Internet Research - a 5th Grade homework assignment

5th graders,

When using the internet to research information I think it is important to keep Abraham Lincoln in mind....

Chrome's multiple users update

Yesterday Google updated Chrome.

One of the best features of Chrome is the ability to multiple Google accounts logged in simultaneously (previous tutorial post here)

The feature is still there, Google just tweaked the visual...


You no longer see the icons like this:

It now looks like this:

iMovies on paper with Aurasma

One of my pet peeves is the traditional bulletin board. As a technology teacher I feel the traditional paper stapled to cork board is counter intuitive to what students do in the lab.

Paper bulletin board are fine for certain things, but if students are creating animations or layered presentations or movies how do you do their work justice by printing a still image and putting it on a board. How do you honor and celebrate their work beyond simply unloading to YouTube or blogging about it? How do you showcase their work in the hallway without losing any of their awesome?

Augmented reality.

Toy Hacking Workshop

Toy Hacking Workshop

Have you ever played with a Transformer?  The folks who designed that line of toys were geniuses!  Create one toy that actually becomes another toy entirely – so clever.  What would you create if you were a toy designer? 

Ms. Y and I designed a workshop titled, Toymakers and Tinkerers 101.  The goal is for the children to create a new toy entirely.  They are taking apart old toys and turning them into new creations. When kids learn how to make their own toys or inventions it leads to a shift from being a consumer of technology to a creator of technology.  This is an empowering process!

As the children delve into the take-apart sessions of this workshop, we have begun discussions around PARTS and PURPOSES.  They are examining gears, axels, levers, switches and circuits to see how the different parts of a toy actually work together to create the one thing that children love to play with.  What makes the car move forwards and back? What makes the action figure speak? What materials are used to amplify sound? How does the battery make the truck move? These are only a few of the questions that the 5^th graders are asking and answering while problem solving, iterating and creating.