more iPod Touch love: Classroom tools

The iRevolution continues! Did you know that the Calculator app becomes a scientific calculator by horizontally orienting the iTouch? Yet another device replaced by the iPod Touch! So far this year I am replacing with my iTouch:

• Taking attendance wirelessly via PowerSchool website
• Using Clock app as a timer instead of purchasing a separate timer
• Posting to my Blogger blogs via PenMyBlog app
• Add assignments to my class site via Google Sites (though there's a weird glitch with certain fields where I edit via HTML instead of WYSIWYG...guess I should report that to Google)
• Research anything for assignments (need to share my bookmarks to access on other computers, though Google Bookmarks will solve that)
• Checking e-mail instead of having multiple windows open on my class netbook (you know the kinds of things that embarrassingly show up on e-mail!)
• Make phone calls with Rebtel, Skype and Google Voice (but I was taught to use my classroom phone so less of this :) 

Things I would be able to do with the latest iTouch:

• Take pics of our whiteboard discussions and instantly post on class pages (camera added) 

Accessories that would [almost] render a laptop/desktop obsolete:

• 16 pin projector (they have that)
• Speakers (they have that)

Google Revolution 2.0

Preparing the next phase of lessons to aid students' research reports and investigating Google Tools for Educators...something called Google Notebook, which has been phased out (rightly so, it's very similar to Google Docs) but is a cool metaphor for notebooks students take notes in. That page refers you to Google Bookmarks, which is similar to del.icio.us social bookmarking but is part of the beloved Google suite of apps. This will take group projects and online research to a whole new level and will hopefully not be blocked by filters.

Google also sponsored a series of workshops for computing teachers in Summer 2010 called CS4HS-Computer Science for High School (though it can be used for Middle School also); take a look at the agenda and links for the various workshops and stay tuned for 1 coming near you...I didn't attend my local session, but that's another story...

Lastly I want to highlight TeacherTube though not a Google app: my district cleverly redirects all social networking requests to TeacherTube, prompting one student to ask if Facebook was blocked. Funny as all get out, but effective. However as teachers we should be using the resource, so get out your digital still or video camera and start taping your classes!

Creating Video Games as an introduction to Computer Science

Much ado in the educational sphere about making programming sexy by introducing youth to creating computer games. My opinion: there are people and there are programmers and a student may be enticed by being able to create a game, but the true computer programmer will be onto a programming language faster than you can say, "Call of Duty 3"!

I remember in a cognitive science class we were asked to classify games, that is define them based on our knowledge of the parts that make up a game. This is much more difficult than it seems but is a great way to start discussing all types of games, and ensures that students consider games other than point-and-shoot. Wikipedia offers an inkling of the enlightened discussions and definitions we held in that class!

• Creating sprites (avatars): http://gamedesign.wikidot.com/spriteart:tutorials
• Step-by-step to design your own game: http://www.squidoo.com/gamedesignconcept
• Select programming language to design game with

Periodic Table iPhone app

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/periodic-table-of-elements/id325789896?mt%3D8&ved=0CBAQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNGvkmpWAaxb51nehsWQjXXWcBWHKw Includes the latest elements, exciting after returning to Lawrence Berkeley National Lab as a teacher intern (having been a high school intern) and seeing how many elements had been filled in since the 1990's! And some were discovered during Summer 2010 when I was there!

$99 Whiteboard

Enough said:

Cool Science

Was invited to participate in a Chemistry class blog, chemistry being one of the sciences I can participate in (biology NOT being in that company), and happened upon a number of science experiment sites:

• TeachersNet
• Exploratorium's Science of Cooking
• Steve Spengler sells kits, or you can sign up for the weekly enews which sends free experiments
  

Interdisciplinary Curriculum via computer games

On the topic of educational games: "What good are they?", "Oh, those games are just like the drill-and-practice games from the 1980's, they're of no use to students". Well, they're not.

In continued exploration of educational uses of the iPod Touch, I downloaded a number of games and thought, "Well, this teaches math, geography, and critical thinking, in addition to being fun and addictive!" Isn't this the best of all worlds in educating students?

• Chocolatier: think Oregon Trail but it's all about sourcing ingredients for ... CHOCOLATE! You travel to different countries to buy ingredients to make chocolate, use math and critical thinking for projecting how much of each ingredient you need to keep your factories stocked, use memory to recall which nations paid the highest price for your CHOCOLATE, history parallels to understand the transportation routes (Panama Canal, ship route Slave Trade, railroads)
• Mancala: an age old game that teaches projections and critical thinking, a bit of math to calculate how to maximize as you try to get more marbles than your opponent.
• any electronic version of board games: Monopoly, Scrabble, Scattergories, etc. all taught strategy in addition to academic and life skills: counting, money, spelling, facts.
• Monopoly, especially having students research the locations or objects featured in any of the special editions

So you see educational gaming has come a long way: it's not just improved graphic capabilities, it's that they are more interdisciplinary and more interactive. With enough time, students will hopefully gain knowledge and skills and have fun doing so.