Clif’s Notes

6.3 Earthquake in Nevada

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 shook Northeastern Nevada this morning at 6:16 AM. The quake was reported to have been felt in California, Nevada and Utah. Full details are available here.

Consider integrating this current event into your class. Off the top of my head there are good math, science, research, writing and service activities related to this event.

Classroom Resources

• U. S. Geological Survey’s educational resources
• Disaster News Network reports about disasters AND recovery efforts.
• Center for Earthquake Research and Information
• PBS’ Savage Earth
• TeacherTube videos

—————

Cell Phones as Learning Tools

Have you ever seen cell phones used in the classroom? Have you ever considered using cell phones in the classroom? If you keep an open mind you’ll find that there are some potential benefits in integrating cell phones with teaching and learning. “This video highlights the work of Carla Dolman and Gord Taylor and the grade 8 and 9 students of Craik School.”

Certainly there are things that must be considered when using cell phones in the classroom, but the effective use of math manipulatives also takes careful consideration and preparation. I’m just throwing the idea out there for discussion.

—————

Space Shuttle Lands Safely

Atlantis landed safely a short while ago. Congratulations to everyone involved on another successful mission! I realize that shuttle flights no longer grab the front page headlines but the contributions of these missions and the associated research to education are incalculable. I encourage teachers everywhere to keep up with future missions in your classrooms. Not only are there strong ways to connect these space missions with math and science, but there are also strong language arts (journaling, reading, communication, etc.) and social studies (current events, timelines, etc.) connections. And you never know just how inspirational your students will find this.

—————

Free Open Source Software (FOSS)

I’ve run across several lists of free open source software (FOSS) in the last few days. I’ve added each to my del.icio.us bookmarks (see My Bookmarks in the main menu) but I wanted to a bit more proactive in sharing this information with teachers, thus the reason for this post.

Free/Open Source Software for Kids - This list was generated for those teaching 3-12 year old students. It suggests FOSS for music composition, painting, space exploration, math, and more.

KDE-Education Program - This group is “developing high-quality educational software for the K Desktop Environment. Our primary focus is on schoolchildren aged 3 to 18, and the specialized user interface needs of young users. However, we also have programs to aid teachers in planning lessons, and others that are of interest to university students and anyone else with a desire to learn!” You’ll find about 30 educational software games/ tools related to math, science, languages, art, keyboarding, and more.

23 Most Valuable Free Software - A list of the most outstanding free/open source software.

GIMP - “The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.”

Exploratree - Exploratree is a free web resource where you can download, use and make your own interactive thinking guides, concept/semantic maps, organizers, charts, tables, and more.

Firefox - A cross-platform browser, providing support for various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. However, the source code has been unofficially ported to other operating systems. This project has a large community of external contributors. If you haven’t already switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox (or at least something else) then I strongly suggest that you consider it.

Blender - “Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite.”

For even more, you can also review my previous notes on other FOSS and TeacherJay’s Free Software Guide.

—————

Free 3D Software for Interactive Whiteboards

It’s always exciting to run across cutting edge technology that has true educational implications. “Edusim is a free opensource 3D virtual world” designed to be used with interactive whiteboards. Did you hear that? It’s FREE and OPENSOURCE!!! “Edusim is an extremely powerful way to engage your students by bringing a 3D virtual environment that allows the direct manipulation of the 3D virtual learning objects directly from the interactive whiteboard surface.” You can also use the software to connect multiple interactive whiteboards allowing teachers and students to collaborate with others around the world.

Now, don’t misread my enthusiasm. The graphics, interface, etc. all have room for improvement, but that’s true with all new innovations. That will all get better with time, resources, and more innovation. And, yes, educators will need to look for effective ways to integrate this with teaching and learning and refrain from using another bell or whistle. I just find it intriguing to think about the door of possibilities that this opens. Aw, the fun we’d have with this in my math and science classes. We could potentially use this kind of technology when studying the parts of a cell, the layers of the Earth, fractions, ratios, proportions, measurement, metric vs. British measurement, conversion of measurement, and so much more. I’d love to be part of its future development!!! Wouldn’t that be a blast?How could/will you use this kind of technology in your instruction?

—————

Recommended Free Technologies for Teachers

Steven Yuen recently posted his recommendations for free technology for teachers. I’m surprised at how many of his recommendations with which I agree. You can quickly browse through Steven’s slideshow (below) and add these free technologies to your teaching toolbox.

| View | Upload your own

—————

OLPC Extends “Give One, Get One” Program

I recently mentioned that OLPC had kicked-off a fund-raising drive that allowed consumers in the U.S. and Canada to acquire an XO laptop of their own. It was announced today that the deadline to participate in this opportunity was extended until December 31, 2007. Here’s the announcement from the OLPC website.

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a limited-time Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we are extending Give One Get One until the end of the year. You also may donate laptops via our Simply Give and Give Many options. Though the increasing public interest in OLPC, we hope to give many more children the opportunity to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

—————

More about OLPC

This video nicely overviews the One Laptop Per Child initiative. Watch it and consider making a donation or purchase.

Several more good videos about OLPC are available from the BBC.

—————

THE CHALLENGE to All Educators

I recently wrote a post encouraging educators to get students actively involved in service education. In it I provided my rationale for implementing service activities in the classroom and suggested some resources to help you get started.

Your feedback has caused me to decide to take this a step further. Now, rather than simply encouraging teachers (in general) to do this I’m now challenging you (specifically you) to start a service activity in your classroom. The holiday season is upon us, so I think it’s a perfect time to talk about service and initiate a project with your students.

Here’s THE CHALLENGE.

1. Kick-off a service activity in your classroom.
2. Make us, the readers of this blog (there are hundreds of visitors on a daily basis), aware of your project before you begin. I’ve dedicated a new section of the blog to this activity and added a permanent link titled The Challenge to the main menu. This allows us to to share information, provide links to personal/ class blogs, wikis, websites, etc. where we can learn about each other’s projects and share resources and ideas. You can post your information by a) leaving it in the comments in The Challenge area, b) emailing me a link to your project blog, wiki, site, etc. that I’ll add to The Challenge area, or c) emailing me your information, files, links, etc. that I’ll post in The Challenge area.
3. Keep working on your project and enjoy all the wonderful things that will surely come from it.
4. Share. Share. Share. Let’s provide updates by which we (including our students) can all follow each other’s progress. Again, you can do this by clicking on The Challenge link in the menu, or by emailing me links, information, files, photos, etc. that I can post on Clif’s Notes for you.

Let’s make the world a better place. I CHALLENGE YOU!!!

Resources

Here are some great resources to help you get started.

—————

OLPC: Give One, Get One

From the One Laptop Per Child site…

“The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution.”

WAIT, that’s not all. You also get one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot access for FREE.

Order you laptops, now.

—————-