Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Space Age and a New Age for Health Care: The Technology of Saving Lives (Op-Ed)
The lives we save from an app apply directly to the lifeblood of the space program. The two are inseparable, as they should be, because what happens in space leads to advances here on Earth.
Source: The Space Age and a New Age for Health Care: The Technology of Saving Lives (Op-Ed)
Want to teach your students about “Why NASA is so important”, use this as a resource. There are many ways to help students understand the importance of what NASA does.
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What About Teacher Flourishing? – Dave Stuart Jr.
We talk a lot about flourishing here at the blog, and that’s good because it’s the whole point of schooling. Schools exist to promote the long-term flourishing of kids. In the best schools, the adults who facilitate all of this are flourishing, too. The most rigorous study of human flourishing that I’m aware of is […]
Source: What About Teacher Flourishing? – Dave Stuart Jr.
This sounds like a great idea to start a blog for the summer. I know I’m way behind in my blog entries, I’m hoping to get a couple out in the next couple of weeks. But if your stuck on some reflection questions or ideas, these are a really good start.
Kīlauea Volcano Erupts
UPDATE, 5/24/18, 8:12am HST
Source: Kīlauea Volcano Erupts
This is great site for teachers to keep up to date on the Volcano. Also great resource to use when teaching about plate tectonics and volcanoes. I especially like the maps.
Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff | Edutopia
Source: Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff | Edutopia
Reflection is the big one I think. Right now that is what I’m doing, its called the end of the year.
Oculus Go Review: Standalone VR Priced for the Masses
Nearly seven months after its announcement back in October 2017, Oculus Go, the company’s first standalone VR headset, is finally here. The company’s thesis is that this affordably priced unit, which doesn’t rely on a docked smartphone, will make for a more seamless mobile VR experience. But does it go above and beyond Gear VR? […]
Source: Oculus Go Review: Standalone VR Priced for the Masses
Think about this, phone costs at least a hundred and a good VR headset costs about 50.00, so for 50.00 more you could have both. I think this might be a viable option. But I would wait to let them get the kinks out first. Future Purchase?? Maybe.
Sunspots Vanishing Faster than Expected
May 1, 2018: Sunspots are becoming scarce. Very scarce. So far in 2018 the sun has been blank almost 60% of the time, with whole weeks going by without sunspots. Today’s sun, shown here in an image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, is typical of the featureless solar disk:
The fact that sunspots are vanishing comes as no surprise. Forecasters have been saying for years that this would happen as the current solar cycle (“solar cycle 24”) comes to an end. The surprise is how fast.
“Solar cycle 24 is declining more quickly than forecast,” announced NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center on April 26th. This plot shows observed sunspot numbers in blue vs. the official forecast in red:
“The smoothed, predicted sunspot number for April-May 2018 is about 15,” says NOAA. “However, the actual monthly values have been [significantly] lower.”
“Official” forecasts of the solar cycle come from NOAA’s Solar…
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29 of the Best Flipped Classroom Apps for Elementary School Teachers – The Tech Edvocate
Spread the loveAt last count, there were over 80,000 educational apps available to teachers. There are apps for everything: literacy, STEM, productivity, audiovisual, etc. There are apps which improve accessibility for students with different learning challenges, i.e. text to voice, voice to text, etc. While many of these may be a dream come true for educators, the dizzying array of choices is also a nightmare. Teachers just don’t have time to filter through thousands of apps to find the one that works best for the needs of their students. To help, we started to create curated lists of the best […]
Source: 29 of the Best Flipped Classroom Apps for Elementary School Teachers – The Tech Edvocate
If your an elementary school teacher looking few a few apps, this is a great resource. If your a middle or high school teacher, there are some that would work for you.
One Week Into a Phone Free Classroom
This could be an awesome idea to use in class
We went phone free in our classroom five days ago. Five days of no phones allowed. Five days of fewer distractions. Five days of being conscious of when we pull out a device, and when we purposely put it away. Over spring break, I had sent the following email to students and parents letting them know of the decision, worried about the top-down approach I was taking with this decision. And yet, I felt like we had to try something new and now was the time for the change.
I hope your spring break has been nice! Just a heads up that we will be going phone free for most of the 4th quarter in both literacy studies and informational studies in our classroom, as well as independent reading. Students will be asked to leave their phones in their lockers on in a basket on our shelf as they enter the…
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Your Top 10 Genius Hour Questions Answered | Cult of Pedagogy
We hear the charge for more student-directed, inquiry-based learning, but it can seem like a load of pie-in-the-sky hooey without instructions for how to do it.
Source: Your Top 10 Genius Hour Questions Answered | Cult of Pedagogy
Interested in doing this project find out what its about. I do a modified version depending on my classes. We just finished our brainstorming. Now they are starting their research and creating their websites. Some really cool ideas came out of the brainstorming. Using websites as their final presentation, is new this year for me. Slowly I’m moving towards the type of Genius Hour that is more creative. We will see how it works this year. So far the websites are looking good and some students are really getting into their project.
Of course the problem with this project is the students have a hard time finding a topic. Sometimes they just get stuck! Meaning they have a hard time brainstorming or finding a topic within the STEAM realm. I know that you should be letting them do things outside that topic, but this is where I modify. Trying to get them to choose something they can do an experiment or create something can be the most difficult part. But this year I think it was a little easier. I had some students come up with some great ideas. One student is painting different planets, creating their own planets. Its within the STEAM umbrella, I had no problem with this. They have to research planets and physics to create their planets. Cool right? I think so.
Again think about doing the project it can be real fun for the students. They can really learn from the project and they get a choice (somewhat in my case). This podcast is awesome, it addresses a lot of questions. Especially those that deal with structure and grading. I think many people hesitate to do Genius hour because of this. Give it a try!
Using a Wonder Week to Spark Student Inquiry – John Spencer
My friend George Couros once said, “If students leave school less curious than when they have started, we have failed them.” I tend to agree. I’ve never heard of a cosmologist who says, “I’m done
Source: Using a Wonder Week to Spark Student Inquiry – John Spencer
This would be a great idea for an area that students are having a hard time understanding . There are some good ideas to help teachers start an inquiry unit.
