Super Tuesday & Making of an American Candidate
Written on February 29, 2012 at 11:51 am, by jbrennan
Discovery Education has a very timely, live Internet event coming up next week on Monday. Join them on March 5 from 12-12:30PM ET as Tom Downey (D) and Ray McGrath (R) provide students a behind-the-scenes look at how one goes from candidate to elected official.
With political campaigns in full swing across the U.S., Downey and McGrath will explain the elements of a political campaign and the election process. They will also discuss how Super Tuesday on March 6th is an important milestone in choosing a presidential nominee. This is especially timely given the hotly contested Republican presidential candidate race.
Making Mobile Media Meaningful
Written on January 31, 2012 at 11:03 am, by jbrennan
You’re in luck! This webinar that was originally scheduled for Jan. 18th has been rescheduled to tomorrow, Feb. 1st at 7 ET. Though it is part of the Siemens STEM webinar series, any teacher wanting to get the most out of mobile devices will benefit from attending. I got to spend some time at FETC with Hall and saw him present on this. If you are using iPads or some such device, you will want to sit in.
*** PLEASE NOTE: This webinar was moved from January 18 to February 1. If you registered for the January 18 webinar, please re-register at the link below.***
Make your classroom walls expand! Mobile phones, iPads, and tablets have the ability to create and share learning both in the classroom and in the extended online anywhere/anytime universe. In this webinar, Hall Davidson will show educators how to build interactive projects and assessments that tap and expand student knowledge with apps, QR codes, social media sites, and more. Attendees will learn how free resources, media libraries, and the web can work mobile—even for students without smart phones. You don’t want to miss this webinar!
Get the full description, pick up the pre-webinar resource, and register here: http://siemensstemacademy.com/index.cfm?event=showResource&resourceId=c8adaf70-1438-bbfa-60d8-9b9ca9349467
TurffMutt and some Stem Resources
Written on December 4, 2011 at 12:27 am, by jbrennan
Discovery Education has teamed up with a couple of friends for some early educational holiday gift giving.
First, you can save the planet one yard at a time and maybe even earn $5,000 to make your school yard a more ec0-friendly space. TurfMutt is a program brought to you by Discovery Education and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. It offers a variety of resources available for teachers of grades K-5, including standards-aligned, original science lesson plans and activities that focus on how green space benefits your community. That’s a winner even before entering the sweepstakes.
And/or help your students become tomorrow’s innovators. Discovery Education and Intel have developed a dynamic new website devoted to satisfying students’ innate curiosity. CuriosityintheClassroom.com has a variety of resources designed to guide, inspire and generate a passion for science in your students. The site is designed to bring classroom concepts to life in fascinating areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Computers, Robotics and more! Visit CuriosityintheClassroom.com today for more lessons and interactives. We hope you use these resources to transform ordinary lessons into interactive and informative adventures.
Cornucopia
Written on November 27, 2011 at 2:24 pm, by jbrennan
If you know the word unicorn or cornet and are familiar with the word copy or copious, it should be easy to glean “horn of plenty” from the title. We have our own cornucopia of professional development delights available for your instant harvesting at Discovery Education’s channel on YouTube.
And Porter Palmer has laid out the links, handouts and brief descriptions of the most recent virtual conference, October’s spooktacular “Tech or Treat.” Whether you are a seasoned veteran or new to visual storytelling and Discovery’s education tools, you can find some great ideas here for engaging your students and making memorable learning experiences.
Clip art credit: Jupiterimages Corporation (Producer). (2006). Horn of Plenty. [Image]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Collective Brain in NYC
Written on November 18, 2011 at 10:54 am, by lrougeux
Free Video Editor
Written on October 21, 2011 at 11:59 am, by jbrennan
Very soon after I had just sent a message out to my Digital Storytelling students alerting them to a good sale on editing software for PC’s, I sat down next to Steve Dembo to hear a keynote speaker at Iowa’s edtech conference. Within minutes Steve showed me a free, web-based alternative to the late (temporarily, I hope), great JayCut.com. It’s called WeVideo and they have even added a YouTube component (http://www.youtube.com/create_detail/WeVideo). With just a minimal experiment of my own to speak from, I have to say that it’s an easy, more powerful alternative for those PC users of the two versions of Movie Maker. It doesn’t have the green screen capability of JayCut (as of this writing at least) and it does depend on your Internet connection, but the price and the creativity it gives you far outweigh those minor “inconveniences.” Sign up now and take advantage of the larger, free accounts that they are offering during this introductory period.
And don’t forget Discovery’s Virtual Conference tomorrow morning to get some great ideas for your new found video editing capability. Sessions begin on the hour from 9 AM to 3 PM EDT.
DEN Gurus
Written on October 8, 2011 at 5:00 pm, by jbrennan
It’s not a religion or a cult (though it might feel like that when you are at a Discovery Educator Network event). The DEN is a “is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing resources, collaborating, and networking.” And “the DEN Guru program honors educators who go above and beyond to share their passion for education with others and demonstrate an expertise in one or more academic topic areas.” They are also experts in helping their students and colleagues get the most from Discovery Education streaming. Wisconsin’s Chad Lehman recently posted about how much he enjoys having recently selected Guru, Jen Wagner, in his PLN and shared her pledge to make every Wednesday “DENsday” on her blog Thoughts from Jen about the DEN. From O.R.E.O. to Guess the Wordle, Jen is another rich source of ideas and inspiration. Definitely worth a weekly peek!
Upcoming on line events from Discovery Education:
October 11th: Clean up your Act! See a project based learning opportunity to clean up your students’ habitat and your class.
October 13th: Curiosity in the Classroom’s “Will Robots Take Over?”
October 22nd: Tech or Treat DEN Fall VirtCon 2011 An online conference you can attend from the comfort of your own home.
America’s Top Young Scientist Today!
Written on October 4, 2011 at 10:14 am, by jbrennan
Step aside, American Idol!
Hundreds applied. Ten finalists were picked. Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for– the final challenge!
Join Discovery Education and 3M today as the 10 finalists compete for the prestigious title of America’s Top Young Scientist.
In just a few hours the 10 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists will take the stage! For the first time in Young Scientist Challenge history, the final presentations will be available via a live stream web cast.
You won’t want to miss this!
DATE: Today, Tuesday October 4. TIME: 2-4 PM ET.
LOCATION: 3M World HQ in Saint Paul, MN and classrooms across America.
LIVE STREAM URL: http://www.youngscientistchallenge.com/webcast
Differing Views on Multiple Intelligences
Written on October 3, 2011 at 12:05 pm, by jbrennan
One of the students in the Wilkes EDIM 503: Differentiation Supported by Technology class shared an interesting article on the California Watch website questioning the effectiveness of multiple intelligence instruction. Though controversial at first, Howard Gardner’s almost 30 year old theory seems to have found fairly broad acceptance in the education community. The challenge seems to be more a matter of implementation in this era of crowded classrooms and limited funding. As the article states, “But a group of four psychologists, including professors from UC San Diego and UCLA, have reviewed historical data and say there is little scientific evidence to support the learning-styles theory.” By setting up a set of criteria and scouring the research, the study’s authors claim they have found no evidence of improved test scores when instruction was tailored to students’ learning styles. Many educators and supporters (including suppliers of material and training) of Gardner’s theory, of course, disagree. The article concludes with a diplomatic, “Both camps agree on one thing: Using a diverse range of teaching styles is important for all students.” What do you think?
Discovering October
Written on September 30, 2011 at 11:45 am, by jbrennan
You probably can’t hear the word discovery and October without thinking of Columbus Day. So, why not take a look at Janet Hallstrom’s post where she describes using a primary source document letter from Columbus to get her students thinking about the many ramifications of that celebrated and maligned navigator’s opening of the “new” world.
While we are at it, why not also explore some of the free resources the Discovery Educator Network has on tap for this month?
October 3rd: Discovery Education streaming 101 – Get an overview of the basics of Discovery Education’s flagship service which is available for free to all Wilkes EDIM students.
October 11th: Clean Up Your Act – Are you beginning to lose sight of your desk top as the papers now stack up? Learn new and creative ways to go reduce the paper and increase the communication and collaboration in your class with Google Tools. We’ll show you a project based learning opportunity to clean up your students’ habitat and your class.
October 13th: Curiosity in the Classroom’s “Will Robots Take Over?” – Some think that by 2050 robots will be able to out-perform human brains in every area of cognition.
October 18th: Reaching all Students with Project Based Learning – At the end of this whirlwind tour, you will feel empowered to transform learning in your own classroom.
October 19th: Can I Help You With That? The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director – Learn how you can use digital media, technology, your state standards and the authentic task to engage your students and move them from the best seat in the house to the director’s chair.
October 22nd: Tech or Treat DEN Fall VirtCon 2011 – Join thousands of educators online and in-person as the DEN team goes house to house to explore the many digital treats available to educators today.
October 25th: May I Have Your Attention Please… The Following Is THEIR Safety Announcement – Learn how to help your students inspire their peers and community through creating public safety announcements utilizing a variety of Web 2.0 Tools on water safety.
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