zSandbox

http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/900c7e93f0.jpg []

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/265317/14/Girl-attacked-by-bear-tells-her-story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW0VxxoCrNo

http://www.meeconline.com/yelc-fall-2012-application-deadline-is-august-15-2012/ http://www.meeconline.com/teachers/teachers-home/

[]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/12/tech/innovation/hyperloop-fastest-trains

Samantha Murray

MEEC Program & STEM SL Specialist 14306 Park Ave Victorville, CA 92392 760-245-1661 x 6717 760-241-6271 FAX

Ryan Neece Lake Belton Middle School,

Email:ryan.neece@bisd.net Phone:254-215-2973 Homeroom: 305 http://www.bisd.net//Domain/1454

Bino 25051 SW 189th Street Homestead, FL 33031

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Education-Airport-779335-Pieces/dp/B0085Y3WBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374712813&sr=8-1&keywords=1176+lego http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-City-4201-Loader-Tipper/dp/B007Q0OEI6/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374712813&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=1176+lego

[] [] [] [] [] []

[]

[]

Common Core ................................................................................................................................... First we heard from [|Traci Blazosky], sharing her presentation, “The Monster Mash-Up.” Resources from her preso are on her wiki, files used for the Batty Mashup project are on: [] First example of a [|mashup video we saw about dolphins], created by teachers in the summer 2011 DEN institute Kids love writing scripts, gets them writing and writing creativity

- kids get reading and writing skills during script writing work

- also good for collaborative learning

- great for reading with expression! [|Blabberize] is a great tool for media mashups

- doesn’t let you directly download creations as videos, however, you have to capture a screencast of your Blabberize Voki is also great, however, and does allow you to download creations as videos for remixes / other videos Next example we saw: [|Paper Slide video about where milk comes from] (by teachers) Traci did a great job describing the process she uses helping kids create media projects: dividing into groups, using a rubric, etc. Next we heard from [|Nancy Sharoff] sharing her preso, “[|No Tricks, Just Treats].” [|IPEVO camera]: just $70 for a document camera! [|Echo Livescribe pen]

- records audio as you write

- 3 types of pens: 2 GB $100, 4 GB $150, 8 GB $200

- strongly recommend the 4 or 8 GB because it gives you access to “live Scribe Connect Premium” so you can upload those “pen casts” and then embed them onto webpages, Google Docs, etc. Great writing activity: Wordless picture books

- students see images and have to write the text for the story AND record the audio for the book

- these can be shared with students in lower grades

- Livescribe pen can be used by students to create these iPod Touch and iPad are in my digital backpack [|EyeFi Camera Card] is great for digital cameras to directly share/upload

- replace your standard SD card in your digital camera with this one, configure it for your wifi network and it will directly upload images

- Best Buy is running a current sale on these in my area

- you can add up to 32 different wifi networks on the card

- Also an app is available from EyeFi if you own a card [|iHome Capsule Speakers] are GREAT for presentations ($30 on Amazon, even come in purple!) my Smartphone is in my bag too! Now applications from Nancy: I use [|Evernote] on ALL my devices

- supports searchable text from an image, it’s wonderful! I use [|Quickoffice Pro HD] ($20) on my iPad to create and edit MS Office files, if you store them on your Evernote account they merge seamlessly [|Evernote] brings along URLs

- is free, premium account is $45 per year

- the free account has been sufficient for me [|Dropbox] is fantastic free app

- I love how it transfers just the parts of files that change, not the entire file when you update something

- great for sharing large files with other people

-

- [|Box.net] gives you 4 GB instead of Dropbox’ 2 GB currently [|PDAnet] lets you tether your Android-based smartphone for FREE to your other devices (computers, tablets, etc) [|Jing] is my go-to app for screen casting

- great to take short videos of what you see on your computer monitor

- Pro version of Jing is $15 per year, can upload to YouTube and there aren’t ads… also you can add a webcam to your mix of video Jing has a free iPad app: [|Screenchomp]

- [|ShowMe] is another great screen casting option on the iPad (free too, some different options) [|Bump] is a great free app for smartphones and i-devices

- not just for contact sharing!

- you can share images from device to device, even between your own apps (Droid phone to iPad, for example)

- you can share a LOT with Bump! [|Goodreader] for my iPad ($5)

- basically a PDF reader but so much more

- can highlight and do all kinds of annotations

- can zoom in up to 50x on Goodreader

- I have all my user manuals for all my devices in Goodreader

- all the PDFs I have even for software I’ll put in there so I can access/use them when needed [|Instapaper] saves webpages for offline reading

- great for me because I’m in a rural area and don’t always have connectivity

- can download up to 500 articles iPad Browsers:

- [|Duet Browsers]: it’s 2 browsers on 1 screen ($3)

- my 2nd favorite is [|Side by Side Browser] – free (also supports taking notes directly on webpages) Other browser options (from webinar participants) are [|iSwifter] (free) and [|Diigo Browser] – free (supports annotation and offline access) [|SymbalooEDU] is another great tool

- I used this for photo apps for the summer institute [|BrainPop] is great, my district subscribes to [|BrainPop Junior]

- the iPad app is free, but for $1.99 per month you get a featured movie plus several more related to the focus concept Great iPad apps for images for your students:

- [|Guardian Eyewitness] (free)

- [|5,000 Amazing Photos of the Day] – free (National Geographic)

- [|GeoWalk HD] – $3 Great iPad apps for digital storytelling:

- [|Coolibah] – - – [|Skrappy] – $3

- [|Album App] – 42

- [|ScrapPad] ($5)

- [|Smilebox] – free

- [|Demibooks Composer] – free Remember all of Nancy’s GREAT session links (more than I captured here) are on []

- follow Nancy Sharoff on Twitter: [|@nsharoff] Technorati Tags: [|discovery], [|edtech], [|education], [|learning], [|denvirtcon], [|techtreats], [|integration]

On this day..
......................................................................................................................................
 * [|Post a Photo to a Photo 365 or 180 Blog] - 2011
 * [|Great Ideas from the Fall 2011 DEN Virtual Conference (part 2)] - 2011
 * [|Action Research: What Do We Know About Learning in the Cloud?] - 2010
 * [|Powerful and Free Tools from the Cloud by Rushton Hurley] - 2010
 * [|Do the Mash: Mixing Tools to Create a Custom Cloud-Based Learning Tool] - 2010

Great Ideas from the Fall 2011 DEN Virtual Conference (part 2)
Published by [|Wesley Fryer] in [|digitalstorytelling], [|web 2.0], [|webcasts] on [|October 22nd, 2011] [|X] Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to [|**subscribe to the RSS feed**] for updates on this topic. This is my part 2 of my notes from the [|Discovery Educators Network Fall Virtual Conference] (“Tech or Treat”) on October 22, 2011. If you haven’t already, [|check out part 1]. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. (I cooked brunch and ate with my family during [|Joe Brennan]‘s session, “Digital Storytelling: Get it Write!” so I don’t have notes for it yet. I’m going to watch the webinar recording of that later and post notes. The little I saw/heard during Joe’s session was GREAT. Joe’s resources are on [|web.me.com/jbtv]. Webinar recordings will be posted on [|blog.discoveryeducation.com].) These are my notes from the keynote presentation by [|Dr. Astro Teller]. [|His partial bio] is: > Dr. Astro Teller is currently Director of New Projects for Google, working to help the company explore new potential business areas. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of Cerebellum Capital, Inc, a hedge fund management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of BodyMedia, Inc, a leading wearable body monitoring company… As a respected scientist and seasoned entrepreneur, Teller has successfully created and grown five companies and holds numerous U.S. patents related to his work in hardware and software technology. Dr. Teller’s work in science, literature, art, and business has appeared in international media from the New York Times to CNN to NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Teller regularly gives invited talks for national and international technology, government, and business forums on the subject of the future of intelligent technology. As a student in school, I fell into the habit of doing things more than once, like doing math problems 3 times

- this was because of my dyslexia

- it ended up being a great habit, however, because there is often more than 1 way to solve a math problem in BC Calculus as a junior in high school

- sometimes my teacher (Mr. Benson) fumbled to remember things

- he responded: “I don’t need to remember almost anything, because I can figure it out from 1st principles”

- this was a huge “a ha” moment for me and transformational

- this moved me from seeing education as the accumulation of facts from picking up and enjoying learning the mechanics of doing different things

- with crucial thinking, you can re-derive all kinds of answers with available information

- that has really perspective-shifted me and shaped how I think students learn best 2nd story and confession: most of my experiences in schools come from teaching college age kids and talking to gifted high school students

- I acknowledge this is a unique group of kids, top half of achievers (maybe different than kids in poverty who don’t have basic needs met for safety, etc.) My belief: Kids learn shocking amounts when they are motivated, and amazingly little when they are not

- I am talking about ‘what they get’ when they do or learn something

- simple example: [|Kahn Academy], it’s hugely absorbing to children (my son is ‘playing’ on Kahn Academy now downstairs at my house, the badges on the site are motivating for him)

- I know some parents who are paying their kids $1 per badge they earn on Kahn Academy (some of these parents have their kids finish high school math by 6th or 7th grade)

- it doesn’t sound like it’s possible, but it is Motivation is the thing that separates all of us from the things we want to get done 1st Robotics organization

- is the Olympiad for building robots that compete with each other for accomplishing different tasks

- it’s phenomenal to watch these kids: who have never programmed, cut things out of metal, figure out how to solve things

- kids learn several grade levels of math, science and engineering in the 6 month period of time they are doing the activity

- motivation is the reason/key to this At some level, kids intuit the ways they are often taught don’t often line up well with the ways they are going to spend their time later in life

- passion, persistence, integrity, critical thinking, creative thinking, adaptability, communication clarity, the ability to solve problems, etc are all keys

- the content areas of our schools are the MEANS not the ENDs (those are vertical slides… being good at the ‘horizontal slices’ (passion, persistence, etc are the horizontal slices) Those skills are going to help people enjoy their jobs more (whatever those jobs are) as well as make more money

- the way information and skills are often presented to students is “under motivating” for kids (this is a real problem) On the subject of inspiration: Teachers need to be inspired too!

- I’m out of touch with the prevailing winds in the teacher community

- in every other field I’m familiar with: paying for performance is the “de jure” focus

- I understand paying for test scores can lead to a test prep focus

- in the business world, we assess people’s performance in multi-faceted ways, there are LOTS of ‘soft measures” like how creative someone is, how hard they work, the qualities and not just the quantities they produce

- people in the business world are rewarded with titles, recognition, money, opportunities to learn more thing

- I would love to see teachers receive the same sort of thing

- I believe we need teaching to be seen as the most desirable and respected profession in the country

- we need to dramatically change how we interact with teachers and reward them in our nation, to focus on inspiration Story of a teacher from the Bronx

- class expected to pass the end of course biology exam, she told all her kids they would pass

- 70% of her kids passed

- what bothers me about that story is the complaint people have: “If you have insanely motivated teachers, then the kids will succeed” – that bothers me because it’s a true solution

- all teachers DO need to be insanely motivated

- lots of the problems we see in schools today are motivation oriented I’ve noticed we don’t teach kids to play soccer on a chalkboard (at least not for very long)

- it’s not just in grade school we make this mistake

- we do this into higher education as well, law school is a great example

- it makes no sense the things you do in law school are very disconnected from the things you actually do as a lawyer

- doctor prep can be much more apprentice-oriented, there is less of this in most law schools We need kids at young ages to DO things they will do later in life

- I predict this will motivate them in huge ways Aside about a NPR piece on the “Occupy Wall Street” protests

- upset student who had a history degree

- I think availability of liberal arts education is good but a luxury at the university level

- she seemed to think “our country owed her a job”

- she hadn’t seemed to think about how getting a liberal arts degree would connect with a job BTW I have four children, two are 10 and two are 8, I worry about this a lot There are 7 billion people in the world today, there will be 9 billion in 20 years

- resources for affluence are limited

- our children are going to have to compete at 10 times the level we did when we left college

- I’m not saying we should scare our children, but…

- people in India and China don’t mind working 12 to 14 hours to get what they want

- they understand they have to work hard, they don’t believe the world owes them a job or anything

- we need our kids to understand this so they will be motivated to work hard Question from the audience: How do we get our school administrators to understand this perspective when they are so focused on testing scores? Answer from Astro Teller: As a young entrepreneur I’d often sit down with my mentors and they would matter-of-factly tell me what to do

- “if you need to run your company with 50 people with no money, you just do it”

- problem with that is, I’d seen some of them do this but I didn’t know how to do it

- some of their ideas sounded as impossible as sprouting wings Story of [|Ron Huberman] who ran Chicago police force and succeeded, then ran Chicago transit authority and succeeded, and then ran Chicago public schools

- he said: I’m going to try and do so many good things while I’m alive, that some of the things will ‘stick’ by the time I die my advice: Do what you think is right, and if they fire you then go and do something else

- in the end, however, surprising things may happen If you were to ignore the standardized test and teach kids to be motivated (get them jazzed like a preacher gets you jazzed on a Sunday morning, heart-thumping excited) you’ll get all the learning and test scores you want for FREE The “preacher issue” is a big one

- reaching inside people and grabbing them emotionally is of key importance

- there are people with that key skill, some teachers happen to have it

- teachers tend to practice that through kindness rather than trying to create a conflagration in your heart

- teaching is a marathon, it’s not a sprint

- I happen to not be religious, but we can try to create this kind of explosion in people’s hearts Reason [|TED Talks] are so addicting is because it leaves you with the feeling that ANYTHING is possible

- it sets your heart on fire, and we all crave that feeling (even children)

- this is more the job of educators

- more than teaching math and science, teachers need to help set the hearts of children on fire My question for Astro: What things do you think are more cognitive/intellectual that kids need to learn in school which do NOT have a clear hands-on context? his answer: there are some things that are hard to learn on your own

- math you can learn on your own

- but critical thinking you can’t

- you need to watch someone else do that, when you undergo a Socratic process

- to dig out what is interesting in a problem, why someone’s solution isn’t a solution

- public speaking is another example

- I believe we should teach “communication clarity” much more

- can you take your idea and install them in someone else’s mind

- that sounds much more fun than a 5 paragraph essay

- learning to become an orator is NOT something that people can typically do by themselves

- most of the things we think of as ‘most chalkboard-ish’ are the least well suited for the chalkboard

- are lots of examples of this: if a student desperately wants to win (RE [|First Robotics]) they will work hard to learn and emerged as transformed people on the other end of that experience When you become an adult, you learn that you can’t motivate all people the same way

- some want sense of achievement, some want recognition, some want more freedom to be left alone, some want money

- kids are the same, they fall into different categories

- kids fall into different categories

- when kids fixate on a long term aspiration, they realize you need to learn a lot (that motivation can transform kids, probably about 25% of the kids I meet have these kinds of long term aspirations) other kids respond really well to environments of friendly competition like [|First Robotics] Question from the webinar chat: Do you want to start a movement? Dr Teller’s answer: YES!

- [|Intro to AI class at Stanford] that now has thousands of students The slides and resources referenced in my spotlight session, “Playing with Media” are available [|on my handouts wiki]. (See slide #11 for the eBook discount code, valid until midnight Eastern time on Sunday, Oct 23, 2011) These are a few notes and resources from [|Dean Mantz]‘ closing presentation, “Treat Yourself to A Story.” Dean’s outstanding [|Livebinders collection of Digital Storytelling resources] [|www.partnersinrhyme.com] is a source for legal/royalty free music/audio loops (more are linked on [|info.storychasers.org/home/resources/audio] – also thousands of audio loops are available on [|Discovery Education Streaming] if your school subscribes) Dean shared two video examples from the “Celebrate Kansas Voices” oral history and digital storytelling project [|A Woman Serves] (student project shared by Vicki Constable
 * DEN Tech or Treat: Playing with Media**View more presentations from Wesley Fryer

[|Find more videos like this on //Celebrate Kansas Voices//] [|Girl Fiddler] by Jesse West

[|Find more videos like this on //Celebrate Kansas Voices//] Technorati Tags: [|denvirtcon], [|discovery], [|education], [|history], [|kansas], [|webinar], [|den], [|techtreat] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://lifescitpjhs.wikispaces.com/Metric+System+Notes











The decimal nature of the metric system.

Some examples and relationships among units
liter of water weighs 1 kilogram, so 1 cubic meter — 1000 liters — of water weighs 1000 kilograms or 1 metric ton. A US cent weighs exactly 2.5 g, while the nickel weighs exactly 5 g. A doorknob is typically about 1 m high. The diameter of a CD or DVD is 12 cm.

1 mL = 1 cm3 1 milliliter is the same volume as 1 cubic centimeter. 1 mL of water has a mass of approximately 1 g The mass of 1 milliliter of water is approximately 1 gram. 1 L of water has a mass of approximately 1 kg The mass of 1 liter of water is therefore approximately 1 kilogram. 1 m3 of water has a mass of approximately 1 t There are 1000 liters in a cubic meter, so the mass of 1 cubic meter of water is approximately 1000 kilograms or 1 metric ton. The mass of a nickel is 5 g A US nickel weighs 5 grams, and a penny weighs 2.5 grams. A typical doorknob is 1 m high Although there's no precise standard for doorknob heights, they're often about 1 meter above the floor. The diameter of a CD or DVD is 12 cm A CD or DVD is 12 centimeters (120 millimeters) across. The diameter of the center hole is 15 millimeters.

Cricket Experiment Facts: (Do Cornell Style with questions and summary) The scientific process can be used to study the relationship between air temperature and cricket chirping. Question posed: Does the air temperature affect the chirping of crickets? “Perhaps crickets chirp more when the temperature is higher." In this case, your hypothesis would be that cricket chirping increases at higher air temperatures. Prediction: “If the temperature increases, crickets will chirp more frequently. Other variables include the kind of crickets, the type of container you tested them in, and the type of thermometer you use. By keeping all of these variables the same, you will know that any difference in cricket chirping must be due to temperature alone. In your cricket experiment, the manipulated variable is the air temperature. The responding variable is the number of cricket chirps. For the cricket experiment, you would keep the control crickets at a constant temperature. That way you can better recognize the effects of increased temperature on chirping. For example, in this experiment you would need to determine what sounds will count as a single “chirp.” Figure 12: All the crickets chirped more at 25 C than 20 C. You concluded that cricket chirping does increase with temperature.

Groups
Although my 80-year-old uncle was on Facebook before me, not everyone is as tech savvy. However, if you can send an email, you can join a Posterous group (see image below) sharing blog posts, photos, video and audio files (see example below). Rich media are embedded directly into the email as opposed to as separate attachments. Again, starting and managing a group can be done entirely through email. Send an email to newgroup@posterous.com with the group name in the subject line and email addresses of group members as the email content. In a few moments, you’ll receive an email with a link to finish the registration. **Give the group a description, set access privileges and your group is up and running**. Because **you don’t need a Posterous account to participate**, there’s no waiting on fellow members to open an account or learn a new platform. Group members can post or reply to the group entirely through email. Share notes with your class or articles with your colleagues in almost any format.

Email as a Hub for Social Media Activities
Checking in on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn for messages can quickly become a distracting endeavor. One way to avoid the distractions is to **set the social media profiles to notify you via email when you receive a direct message or post to your profile.** Add Posterous and you’ve got the ability to **fully manage your social media network via email.** Refine it even further by creating an email address just for your social media accounts. Limit yourself to only opening the email a couple of times a day and you’ve suddenly got a handle on all those social media profiles.