

The Google Science Fair will be open to 13-18 year old students. Students can enter individually or in small teams. Google's partners in this project include National Geographic, CERN, NASA, Scientific American, and LEGO. Teachers can register now to receive free resource kits, bookmarks, stickers, posters, and notification when registration for the Google Science Fair opens.

I have registered and will share info as I receive it - Science teachers, you may wish to do the same.

Holiday Shopping

WeAreTeachers is an online community for teachers. It combines the expertise of their member community, the resources and knowledge base of partners and the momentum of social media to recognize and reward innovative teaching ideas. WeAreTeachers offers a unique forum for innovation and collaboration... AND, like any good online community at this time of the year, they have complied a Holiday Gift Guide. These fun gifts t are not only affordable, but are also teacher-recommended as educational. A good place for gift giving ideas that are practical, fun and educational-SHHH- keep that last part a secret!
The site is also a nice community of resources for all teachers - I highly recommend saving it as a favorite and if you are so inclined--- joining their community.

Veteran's Day-This year it is personal @ PSHS

Tomorrow's honor procession recognizing PSHS' own hero, Andrew Meari will certainly provide ample opportunity for Veteran's Day and "war hero" discussions. For those of you seeking additional resources, here are some good ones:

The History Channel

A Picture Story and American Remembers Its Veterans (2 different slide shows)on MSNBC

Remembering War’s Costs, Around the Globe is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

EL Civics has a lesson for ELL students - Makes a good intro to the day and the military.

THE BEST in my opinion

National Geographic has a film called Arlington: Field of Honor-A tour of one of America's most sacred places. Explore its hallowed history in this powerful portrait (there is a very brief commercial prior to the film)

The Science of Football

The folks at NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, have done it again.

You may remember a January 2010 posting about the science behind the Olympic games.
Now, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and National Football League, they unravel the Science behind Professional Football through a thoughtfully narrated and annotated series of video clips. Each video segment/lesson, has a "flip cue card option". This option "flips the video screen over and provides general information and a description of the clip, keywords(which could easily be the vocabulary portion of the lesson),and a link to Lessonopoly, a free software portal developed by Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

Video segments/topics include: Newton's Laws of Motion, Geometric Shapes, Kinematics, Nutrition, Hydration & Health, Projectile motion, Torque and Center of Mass and the Science of Football Vectors

CyberSafety-OWN YOUR SPACE

Young people have been immersed in technology since elementary school. They download music, Google their homework, and are constantly IMing friends. They check email before dinner, and tweak their Facebook page before bed. While they're doing all of this, they also need to protect themselves.

Own Your Own Space is an ebook designed to educate tweens and teens about protecting themselves and their "stuff" online. This book is about keeping safe—protecting your data, your identity, and yourself without giving up all the great stuff the Net puts at your fingertips. It isn't a fluffy, general overview book. Each chapter goes into great detail explaining the technical threats that students' computers face online as well as the personal threats to data that can also be threatened.
Chapters include:
Chapter 1: Know Your Villains
Chapter 2: Drive-By Malicious Code
Chapter 3: Data Grabbers and Dumpers
Chapter 4: Spy vs. Spy
Chapter 5: Giving Spam the Curb
Chapter 6: Pretenders and Pirates
Chapter 7: Phishing for Dollars
Chapter 8: Taming the Cookie Monster
Chapter 9: Safe Cyber-Shopping
Chapter 10: Private Blogs and Public Places
Chapter 11: Any Port in a Storm
Chapter 12: Look Pa, No Strings!
Chapter 13: Protective Tools
Chapter 14: Tweaks
Appendix A: A Check List for Mom and Dad

The book is available to download as a complete book or as individual chapters compliments of Microsoft and is also linked on the PSHS Student Resources page.

The book is written by Linda McCarthy, a Security Architect in the office of the CTO at Symantec. Linda has been in the security field for over a decade, and has broken into systems around the world to show executives how easy it is to break into their networks. A portion of the proceeds from this book have been designated by the author for nonprofit work to educate teens about Internet security.

Thanks to amazon.com for the information!

VOTE EASY

Now that we are in the midst of campaign season and everyone is growing tired of political ads, along comes a web site to help us make sense of it all.

Vote Easy is an interactive map designed to help voters identify the Congressional candidate that is most closely aligned with their views on a selection of twelve issues. Once you select your state(all 50 will be available Oct 8) and congressional district(the program will do it for you with an address), potential voters answer each question then specify how important that issue is to you. Based on those responses Vote Easy will indicate which candidate in your Congressional district is most closely aligned to your views.

Vote Easy is "created by Project Vote Smart headquartered in Philipsburg, Montana and established in 1988 in order to provide voters with accurate, unbiased information on candidates, issues and legislation.They do not accept money from any groups that have any kind of political affiliation and are comprised primarily of volunteers who spend their days tracking and inputting information for public access. "


This is a great activity for Civics classes as a tool to get students thinking about the twelve issues (Among them :Afghanistan, Taxes, Social Issues, Health Care, and Education) presented to them. After students answer all of the questions and find out which candidate was most closely aligned to their views, it would be interesting to have them take it again to see what type of answers it would take to be aligned with the other candidates.




Thanks to Diana Laufenberg for the tip!

Changing the World--One Map at a time

Here a new way to visualize our world based on different kinds of information.

Show World is created by Mapping Worlds, an Amsterdam-based company that develops custom interactive data applications. They take demographic, economic, environmental, and political data and create maps based on that data.

Initially, you have the opportunity to take a world view or a US view(Japan is also available). Then, select a subject from the top menu and watch the countries (or states)on the map change their size based on various kinds of data. Each time you select a different data set, the size of each country increases or decreases in comparison to other countries. For example, if you select the data set about steel production, the size of China is huge relative to African countries. On the other hand, if you select the data set for students not in school, the African countries swell while China decreases in size.

Show World is a great way for students to visually interpret data. What a great discussion starter this could be. It could also be the starting point for research about the economic and social conditions of countries around the world.

Thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip!

EDheads- Activate your mind

Let's talk about Edheads. A site that provides various interactive activities that would be perfect on a SMARTBoard or AirSlate. Edheads has created unique, educational web experiences designed to make the featured concepts understandable using the power and interactivity of the Internet. Adding these activities to a SMARTboard or AirSlate adds an extra dimension.

Currently these high quality activities are free. Note that there are ads on the site(They are trying to remain free!) "Edheads helps students learn through educational games and activities designed to meet state and national standards. We partner with various school systems in the United States, which help us research, design and test our activities every step of the way!"

The front page features activities the likes of: Design a Cellphone, Virtual Hip Replacement surgery, Simple Machines, Weather and Crash Scene Investigation. Teacher guides are available for each activity. All of the activities include some additional work-research, reviewing research, interviews as well as an evaluation of results.

While some of it looks a bit elementary, I can assure you that viewing the photos of an actual hip replacement is not for the faint of heart!

It is worth your time to take a look at the activities-Enjoy!

Using Google Docs for creating quizzes

I continue to be of the opinion that someday Google will rule the world- That said, following is just another way that Google makes something else simple:

You can use Google Forms for giving short multiple choice quizzes. You create the quizzes in Google Forms, post them on a blog or web page, students take the quiz , and their answers appear in an easy-to-grade spreadsheet. Attached is a slideshow with directions for creating and embedding quizzes using Google Forms.

Most importantly, you need a Google account- If you don't have one--Get one!! It may be the most useful thing that you do today!

Math Fun Facts

The Harvey Mudd College Mathematics Department has created a Math Fun Facts resource site that I have to admit is WAY over my head! They explain: "This archive is designed as a resource for enriching your math courses and nurturing your interest and talent in mathematics! Each Math Fun Fact is a math puzzle or short article that contains a cool mathematics idea. You can learn about the mathematics of things like card shuffling to poker to computer vision to fractals to music, just to name a few. This makes great enrichment material for gifted math students or problem-solving groups."

They list ALGEBRA, CALCULUS, GEOMETRY. NUMBER THEORY, and PROBABILITY among the areas of "fun facts". You can also search by "Easy, Medium and Advanced" difficulty.

I have to admit that I have been fascinated by how many everyday examples they bring to fun facts-- Here are great responses to the age old retort: "When am I ever going to use this stuff?"

Harvey Mudd College is a member of The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California

September 11th Remembered

Tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. History.com has some videos that should help your students understand what happened on that day and the longer term ramifications of the events.
There are also some interactive activities and maps available. Finally, there is a nice summary page that categorizes the day into: People and Groups, Themes, and Events.

Many of our students were too young in 2001 to fully understand what was happening on September 11. The videos and maps from History.com provide some good background information that you can build on for classroom discussion.

LANGUAGE GRAPHICS

With kudos to the Cool Infographics blog, linked are two interesting graphics produced by PS Translation Services.


The first is titled The Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World, a train or subway map of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Each track on the map represents one of twelve languages. Each station on each track indicates a country in which that language is widely spoken. Seems a cool representation of language throughout the world.


Scrolling down from the subway map gives you the second, entitled the Language Olympics. The Language Olympics features the iconic five rings. The rings represent Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania. Each of the rings is comprised of the languages spoken there. The graphic is a precursor to the London 2012 Olympics and includes some additional information about the number of potential languages spoken at the Olympics and the demographics of visitors expected at those Olympic Games.



Both graphics provide the opportunity for discussion about language and understanding.

ART BABBLE

Quality online art resources have traditionally been difficult to find.
Enter ART BABBLE

"ArtBabble was conceived, initiated, designed, built, sculpted, programmed, shot, edited, painted and launched by a cross-departmental collection of individuals at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). It is intended to showcase video art content in high quality format from a variety of sources and perspectives.ArtBabble was created so others will join in spreading the world of art through video."

I have to admit that they hooked me with their slogan: "Play Art Loud".

The site is a catalog of videos related to many forms of and formats for art.
Check "channels" and you'll find videos covering a wide array of topics ranging from abstract art to video art, mediums used and cultural art.
The "artist" tab compiles past and present artists and their works.

You can use the site with or without an account. It appears that creating account allows for saving of videos and email updates from the site.

Play Art Loud!

5 Techy things

Welcome to the 2010-2011 School Year!


If you have set a goal of trying something new in your classroom this year- Here are 5 Techy Things that you might want to think about.

1. Create a Blog-Everyone has something to say-Blogs can serve many purposes. You can use a blog to communicate information to parents and students, create a running journal of classroom activities and lessons throughout the year, or share information with colleagues-Writing is cathartic-Right?! My favorite sites for blogging are: Blogger and Edublogs. Both are very easy to start as they don't require any technical knowledge on your part.

2. Build a web page/site-For those of you @ PSHS- We have several tools available via our network of programs. Additionally, there are many free website creation and hosting services available on the web-take a look at Weebly and Yola.

3. Create Videos-Video is a powerful form of communication. Not too long ago classroom video projects required expensive editing software and video equipment. This is no longer the case. The flip video camera(we have a classroom set @ PSHS) allows for quick and easy videotaping. Web based programs allow for simple creation and editing. My favorite web-based video creation service is Animoto - It is simple, a lot of fun to use and the results are great.

4. Get Your Students Searching More Than Just Google-this one is included for my comrade Lil. Data bases and online tools are available here @PSHS(sorry to our readers in other places)-find out what is available and USE LIL (this is the last year to do so-She's retiring-LUCKY DOG)-the references she is able to find are amazing.


5. Get interactive-Try the interactivity of a SMARTboard or an AirSlate. Having students engaged in learning is every teacher's goal-Putting the learning in students' hands is possible with either of these pieces of hardware. Ask about them and get engaged.

There you have it- Your goals for the year- Never stop learning.