Great Post by David Warlick

via 2¢ Worth

Today’s infographic is simple and to the point. A big part of grade school and even college and onward, is writing papers. Some professions write more papers than others, but it is still an important skill in order to get your point across. This infographic uses venn diagrams to convey the importance of different parts of papers, and to show how they interact with one another. It also shows how much of your paper should include each part.

Of course every paper should begin with an introduction and end with a conclusion. It should also include several point in the middle, that are introduced and concluded in the introduction and conclusion. But how should the middle be laid out? That is up to the author, but it should there is a bit of a formula.

This infographic does a great job of showing that there should be pros and cons. You should always share how your paper may be argued against, and go ahead and prove some of these points wrong. In addition, a good paper should show why the information is important. Why should someone read your paper?

Show this to your students whenever a paper is assigned. Make sure your students are ready to write a good paper, and know what is involved in writing such a paper.

http://visual.ly/write-your-paper-right

22 Ways To Use Twitter For Learning Based On Bloom’s Taxonomy

via TeachThought

Last year we created a “twitter spectrum,” an image that clarified different ways that twitter could be used in the classroom in (hopefully) authentic ways.

TeachBytes has followed that up with an excellent graphic of their own that uses a pure Bloom’s Taxonomy approach.

The specific ideas range from “remix trending tweets with video and music” to creating concept maps showing the relationship between tweets.

We must admit to going back and forth over the exact fit of a social media platform like twitter in a formal (or informal) learning environment. Clearly it’s a great way to skim and monitor information streams, but just like we wouldn’t use sing Shakespearean sonnets to toddlers at birthday parties, using twitter as an in-depth critical thinking tool requires a bit of squinting, even as an Avante-garde 21st century learning tool.

Unless you’re using it as a cultural survey of sorts. Or study media design. Or following experts. Then it works swimmingly.

As with all things, sweet spot matters. To help you find it, this graphic should help.

Social Media Meets Bloom’s Taxonomy: 22 More Ideas To Use Twitter For Learning

Are Video Games Changing Education?

Future Engineers Use Their Noodles to Build Bridges From Spaghetti

via HUB.jhu

Contest Caps Engineering Innovation summer program

Top Ways Kids Hide Their Online Behavior From Parents

via Huffington Post

Most parents believe they are in control when it comes to teaching a child about the use of digital devices. The reality is that children are learning at younger ages about technology, and they are largely unsupervised.

A recent report said 47 percent of kids ages 8 to 12 years old have a smart phone with Internet access. Another study said kids use digital devices more than seven hours a day.

In short, kids are using digital devices with Internet access most of the time after school and when not sleeping.

At the same time, most parents admit their child catches on quickly and seems to learn faster about technology than they did. Thus the challenge: kids learn faster than parents and parents give kids all-day access to powerful mobile computing devices. That combination spells potential trouble.

What Trouble?

Eight- to 12-year-old kids are not typically malicious, but they are curious. Kids innocently get into trouble online without thought of consequence. Young kids need to be protected from others, and from themselves.

Teens are another story. They know the truth and they can be mischievous. Teens are faster learners than their parents and they do know more overall about technology. They were born with it.

Unfortunately, there are teens that apply that advanced knowledge to hiding online behavior from parents.

A study last year revealed that nearly half of parents believe their teens tell them everything they do online, while 70 percent of teens revealed they have ways to avoid parental monitoring. In this fact lies the irony.

Teens trick their parents in the following ways:

• 53 percent = number of teens that clear their browser history to keep web visits off the record
• 46 percent = number of teens that close/minimize their browser when a parent walks near (to hide the web site)
• 34 percent = number of teens that hide or delete instant messages or videos
• 23 percent = number of teens that lie or omit discussing details with parents about online activity
• 23 percent = number of teens that use a PC their parents don’t check
• 21 percent = number of teens that use an Internet-enabled mobile device
• 20 percent = number of teens that use privacy settings to make web content viewable only by friends
• 20 percent = number of teens that use private browsing modes or proxy web sites (which are free)
• 15 percent = number of teens that create a private email address unknown to their parents
• 9 percent = number of teens that create a duplicate or fake social network profiles and share one of them with parents

Many of these tricks can be prevented or monitored.

Parental Controls

Parents are busy. They need help. Parental control software solutions monitor Internet browsing, for example. That way, a parent can limit the types of web sites visited based with a profile they choose for their child or teen. For example, if you don’t want your teen looking at drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pornography or lingerie web sites, you can set a profile to block those sites while allowing all others.

For parental controls solutions that monitor and control Internet browsing, go to a third-party review site such as Top Ten Reviews, ZDNet or CNET.

Second, there are Facebook/social network monitoring solutions available now. In fact, Tumblr now has a slight edge over Facebook when it comes to the sites most popular among teens.

Third-party review sites typically publish lists of Facebook monitoring software as well. Those types of solutions let parents view their child’s Facebook page, keep tabs on “friends” and posts and view photos. That type of information can save a digital identity, embarrassment or even tragedy.

Admin Rights

One more commonly overlooked issue: do not give a child “administrator” (or Admin) rights on a computer. To clarify, all computer operating systems have modes of operation. These modes restrict or grant privileges to the user.

For example, if you have Admin rights, you can create, delete or modify files, folders and settings on your computer. A teen with Admin rights doesn’t need to play by the rules to uninstall software programs or to delete critical files.

The computer’s operating system assumes that the Admin is in charge.

To learn more about this, see another blog: Don’t Give Admin Rights To Kids.

Talk About It

Overall, parents should openly discuss the use of technology with their kids. A parent has the right to protect a child (as the parent). In reality, the parent is likely paying for the device, the Internet access, and any mobile phone bill and, therefore, should establish clear rules of conduct.

You would establish rules for the use of the family car, right?

4 Things To Consider Before You Flip Your Classroom

via Edudemic

The Flipped Classroom model is gaining momentum in classrooms around the world. Much has been said and written about the benefits and advantages of the Flipped Classroom throughout the year, so during the last three weeks of school I decided to experiment with this model of instruction and I flipped my math classroom. Using Explain Everything on my iPad, I created a series of videos that my students watched prior to coming to school. In the classroom I had the opportunity to take advantage of the extra instructional time, as well as their excitement about sharing the knowledge they gained by watching the videos I created, and tried to engage my students in high order mathematical tasks.

Although the results were highly encouraging and made me a fervent proponent of the Flipped Classroom, there are four things that I think every classroom teacher should know before they start using the Flipped Classroom model.

Some Students Will Take Longer To Adapt Than Others

Teachers should keep in mind that many students will need a week or two to adjust to the new “homework reality” that the Flipped Classroom is based on. In fact, during the first couple of weeks many of the most responsible and hard working students who typically never miss a homework assignment will manage to “forget” to do their homework. Although I suspect in my case, classroom fatigue is partially to be blamed for this phenomenon, after all, we were close to the end of a very long school year, I believe there is a deeper reason for this unwanted occurrence.

Some students might not do their homework because they are used to a more concrete and traditional paper-and-pencil homework assignment, and therefore they might perceive this “new homework” as abstract, irrelevant, and perhaps not as important. Providing access to a laptop and privileges to watch the videos before the beginning of the school day may alleviate some of the problems, but eventually the students will have to understand that in a flipped classroom, completion of the homework assignment is a key component to successful learning.

Teacher-Made Videos Must Be Engaging

Watching teacher-made videos before class is one of the most commonly used components of the Flipped Classroom model. It is widely accepted that the most effective videos are the ones that manage to keep students accountable for their learning. This can be achieved by using a number of clever techniques to attract the students’ attention and captivate their interest in the lesson. For example, at key parts of the lesson/video the teacher might instruct the students to pause the video and answer a question, or take notes, or make a prediction, or work on a short problem that requires students to apply recently learned knowledge. Such techniques make students active participants and empower them to take control of their own learning.

In my short Flipped Classroom trial, I found that the video lessons in which I instructed the students to pause the video and answer specific questions about the nature of the math concept the video explored, led to some unexpectedly rich discussions in the classroom, transforming my students into self-motivated and dedicated learners.

Recording Time Might Be Longer Than You Anticipate

Teachers should know in advance that the time they will be spending to record lectures will be longer than anticipated, at least in the beginning. A ten-minute video will take much more than ten minutes to complete. First, the teacher will have to collect all of the resources and previously prepared material he/she intends to use in the lesson, such as background pictures, maps, or math problems to name a few.

In addition, unless you are proficient in screencasting, chances are that you will need to repeat recording the same lesson several times in order to create the highly effective video you originally had in mind. This can be frustrating and even a deal breaker for some teachers. Most people who flipped their classroom agree that in the beginning, teachers should expect to spend an average of 30 minutes of recording time to create a 10-minute lesson. However, after the first four-five lessons, most people become more comfortable with screencasting and recording times reduced significantly.

Video Formats Should Be Chosen Carefully

Teachers need to make sure in advance that their students will be able to access the videos, and that these videos will be in formats that are playable by most video players. I ran into this problem myself. Using Explain Everything, I saved my videos in .mp4 format. It turns out that some of my students have computers at home that are really old and not equipped with up-to-date video players. Consequently, they were not able to watch the videos I made. Teachers should keep in mind that many students will not have access to the latest and greatest of technology, and therefore they might not be able to access videos created on iPads or lessons recorded using modern software. Saving each lesson in multiple formats might be a solution to this problem. Also, creating a Youtube channel and posting videos on Youtube will make videos more accessible to all students.

What about you? Have you flipped your classroom yet? If yes, what are some obstacles you ran into? Do you have any advice/insight to share?

Nikolaos Chatzopoulos currently teaches 4th grade Math and Science at Plato Academy, in Clearwater, Florida. Nikolaos can be reached at chatzopoulosn[at]platoacademy.net

10 Questions Your Kid’s Science Teacher Wishes You Would Ask

Science lessons deliver some of the most engaging and exciting activities of your child’s day. Children are inherently curious and high-quality science instruction allows them to channel that energy and wonder into discovering more about the world around them. As they grow older, science learning helps them develop the necessary skills and practices to solve real-world challenges and build important life skills.

The more you know, the more you can support your child’s science learning at home. So what should you know about science education at school? Start with these key questions for your child’s teacher:

1. How is science taught in your classroom? What methods or activities do you use? Are there sample lessons I can review?
2. What science topics will my child learn and what skills will he/she master by the end of this year? How does this relate to what my child learned last year and what he or she will learn next year? How does it relate to what my child is learning in math, other subjects, or the world in which we live?
3. Do you have access to local informal science opportunities? Will there be field trips to local museums or science centers?
4. Will there be science homework and what will it look like?
5. What types of questions should I ask my child about science on a day-to-day basis?
6. What can I do to support my child’s science learning? Are there science projects or activities we can do together at home, or apps, websites, or learning games we could explore?
7. How does the school support education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects? Is STEM incorporated throughout the day and if so, how? Are there after school STEM clubs, programs, or science and engineering fairs that would support my child’s learning?
8. How will learning be assessed? Will you use only formal assessments like tests or will children be able to show you what they know through other avenues?
9. What happens if my child doesn’t achieve the learning goals of a lesson or unit of study? Can he or she get extra help?
10. What types of science equipment and technology will be used throughout the year?

There are no standard answers to these questions, but a teacher who creates a rich classroom environment for science exploration will be happy to discuss them with you. And while you are having this valuable conversation, look around. These are just some of the signs that the classroom environment supports science learning:

• Space and storage: Science requires “stuff.” Whether the shelves are filled with rocks and leaves or hand lenses and measuring instruments, it’s important that teachers have the materials nearby to teach science.
• Safety equipment: To explore science in the mode of a scientist, your child will occasionally need eye protection, gloves, soap, and water. There are many experiences that are both simple and safe, but safety criteria must always be in mind.

Whatever the answers are to your questions, a great response to close a conversation would be, “What can I do to help?” Most teachers would be thrilled to know if you have a background in science, technology, engineering, or math, or have time and resources to share.

A strong foundation in STEM will put your child on the road to success in school and beyond.

Can The Blended Classroom Help Instill ‘Grit’?

Can The Blended Classroom Help Instill  ‘Grit’? first appeared on Navigator by Compass Learning on April 24, 2014.

By: Kurt Bauer

There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of years about ‘grit’ and its place in the classroom. ‘Grit’ has more or less officially entered the lexicon of edu-speak. ‘Grit’ has been equated to perseverance or resilience, or both. As defined by psychologists, grit is “an individual’s passion for a particular long-term goal . . . coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve” that goal. For decades, these same psychologists, along with educators and others, have debated whether grit is an inherited trait or a quality that can be introduced and fostered. Putting aside the nature-versus-nurture contentiousness for a moment, let’s assume that this attribute, combining desire with stick-to-itiveness, is both worthwhile and teachable.

The idea that grit is a good thing for a student to possess is pretty hard to argue with. Plenty of studies suggest that students who set high goals and don’t become discouraged by setbacks are statistically more likely to achieve academic success than classmates who cannot articulate a goal or find it difficult to overcome failure, almost regardless of comparative levels of intelligence. The idea of grit generally appeals to our common sense as well. So how does one go about instilling grit in one’s students—or encouraging and developing the trait in students who appear to possess it?

In a traditional classroom, an educator could encourage risk-taking and create an environment that students might recognize as supportive by instituting risk-free homework grading policies; that is, credit is given for completion of practice tasks, with no final grade penalty for making mistakes. Alternately, one could give opportunities to regain score points lost to wrong answers on practice assignments, homework, or assessments by reworking missed problems or questions, encouraging students to keep trying. But if these well-worn models are at least theoretically workable, how much better might a blended learning environment be for instilling grit?

In a blended setting, where teacher-directed instruction is combined with digitally-delivered content, practice, and assessment, customizable and adaptive digital instruction systems contribute the multiple advantages of easy, student-controlled review, repetition, and reinforcement of content, student performance tracking, and mapping learning paths that precisely address student learning gaps based on results. This automation frees the teacher to serve as a coach and mentor, to encourage students to keep trying, and to use the precise data generated by the digital tools to focus his individualized efforts with each student.

But all educators are aware that simply creating, or attempting to create, a learning environment that encourages risk-taking and grants a ‘license to fail,’ seldom suddenly or magically motivates unmotivated students. Michael Horn argues that digital delivery of a mastery-oriented curriculum mitigates the gloom of failure, though, and turns the periodic, repeated discouragement of falling short into a daily, incremental opportunity for encouragement and motivation. When the student immersed in such a blended environment has the opportunity the very same day to circle back onto an analogous but not repetitive learning path and prove herself on another assessment, the looming boogeyman of test anxiety doesn’t have the chance to be quite as scary.

And what’s more likely to put grit into students—trying, learning from mistakes, trying again, and succeeding, every day, or dreading the unit test lurking out there in the murky distance?

Seems like the blended model is worth a try.

A Survey of Performance Assessment and Mastery Tracking Tools

It’s testing season and lots of kids are taking multiple choice tests–more online than last year but lots of the same old item types. It’s part of a 100 year old ‘teach then test’ cycle of assessment as a summative activity.

At some schools, projects and multi-step tasks supplement more traditional forms of teaching and learning–they extend and apply learning and provide a form of alternative assessment. At a few thousand schools (most are part of Deeper Learning networks) the instructional program is a sequence of performance tasks. These schools have made the shift from assessment of learning to performance assessment as learning.

Performance assessment, as detailed in a December post, is the application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students.” Performance assessments make new standards real, personalize learning and can serve as authentic gateways in competency-based systems.

The problem is that it’s hard to string together a series of performance tasks for every student that challenges them in interesting and appropriate ways while reflecting common standards. An exemplary system would be a full learning management system with a library of prompts, projects, instructional materials, standards-based rubrics, scoring and communication tools. A super gradebooks, a robust portfolio, implementation support, and professional development would round out the desired platform attributes.

New report. Despite marked progress in the last year, the tools for creating and managing performance assessments and tracking student progress are still inadequate for teams creating next-generation learning environments–that’s the conclusion of new market research report on the status of performance assessment tools.

“Assessing Deeper Learning: A Survey of Performance Assessment and Mastery Tracking Tools” was developed for Envision Learning Partners and partner organizations Asia Society, ConnectEd and New Tech Network. They share a common interest in better performance assessment tools.

The report outlined numerous barriers to better performance assessment including:

• A wide range of performance tasks and the open-ended nature of the responses make it challenging to build generalizable capabilities;
• No recognized standards or best practices in measuring non-cognitive variables;
• Attempts to add flexibility add steps to construct a standards-based performance task; and
• Tools specific to school networks are not available or useful outside the network.

Twelve key features identified as important by the sponsors include interoperability, calibration of scores, a library of tasks, support for multiple revisions and collaboration, standards-based project rubrics, available professional development, reporting tools, customization, student portfolio development, an updated user experience and an affordable price tag.

The most promising performance assessment tools reviewed in the report is ShowEvidence, a new product nearing final release and used by some of the sponsor networks. Project Foundry is a similar project-based learning tool used by the Edvisions School network. Additional investment would support improved functionality and scalability of both.

The report also compiled a list of mastery tracking tools. While there has been improvement in this category as well with products like Engrade, Kickboard, and JumpRope, applications are still inadequate for managing a fully competency-based environment.

Performance assessment and mastery tracking are an example of categories where leading schools are out in front of the market. A combination of philanthropic and venture investment could quickly improve products in these categories and fuel the next-generation of schools.

Robotic Petting Zoo Replaces Animals With Plastic Tentacles

“This is about as humane as it gets using technology. In this Mashable article from Eva Recinos, we discover an art exhibit that uses XBox Kinect technology to replace live animals with the ‘sensory experience’ of petting a live animal. The robotic zoo was conceptualized and created by Stephen and Theodore Spyropoulos.”

via Mashable

It calls itself a petting zoo — but this installation at a French art center looks a lot different from what you might expect.

The architecture and design team Minimaforms, formed by brothers Stephen and Theodore Spyropoulos, created a robotic Petting Zoo that uses XboxKinect sensors to bring animal-like qualities to plastic tubes.

Now on display at the FRAC Centre, the tubes hang from the ceiling waiting for curious visitors to interact with them. They can move playfully or angrily, mimicking the reactions of animals in a traditional petting zoo. They also light up different colors to accentuate their reactions.

“Petting Zoo” uses Processing to program the plastic tubes’ movements. The structures can identify more than one person at a time and determine which viewers seem the most friendly.

As Minimaforms’ website explains, the structures use “camera tracking” and “data scanning” to detect human visitors and their movements. The use of “real time camera streams” makes for a truly interactive experience. Even if viewers simply stand in front of the structures, the plastic structures might react to show their boredom.

The team also used Processing to avoid repetitive behavior and allow the plastic tubes to create their own sorts of personalities. Each structure can detect more than one person at a time, and respond accordingly.

A video shows the structures interacting with humans by changing colors and moving when touched. They can interact through specific modes — named “follow,” “play” and “angry” — which use different colors. In the “angry” mode, for example, the plastic tubes light up red and bounce around as if annoyed.

One thing this petting zoo doesn’t require: those little food pellets you may remember from childhood trips.