Learning Math with Tabula Digita

This past school year, Chicago Public Schools used technology integration to support stuggling students in their AIM High After School program. Two of the programs they used were DimensionM from Tabula Digita and Cognitive Tutor from Carnegie Learning. One program impressed me because of it's similarity to the kinds of video games that are so popular with kids today. DimensionM is a 3-D, web-based, first-person video game that teaches pre-algebra and algebra skills to students while they problem solve through missions in an alternate world. the games can be played individually or in multi-player format. Students are scored only by correctly answering math questions that they encounter throughout their missions. The website also sponsors competitions and they have a MegaBowl at the them of the school year. The program does come with teacher guides and curriculum objectives. Student progress can also be tracked by the teacher. Though there was a huge learning curve for many teachers, the program is not for teachers, it's for students. It requires the student to engage in learning in a way that is interesting and entertaining at the same time. The program is for purchase at http://www.dimensionm.com/.

Assessing Tech Integration Projects

As we move forward in teaching students to work with technology and use technology as a platform for building project-based learning, we need to always be focused on assessment. How do we evaluate students in this new arena? You don't have to do it alone. Intel has created a library of assessment tools from checklists to wikis for evaluating critical thinking skills, projects and so forth. The assessing projects workspace is free to use with sign-up. When you sign-up, you are able to create a personal library from the resources found in the database. All resources are available to export and are edit as needed. The workspace can be found at http://educate.intel.com/en/assessingprojects/. There is a demo that you can try before signing up.

What a WebQuest!

A WebQuest is a student-centered, project-based, inquiry-related, web-based activity that usually includes critical thinking, creativity, questioning and cooperative learning. A good webquest is hard to find, because many of them are lacking a few or many of the aforementioned components. Well, in my search, I have found one that I feel is chocked full of everything needed to make it a great project for the upper elementary or high school classroom. The webquest entitled "The Perfect Society" can be found at http://www.nelliemuller.com/Theperfectsociety.student.htm. The webquest is created as a curriculum expansion of the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. The students are charged with the task of investigating and reporting back to the elders, why Jonas chose to leave the community. Students work in groups, write interview questions and reports, make observations, create and deliver a presentation of their findings.

The task and process are clearly stated in a way that is easy for students to follow. The teacher has attached various resources for students to use in order to scaffold the learning process and differentiate instruction. The teacher also supplies students with the rubrics that will be used for grading of various activities/artifacts. The teacher also includes a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the project.

This particular webquest was located via the webquest.org site. This site gives you the ability to search for webquests by subject area and title keywords.

The Value of Internet Resources

I was recently thinking about how fortunate students are today to have the Internet and all that goes with it. I recall being in school and doing research papers and projects. I had to go to the library and spend hours looking for resources. We used a card catalogue to locate the literature, then we had to pray that it wasn't already checked out. Inevitably, it was, which meant that I had to get on the waiting list to pick it up when it was returned, if it was returned on time. Today, students can search encyclopedias, magazine indexes and read whole texts online. Yes, students may encounter information that is useless, nonfactual or dubious, but that was always the case. Everything found in a brick and mortar library is not of utmost value either depending on its use. So, we teach our students to decipher the information they encounter....Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. It happens to be part of those higher order thinking skills everyone is buzzing about.

There was a time when your loved ones went overseas for war or pleasure, and the only correspondence you could expect was a letter. Now, you can email daily to keep in contact. It used to be so expensive to make an international call. Now, it's free through the Internet with Skype, and you can even see the person you are talking to. How wonderful for teachers to be able to share their teaching with a classroom half way around the world. How about the ability to have class virtually from your bedroom. What a fabulous prospect for a student who is home bound or bedridden.

Moving beyond school, dare I even mention the advantages to a consummate shopper? Gone are the days of comparison shopping using your local newspaper ads. Now, you can compare the prices from stores you will never step foot in, some of which only sell products online. Imagine the advantage to families that live in rural or remote areas. the Internet brings stores to their front doors, and in turn saves them an enormous amount of time and money. Ecommerce happens to be my favorite Internet resource.

Here are some of my favorite ecommerce sites.
http://www.retailmenot.com/ coupons
http://www.vistaprint.com/ stationary
http://www.amazon.com/ online superstore
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/ airplane tickets