Class Presentations

I really liked the class presentations today in terms of content and the way they were presented. Michael presented on coding and gave us resources to use to teach kids coding in classrooms including resources to teach coding without computers. I think kids would really buy in to these programs. I liked how these resources gave us unit plans, lesson plans, breakdowns, questions to give to kids, common misconceptions. These programs are really the foundations to teach kids how coding works and the computation thinking that is needed.

Outdoor Education and Technology

Apps

iNaturalist

  • Developed in 2008. Useful in ID-ing plans and animals. Upload photos and record observations.
  • Get help with identifications
  • Collaborate with others to collect information
  • FREE

BioBlitz

  • similar to iNaturalist.

Seek

  • Same idea as iNaturalist. But more user friendly.

iTrack wildlife

  • For identifying animal tracks. Very user friendly
  • Cost

Merlin

  • For bird identification. Will give you info about the bird, bird sounds, and where bird is fun. Fun interactive games on their website
  • Live webcams
  • FREE

Marine Debris Tracker

  • For

Seaweed sorter

  • Identifying seaweed. Seaweed is really hard to identify!

Peak Finder

  • This app identifies the names of peaks around you
  • Simply hold up your smartphone camera and your screen will label the peaks
  • This can be useful for taking students on outdoor trips as well as orientation
  • Cost

Peak Visor

  • Similar to Peak finder but its free. Less bells and whistles.

Globe Observer

  • Data collection for weather, mosquitos, tree height and land cover
  • Have to make an account to use it
  • Great for older grads

NASA app

  • Amazing pictures from space
  • Simple but full of amazing content
  • Contains detailed information about the galaxy, solar system and NASA
  • Access to live streaming

Skype a Scientist

  • skypeascientist.com
  • Skype from your classroom to an actual scientist
  • 100s of scientists to choose from
  • Just create an account and contact the scientist yourself.
  • There are also resources on their website to do with your class before you skype with the scientist
  • youtube.com/skypeascientist

 

Language and Communication technologies

2 Communication Obstacles

Language – ELL learners, immigrants

Learning Impairments

 

Technology Ideas for Language Learners

Google Translate

WT2 Translator – wireless headphones that offer instant translation in real time

 

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAc)

Touch-chat: Students start with basic word stem then they are prompted to continue down the path for the rest of the sentence. $400

Re-wordify.com

 

Teacher to Student Communication

Using imovie for social or behavioural stories

Daily schedule of the day for students to reduce anxiety about whats to come next

 

Digital Storytelling

3 Types

  • Historical Stories
  • Personal stories
  • Instructional stories

7 Elements of Digital Storytelling

  1. point of view – what is the purpose of the story?
  2. Dramatic question – a key question that holds the viewer until the end
  3. Emotional content
  4. Voice – record voice narrative to help the meaning of visual content
  5. Soundtrack
  6. Economy – picture tells 1000 words
  7. Pacing

Programs to look at

  • iMovie
  • Google slides/screencastify
  • Animoto.com
  • PowerPointa

Apps worth a look

  • Comic life – quick way to get kids to make visually appealing comics
  • Imagine forest – free. Focus on storytelling. Literary devices and how to integrate
  • Speech Journal – great for personal narratives. Music overlays. Simple, $3.99

Tips

  • Use storyboards to plan out
  • Set clear criteria about what elements of digital stories to include
  • Slowly scaffold learning around apps with repeated practice sessions over time
  • Allow personal creativity and inquiry

 

Using Video in your Classroom

Some strategies to bridge learning by using Videos

  • Big Question to spur thinking and keep them critically engaged with what you’re showing. Critiquing what they’re viewing
  • Multiple viewings – start and stop to spur ideas
  • Keep it short
  • Break it up – for longer videos break it up
  • Use a 3rd party tools like

– edpuzzle, flipgrid

 

Coding Presentation by Michael

Based on logical thinking – if this__ then that___

Coding Resources Connected to BC Curriculum – CodeBC

www.Hourofcode.com

 

  • Scratch Program – putting pieces of code together. Simple, basic for students.
  • Code Monkey – for very young learners. 4-6 year olds
  • Glitch – for creating web apps
  • https://csunplugged.org Computer Science without computers

 

Scratch 

Block-based visual programming language and online community targeted primarily at children

ScratchJr (on iPads) 

Scratch designed for younger children – targeting ages 5–7

CodeMonkey (on iPads) 

Teaches preschoolers computational thinking skills and the basics of coding through the use of blocks

Glitch  

A web page design toolkit that shows learners how webpages are created

 

Grasshopper Learn to Code (on iPads)

A coding app for beginners designed by Google.

 

Computer Science Unplugged 

CS Unplugged is a collection of free teaching material that teaches Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around.