Rivalry

This is too cool not to share. First, besides the fact that this is in good fun and about a football rivalry, the key here is to recognize that a group of students designed, wrote, filmed and edited this piece. The quality is what is most impressive and this proves yet again what students are capable of if we just let them try. Enjoy!

Minecraft

This is a tricky one. I have students currently using the program on a current project and I've had one other use it for a previous project. My hesitation comes from how easy it is to get distracted while exploring the world. It can certainly be used to create something very cool, but I've also seen first hand how distracting it can be for students.

In any case, the verdict is still out for me, but for those who are interested this is a great program that allows students to literally build entire worlds. Given, they are very pixelated worlds, but the freedom to create and destroy lends itself to social studies and language arts projects.

Give it a look see and decide for yourself! http://www.minecraft.net/

Create-A-Game

This may not be at the top of the educational 'needs' pile, but I can see this program being used to engage students and shepherd them into some very nice synthesis of their learning.

I'm new to this program, but it appears to have some very nifty features: Thinking Worlds.

The site has a free version, and of course a pay version. The free version is enough to create simple simulations and games though. I can see this being used to create games that reflect the learning of a student in almost any subject area. If someone who sees this decides to try it out, please let me know what you think and how it came together for you and your students. In the meantime, I'll introduce it to some of my project-based learning students to see what they can do with it.

Happy educational gaming!

Simply Awesome - ScreenCast!

If you're a teacher, you know how miserable it can be to get your PowerPoints and information online for students viewing. There are a ton of programs, that's hyperbole folks, out there to use, but I've recently become most impressed with ScreenCast. Check out the site for yourself!

It essentially allows you 'Jing' your lessons easily and puts them in one nice location for your students access whenever they'd like. It's easy to use and honestly doesn't take much time to master. Very worth your time if you want to prepare for possibly missing any class days or of course for your students who might miss class.

You get to two gigs of space free. After that, they have pricing plans; still, two gigs actually does a long way on this site as .swf files don't take up much space at all.

Happy casting!

Where My Science Teachers At?!

Today's entry is dedicated to my chemistry and science friends. This is a site I've known about for a while, but I share it now as it is a great resource for chemistry students, teachers, and other sciences.

It's called the Molecular Workbench. Check it out here.

It contains demonstrations and interactive models to SHOW how science works at the molecular level. Very cool stuff.

Enjoy!