ThinkQuest is a protected, online learning platform that enables teachers to integrate learning projects into their classroom curriculum and students to develop 21st century skills.
It includes:
* ThinkQuest Projects (formerly Think.com): A project environment where teachers and students engage in collaborative learning
* ThinkQuest Competition: A competition space where students participate in technology contests
* ThinkQuest Library: The world’s largest online repository of student-developed learning projects, visited by millions of web learners each month
* ThinkQuest Professional Development: A comprehensive training offering for educators
The Oracle Education Foundation (OEF) provides ThinkQuest as a free service to K-12 schools globally. No advertising or spam is allowed.
I love the idea of using blogs and wikis to teach the writing process. Not only can students leave comments on each others work, it really does get published in the final step of the process for all to see.
Teaching students about published good work is great. Actually applying it in today’s technological world is excellent. Parents can even be set up as guests so they can read the material (at home!), but not comment.
Have you used wikis / blogs in your classroom? Did it work well? Would you make any changes? Please comment.
Well, it arrived yesterday. Apparently customs held it for a while to determine the strange contents. I have to agree, a marker with a light on one end and a battery on the other, with a switch, does look suspicious. Whatever the case, my old useless Pentium 3 computer is now a touch screen! As previously mentioned, using a Wiimote, bluetooth and infrared light, you can control the mouse on your computer.
Today and tomorrow, my computer club will project the computer image onto the wall and test the accuracy of the IR pen and Wiimote to determine the feasibility of making a homemade interactive whiteboard.
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend (with 9 students) a Computer Science workshop at a nearby high school. The topic was re-creating the classic Super Mario Bros. video game using the software Scratch provided by MIT. This program is so simple to use. You click and drag code snippets and apply them to objects on the screen. By the end of the day, my grade 7 students had created a Mario Bros. level where Mario runs in both directions, jumps and collects coins. It even had sound! I honestly had never heard of Scratch but can see its potential for Computer Science students at the intermediate level.
Since the code snippets are built it, you will never have a syntax error, as far aas I could tell. Logical errors still exist (infitie loops, conditions never true or false) so you could develop some mighty fine problem solvers in your students.
It also has a paint program built in for creating game backgrounds and characters.
I highly recommend this program. The level of interest was incredibly high and it is very simple to use, with practice. Why not have groups of students developing small video games in the computer lab. You can import artwork as well as create it in the program. My computer club will definately be taking on a project before the year ends.
Windows Movie Maker is a free (comes with XP and Vista) program to allow you to make homemade videos and DVDs.
While driving this morning I heard a Twitter song to the tune of Let it Be by The Beatles. Almost immediately I was connected with Movie Maker.
Why not have students rewrite lyrics to a song explaining / persuading a topic (explanation / persuasive writing) and create a music video (drama / media / la / art mark).
You’ll see from this video that I’m not the only one creating educational movies!
Well, some of our school computers were recently updated. We now have Windows XP running under Novell.
I was especially excited to find a Windows Movie Maker icon on my Novell desktop. A new writing plan has been implemented in our area with expectations of mass cross curricular activities. I decided to have my grade three students complete a weather report in French for their report component of this new framework.
To begin I had students draw and colour a weathery scene based on a given season. I then recorded them (audio only) reading a simple french weather phrase (Oral French mark in grade 3) using a dollar store microphone.
You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was conscious of the recording sessions and respectful of the background noise.
To finish the project, i purchased DVDs and DVD cases, burned them all a copy of the finished movie, with a menu, and conducted a red carpet event in which we all signed each others discs.
If you have an opportunity to use movie maker (i demonstrated it on the SMARTBoard), I would suggest it. Easily cross-curricular and there are a few royalty free music sites kicking around the internet.
You can even use SMART Recorder to record teacher tube videos – or even Google Earth zooming in on a specific country – and import the clip into movie maker.
Well, who knew you could make your own interactive whiteboard for under $100! Thanks to one Johnny Lee, you can turn your laptop into a touch screen, or even manipulate your desktop through a projected image on the wall! How? By using the Wiimote and some infrared light.
Ever wondered why there is a sensor bar for the Wiimote? It certainly doesn’t detect the motion of the Wiimote. Instead it projects IR light which is detected by an advanced camera in the end of the Wiimote.
My computer club and I have successfully connected a Wiimote to a laptop through bluetooth. Using the computer app GlovePIE, you can run scripts which gives you computer control through the Wiimote.
Useful in the classroom? I can see myself using Johnny Lee’s app in the gym, where there is no SMARTBoard, especially for top secret sports plays. Other than that, I would use the Wiimote to advance my SMART Notebook slides from the back of the room, allowing me some freedom to move about the room and not stay beside the SMARTBoard clicking “Next” every few minutes. Also useful (and just plain fun) with Google Earth and simple paint programs. (getpaint.net)
Hello world is right! Every computer science course I ever took used “Hello World” as sample output when debugging code. If “Hello World” was printed on the screen, your program worked. I was always so happy to see those two little words after hours and hours of pulling my hair out over the smallest syntax or logical error. Hence, the first title to the first post of whatever this site is to become.
