Interesting ArticlesHow to Design a Classroom Built on Inquiry, Openness and TrustSometimes you may not understand why certain things aren’t working. Ask your students. I’m often surprised by how much they know and how adept they are at articulating what they need.
Meet the Makers: Robotics Success Stories from FIRST StudentsWhile most teachers agree that fostering STEM skills is valuable, it can be intimidating, especially given limited school resources and support. Going that extra mile to help students access STEM education early on, however, can help get them hooked at a young age. Furthermore, we know that hands-on learning is one of the most valuable methods to inspire kids to pursue STEM in college and in their careers.
30 Ways to Create the Conditions to Inspire in a MakerspaceMany educators feel that their direct instruction is what is needed to engage students in making experiences. While I do believe that there can be a place for some instruction for skill-building in a makerspace, I don't believe it is the only strategy that should be used for engaging our students; nor is teacher-led instruction the only way we can encourage our students to be creative or innovate. Rather than forcing students to make, I think it is up to us as educators to create the conditions to inspire our students to WANT to make.
QR Codes Can Do That?This list of five things that you may not know about QR codes contains some simple ideas that definitely pack a punch. These tips include strategies for differentiating instruction, distributing materials, and keeping families up to date on classroom activities. If you've tried one of these QR tips or have another to add to the list, the comments section of this post is the perfect place to share!
Sometimes It Is Just About The TechnologyWe hear educators say it all the time: technology is just a tool or it’s not just about the technology, it’s about how a teacher uses it. While I fundamentally agree with these types of statements, I’ve noticed something in the Innovation Lab that has me pushing back a bit: sometimes it is just about the technology.
3 secrets to Chromebook success from teachers of the 2016 graduating classIt takes time for people to adapt to any new device or technology, so be patient when integrating it in schools. “Our faculty loves using Chromebooks in the classroom, almost as much as our students do, but first they needed an initial transition period to adapt to the new technology,” says Dr. Tatiana Bonuma, a principal for Leyden School District in Illinois.
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New Links for TeachersGoogle's Santa TrackerExplore, Play and Learn with Santa and his Elves all December long with this fun count down to Christmas calendar packed with fun activities for all ages.
ExtraordinairesHARNESSING THE POWER OF PLAY AND DESIGN THINKING IN EDUCATION
Thinking about introducing design thinking to your students? Hear from the educators who already have. We help schools and libraries start to run a Makerspace.
Cooper Hewitt: Ready, Set, DesignReady, Set, Design is one of our favorite group activities, for adults and kids alike, at Cooper-Hewitt. It’s a highly adaptable design challenge that can jump-start collaborative and creative thinking in any group. We use it with kids’ groups at the Museum, for internal staff meetings, and even at industry conferences and summits we host. The activity is such a success with our participants that we’ve gotten a lot of requests for a how-to guide.
YouCubedJo Boaler’s groundbreaking course, “How To Learn Math for Teachers,” is available for online registration! Re-recorded in 2016, this update to the original course includes new videos and research. The course has been hugely popular among teachers, taken by over 50,000 people.
Made with CodeLess than 1% of high school girls study Computer Science. Let’s change that.
Girls start out with a love of science and technology, but lose it somewhere along the way. Let’s help encourage that passion in teen girls. Google Quick DrawCan a neural network learn to recognize doodles?
See how well it does with your drawings and help teach it, just by playing. DIGITAL BREAKOUTS IN THE NEW GOOGLE SITESThe new Google Sites is live. This is a template website to give you ideas for making digital breakouts in the new Sites. Currently, there is no way to copy sites or publish them as templates. The good news is that the new Sites is so intuitive that making digital breakouts is easier than ever!
Google Tips & TricksOur most detailed view of Earth across space and timeToday, we're making our largest update to Timelapse yet, with four additional years of imagery, petabytes of new data, and a sharper view of the Earth from 1984 to 2016. We’ve even teamed up again with our friends at TIME to give you an updated take on compelling locations.
Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs "Black Out"Some key goals for literacy are reading comprehension, being able to identify main ideas, and summarization skills. There are many excellent practices that can help students develop these abilities.
Chromebooks for FamiliesYour child might be using Chromebooks as a big part of learning in school. We’ve created this site to walk you through some of the Chromebook’s features and show why Chromebooks are great for everyone in the family.
4 Hidden Chrome Tricks to Increase Your EfficiencyTo make your browsing experience even better, here are four great hidden tricks in Google Chrome that can save you time and increase your efficiency.
Choose Your Own Adventure Stories with Google DocsDirections: Creating a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story with Google Docs is actually quite simple. Below are the directions your students can follow to make their own interactive stories.
Google Earth For Virtual Reality Lets You Fly Like SupermanThe popular digital globe app is now available in virtual reality. Get ready to virtually fly around the brick-domed Florence cathedral in Italy and San Francisco’s majestic Golden Gate Bridge.
15 BEST GOOGLE DRIVE ADD-ONS FOR EDUCATIONGoogle Drive has enabled Google Add Ons and there are some that you and your students will want to enable right away. Others may appeal more to professional developers or those who work remotely .
Google Chrome Extensions and AppsTo add functionality to your Chromebook or Chrome Browser (you must have sign-in to the browser) you can add extensions or applications using the Chrome Web Store. The searchable table below is a list of extensions and applications that can be used in education. This list is a collaborative list that started with Google Certified Trainers and Innovators. If you would like to suggest an addition to this table, please submit your request with this form.
3 Google Updates Announced at Education On Air 2016Christmas came a little early for attendees of Google’s 2016 Education On Air virtual conference. As part of the opening keynote presentations, Google added in a short section to reveal several new updates for G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps for Education).
The Last Hoorah!Not only will this be the last eNewsletter of the year, but I am going to take a break from curating these articles, links and tips after the new year. I have decided instead of pushing out an organized monthly publication of useful education materials from around the web, that I will focus more on creating new ways to assist educators with tech use in their learning environment.
My innovative team here in York and I will be creating a new vodcast that will hopefulyl entertain as well as educate the viewers with some of our own inspired projects, workflows and ideas. This new format will have video and reflective pieces as well as a comment section to provide for a two way conversation and spark some discussion where this current format failed to do that. I'm truly blessed to work with such a team and feel that this new journey will inspire others as well. Have a great year! I'm back to blogging at; https://lawsonlabs.wordpress.com/ Our video tutorial series can be found on the YSD PR YouTube Channel as well at; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs1jDFxuoNePhHCIO6wLYqg |