August 2011
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Skype game gets kids excited about geography
For teachers looking to inject some excitement into their geography lesson, Skype might be the answer. Silvia Tolisano recently created a game she calls “Mystery Skype Call” that uses the video conferencing tool and some critical thinking to teach students geography in a new and exciting way.
Read more and see a video on the Spark blog…
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Children’s Book for iPad Teaches Acceptance
At first glance, Pop It seems no different from the many other interactive children’s books “popping up” on the market for the iPad. But give the screen a shake and you’ll begin to see the bigger picture. The book features a child going through normal daily activities with his parents. By shaking the iPad, these parents can be changed from a homosexual couple, to a...
July 2011
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Parenting forums?
I was wondering if anyone could help me out. I’m looking for:
Active forums or message boards about:
-parenting
-teaching
-elementary education
-digital media learning
-kids and technology
Do any of you visit or know of any forums like this? If you do, I’d really appreciate you sending me a link!
Thanks in advance!
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Weekly News Roundup: July 22
Check out these interesting articles on kids and technology!
—Parents will enjoy these iPhone and iPad apps (Parents.com)
—Mom’s Facebook Community Helps Diagnose Her Ailing Son (Mommyish.com)
—New regulations for food, beverage advertising toward children (Healthkey.com)
—Using touch screens and apps to treat autism (mercurynews.com)
—The Internet Is Making...
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9 Year Old Designs App for iPhone
When asked to create something, most nine year olds will grab crayons and construction paper. Ding Wen Lim of Singapore is much more likely to sit down at his computer.
The fourth grader started using the computer at age two and has since learned six programming languages. At age nine, he has already completed 20 programming projects. His latest, Doodle Kids, is a free drawing program for use...
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saraquael:
The Gay Blades | I’ll Leave My Heart...
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Billboards Give Pittsburgh Youth a Voice
Hear Me, a project of CMU’s CREATE Lab, strives to make the voices of children heard. This summer, they have chosen a larger-than-life medium that they hope will give children one more way to communicate: billboards. So far, 50 billboards have been erected in Allegheny County and the surrounding region. The topics discussed cover everything from cyber-bullying and neighborhood violence to...
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Story Boxes give children a voice in Pittsburgh
Story Boxes are popping up all over town—in museums, libraries, and schools. To date, about 130 Story Box units have been produced, and that’s just the beginning. So what exactly are Story Boxes, and what do they mean for children in Pittsburgh?
A Story Box is a 21” x 12” x 4” portable device containing images with “hot spots” that, when pressed, play related audio...
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As the Budget Gets Smaller, Class Time Gets...
It’s no secret that state and local budget cuts have been putting pressure on education. A recently published New York Times article discusses one of the many outcomes of this pressure– decreased class time. It seems many institutions are dealing with a smaller budget by creating a shorter school day. “Thousands of school districts across the nation are gutting summer-school programs, cramming...
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Children Predict the Future of Technology →
Can children predict the future of computer technology? Recent research says yes. Read more…
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South Korea to Invest $2 Billion in Digital...
South Korea recently announced plans to spend $2 billion (2.2 trillion won) on digital textbooks and supportive cloud computing systems for the nation’s schools by 2015. In addition to the content provided by their paper counterparts, the digital textbooks boast a variety of features to augment the learning experience. For one, they can utilize audio, video, and other multimedia instead...
June 2011
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Project Spotlight: The Schmutz Company
Open the door to 5405 Broad Street and you’ll feel a lot like you’ve wandered into Pee Wee’s Play House. That is of course if you replace all of the talking furniture with pieces of ongoing projects—lighting rigs, puppetry, video props, and art installations to name a few. Dave English actually made the comparison himself when I visited his home and studio space, The Schmutz Lodge, on June 26,...
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Purging things I don't need anymore and I found...
lessonsfroma4thgrader:
I wrote it for a class in college. We were supposed to create something that somehow defined “The Perfect Teacher.” I wrote this:
The Perfect Teacher
In Kindergarten, I learned how to share. That is really the only thing I remember.
In first grade, I was taught to be kind and not throw rocks at boys. Those are really the only things I remember.
In second grade, my best...
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The Key to Fighting Childhood Obesity--a Media...
The fact that childhood obesity is a growing epidemic is a point rarely refuted. A cursory scroll through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website provides some undeniable, and frightening, data:
Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.
Since 1980, obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has almost tripled.
While...
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Children Learn More Through Design
Check out the interesting talk Mark Frauenfelder gave at TEDxKids in Brussels a few weeks ago. Mark Frauenfelder is the Editor in Chief for Make magazine, a publication that uses technology to create do-it-yourself projects. As Mark explains in his talk, this same emphasis on design can augment the educational experience of children when used as a teaching tool. In Mark’s words,
“The...
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Make Your Own Mini Robot
Check out this neat tutorial on how to build a miniature robot using an Altoids tin.
Read these instructions and do it yourself! Robotics can be a great teaching tool and an easy way to get kids interested in the sciences. Several Spark funded projects involve robotics including Curious Creatures from Art Energy Design, Character Therapy from Interbots, and the Robot Algebra Project from...
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Ready Freddy Goes Live! →
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Twitter finds a place in the classroom →
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How Young is Too Young for Facebook? →
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Administration Announces $500 Million in Funding... →