When curiosity is sparked... deep cycles of learning can occur.

3-Bullet Thursday [Templates! Templates! Templates!]

10/4/2018

I hope you enjoy the below three templates that have, and continue to, completely empower my teaching practice.

Looking for a 5E lesson planning template that also addresses the Next Generation Science Standards? Click here for a template.
Interested in using medical diagnosis as a curiosity spark in biology? Click here for a template. Click here for a student example.
Do your students constantly create bad presentations? Click here for a rubric template that leverages a comical approach to teaching presentation skills.

3-Bullet Thursday [Google Expeditions. Chrome Music. Student EdCamps]

9/27/2018

My top three strategies, ideas, or tools of the week!

Looking for a tangible application for leveraging VR in the classroom? Recently our school acquired a classroom set of Google Cardboard VR goggles via a generous donation from an former student. I have been struggling to find classroom applications until I came across Google Expeditions, an immersive platform that lets you go on VR trips to historical landmarks, go down to the atomic level, get up close with sharks, and even visit outer space! My head is spinning with applications for exploring the atom in chemistry, cells in biology, and so much more yet to discover. Check it out!

Interested in a SWEET chrome experiment designed to help students interact and invent with music? Check out Chrome Music Lab. This chrome experiment even features its own Song Maker, allowing to create and share your own music. My mind is spinning with all the invention possibilities, especially when interfacing this chrome experiment with the MakeyMakey when facilitating summer science camp.

[warning...repeat bullet!] Curious about training students to facilitate Professional Development for other students AND EVEN teachers? Student-Driven EdCamps might be an easy way in the door. To be honest, I am not sure when, or if, I would begin to implement something like this at my school site, but it does represent a solid protocol for empowering student-student and student-teacher collaboration via an informal model that has proven successful at empowering teachers. I keep coming back to this article and musing over its potential and possible variants.

3-Bullet Thursday [Email Templates. Curiosity. Modeling Evolution]

9/6/2018

My top three strategies, ideas, or tools of the week!

Do you send a similar type of email to students, parents or colleagues constantly? Click here to learn more about creating "Canned Response" email templates. Canned Responses is a Gmail feature allowing users to create and save multiple email templates in their inbox.

Curious about Curiosity? Click here for an excellent recent review of the research literature on Curiosity in The Atlantic featuring the work of Wiliams College Professor Susan Engel, best known for her lecture: The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity

Interesting in bringing STEM to your life science class? In my 9th grade Biology class last year we leveraged the Lego Mindstorm system to conduct an Evolution simulation. Students play three rounds of Robot Sumo which model three generations of reproduction. During each round resources are removed and students are challenged to reconstruct their robots to leverage the structures of the winners from the previous generation. "Limited Resources" of legos, code "gene mutations" were a few of the techniques used to model the process.

3-Bullet Thursday [Hacking Homework. Coding a Calculator. The Mudwatt!]

8/30/2018

My top three strategies, ideas, or tools of the week!

Looking for a more meaningful way to "check" homework science or math class? Instead of circulating the room, give students a 1-question quiz with a problem similar to those assigned for homework. Here's the hack: Project the question have students answer on a notecard. Question on one side, answer on the other. Grade quickly and return. By then end of the unit, homework quizzes become subject specific flashcards!

Are you a math or science teacher looking for a simple way to integrate programing into your curriculum? Rather than leveraging store bought calculators, challenge your students, to "Code a Calculator" by using simple block based coding languages such as Scratch or Blockly. Click here for an excellent tutorial using Scratch. Simpler applications include coding a "Tip Calculator" are shown here.

Interested in a simple way to bring STEM to the life sciences at any grade level? Check out the Mudwatt. The Mudwatt is a system that allows students to build a fuel cell that runs on muddy microbes. The affordable cell offers a long-term experimental platform for learning about microbiology, decomposition, nutrient cycling, soil chemistry, biochemistry, and electrical engineering. Click here for a video with additional information.

3-Bullet Thursday [Microbits. The War of Art. Video Feedback]

8/2/2018

My top three strategies, ideas, or tools of the week!

Interested in learning more about an incredible STEM device (and flexible programming interface) to help transform young learners into inventors? Click here and here to learn more about the "Microbit". Click here to see pictures of the Microbit in action during my recent Arduino summer camp (click here for our camp handbook).

Find yourself in a lesson planning rut and looking for a way to better understand the "resistance" that may impeding your idea generation. Click here to learn more about an incredible book by Stephen Pressfield titled "The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battles".

Looking to provide more tailored, interactive, and efficient feedback for students after completing an assignment or quiz? Check out a new Google Forms feature I have been waiting YEARS FOR: EMBEDDED video feedback for incorrect answers. Click here to learn more.

If you found the information in this message useful to your practice, I invite you to learn more about becoming a site member. Monthly membership includes, but is not limited to, frequent distributions of detailed online video courses, lesson plans, teaching websites, curricular resources, and access to webinars exploring the world of curiosity, inquiry, and technology in the classroom. Additionally, you can find a copy of my new book, "Spark Learning: 3 Keys to Embracing the Power of Student Curiosity", by clicking here.

<<Previous

When curiosity is sparked...

deep cycles of learning can occur.

3-Bullet Thursday [Templates! Templates! Templates!]

3-Bullet Thursday [Google Expeditions. Chrome Music. Student EdCamps]

3-Bullet Thursday [Email Templates. Curiosity. Modeling Evolution]

3-Bullet Thursday [Hacking Homework. Coding a Calculator. The Mudwatt!]

3-Bullet Thursday [Microbits. The War of Art. Video Feedback]

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