I participated in Mike Bryant’s STARS touring Techbook webinar on Tuesday night and found the subtle features of the Techbook enlightening.   The Techbook is full of Animations which help students understand more abstract concepts and theories.  I am a hard core “hands on experience” educator and I was very impressed with the opportunities the Techbook Labs offer;  the virtual labs are very impressive and engaging.  These virtual labs allow students to make errors in their problem solving, resulting in unexpected outcomes, yet allow  students to experience the lab multiple times, making better choices, encouraging experimentation and problem solving without the extra time constraints and possible messes of  real lab experiments.

The Techbook goes beyond engaging students with the high tech media and web tools! I was impressed by its flexibility, allowing educators to infuse the techbook with their previous resources, or fully supporting educators, providing detailed lesson plans embedding Exploration, Experimentation, Explanation and Evaluation options relative to individual state standards. Teachers are provided lesson design ideas  including access to a document explaining  students’ common misconseptions or misunderstandings.
How do I get my STAR ACCESS to the TechBook?

Log in to Discovery Education.  under your STAR Status login

Go to the DEN  Tab

Click on the red invitation up by your picture / blog access / record event.

Find your state in the list of access codes that appear in the main window.  If your state does not yet have a techbook, you can choose a state where you think the standards would be simmilar. Copy the Access Code.

LOG OUT of discovery.

Upon returning to the fresh login page, enter the Techbook access code  under the tab passcode/ New user.  When finishing your sign up for the techbook, enter a Different Email than what your STAR status  is under.  Use this email when you register yourself for the techbook.

Any time you want to access the Techbook, you need to log in as this new user, using your newly created username and password.  Your STAR account is still active, but you have access through a second account to the Techbook for the remainder of the school year as well.

Enjoy this great opportunity to see how Discovery goes beyond other digital texts!

THEN Sign up for a STAR TechBook Introduction!  You will find  a list of the webinars posted on “My DE.”  There is another STAR Techbook Webinar on February 23rd!  Sign up for  the Techbook webinar under your STAR status email!

Not yet a STAR?  If you enjoy using Discovery Education and collaborate with at least 3  colleagues on how you use the Discovery resources, you too can be a STAR! Become a STAR and enjoy so much more of what Discovery has to offer! You too can have access to tech book and apply to the DEN Summer Institute in MT!

Here is a slideshare by Glenn Wiebe that explains copyright vs fair use.

One place to start when using images with students is Discovery Education because the images if cited can be used in student projects. In an upcoming post, I will share how I do searches with my students using Google.

The morning started with casual sharing while enjoying coffee and rolls provided by the DEN. The Apple staff took time to explain many details and features of the iPad while showcasing some of the top apps available.

Our Leadership Council added to the app sharing, showcasing the Discovery Education access app and different ways it can be integrated with other apps.
Time flies when you’re learning about iPads! Although we were afforded some time to discuss the some of our favorite apps, we made sure our DEN Colleagues understood the value of pursuing DEN STAR Status and its benefits.

Participants were eager to learn more about Apps we love to use in our classrooms, so we familiarized them with all the great recent posts on our WI DEN Blog, the National DEN Blog and encouraged them to join us for our iPad Share Conference, where we will have more active learning and experimenting with quality apps, empowering our colleagues to return to their classrooms prepared to successfully integrate ipads with their students.

We hope to have a BIG turn out for our  iPad Share Event! Please share our post and encourage other DEN Members to Join us in Verona, just outside Madison, WI on March 24th!

Choose from 3 sessions of 45 minutes with time for sharing and lunch included. From 8:30-12:30 on Saturday, March 24th at Glacier Edge Elementary in Verona, join other DEN members to share, learn, and connect. Bring a friend and share the power of the DEN with them.

Let us know you are ready to “discover” with us – https://lrougeux.wufoo.com/forms/wi-ipad-den-unconference-day-verona-wisconsin/

Image citation-

http://www.ipadnewsupdates.com/ipad-news/discovery-education-launches-ipad-optimized-web-app.html

I was looking for something more.  I wanted a universal app that would allow multiple types of mobile devices with multiple kinds of questions while keeping the undivided attention of all these mobile devices, (& students),  in the classroom.  I wanted to choose if the kids could do the formative quiz at their own pace or at a class pace, allowing for synchronized discussion. I needed data that could be easily analyzed to document formative understanding, specifically validating student learning, delineating who, what and how often students were lacking understanding…. ( I know – I’m a pretty tough customer!)

 Socrative is a new universal app. that is currently free.  Any student who has any smart mobile device can participate, yet I have ipads to cover the students who do not have these devices – so every student participates while every device is locked in to my classroom for the duration of the quiz!

I was empowered to offer many types of advanced mathematics questions by simply reducing the screen size of the quiz app, allowing 1/2 of my Promethian interactive white board for writing out complicated algebraic equations.  I designed my quiz to be a mixture of both short answer and multiple choice questions.  I could prompt the students through the Socrative quiz tool while using the reveal screen to show the corresponding  questions.  Upon my students’ results, I was afforded the flexibility to discuss the misunderstandings, continuing to work out the problem as necessary on the Promethian board, while keeping  the Socrative program and all student devices on hold.

My students were engaged and accountable to the tasks within the “quiz”.  Each student felt the Love of sharing their answers and were excited about the prospect of integrating their mobile devices every Monday – so that is our plan – Mobile Mondays!

Socrative offers an immediate, editable spreadsheet report, describing the answers for each student while offering numerous types of question and answer combinations along with different quiz facilitation, to keep the integration of the quiz tool fresh and interesting for students.

Teachers can download Socrative teacher onto their mobile devices as well as download Socrative to their school computer to project to the class, (go to Sign Up to request beta use), integrating the quiz with the other digital classroom resources available. Socrative student can be downloaded to student enabled WiFi devices, or students can just browse out to m.socrative.com and join your “classroom” number.

The only slight drawback is that the questions and answers when designed in  the program, need to be designed on a normal keyboard.  There is no picture options – but between my ipad camera, screenshot ability, Discovery Resources and Promethian board, i can be creative enough to work around this restriction.  The first questions posed to students on the board involved 3rd, 4th and 5th root functions.  I plan to import graphs into my promethian for socarative questions on Mondays!

I have begun integrating this app with my Discovery resources, tapping into lessons and video streaming where a variety of questions can easily be developed to enhance the Discovery learning experiences while validating student participation and understanding.  Here is how  I plan to introduce Logarithmic scale in about 6 school days:

Because understanding the variance in logarithmic scales,  I am designing questions to go with the Discovery Education Streaming  video designed to enhance student understanding of logarithms.  I can run the quiz side by side with the clip, stopping either the video or quiz to integrate class discussion.

There is much more to this great little app – like random team competitions: “Space Race,” where students are put into colored groups to compete  on a larger scale.  My students are already interested in that feature, as they have great competitive spirit!

Empower mobile learning with your students  through Socrative!

Join us at the Apple Store in the West Towne Mall, Madison, WI on Saturday, February 18 at 8:00 a.m. to learn about how the iPad is being used in education.
In addition, STEM information, the Discovery Mobile App., and a variety of other educational apps. will be shared.  Discovery Education members are invited as we explore how the new iPad2, along with the thousands of apps. now available in the Apps Store are being used in education in many creative and innovative ways.  You will have a chance to hear from other educators as to how they are using the iPad in the classroom. In addition, you will also learn about Discovery Education’s ground-breaking iPad web app, which focuses on student exploration of safe and appropriate educational content.
This event is limited to 30 people, so don’t delay, register today!

If you have questions please contact
Rita A. Mortenson
Rita.Mortenson@verona.k12.wi.us
608-845-4445
Tentative Agenda includes:
8:00 a.m. – Arrive at the Apple Store and enjoy a light breakfast (rolls,coffee).
8:15 Apple iPad Staff will introduce the iPad 2 and ongoing updates.
9:15 Experience The Discovery Education iPad2 App and the different ways you can integrate this app with others to invigorate your students’ learning at any level K – 12! Learn how to integrate STEM  for any age of student.
9:45  Prizes and Group Photo
10:00  Official ending of the event.

Register to experience iPads in Madison WI

DEN News: ICE Conference :

Are you attending the ICE Conference in Illinois?  This is a fantastic event running from Feb 28 – March 2.  ICE : Innovate, Collaborate, Educate is an event not to be missed!  Make it extra special and attend the Discovery Education Minute to DEN-It Reception on February 29th  from 5 – 7 PM at the New Orleans Ballroom in the Pheasant Run Resort!

Come to this great networking event to kick off the 2012 ICE Conference, meeting and networking  with new DEN Colleagues while learning more about the DEN  while testing your skills at several “Minute to Win-It” type games!

Register Here for  the Minute to DEN-It at ICE 

All these apps and tools help students understand 21st C. STEM ideas, pushing our kids to analyze from multiple perspectives.
Hall went on to share apps that can help us all communicate on a global scale, sharing translations, shazam and wordLens.  As we venture into the global neighborhood, these translation type apps will help open communication between our students and countries.

I am so glad I ended my Digital Learning Day with Hall! Check out The Siemen’s Archives  to delve deeper into Hall’s STEMazing presentation! Thanks Hall!

Discovery Education members are invited as we explore how the new iPad2, along with the thousands of apps. now available in the Apps Store are being used in education in many creative and innovative ways.

You will have a chance to hear from other educators as to how they are using the iPad in the classroom. In addition, you will also learn about Discovery Education’s ground-breaking iPad web app, which focuses on student exploration of safe and appropriate educational content.

This event is limited to 30 people, so don’t delay, register today!

Tentative Agenda includes:

8:00 a.m. – Arrive at the Apple Store and enjoy a light breakfast (rolls, coffee).

8:15 a.m. – Hear a presentation from the Apple staff about the iPad2 and have an opportunity to try it.

9:15 a.m. – Have an opportunity to see the Discovery Education iPad2 App. and hear from other educators as to how they are using the iPad in the classroom. In addition, iPad  STEM integration will also be shared. This event if for ALL grade levels.

9:45 a.m. – Prizes and group photo.

10:00 a.m. – End of event!

If you have questions please contact

Rita A. Mortenson
Rita.Mortenson@verona.k12.wi.us
608-845-4445

To Register Click the Link Below:

I Want To Experience DEN  iPad in WI!

Step 1: We started out by having each child pick an African animal that they are interested in. They had to find book resources as well as internet resources to research their animal. Here is a link to the document that they used – Animal Research.

Step 2: Next each student went to Discovery Education and found a close-up image of their animal and the citation for the image. We used iPads for this part but a computer would also work.

Step 3: Each student FaceJacked their image to reply to the six questions that they had posed. Many students changed their voices to make it sound like the animal was talking. On the computer, blabberize will do the same thing as facejack. We then sent all of the Facejack images to the students email address since the final stage of the project would necessitate using a computer.

Step 4: Using our green screen and flip camera on a tripod, each student recorded their questions one at a time for easy manipulation later in the project.

Step 5: Day 1 in the computer lab (about 45 mins.). We took all of the resources that had been collected – 7 green screen video clips (including 6 questions and an introduction), 6 facejack video clips, and one citation page and put them into iPhoto. Students also found one more image on DE to use for their background image and citated that image. Now we had all the parts.

Step 6: Day 2 in the computer lab (1 hour) – putting all the pieces together.

Using iMovie, students designed their title page.

Next the facejack video were pulled into the project area in order.

Between each facejack video, students placed their background image with 2 images at the beginning for the introduction and the first question.

I showed students how to check the length of the green screen video clip and match the image timing to the video clip.

Lastly each green screen video clip was dragged on to the image corresponding to the space before each answer. With the advanced settings enabled, a choice for the green screen would show when the video hovered over the already placed image.

Here are just some of the amazing projects that my third grade students created.

What is project based learning?
Project based learning is an in-depth student/teacher designed investigation that incorporates
1. Posing real-life questions that students want to find the answers to
2. Researching, investigating, and documenting the answers to the questions that are posed
3. Sharing the investigation and answers with a larger audience

What is the role of the teacher?
The role of the teacher is to guide children through the steps of posing a question that can be answered or investigated, gathering accurate information through accurate research and observations, and sharing the information in a way that others can benefit from the learning.

What is the role of the student?
The role of the student is to pose the question, gather information, and share what is learned. This can occur as a whole group, small group, or individual depending on the project.

Why is it effective learning?
Project based learning incorporates all areas of learning which engages students to pursue something that interests them, learn how to research, gather information, use resources or observations accurately, and share their learning with others. These are skills that all life-long learners need to have which is why project based learning is so powerful.

Learn more about project based learning through these resources
“More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!” – Diane Curtis, Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms

“Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning” – Sara Armstrong, Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

“March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies’ Migration”
- Diane Curtis, Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Since the start of the school year, the 3rd graders in Ms. Karie Huttner’s class and the high school students in Ms. Julie Jenewein’s, class along with Ms. Rita Mortenson, have been busy making music, videos and skyping (video chatting) with schools around the world. As participants who applied, and were selected to the 15th season of “Rock Our World” they have been working with over 1000 students from 43 schools in 6 continents.

Each season, Rock Our World focuses on a challenged based learning project, as well as having students create music using GarageBand (a software program available on the Mac). On a weekly basis, students use GarageBand to create a music track that is then sent to other schools around the world. The end result after weeks and weeks of schools adding additional tracks –a beautiful song that everyone is proud of.

This season, Rock Our World’s Challenge was: Healthy Eating and Sustainability. The essential question that students researched was “How can we eat healthy with the lowest carbon footprint possible?” The challenge to all students was
“Improve your family’s healthy eating choices and find solutions for your community’s sustainable foods.” Carol Anne McGuire, Founder of Rock Our World has developed an amazing collaborative project that really gets students thinking about others around the world. Coming together on projects such as these gives students the opportunity to learn about
new cultures, meet new friends, and use 21st century skills while learning and having fun.

The culmination of the season ends with what is called family night. This is a time where students get to skype and be interviewed by a team of students in California. All schools participating can follow along via the live stream on the internet.

Rock our World: 2011
A few of the schools participating this year besides Verona Area School District were schools in: California, Ontario, Canada, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Tasmania, Australia; Christchurch, NZ; Nayland, New Zealand; Mexico, Lima, Peru, Poland, Germany, Belgium and Kita City, Tokoyo, Japan.

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Are YOUR Students Ready To Rock Our World? APPLY HERE

Read more about Kari’s  Students’ experiences