Taking Learning to the Cloud - Online Sticky Note Sites

Welcome to the first installment of Taking Learning to the Cloud!  This is the first in a series of posts that highlights web 2.0 tools.  Today I am highlighting websites that have some type of online sticky notes.  The webslide show below features these sites.  The sticky note and the webslide show seen below are both examples of things that can be done using two of the featured sites. 


This sticky note was created using MySticky.net.


This webslide was created in Diigo.  To see my annotated notes of each website, click here.  My notes highlight key features of each of the websites in the slide show.


I hope you enjoy these sites.  I will make future posts highlighting math activities that can be done with specific sites. 



Taking Learning to the Cloud - Online Sticky Note Sites by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

New Brain Discovery: Superior Autobiographical Memory

Last Sunday, 60 Minutes had a story about a new discovery in brain science.  It's called superior autobiographical memory.   The subjects of this story have the ability to recall all the events of their life.  It  was a very interesting story.  I'll be exciting to see what happens with this discovery in the future of Neuroscience and Brain-Based Learning.  I'm attending an Eric Jensen workshop in January, and I can't wait to get his take on this news!


60 Minutes Episode  (Go to the 15:50 mark on the video to see the Lesley Stahl story.  You'll have to watch a commercial before the story clip.)

Lesley Stahl interviews the handful of individuals known to possess the skill of near endless memory.

Extra Clips from story:

Marilu Henner, who has what is called superior autobiographical memory, tells Lesley Stahl how she uses her extensive memory to "time travel" and recall moments of her childhood.

Lesley Stahl puts Louise Owen's memory to the test. Owen has superior autobiographical memory.

New Brain Discovery: Superior Autobiographical Memory by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Collaborative Consumption and Education

In a recent TED talk, Rachel Botsman discusses the move of society towards collaborative consumption.  Even though this talk is not directly related to education, it does speak about the increasing need for teachers to provide collaborative educational experiences for students.

Rachel Botsman:  The Case for Collaborative Consumption



Today's 21st Century learners are living in world where collaborative sharing is the norm outside of the school setting.  It is beginning to become the norm in some classrooms.  Many teachers are currently using Skype, Wikis, Blogs, Social Networks, and other collaborative tools with students.  The potential for providing students with rich, relevant learning experiences has never been greater than it is today.  There are so many useful collaborative tools online that will enrich teaching and learning.

I'm planning on sharing some online collaborative learning and tools in a future blog series titled "Taking Learning to the Cloud".  This series of posts will contain descriptions, links, and math lesson ideas for using various online tools that allow learning to take place in the Cloud.  We'll also discuss the advantages of going to the Cloud with students, parents, and other educators.


Collaborative Consumption and Education by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators is Out

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators was recently published.  It showcases some great resources for teachers of all grade levels.  There are also some resources for ELL.  I especially like how they divided the sections by elementary school, middle school, and high school.


Super Book of Web Tools for Educators

If you use some of the sites listed, please comment and share your experiences.

Enjoy!

Have You Taken Your Students to the Cloud Yet?

One of the biggest advantages to teaching in the 21st Century is all of the tools we have available at our fingertips. We now have the ability to share everything we use with our students in formats that can be accessed from any computer.  How amazing is that!!!  Uploading and/or embedding your documents, power points, videos, pictures, links, etc. have many advantages.

Here are a few of the advantages of going to the Cloud with your students:

• all of the materials for your lessons are in one location
• students and parents have access to the materials used in class
• students are able to collaborate
• students are likely to be engaged and motivated by using these tools
• students can continue working on assignments after school  (For example, they can continue to make posts about a topic or concept even after you've moved on to a new topic.  This could be a great way to have ongoing review of previously taught material.)
• students who are absent have access to the materials missed

There are many other advantages of taking your students to the Cloud, but we'll leave it with these for now. I've created some online post-it notes in Wallwisher that give links and explanations of some great online tools for teachers.
  
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/kristig

Hope to see you in the Cloud soon!



Have You Taken Your Students to the Cloud Yet? by Love of Learning Educaitonal Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Comparisons Made Easy with Find The Best

Find The Best.com is a great site for comparing things.  The video below gives an overview of the site.  This site lets you view comparisons of data in tables and graphs.  There is no end to the mathematical problems that can be posed and solved using this site.



Right now, the #7 comparison on the site is McDonald's Big Mac vs. Burger King's Whopper vs. Wendy's Double Stack. 

The question to pose to students is:  Which burger is best?   After students debate which burger is best based on their opinion, begin discussing what factors (calories, fat, and sodium) may influence someone's decision about which burger is best.  Then have students go to the site and look at the comparison chart to further explore the question of which burger is best.

The table gives all the nutrition information for each burger.  It lists the percent of daily value of saturated fat, protein, sodium, etc.  In addition to answering the question above, students could use the information in the table to calculate things like the number of fat grams for saturated fat, protein, and sodium. 


Comparisons Made Easy with Find The Best by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Interactive Map from the U.S. Census

The United States Census has a new interactive map that lends itself to many mathematical explorations. Students can explore statistics, various forms of data, interpreting graphs, finding percents, etc. 

The site also has a multimedia page that contains a video titled Statistics All Around Us.  This video explains why we need Census data.  The video could also be used as a teaching tool by using some of the statistics given to form and answer math problems.

For example, they state that 1 in 4 deaths are due to Heart Disease.  You could pose questions such as:

Based on its population, how many people in Texas would you expect to die of heart disease in 2010?

Which state would you expect to have the most deaths from heart disease in 2010?  The least?  Why?

This site lends itself perfectly to the type of math problems discussed in the videos of Dan Meyer and the Problem Based Learning video by Buck Institute of Education, BIE.


Interactive Map from the U.S. Census by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

An Explanation of Project Based Learning

The Buck Institute for Education, BIE, has a video on Project Based Learning.  They had the animation company, Common Craft, create the video explaining Project Based Learning.  This video revels the importance of teaching and developing the 21st Century Skills of collaboration, communication, and critical thinking through Project Based Learning.


Here's the description of the video from BIE.  
In Project Based Learning (PBL), students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge. Rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice 21st Century Skills (such as collaboration, communication & critical thinking).



This video from BIE goes hand in hand with the TED talk I posted yesterday from Dan Meyer.  By simply taking away the mathematical framework and given information that we usually provide students in math problems, we create a totally new problem solving situation that invites collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.  In the process, we also get students excited about problem solving and discussing mathematics by involving them in more realistic, "real-life" problem solving situations. 



An Explanation of Project Based Learning by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.bie.org.

Creating Patient Problem Solvers

In the TED Talk posted May 2010, Dan Meyer discusses how to create patient problem solvers.

TED Talk --- Dan Meyer:  Math Class Needs a Makeover



In future posts, I will use Dan's ideas and reconstruct some typical Middle School Math Problems.



Creating Patient Problem Solvers by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.ted.com.

Interactive Graphing Tool for Teachers and Students

Last night I was looking for an interactive graphing tool to make a scatter plot.  In my search, I came across this one from NCES Kids' Zone.  I liked it better than most of the others I've used in the past.  The tool allows you to create various types of graphs.  You can make bar graphs, pie graphs, area graphs, line graphs, and scatter plots.  I only tried the scatter plot, but was pleased with what I was able to do.  Mainly, I needed to graph several different sets of data on the same graph and this tool allowed me to do it.

Pros of this interactive graph:

• allows you to graph different types of graphs (bar, pie, area, line, and scatter plots)
• allows you to adjust the # of grid lines on the graph
• allows you to graph up to 6 sets of data on one graph
• allows you to color code each set of data
• allows you to plot up to 50 data items in each set of data
• allows you to vary the type of points on the graph (circle, square, rhombus, triangle, plus, or no shape)
• allows you to set min and max values for x- and y-axes
• allows you to Title Graph 
• allows you to include a legend for the graph
• allows you to save the graph for editing at a later time
• allows you to print, download, and/or email the graph
• easy to use

Cons of this interactive graph:

• does not allow you to scale the graph (I had to adjust my max values for the x- and y-axes in order to get it to scale the way I wanted it to.)
• does not allow you to graph equations  (I was only able to graph points, not lines.  I would like to be able to graph just equations, or to graph equations over data sets to see if they are linear.)

Over all, this is the best graph I've found for making basic graphs and for graphing points if you don't need to graph an equation.  It is great for teachers and students.  Teachers can make graphs for use with class and  put them into documents or other media.  Students can create graphs to put into documents, media, or email to teacher. 

Here is the Fraction Families Graph I created using the NCES Kids' Zone Interactive Graphing Tool:

 

Interactive Graphing Tool for Teachers and Students by Love of Learning Educational Services, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.