District 181 Technology

Tech Tips, Tricks, and News

Posts Tagged 6-8

Free Technology for Teachers: NASA Lunar Simulator on iPhone and iPod Touch

Feb 22

Posted by eric in General, Science | Comments off

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NASA Lunar Simulator on iPhone and iPod Touch:

I don’t often write posts about iPhone apps or iPod Touch apps, but today I learned about one that I had to pass along. NASA recently released an iPhone app that they’re calling the Lunar Electric Rover Simulator. As I don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch myself, I haven’t been able to try it yet, but the Lunar Electric Rover Simulator looks like it could be a fun learning experience for students that have iPhones or iPod Touches. The app is free and can be found in the app store where you can see more screen shots of the app in action.

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Mashable, which is where I learned about the app, has some more information that you may be interested in reading.”

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.com.)

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Resources on the 2.10.10 Earthquake

Feb 10

Posted by eric in General, Science | Comments off

This morning many of us were awoken by a magnitude 3.8 earthquake that struck northern Illinois, likely many of your students were as well. Below is the link the US Geological Survey’s site on the event, and if more resources are found they will be added here as well.

US Geological Survey
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology: Education Outreach Center
FEMA for Kids: Earthquakes
Global Earthquake Response Center

Chicago Tribune: Mild Earthquake Rattles Chicago Area
CNN: Earthquake rattles northern Illinois
Google News: Chicago Earthquake

BrainPop! Earthquakes
BrainPop! Plate Tectonics
BrainPop! Natural Disasters

Discovery Education: What are the odds? Earthquakes in the Midwest

Wikipedia: Earthquakes
HowStuffWorks.com: Earthquakes

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Doing What Works: Research-Based Education

Dec 15

Posted by eric in General | Comments off

dww-logoDoing What Works: Research-Based Education:

“Doing What Works is a project of the US Department of Education, West Ed, and Little Planet Learning. The purpose of Doing What Works is to share the best research-based education practices. Doing What Works presents those best practices with videos of real teachers using them, interviews with educators, visual planning diagrams, and information for further research.

Applications for Education

A lot of websites share ideas for implementing new education practices, but few sites share videos featuring real teachers talking about their practices. Doing What Works does a good job of presenting both ideas and examples. ”

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.com.)

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Digital Dialects – Activities for Learning 55+ Languages

Dec 14

Posted by eric in Foreign Language | Comments off

Digital Dialects – Activities for Learning 55+ Languages:

“Digital Dialects has a large selection of educational games and activities for learning 55 different languages. Most of the games are designed to learn and practice the basics of each of the 55 languages listed on the Digital Dialects homepage.

Another good website for learning and practicing language basics is Literacy Center.net. Literacy Center offers games for learning and practicing French, Spanish, German, and English. The Literacy Center is a 501c non-profit with a contract from the US Department of Education.

Applications for Education

The educational games and activities found on Digital Dialects and Literacy Center are great for students just beginning to learn a new language. The games provide instant feedback to students and parents so that they can monitor progress and choose a skill or set of vocabulary terms to practice”

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.com.)

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BrainFlips: Free Online Flashcards

Oct 30

Posted by eric in General | Comments off

BrainFlipsLogoFlash cards are a staple of students studying toolbox, but the tedious work required to create and share them sometimes gets in the way of their regular use. Enter BrainFlips, one of the best flashcard sites I’ve come across. An account (free) is required to create and share flash card decks, but no account is required to use the decks that other users have created which as of this writing there are 726 decks available. Some cool examples include: Barack Obama, Addition, and Introductory Spanish. Plus each deck can be viewed in one of 3 ways: Introduction mode, which gives you the question and answer side by side, Traditional Mode, shows question and then the answer, or Response Mode, which creates a multiple choice game out of the cards.

Thanks to FreeTech4Teachers for finding this site.

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Chemistry Resources from FreeTech4Teachers

Oct 23

Posted by eric in Science | Comments off

The Elements Song With Pictures:

“The Elements Song has been around for a long time (I actually heard it on vinyl in high school chemistry). There are many videos of the song on YouTube. Some of which have nearly one million views. This version of the song on YouTube has a picture representing each element throughout the song.

Applications for Education
The pictures that accompany the mention of each element in the song could help some students remember the elements. Just be sure to remind students that the song does not contain all of the elements that are now on the periodic table.”

Learn the Periodic Table Tetris-Style:

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“eChalk offers a mix of free and premium educational games. One of the free games that I learned about today is Periodic Table Tetris. Periodic Table Tetris uses the style of the classic video game Tetris to help students memorize the periodic table of elements. To play the game, students use their keyboard’s arrow keys to move element blocks into the proper place. The game has three levels for students to progress through.

Thanks to the Woodchurch Science blog for the link.

Applications for Education
Periodic Table Tetris could be a fun and engaging way to learn the periodic table. I wish this game had been around when I was a high school student having to memorize the periodic table.”

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.)

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A Lifetime of Color – Lesson Plans Incorporating Art

Oct 21

Posted by eric in Art | Comments off

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A Lifetime of Color – Lesson Plans Incorporating Art:

“A Lifetime of Color is one of the resources that was listed today in a blog post on Curious Works. The Curious Works post is full of art education resources. A Lifetime of Color offers lesson plans incorporating art activities into Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, Music, and Social Studies. The lesson plans are designed for use with K-8 students. You can search for lesson plans by subject area or you can search for lesson plans by grade level.

In addition to lesson plans, A Lifetime of Color offers a collection of games and interactive activities for learning about artists and learning to create art.

Applications for Education
A Lifetime of Color’s lesson plans could be useful for finding new ways to combine content areas through the creation of art projects. “

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.)

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Teaching Students to Search

Sep 22

Posted by eric in General | 1 Comment

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As the amount of information is increasing so drastically every single day the skills needed to accurately ferret out information is exceedingly important. Teaching effective search techniques can be difficult, and Google has released a set of resources for educators to ease this challenge.

The Google for Educators portal includes 3 modules, each with 3 supporting lessons for teaching Web Search. Each Lesson includes a Curriculum Guide that aligns to the ISTE NETS-S and NETS-T standards and a ready to show presentation with video:

Module A: Understanding Search Engines

Lesson 1: Start your engines (Basic) – Web 101; search engines overview; online content that is indexed and searched
Lesson 2: Which link should I follow? (Intermediate) – How Google search works; anatomy of a search results page.
Lesson 3: Believe it or not (Advanced) – Validating site authority; taking a research stance when using a search engine.

Module B: Web Search Techniques and Strategies

Lesson 1: The Keys to Search City (Basic) – How to organize and approach a search
Lesson 2: Your search toolbox (Intermediate) – Best practices for keyword selection and use of search operators.
Lesson 3: The advanced search squad (Advanced) – Different types of content indexed by Google; using it to address search challenges

Module C: Google Web Search Features

Lesson 1: Quick Finds (Basic) – Every day search features, tips and tricks.
Lesson 2: Advanced Advantage (Intermediate) – Using Google’s search options, Advanced Search and operators.
Lesson 3: The Search Summit (Advanced) – Taking advantage of language tools; experimental features and more.

These pre-made lessons looks great for use in the 5-8 classroom, and would require just a little tweaking for younger students.

Google for Educators: Google Web Search – Classroom Lessons and Resources

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