Twitter
The value of Twitter for helping you and your colleagues stay informed of the latest trends, ideas, resources, and Web 2.0 integration tools has increased tremendously in the past year.
A Web 2.0 tool is available for exploiting the every growing information on Twitter to remove barriers and allow you to collaborate with other science and math teachers. This new online tool is paper.li – a source of daily Twitter newsletters in education.
This web site offers hundreds of newsletters which provide a summary of ideas, tips, and resources other educators are tweeting about in the previous 24 hours. The daily newsletters are based on hash tags educators to organize their information in categories for you and other teachers.
Web 2.0 Daily Newsletters
The following are a selection of paper.li daily newsletters which are of prime interest for science and math teachers of all levels.
- edtech Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts which concern the integration of technology in teaching and learning. This newspaper also provides a summary of posts under the #edchat hash tag in which teachers discuss issues, share tips, and resources regarding technology integration.
- elemchat Daily – a summary and links to article and blog posts concerning issues, tips, ideas, and resources for elementary teachers.
- mathchat Daily – a summary of discussions, articles, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning math.
- scichat Daily – a summary of discussions, articles, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning science.
- teachingscienceandmath – summary of tips, resources, discussions, and blog posts regarding teaching and learning science and math, along with technology integration.
- education Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts concerning current education trends and issues.
- edtech Daily – provides a summary and links to articles and blog posts which concern the integration of technology in teaching and learning. This newspaper also provides a summary of posts under the #edchat hash tag in which teachers discuss issues, share tips, and resources regarding technology integration.
Each daily newspaper provides an “alert me” button which allows you to enter your e-mail address to receive an a message informing you the newspaper was just updated with the latest news, stories, blogs, and discussions related to its topic in the last 24 hours.
These daily Twitter newsletters are ideal for every teacher who wants to take advantage of this powerful Web 2.0 tool and do not have the time to scan through all the tweets of the people you are following.
iPod Touch
As a mobile learning device, the iPod Touch encourages learning anytime, anywhere! Applications available for this digital device support and encourage students to develop a greater understanding of math concepts through the lens of personalized learning.
The value of an iPod Touch as a mobile learning device is its ability to transform student learning behavior. According to research by K-Nect Project (2009), students using this digital device achieved higher test scores. This was attributed to more interactivity between students, teachers, and content.
Digital Math Applications
All of the following digital math applications for the iPod Touch are free.
TouchCalc – the scientific mode in this application offers all the usual functions and operations such as basic arithmetical operations, power, logarithm, roots, trigonometry etc. In the statistics mode students can calculate mean, median, quantil values, variance, standard deviation, range etc (Grades 6 – 12).
BrainPop – students learn something different every day with the free BrainPOP Featured Movie App. After watching BrainPOP’s daily animated movie, they can test their new knowledge with an interactive quiz (Grades 1 – 8).
GraphBook – is a collection of 2D, 3D, and 4D interactive graphing examples. Students can move, pinch, and rotate graphs and fractals in real-time (Grades 8 – 12).
TanGram XL – is the version of popular Tangram. The pieces are handled naturally as students use their fingers to move them or turn them both at once (Grades 5 – 10).
Cash Cow Lite – the objective is simple: students earn money by counting their loose change. Small coins make big coins, and big coins make dollar bills. Things get trickier when they encounter counterfeit money, gold nuggets, and glowing coins (Grades 1 – 5).
Egberta’s Equations – Egberta is a macaw with a nest full of eggs that Cliff the climber wants to eat. Unfortunately, the eggs are on top of a tall cliff. Students help Cliff reach the top and get the eggs by completing equations (Grades K -5).
Math Ref – a free version of the math reference application, Math Ref. This app gives students over 600 helpful formulas, figures, tips, and examples (Grades 9 – 12).
Equation Creator Description – students help finishing equations. They create the equations from any of the available number or operator tiles to form any correct equation. They practice using the four basic mathematical operators with several different settings and modes (Grades 1 – 8).
Number Line – an app which helps students learn fractions, decimals, and percents by ordering equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents on a number line. The Number Line app features multiple levels where the student must drag circles with either a percent, decimal or fraction onto a number line in the correct sequence (Grades 3 – 9).
TriFecta – the object of this problem solving game is to get rid of all three layers of tiles. Students tap the screen to roll the dice, then they choose up to three tiles so that the sum of the tiles is the same as the dice total (Grades 1 – 5).
Math Drills Lite - allows a single student to learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Explore solutions to problems using number lines, wooden blocks, facts and hints (Grades 3 – 5).
iChoose – is the little metal button that knows your mind. Use the Yes/No, Coin Toss, Dice Roll and Card Choice to explore probabilities (Grades 6 – 12).
iPod Touch
As a mobile learning device, the iPod Touch encourages learning anytime, anywhere! These mobile devices do not tie students to their desks or the classroom; they bring the world into the classroom through the lens of personalized learning.
The value of an iPod Touch as a mobile learning device is its ability to transform student learning behavior. According to research by K-Nect Project (2009), students using this digital device achieved higher test scores. This was attributed to more interactivity between students, teachers, and content.
Digital Science Applications
The follow are 12 free digital applications for teaching and learning science, which will engage students and improve their understanding of science content. All are available through iTunes.
Distant Suns (Lite) – astronomy using database of thousands of stars, nebula and galaxies, Distant Suns has earned the reputation of both having one of the most realistic displays of the night sky.
Particle Zoo - get to know the particles which make up our universe.
Science House – science experiments using 2 to 3 minute videos to demonstrate the steps of simple science experiments. The experiments are designed to engage students at all grade levels, with very little set-up time and using only low cost materials.
BrainPop – students learn something different each day with this App. After watching a daily animated movie, students can test their new knowledge with an interactive quiz (includes subjects other than science).
Mitosis – this app guides students through the process of cell division and explains everything as it happens. Students can guide cells through the mitosis process with their fingers, learning what happens in each phase of the process. Students can also look at images of actual cells dividing under a microscope and see the actual structures you’ve studied.
Google Earth – students fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. They can explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass.
Molecules – students can use this application to view three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulating them using your fingers. They can rotate the molecules by moving your finger across the display, zoom in or out by using two-finger pinch gestures, or pan the molecule by moving two fingers across the screen at once.
Weather Bug –provides students access to the largest network of professional weather stations in the US and thousands of locations around the world.
The Chemical Touch (Lite) – consists of a simplified version of the periodic table display. It puts the masses, densities, melting & boiling points, radii, and electronegativities of the elements right at your fingertips.
StoryKit – offers students the ability to use digital storytelling to explain concepts, investigations, and research.Flickr – students can search for images on Flickr related to projects and investigations. Clouds 365 – students can view use this application to view patterns and beauty of the clouds that envelop us every single day.
