GAM+ARCHIVE

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May 31, 2007 Summer’s coming and we'll all be eager to slake our thirst as we toil (and play) in the hot, hot sun. Before you dig into your pockets for some money to buy expensive [|bottled water] perhaps you ought to carefully consider whether it’s really any better than [|what comes out of the tap]. Most people understand the water cycle, but how many know about [|digital water resources] via the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) or the USGS’s nifty [|Water Data for the Nation]? How about the [|Digital Atlas of World Water Balance] or the [|Global Runoff Data Center]?
 * Granted, this one will take more than a minute, but if water will be Tomorrow's Oil, this might be time well spent.**

Project-based Learning Connection: Here’s an idea: take a look at Australia’s impressive [|CERES Water Trail] and create a detailed map of water usage. Such an undertaking to explore the hydrologic cycle could be accomplished using a digital camera, access to [|Picasa Web Albums], [|Panoramio], and/or placemarks in [|Google Earth.]

Additional water links: [|Hydrologic cycle article] from Teacher’s Domain Cool animation with audio of [|water cycle] [| US Geological Survey] [| Digital Library for Earth System Education] [|Hydrological Playground]

May 28, 2007 Even though it's a holiday and most visitors to this wiki won't see this posting until after-the-fact, it's still worthwhile to take a moment to remember the origin(s) and purpose of Memorial Day. Among the cities that claim to be responsible for creation of the observance, the official designation went to a nearby neighbor to the north, Waterloo, NY. So, [|take a little time to consider the origins of Memorial Day], to reflect upon [|stories of the dedicated Americans] who fought for [|the freedoms we enjoy], and to [|unite in remembrance]. Perhaps you'll pause to reflect upon the dedicated members of the United States military, brave women and men who served or are serving in the the [|Army], [|Marine Corps], [|Navy], [|Air Force], and [|Coast Guard]. These courageous citizens, often overlooked, are much, much [|more than just numbers] or [|statistics]. They are ordinary people with extraordinary historical legacies. They are worthy of our attention and gratitude. Please, take time to remember them.
 * Remembering**

May 25, 2007 [|Project Learning Tree]® is an award winning, multi-disciplinary environmental education program for educators and students in PreK-grade 12. PLT, a program of the American Forest Foundation, is one of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States and abroad. PLT **helps students learn how to think, not what to think**, about the environment.
 * A Proven Winner!**
 * PLT meets state and national education standards**. The curriculum materials provide the tools educators need to bring the environment into the classroom and their students into the environment. Topics range from forests, wildlife, and water, to community planning, waste management and energy.

May 21, 2007 Time, is, of course, of the essence. The [|clock] ticks away the seconds as yet another school year rapidly comes to an end for summer-hungry learners. I’ve encountered more than a few educators who are still nervous about helping students understand [|elapsed time]. That’s okay because telling time is an essential skill. I wonder what you and your students will think about the [|polar clock]?
 * A Perfect Item for the "Got a minute?" Page!**

May 18, 2007 //“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”// Alvin Toffler I love that quote, and have often seen it used in discussions about 21st Century learning & change. For anyone who's not really familiar with Toffler, though a quick check on [|Wikipedia] will turn up a bit of information. Recently, [|Edutopia] magazine had an [|interview with the venerable futurist] in which the interviewer asked “What’s the most pressing need in public education right now?” Toffler’s answer: “Shut down the public education system.” Ok, that’s radical. Naturally, I kept reading to see what this crazy guy really meant. As it turns out, he has some truly amazing things to say (and has written several books on those ideas). I encourage you to take a moment and read the article - it’s online and free, click on the image or link above. Keep in mind that Toffler is looking at a Utopian society, at what could be possible. Try not to let grim reality kill the ideas he presents, because we will never truly have vision if we limit our thoughts only to what is impossible now. Or, as Toffler puts it, //“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.//"
 * The Future's Not What It Used To Be**

May 16, 2007 [|Panoramio] is a photo hosting service, much like [|Flickr] or [|Webshots], but it does something a little more - it lets you map your photos. Upload a photo, then tell them where it was taken, (you can even zoom into the exact spot on a map or use coordinates) and your photos will then appear on a map. You can then send friends a link to the map or embed it into your website. The best photos will be submitted to Google and become a layer in Google Earth for the **whole world** to enjoy! If you want to see some example photos, visit their website, or start up Google Earth and make sure your layer is activated by checking the box. It’s under the Geographic Web section.
 * Panoramio = your photos on the map**

May 14, 2007 Interested in helping your students develop a deeper appreciation for sound, music notation, and musical instruments? If so, direct them to [|Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures] where they can enjoy great music and a series of interactive resources. Musically speaking, it rocks! //**Perhaps they'll wonder**// what the connection is between [|English/Language Arts and Music], or between [|Math and Music] (Pythagoras, you say?)!
 * A Little Interdisciplinary Culture**

May 10, 2007 [|Wikipedia] has been the target of a lot of criticism and suspicion from educators. They claim that it’s unreliable, reckless, easily vandalized, and a collection of junk information written by amateurs. This has been discussed before, and Wikipedia was even stacked against Encyclopedia Britannica in a study conducted by the British journal, Nature. [|The results were pretty favorable], as Wikipedia has only slightly more errors than Encyclopedia Britannica, but many more articles that are, on average, 2.6 times longer, and carries a price tag of $0.00. Still, folks don’t seem to believe in the power of massive social networking or open-source collaboration. Here’s an idea: If skeptics would take just **2** minutes to visit Wikipedia and search for something they know a lot about, they might be pleasantly surprised. Head over to [|Wikipedia] and search for something you are an expert in and see if the entry is up to **your** standards. Try it. Really, I’ll wait…. Well? Did you spot any outrageous errors, spam, or nonsense? Chances are, you didn’t. Recently, the Denver Post **[|ran its own study]** with a similar approach. It took five experts in their fields to review the Wikipedia entries on Islam, Bill Clinton, global warming, China and evolution. Four out of the five found that their relevant Wikipedia entries are accurate, informative, comprehensive and a great resource for students or casual learners. The fifth scholar called his chosen entry “not very good,” found some details to be inaccurate by omission, and said similar entries in more accepted encyclopedias like Encarta do their job better.
 * Wikipedia - maybe not as bad as you thought!**

May 8, 2007 Give those young minds you work with a chance to grapple with a puzzling question? It’s good for their gray matter. Give students a question that’s hard, if not impossible, to answer (for example: //Was Tyrannosaurus Rex a scavenger or a predator?//) and allow them to integrate a little technology (say, for instance, [|Intel’s Thinking Tools]) as they explore viewpoints surrounding possible answers. The [|Question Mark] has an excellent series of [|essential questions] that are guaranteed to generate higher level thinking.
 * Here's One To Sink Your Teeth/Mind Into!**

May 7, 2007 We all know that hypertext makes using language much more robust. By clicking on a hypertext word we can access the resource that’s linked to a word whether it’s an image, sound, movie, application, text file, or website. But what if we could designate the type of resource we wanted to be linked to a hypertext word? That’s what the [|Hyperwords Project] offers users. By selecting any word, users may choose they type of hypertext link they want to attribute to a word, linking the chosen text to reference material, search resources, email, conversion, translation and much more. Pretty slick indeed!
 * What's in a click?**
 * NOTE**: //Presently, the project only works with the Firefox browser, but they're working to expand it.//

May 1, 2007 On this day in [|1952], the [|Anne Frank’s autobiographical works were published in English for the first time]. Considered [|a resounding voice for the irrepressible human dignity of our species] and clearly one of [|the most influential 100 people] of the 20th Century, Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank walked this weary earth for all too short a time. Anne was less than seventeen years old before she penned notes about her daily experiences and philosophy. She succumbed to [|typhus] while imprisoned in the [|Bergin-Belsen Concentration Camp]. Though students can use technology to get a better understanding of [|autobiographies], the power of writing, and Frank’s life by visiting web-based resources such as the most powerful lesson they can learn from her is that even in the midst of cultural chaos, incomprehensible brutality, and fear is that **//there is still hope that we can change for the better//**. How important are her ideals? True, they won’t be assessed on any standardized test. However, we’d better hope that our students–and all of us–learn about her beliefs anyway and take them to heart.
 * On This Day In History**
 * [|The Anne Frank Center (USA)]
 * [|The Anne Frank Foundation]
 * [|The Anne Frank House Website]

April 30, 2007 Those are two powerful words! A good dose of curiosity mixed with a healthy serving of imagination and a dash of instructional technology does wonders for learning. Take Science for instance. Students might be a little more interested in the content they’re expected to understand if they examined the way Science often converts [|a fantastic idea] into [|current reality]. For excellent examples of far-fetched concepts that came true, integrate technology and explore the power of //**what if**// by surfing over to [|Technolvelgy], where [|science] meets [|science-fiction]. Take some time to examine [|ideas about what the future will hold for us].
 * The Power of "What if..."**

April 27, 2007 The [|NGAkids Art Zone] is so rich and that you'll be telling friends, family and colleagues all about it. When combined with [|innovative approaches to education] and interactive whiteboards like those produced by [|Promethean], [|Polyvision] and [|SMARTBoard], the sky's the limit. In addition to the excellent online resources available at the [|National Gallery of Art] is the institution’s [|NGA Classroom] (complete with [|featured lessons]) and its [|Art Loan Program].
 * Explore your inner artist**

April 26, 2007 Here's a site that tells the [|history of math symbols]. If I recall correctly,after a brief read-through, the right parenthesis was first used for division. If nothing else, it might provide some "extra credit" items for the end of a quiz.
 * The History of Math Symbols**

April 25, 2007 [|GeoGreeting] allows users to spell words, phrases or sentences (up to 40 characters) that the site then spells out using buildings from all corners of the globe. [|Imagine the challenges] of having a message with the most continents represented or using buildings all in one state, etc. This //just-for-fun// site might be a whole lot more! Beam us up, Scotty.
 * No Crop Circles, but //messages from Earth// just the same.**

April 24, 2007 Lest you get caught in that do-as-I-say trap, here's a resource for the harried readers among us - [|DailyLit]. Here's how it works: sign up at [|DailyLit] (it's FREE) and this innovative service will e-mail you small portions of great literature works. In just a few minutes a day you'll be consuming [|classics]. Who knows, it might even catch on with your students!
 * DailyLit -** bite-sized chunks of great literature

April 23, 2007 If you're using the [|Firefox] web browser, take a look at FireDoodle ([|http://firedoodle.com).] This [|Firefox] add-on makes it possible for you to annotate webpages. That way, you can have interactive whiteboard capablities while surfing the web without actually using an interactive whiteboard. Oh, and it’s **__free__**! When you go to the [|Firedoodle] web site, download the add-on, register (to activate all the features of Firedoodle) and spend 4:37 watching the online tutorial and you'll be firedoodling in no time. **Please note: [|Firedoodle] is only available for the [|Firefox] browser**.
 * Web Site "Whiteboard" for Firefox**

April 20, 2007 The NEBO School district has an online library of [|PowerPoint slide shows] **ready for use** in virtually every discipline. The resources are categorized for quick access ([|General], [|Elementary], [|Secondary], [|Teacher & Classroom Spotlights]) and there are more being added regularly. Some are ready to use as-is and all can be customized as needed. Check it out.
 * Need a PowerPoint?**

April 19, 2007 Try [|Clusty] as an alternative to Google. The strength of the Clusty search engine is that the results of your search are clustered by relevant categories. For example: a search on "sleep disorders" returns 4,199,000 results, but in addition to that, it "clusters" those results (see the left navigation bar of the Clusty page) into categories such as Insomnia, Narcolepsy, Sleep Centers, Dianosis, Sleep Medicines, etc. thereby yielding a more targeted listing of available resources.
 * [[image:Clusty_Screen_shot.jpg width="165" height="267"]]All Googled out?**

April 17, 2007 Although [|Newseum] is not new it’s definitely worth exploring. This site is a must-see repository of information from all parts of the globe. With access to nearly 500 frontpage images of newspapers from almost fifty countries, the [|Newseum] is an excellent way for Social Studies teachers and other educators to follow current events and see issues from multiple perspectives. In a similar vein, [|//TIME//’s photo essays site] is a powerful means of using the visual impact of information.
 * Been to the //Newseum// Lately?**

April 12, 2007 Do you ever find yourself in need of bubblesheets for test practice. Go to [|catpin] and you can generate bubblesheets to meet your individual needs.
 * Bubblesheet Generator**

April 10, 2007 Got an empty space on your classroom wall that’s just crying out for an image? Capture your students’ attention with an eye-grabbing graphic that embodies your content area. Drop by [|Block Posters], follow the simple directions, and you’ll have an amazing instructional focal point in no time. Better yet, consider having your students use an open source graphics resource such as [|GIMPshop], to create murals that capture the essence of ideas being explored in your classroom. Afterwards, use Block Posters to generate instructional statements that highlight the ideas.
 * Posters anyone?**