Digital+Connections+for+Learning

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For more information, link to **Digital Learning Resources**
- JB Straubel
 * "If you challenge people to work hard, they achieve more than they think they can." **



Topics for the Week

 * ** Creating Conditions for Learning ............... ** || ** Higher Order Thinking Skills ** ................ || **Serious Games for Learning** ||

= CREATING CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING =


 * || [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Kids_with_Education_Tablet_Computers.jpg width="458" height="288" align="center" caption="IntelFreePress"]] ||

When someone has success with a hoola hoop or a yoyo, their beliefs about what they can do are transformed, particularly if they had never been successful previously. They feel capable and joyous.
 * ** Experiences create beliefs and beliefs ** **change as we successfully learn how to do new experiences**.

//**View**// Sugata Mitra: Kids Can Teach Themselves Interactive transcript assists understanding if terms or accents are confusing.


 * Sugata Mitra draws three conclusions from his research: **
 * Remoteness affects the quality of education for a surprising reason;**
 * Educational technology should be introduced into remote areas first, other areas later;**
 * Learning is most likely a self-organizing system.**


 * 1. **** REMOTENESS-- **** not poverty or poor infrastructure or the size of a school--affects learning. **** What did ** **Sugata Mitra's research reveal about the effects of remoteness on teachers?**
 * 2. Which communities does Mitra think should receive new technology first and why? **
 * 3. What evidence does Sugata Mitra find to conclude that learning is mostly a // self-organizing system? //**


 * 4. Analyze the behaviors of impoverished kids helping themselves and each other to learn using the computer. **
 * ** Describe three __ behaviors you see these kids doing __ to learn. **

**5. Our beliefs about learning and learners is created and sustained by our own experiences.**
 * ** Which of your beliefs about learning and learners changed observing kids of different ages teaching and learning without adults telling them what to do? **



**“ I don’t see technology as an add-on, a nice option to have. It’s what enables learning and creates an environment that sparks creativity .” Badat,** Headmaster, Essa Academy
**View** Essa Academy, England: 40 languages, poverty, 100% success


 * 6. Analyze innovations that technology interestingly made possible at Essa Academy. **
 * ** Bullet list three changes to **** ways students are learning. **
 * ** In a second bullet list, cite three methods that make classroom instruction creative for teachers. **


 * 7. As a high school student, what experiences with technology were **** in classes **** for your learning? Were these interesting to you? **


 * 8. Relating **** Essa Academy's **** teaching and learning innovations to yourself, what **** features would have interested you and propelled your learning in **** high school classes—both those you liked to attend and those you didn't like to attend? **

= HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS =






 * Steve Jobs and a team of scientists, engineers and inventors, believed that they could achieve something unique and unknown. Starting at the top and descending to the bottom of Bloom's Taxonomy, unending revisions of design,** **constant** **mistakes and experimentation were how they engineered, invented and produced never before seen learning tools: personal portable computers, iPods, iPhones, and iPad technologies that allowed other companies to design alternate versions.**


 * **Read Bloom's Taxonomy**


 * 9. W****hich of these thinking skills do you utilize most often and which do you utilize least often in your college class assignments?**

** SERIOUS GAMES FOR LEARNING **


 * JAVA is needed to play some of the games. Safari does not support Java. Use Google Chrome and/or Mozzilla. **

**1 mathematics and 1 English/language arts**
 * CHOOSE ** **2 games** to play alone or with friends.
 * or **
 * 1 science and 1 history/social studies **


 * 10. Describe for EACH game all **** levels of Bloom's Taxonomy of higher order thinking skills used when playing. **

Computors in ILC and Furcolo play these.

 * Most of the games require updated Java plug in or Adobe flash on your own computer. **

History/Social Studies

 * Trade Ruler offers a simulation of economic relationships between nations.


 * Muck and Brass or Who Wants to be a Cotton Millionaire? from BBC both show conditions in cities during the early Industrial Revolution.


 * 1066 puts individuals or groups in the Battle of Hastings.


 * Inca Investigation explores the culture and society that stretched for more than 3000 miles along the west coast of South America.


 * High Tea puts players in the role of a 19th century British smuggler in China exchanging opium for silver to trade for tea.


 * **Image Detective** is a tool that teaches students how to analyze historical photographs



Mathematics

 * Math 4 River Raft Contest in a contest to build a raft, players gain parts in different shops.


 * Your life on Earth from BBC an interactive comparison of information based on your birthdate.

Java must be enabled on the computer to use the virtual manipulatives.
 * NLVM National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers games for learning all kinds of concepts through your creations and decisions.

Science



 * Who Wants to Live a Million Years? is a game based on Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.


 * Outbreak at WatersEdge: A Public Health Discovery Game, University of Minnesota

Google Chrome supports these. With other browsers, Java will need to be enabled.
 * Edheads Sickle Cell DNA
 * Edheads Virtual Hip Resurfacing
 * Edheads Trauma
 * Edheads Manufacturing Technician

English/Language Arts

 * Design Your Own Hansel & Gretel


 * Riddle Interactive


 * // [|Can I Have A Word? The Odyssey] This site includes an animation of the Odyssey and poets reading poems. //


 * Lord of the Flies from Noble Prize.org


 * Spelling Bee, click on Spelling Bee in the middle of **//Visual Thesaurus//** page

**Class 3 Outline**

 * ** All Class Opener **


 * Student Disengagement from School **


 * Maria Montessori and Bloom's Taxonomy ** ||


 * ** Sharon Workshop.................: ** || **Bob Workshop: Interactive Digital Writing Tools...............** || ** Student Led Workshops................: ** ||

When someone has success with a hoola hoop or a yoyo, their beliefs about what they can do are transformed, particularly if they had never been successful previously. They feel capable and joyous.
 * ** Experiences create beliefs and beliefs ** **change as we successfully learn how to do new experiences**.
 * **Site Meetings** ||


 * ADDITIONAL RESOURCES**


 * NOT** **the assignment:**


 * In-Class Workshops**
 * iCivics features games that explore the rights of individuals in American society; former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is one of the organizers of this initiative.
 * Stop Disasters! is a series of disaster and crisis prevention games from the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
 * GeoGuessr
 * Phet Science Simulations interactive math and science games from the University of Colorado
 * Lord of the Flies interactive game from NoblePrize.org


 * 13 Must-Have Virtual Science Lab Apps, Tools and Resources**




 * Arrange group in pairs or trios**


 * We are looking at digital connections to learning this week because technology is now a total feature of the lives of students. Students embrace technology and want to use it not only for communication and entertainment, but for learning.**


 * School, however, is not embraced by many students as seen by the research on the Engagement Cliff.**


 * For students to activate their multiple** **intelligences, to learn from mistakes and to build growth mindsets, they must be engaged with learning.**


 * Technology offers tools for engagement as we shall see in today's workshops.**


 * Bob In-Class Workshop: Word Mover Poetry Writing Interactive**

Opener:
In all the workshops today, we seeking to answer the question: What Can You Do with Technology That You Cannot Do Just as Well Without It?
 * We are also addressing the Engagement Cliff

Divide the group into two groups:
 * Ask first group: Why is it important to teach students about poetry and have them write their own poems?
 * Ask the second group: Why might students resist or be reluctant to write poetry? (just like some students were reluctant to try to hula hoops or the yo-yos last week)

Activities
1) How many of you have written what is called Found Poetry?
 * How many of you have played Magnetic Poetry?

2) In pairs and trios, open the site Word Mover, from National Council of Teachers of English, and compose a found poem
 * Use the word bank, the background, the drop and drag features.
 * How did the experience of composing a poem on the computer differ from paper and pencil?
 * How might an online tool like Word Mover engage students, especially reluctant writers?


 * Word Mover from NCTE Student Interactives**

3) If time, introduce the role of SIRI or other voice assistants on computers or phones.

4) Question: Paper and Pencil vs. Computer Test Scores
 * Why are standardized test scores for some students worse when they take exams on computer vs. taking them in paper and pencil formats?
 * Lower scoring students were less familiar with using technology based on home and school experiences

Comparing Paper-and-Pencil and Computer Test Scores > >> "When a student [who has those skills] is generating an essay, their cognitive resources are focused on their word choices, their sentence structure, and how to make their sentences more interesting and varied - not trying to find letters on a keyboard, or the technical aspects of the computer,"
 * "Students who had greater access to technology in and out of school, and had teachers that required its use for school assignments, used technology in more powerful ways" and "scored significantly higher on the NAEP writing achievement test"
 * role of "facilitative" computer skills such as keyboarding ability and word-processing skills.


 * Close**
 * **Technology makes possible interactive learning that make it possible for students to experience and remember academic content.**


 * Alternative Opener**
 * **I want to tell you a story, but to do so I need certain ingredients. What are those ingredients that every story (fiction or nonfiction) has?**
 * **Characters**
 * **Setting or Place**
 * **Plot**
 * **Problem/Resolution**


 * Activities**


 * **Teacher Sinead Meany, a TEAMS Graduate, decided to teach students about the essential elements of stories by taking old tales from popular culture and asking students to either Disnefy or Fracture them**


 * What is DISNEFYing a Story?
 * A form of editing that renders a story "safe" for juvenile audiences (or the parents thereof)
 * === removing undesirable plot elements or unpleasant historical facts,===
 * ===adding Broadway-style production numbers,===
 * ===reworking whatever else is necessary for a Lighter and Softer Happily Ever After Ending.===
 * ===A clearer line between good and evil, which may cause one character to be forced into the mean villain role.===
 * ===Talking Animal sidekicks tend to be tacked on somehow.===


 * **Another way for students to learn the elements of stories is to create their own Fractured Fairy Tales**
 * **What is a Fractured Fairy Tale?**
 * **Show NCTE Fractured Fairy Tale Interactive**
 * **It is a story where characters, setting/place, plot and/or problem/resolution have been changed**
 * **Show a minute or two from a Cinderella Fractured Fairy Tale** **from Rocky and Bullwinkle, a television comedy show that aired from 1959 to 1964 (more clips on Grimm's Fairy Tales homepage on Teaching Resources for English wiki)**


 * **In pairs and trios, brainstorm would you disnefy or fracture a fairy tale or old story?**


 * **Show middle school student examples from Cinderella page on Teaching Resources for English**
 * **Cinder-Smella**
 * **Snow Queen in Hawaii**

Additional Activity if there is time


 * **Getting Students to Use Words and understand How Speakers Use Words are essential to successful reading and writing**
 * **Word Mover Interactive**


 * ** See Lesson Plan Based on Word Mover on the Gettysburg Address using SOAPSTone that ask students to identify: **
 * **S**peaker of the text
 * **O**ccasion of the speech
 * **A**udience (both present and after it was distributed)
 * **P**urpose that Lincoln had in delivering it
 * **S**ubject matter discussed
 * **T**one of the piece


 * Other Serious Learning Games**


 * Haiku Poem from International Reading Association
 * **See Lesson Plan Based on Word Mover on the Gettysburg Address using SOAPSTone**
 * **S**peaker of the text
 * **O**ccasion of the speech
 * **A**udience (both present and after it was distributed)
 * **P**urpose that Lincoln had in delivering it
 * **S**ubject matter discussed
 * **T**one of the piece


 * Scale City: The Road to Proportional Reasoning from ket.org


 * Illuminations: Resources for Teaching Math
 * from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics


 * Lemonade Stand


 * Math Facts Pro


 * Math Blaster


 * Math Games from PBS Kids


 * Newton's Laws of Motion is an interactive explanation of Newton's Three Law


 * Human Anatomy Online


 * __Pyramid Builder__


 * Decide Eliza Paige's Future!from University of Massachusetts Lowell


 * Which Founder Are You? National Constitution Center


 * __Nuclear Darkness, Global Climate Change and Nuclear Famine to see the effects of a nuclear bomb on a city__


 * Disaster Detector from the Smithsonian


 * Rubble! from the website Killer Asteroids developed by the Space Science Institute. More games include: Light Curves, Deflect an Asteroid, Risky Business and What Hit My Town?


 * For more science-related games, see Possible Worlds website Playing to Learn: Using Games to Help Teach Difficult Concepts


 * Phet Interactive Simulations from University of Colorado


 * The Great Plant Escape from University of Illinois


 * Catchment Detox


 * Writing Poetry Interactives for composing acrostic, haiku and diamante poems.


 * For more on riddles, see Riddles and Interactiveness from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences


 * Grade 7-12 Student Interactives/Language Arts for Word Games and Vocabulary, Writing, Spelling and Grammar activities
 * See also


 * Grade 3-6 Student Interactives/Language Arts


 * Language Arts: Middle School Games


 * The Republia Times lets you create a daily newspaper and try to increase your circulation numbers.


 * Interactives: Elements of a Story from Annenberg Learner (//Uses the Cinderella Story as a Model//)


 * Spelling Bee from Annenberg Learner (with quizzes for different grade levels)

Serious Games And The Future Of Education Describe three ideas in 'Serious Games and the Future of Education' that persuade you of the power of learning with serious games.

GeoGuessr: https://geoguessr.com/

__Google Street View:__ https://www.google.com/streetview/

__Geography Assessment:__ https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/geography_2010/sample_quest.aspx?tab_id=tab3&subtab_id=Tab_1#g8top