Cross Posted on TechPsych: Classroom 2.0 - Social Networking and Resources for Educators

Classroom 2.0 is a good resource for educators who would like to keep up with the fast pace of technology. If you work with digital natives, you know how difficult it can be to keep one step ahead of the game! Classroom 2.0 provides forums, Wikkis, and resources on a variety of topics and the content is maintained by members of the network, which at the last count was at 3998.

From the Classroom 2.0 website

"The social network for educators using collaborative technologies!"

"Welcome to Classroom20.com, the social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. We especially hope that those who are "beginners" will find this a supportive community and a comfortable place to start being part of the digital dialog. Feel free to explore!"

Cross Post: Children of the Code

I came across the Children of the Code website today and thought I'd share it- if you are familiar with Children of the Code project, please leave a comment, since I haven't yet explored the entire site.

Childrenof thecode.org is an on-line multi-media resource that is part of a public/social education project to that aims to spread information and education about "The Code and the Challenge of Learning to Read it"

The project has four main components:

1. A three hour Public Television, DVD and Web documentary series;
2. A ten-hour college, university, and professional development DVD series;
3. A series of teacher and parent presentations and seminars;
4. A cross-indexed website/database containing audio, video and transcripts with the world's leading experts in fields related to reading.

The website includes over 100 interviews of people from a wide range of disciplines who are committed to promotion of health, education, and well-being of children, youth, and in turn, communities and society.

Here is the project's abstract:

"Abstract: Our children's cognitive and emotional development, self-esteem, academic, and later social and economic success, all depend on how well they learn - on the health of their learning. Whether we are involved in parenting, teaching, cognitive science, psychology, pedagogy, curriculum design, instructional design, direct instruction, constructivism, assessment, multiple intelligences, learning styles, learning differences, learning disabilities, learning theory, learning communities, organizational learning, preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, home school, unschooling, college, university... we all share the responsibility of stewarding the health of our children's learning."


I'd recommend starting with the on-line video tour of the project:
http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/index.htm

The following is a quote from an interview with David Boulton, the director of the Children of the Code project:

"The mission of the Children of the Code project is to catalyze and resource a transformation in how our society thinks about the "code" of our written language and the "challenges involved in learning to read it.". I think we're living in the "Stone Age of Literacy." Our lack of understanding of what is involved and what is at stake in acquiring literacy is wreaking havoc on the lives of our population, including children"

"..the first think I hope i that it (the project) changes the mental lens through which parents and teachers see struggling learners. I want them to see someone who is struggling as somebody who is struggling with an artificially confusing technology (written language) and somebody who is in significant emotional and cognitive danger.

"What I hope is that people realize that if children and adults struggle too long with the process of acquiring literacy, it can seriously affect how they develop and grow and learn. Struggling to read causes many, many people to grow up feeling ashamed of their mind.."

Links to the list of some of the interviews of "name" researchers and educators are posted on the TechPsych blog, or you can visit the site's interview list.

Interesting link to an NYU course's journal: Representation & Interaction Design

If you are searching for great information about multimedia interaction design, the Representation and Interaction Design Journal is a great resource. It was developed for students taking a course of the same name at NYU.

Posted topics include multimedia theories about information design, definitions, defining interactivity, information design and emotions, informaton design: language and semiotics, cognition/theoretical framework, media specific interaction design, and more.

Some of the "names" include Schneiderman & Plaisant, Betrancourt, Dan Saffer, and Shedroff.

If you are interested in these topics, I've listed a few books and on-line resources that might be helpful:

The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2005), Richard E. Mayer, Ed.
Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices (2006), Dan Saffer
Digital Multimedia Perception and Design (2006), Sherry Y. Chen & Gheorghita Ghinea
Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age (online)
Edutopia (online)
Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality (online)
Book Randall Parker & Ken Jordan

Virtual Field Trips and Interactive Web Quests

I'm compiling a new list of interactive multimedia resources suitable for virtual field trips and web quests. Here are a few I've recently found:

The Virtual Human Project: University of Michigan



The Virtual Human Project has been around for quite some time. What's new? A variety of browsers have been developed that allow for viewing high-resolution images. Take a look at this video demonstration:

Virtual Dissections, Labs, and Field Trips

The Cell Visualization Project


CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Museum Web Activities (Funded by the National Science Foundation)




Web Adventure

CSI: The Experience

Nobelprize.org's Educational Outreach: Multimedia Games, Experiments and Simulated Environments

I recently came across the Nobelprize.org website when I was searching for interactive learning games suitable for use on interactive whiteboards or large touch-screen displays.

For those of you who follow my blog, you'll know that I periodically look for engaging visual and multimedia activities that have potential for use in classrooms where Universal Design for Learning is practiced. Visual and multimedia forms of knowledge representation can help to reach a wide range of people, including those who have reading difficulties, language-based learning disabilities, auditory attention and memory deficits, or have autism spectrum disorders (Asperger syndrome, autism, etc.).

If you are an educator who is interested in using games in your classroom, the resources from Nobelprize.org are a good start, since background information is provided for each game.

Direct links to the games and information pages are listed below.

Info from the website:

"Nobelprize.org has a unique way of introducing the Nobel Prize that goes beyond the mere presentation of facts. These introductions, aptly called 'educational', are made in the form of games, experiments, and simulated environments ready to be explored and discovered. The productions are aimed at the young, particularly the 14-18 age groups, who may know about the Nobel Prizes and the Nobel Laureates, but often lack a deeper understanding about the Nobel Prize-awarded works."

"These educational productions do not require previous knowledge. A central thought or issue is explored during 10-20 minutes of activity, using a specific Nobel Prize-awarded work as a springboard for the whole exercise."

"The productions offer an excellent way of using the Internet for homework, or just plain, wholesome entertainment. The high level of interactivity and the sophisticated illustrations ensure an enriching time spent in front of the computer."

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Heating Plastics Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/plastics/game/index.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/plastics/index.html

What is Chirality?
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/illpres/game.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/chiral/index.html

Conductive Polymers- Conductive Valley Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/conductive_polymers/game/index.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/conductive_polymers/index.html

Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Blood Typing Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/landsteiner/landsteiner.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/landsteiner/index.html

The Ear Pages
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/ear/game/index.html
Background Information and Directions:
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/ear/index.html

The Immune System Defender Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/immunity/game/index.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/immunity/index.html

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Metal Chef Show Game:
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/steel/Steel1920.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/

Laser Challenge Game:
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/laser/challenge.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/laser/index.html

The Recycler Game: Learn about Transistors
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/recycler/index.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/index.html

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences

Trade Ruler Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/economics/trade/game/ruler.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/economics/

Nobel Peace Prize

The Peace Dove Game:
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/nuclear_weapons/game.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/nuclear_weapons/index.html

The Red Cross Movement: Prisoners of War Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/redcross/game.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/redcross/index.html

Interactive Conflict Map
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/conflictmap/conflictmap.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/peace/conflictmap/index.html

Nobel Prize in Literature

Lord of the Flies Game
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/literature/golding/lof.html
Background Information and Directions
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/literature/golding/index.html

My Mind is a Web Browser: Temple Grandin's description of visual thinking

Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports From My Life With Autism (Vintage Books) 1996, has a website where she's posted interesting accounts of the way she thinks and perceives the world. As a school psychologist, many of the students I've worked with are visual learners and seem to think and perceive the world in a similar manner. For people who are auditory-verbal thinkers and would like to learn more about visual thinking, the article is a good start.

http://grandin.com/inc/mind.web.browser.html