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STEM resources

New NASA iPad Magazine App “Space Place Prime” is a new NASA magazine only for the iPad. This brand new app gathers some of the best and most recent Web offerings from NASA. It taps engrossing articles from The Space Place website, enlightening NASA videos, and daily images such as the Astronomy Picture of the Day and the NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day.

“Space Place Prime” targets a multigenerational audience. Kids, teachers, parents, space enthusiasts, and everyone in between will find fascinating features on this new, free NASA app.

More information about the new magazine and other NASA apps.

Source: NASA Education Express Message — September 20, 2012

“Curiosity in the Classroom” STEM Resources
Discovery Education and Intel Corporation have partnered to create learning resources for the Discovery Channel’s series Curiosity. The site has lesson plans and activities that create STEM connections across various subjects including: artificial intelligence, communications, computers, nanotechnology, and robotics. CuriosityintheClassroom.com

Change the Equation Releases State Data on STEM Learning
The 2012 Vital Signs reports paint a wide-ranging and in-depth picture of the condition of STEM learning in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. View the full report

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Helping Others to Help Oneself

SMHS GenYES Students

This month’s THE Journal has a great story (Helping Others to Help Oneself) on students who provide tech support for their schools. Shadow Mountain High School’s GenYES program is prominently profiled – congrats to the students and teacher Debbie Kovesdy for this well-deserved attention! There are 65 GenYES students at SMHS, helping teachers and students with technology. But that’s not all they do. SMHS GenYES students research the learning potential of cutting-edge technology like tele-presence, gaming, 3D modeling and more so they can bring it to the classroom.

Using motion control for 3D images

What school would not benefit from students who make it their mission to take learning and technology to the next level!

THE Journal is now all digital, so clicking on this link takes you to the online issue. Be sure to check out the interactive feature – if you tweet using the hashtag “studentIT”, your words magically become part of the article!

Sylvia

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What Your Kids Are Really Doing Online

“…there exists today an underground, invisible network of children taking turns as teachers and students, sharing with each other the skills, ideas, secrets and technological breakthroughs they cherish. This university without walls or national boundaries is, without exaggeration, unparalleled in human history. Children have always been at the mercy of parents, teachers and school administrators when it comes to the question of how, what and when they learn. Now the game has changed and the power has shifted to kids.”

from: What Your Kids Are Really Doing Online by Michael Levin.

Sylvia

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Make your voice heard! Speak Up National Research Project now open

Every year, the Speak Up National Research Project collects authentic feedback from students, educators and parents about education, the use of technology in schools, and more.

There are two main reasons you should participate in Speak Up 2012:

  1. The data collected can be used by your organization to incorporate in your own planning. Being able to compare your community input to a national dataset is invaluable.
  2. The data is used at a national level to shed light on the REAL issues, concerns, and perceptions of students, parents, and educators.

Since 2003, educators from over 30,000 schools have used the Speak Up data to create and implement their vision for 21st century learning.  You can too! Schools and/or districts can register to participate. The surveys are easy to use and age appropriate.  Register today to participate in Speak Up 2012.

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Creativity declines in children – what’s the reason?

From: As Children’s Freedom Has Declined, So Has Their Creativity at the Creativity Post.

“According to Kim’s research, all aspects of creativity have declined, but the biggest decline is in the measure called Creative Elaboration, which assesses the ability to take a particular idea and expand on it in an interesting and novel way. Between 1984 and 2008, the average Elaboration score on the TTCT, for every age group from kindergarten through 12th grade, fell by more than 1 standard deviation. Stated differently, this means that more than 85% of children in 2008 scored lower on this measure than did the average child in 1984. Yikes.”

Any chance this could be due to the standardization of curriculum and the decline in art, music and other creative outlets to make sure students pass standardized tests?

Sylvia

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Makerspace at your school?

Did you know that 1,000 high schools across the country will open “Makerspaces” in the next four years? If you don’t know what that is, check out Lasers, 3-D Printers, And Robots: The New Shop Class.

The project, an offshoot of O’Reilly Media’s popular Maker Faires and co-sponsored by a grant from DARPA, is described as “sort of a mashup of a shop class, a computer lab, an art class, and maybe a bio lab.” The project’s goal is to get more kids more interested in STEM fields by giving them more opportunities to get their hands dirty.

Do you have a Makerspace in your school?

Sylvia

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Back to School 2012 – Start your “year of empowerment” now!

Start the year off with hands on
Think you need to wait for kids to settle down and learn the basics before you let them do projects and hands-on work? Not according to this expert teacher.

What tech vision will you share?
What message does your Acceptable Use Policy send when it goes home with students for them and their parents to sign? This year, change overly complex, negative language to language that celebrates the potential of technology – and students.

Games for collaboration and teamwork
Want to create a more collaborative, constructivist classroom? Instead of traditional icebreakers, try these games that encourage collaboration and teamwork.

What do students want from teachers?
Listen to what students say they really want from teachers. And no, it’s not “more recess.”

Ten commandments of tech support
Ten ideas for making technology support more learner-centered and less network-centered.

8 Big Ideas of the Constructionist Learning Lab
Last but by far not least, if you are looking for some inspiration to post on your wall, here are 8 Big Ideas of the Constructionist Learning Lab. These eight ideas give actionable advice to create opportunities for deep learning for all.

Happy back to school!

Sylvia

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Easy Does It? Not Always…

Emerging research suggests that, contrary to what students may think, material that’s easy to understand is not always easy to learn—and working harder can help them hold on to what they’ve learned.

This Education Week article summarizes several research studies on “stability bias” – where people confuse things that are easy to process with things that are easy to remember.

The stability bias works both ways: Not only do students give too little credit to effective study strategies that feel more difficult, but they can give more weight to ineffective strategies that make content feel easier to learn.

Frustration in students is a sign of learning, not a sign that the material is too hard or the teacher should “simplify” things for students.

Sylvia

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See you in San Diego? ISTE 2012

Generation YES will be at ISTE June 24-27, 2012 in San Diego. If you are there, be sure to come by and say hi! We will have a special version of Angry Birds for you to play and win fun prizes – find us in the exhibit hall in booth #5301.

Please add these sessions to your schedule planner:

SPOTLIGHT SESSION: “We Need More PD!” and Other Myths about Technology Integration Monday, 6/25/2012, 4:15pm–5:15pm, SDCC 4

Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES  – The days of “sit and get” professional development are over–but what will take its place? Learn new ways to enable classroom-based professional learning.  Recommended by ISTE’s SIGAdmin

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Engage, Retain, and Thrive–Getting Girls into Technology Tuesday, 6/26/2012, 5:00pm–6:15pm, SDCC 30AB

Melinda Kolk, Creative Educator with Sylvia Martinez  – The session will explore ideas and successful strategies for getting girls interested in technology through the upper grades and into creative and technical technology careers.

SPOTLIGHT SESSION: The Best Educational Ideas in the World–25th Anniversary Edition Tuesday, 6/26/2012, 10:30am–11:30am, SDCC 6E

Gary Stager, Constructivist Consortium – Climb aboard a voyage of discovery to the best educational ideas in the world, and learn how these powerful concepts can supercharge learning with computers.

PANEL: Technology in Developing Countries Tuesday, 6/26/2012, 3:45pm–4:45pm,  SDCC 5 School Improvement : Educational Visions

Clare Strawn, ISTE with Paulette Assaf, Mary Burns, Dennis Harper and Jodi Lis – Internet possibly not available. Erratic electricity. Learn from this panel how tenacity and passion bring creative solutions to meet these challenges to introduce 21st century skills in developing countries.