Design, Make, Play: Growing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators is a resource for practitioners, policymakers, researchers and program developers that illuminates creative, cutting edge ways to inspire and motivate young people about science and technology learning. The book is aligned with the National Research Council’s new Framework for Science Education, which includes an explicit focus on engineering and design content, as well as integration across disciplines. Extensive case studies explore real world examples of innovative programs that take place in a variety of settings, including schools, museums, community centers, and virtual spaces. Design, Make, and Play are presented as learning methodologies that have the power to rekindle children’s intrinsic motivation and innate curiosity about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. A digital companion app showcases rich multimedia that brings the stories and successes of each program—and the students who learn there—to life.
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Study Everywhere
Quizlet is used almost daily by 12 million people but you’ve never heard of it unless you have a high school student. It’s a cloud-based flash card app. Quizlet works for whatever you want to study and I am investigating to look at for one of my classes. It is easy and fast to add a card. No paper, auto-define buttons, lots of keyboard shortcuts make the process of creating a Quizlet quick and painless. Because Quizlets are all stored in the cloud, they can be accessed from anywhere. There’s built in gamification and a lot of other features which I just starting to try and it is completely free.
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Exploring Computational Thinking on Google
Google is committed to promoting computational thinking throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this 21st century skill.What is Computational Thinking? Computational thinking (CT) involves a set of problem-solving skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlie the computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps. Here are specific techniques.
- Decomposition: When we taste an unfamiliar dish and identify several ingredients based on the flavor, we are decomposing that dish into its individual ingredients.
- Pattern Recognition: People look for patterns in stock prices to decide when to buy and sell.
- Pattern Generalization and Abstraction: A daily planner uses abstraction to represent a week in terms of days and hours, helping us to organize our time.
- Algorithm Design: When a chef writes a recipe for a dish, she is creating an algorithm that others can follow to replicate the dish.
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Where Are All The Male Teachers [Infographic]
From the Internet
For the past semester, I’ve been student teaching at a middle school and I’m now currently at an elementary school as part of my music teacher certification process. It’s been a challenge learning all the ins and outs of being a teacher, but it has also come with great satisfaction. To get students excited about something that I’m greatly passionate about is an amazing thing to fulfill. Also, getting to know such amazing and unique kids in the small amount of time I’ve had at each school has been fantastic. There’s just one funny thing I’ve noticed, especially in elementary school – there sure are a lot more female teachers in comparison with male teachers.
It may not be the case for every district, but in my experience it seems that there is a serious lack in male teachers in primary and secondary levels of education. As you can see in this infographic, Canada, UK and the U.S. have less than 25% male teachers present in public schools. Now, I’m not quite convinced about the whole “pupils try harder for male teachers” thing – I really doubt that there’s legitimate research for that, but there is a lot to be said about the deficit of male teachers in public schools. Having equal role models of both sexes just sounds like a better system than the current one.
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Google’s First April Fool’s Day 2014 Prank
And so it begins. Google April Fool’s Day Pokeman Challenge https://t.co/wFh0P63qPR
— Mr. Walker (@greshamhs) March 31, 2014
