Using Computers in Education

I came across this interesting collection of self tests today. While some of them are only available for a fee, most are free to take. It struck me that many of them would be useful to teachers to take, but some could selectively be used with middle years and or high school students, especially those that are health related, or the ones on conflict management and emotional intelligence. I think some of these aren't appropriate for kids, but to select one for a specific purpose could be useful within a topical context.

This is an interesting site, developed by a Calgary teacher. It was posted by a couple of students in their blogs. There are 4 pages which intrigued me - "Integrating Alberta Technology Learner Outcomes Into The Inquiry Process". These charts show the processes and the curriculum outcomes they align with. They may provide you with some ideas, even though the curricula differ from ours. I'd be interested in your feedback.

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

These 12 principles of brain-compatible teaching by Caine and Caine are important to keep in mind from a constructivist perspective.

I found this site while checking out resources posted in your blogs. It's amazing how one link leads to others, which leads to others... There's a wealth of valuable sites out there, and I'm excited about the ones you are discovering! Keep it up!

I was exploring keyboarding interactive sites and found this one with some good exercises to stretch your fingers and relieve your muscles when you're sitting at the computer!

I was just watching the news and they were talking about the site in Britain that makes over 5 million pictures taken by RAF pilots during WWII available on the web.

I went to the site but this message is currently posted:

"Welcome to The Aerial Reconnaissance Archive 

Due to huge interest in evidenceincamera, we are redesigning elements of our website. We will be adding more functionality, and access to search facilities, over the next few days. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Evidenceincamera has been created by The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (TARA) at Keele University. Our aim is to make the aerial reconnaissance photographs, deposited by the UK Ministry of Defence at TARA, accessible via the internet.

During World War II, photgraphic reconnaissance played a major part in the intelligence war. The advanced photographic techniques developed, gave intelligence officers the ability to view the enemies activities in 3D, and makehighly accurate assessments. Discover a new way of looking at our history, and our future at evedenceincamera."

I think we often don't realize how plentiful the resources are on the web! I'm glad Becky asked about fractions. I did a Google search for "fractions interactive" and found lots of great sites that involve students in interacting with various activities. Here's my personal favourite.

Julie presented information last night on Differentiated Instruction, a way of thinking about teaching and learning that addresses the needs of all students. Carol Ann Tomlinson is a leader in Differentiated Instruction. This website is a helpful series of lessons for learning more about DI.

This is an interactive activity for primary students.

It may not have a lot of inherent value for developing higher order thinking skills. It does provide mouse practice and can be a good discussion starter for winter clothing.

Here's another sample of an interactive site. This one provides students with an opportunity to work out geometrical proofs by moving the figures around.


Here's another one that practises volume.

These make use of small programs called "applets".

The Baltimore Museum of Art has a great site for kids - Matisse for Kids is an interactive activity that introduces children (and adults!) to the elements of Matisse's work as well as the colour wheel.


I think this activity is representative of the kind of learning experiences that can be offered with technology. This is not a simple quiz or worksheet. It provides information but constantly engages the learning in trying out the ideas presented. I learned a lot about Matisse from this site and it was fun!

Thanks to Janet for discovering Paul Martin's blog! Check out Janet's blog for the original posting.

I had a look around Paul's site - it seems to have been set up for the leadership race, and once Paul won that he kind of lost interest in blogging - or just didn't find time!

THere are some personal posts, that he actually seems to have written himself (unlike Howard Dean's blog!) -

The section Why does Paul blog? is an informative perspective on blogging in the current times!

The current blog is kept up by his staff and has a good collection of pictures.

Teachers who have used Flat Stanley with their classes will enjoy the Flat Mark sequence!

I was watching CNN this morning as they talked about the presidential campaign. One reporter indicated that one of the reasons Howard Dean is doing so well is his extensive use of the Internet, including his weblog which is updated daily! So I had to check it out! On the Howard Dean site, there is a tab for "Official Blog". His blog is written in comfortable everyday language, intended to appeal to the average American (and I would think especially young people!) There is a link to What is a blog? which is informative - I was surprised to see that Dean started his blog almost a year ago.

This is definitely a time when blogs are increasing in popularity!

I've really enjoyed some of the links that you've discovered and the great resources you're blogging!

I've been led off on several journeys of discovery from your links and found a few to share as well:

This one is a good planning tool for writing papers. It's called Assignment Calculator. You just enter the due date and it sets up a work schedule, with links to lots of helpful web resources! It will even email you reminders if you like!

The Educational Bloggers' Network has some good links to explore!

Blogheads is an example of an elementary teacher's blog, designed as a blog by Superthinker, a superhero blogger. I'm sure it would keep the kids checking in to read!

Today I was going through my email and came across a blog designed for high schools, with links for teaching and developing online. This is where I first found Mr. Picassohead. I notice now there are some interesting recent links, but I'm not sure how useful they are! The ultimate card trick by David Copperfield is a good experience - it shows us that we see what we are looking for!

I've added this link to my sidebar so that you can access it easily to check out recent postings.

This is my first attempt at blogging. It's a fairly recent development in technology, with early beginnings in 1997. However, in the last couple of years the use of blogs (weblogs) has grown tremendously. I started blogging last year :-) so this is the second posting.

I found a good site for beginning to understand blogs. There is a tutorial which provides info on what a blog is and how educators can use them for teaching and learning.

I've had fun playing around with this blog - it's really very easy to set up using this site. I think that blogging will be a useful tool for me to record and share the sites I keep coming across that have meaningful educational applications.

In my journey of discovery about blogs, I came across another good outline site, a collection of links about blogging, an interesting article, and a scholarly discussion of the use of blogs in universities.

I also found a couple of examples of blog use in schools - a blog for Literature Circles, which I think is a great resource, and one teacher's use of a blog for her classroom.

It seems that Blogger is perhaps the simplest software to use - I can attest to that simplicity! I was set up and online within a couple of minutes! Another type of software to check out is Movabletype.

I will share more if I find good sites as I learn about blogging.