Dorman’s Trouvailles

In order to maintain your STAR status, you must report at least two of your events for the 2008-2009 school year by August 31, 2009.

What is an event?

An event is any time you share the power of Discovery with 3 or more colleagues.  Share an integration idea over lunch with your grade-level team.  Demonstrate to your peers how you use a Virtual Lab in DE Science.  The list is endless.

Log in to the DEN website and you’ll see “Report Event.”  If you are not sure of how many events you’ve reported send an inquiry to den_events@discovery.com.

I used Google Earth often when I was in the classroom. I used it to reinforce geographic literacy and engage my high school social studies students with a colorful and interactive data visualization. Today, I’ll be presenting “Two Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere with Discovery Education and Google Earth” as part of the DEN Summer School webinar series.

Click below to access the resources from this session. The webinar archive will be available on the DEN blog.

Two Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere with Discovery Education and Google Earth

Google Earth Users Guide

Google Tools for Schools: Google Earth

Google Earth KMZ - Samples 

Google Lit Trips

KMLFactBook (blog post about KMLFactBook)

VoiceThread is one of my favorite Web 2.0 applications for education and it’s a perfect partner for Discovery Education’s rich media content.  I will be featuring VoiceThread during the August 25, 2009, DEN Summer School Webinar.

You can access the resources from this webinar by clicking below.  The webinar archive will be available on the DEN blog.

The Thread that Ties It All Together: VoiceThread and Discovery Education

Getting Started with VoiceThread in the Classroom

VoiceThead Wiki Page - Training and Integration Resources

Get ready for a new school year with the DEN!  Tell a colleague, invite your principal and join us for Summer School with the DEN.  Enroll today at: http://community.discoveryeducation.com/webinar.

All sessions begin at 11 AM ET.

These sessions are recorded and the presentation resources and archives will be made available at: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/summer-school

Web 2.0 Week
8/24/09
Get Your Glog On! The DE streaming Builders and Glogster
8/25/09
The Thread that Ties it All Together: Discovery Education Content and Voicethread
8/26/09
Two Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere in the World: Designing Virtual Field Trips with Discovery Education Media and Google Earth
8/27/09
Learning Through the Funnies: Mixing Discovery Education Content with Free Comic Tools

I love the ways that Google Earth allows you to explore and interact with highly engaging visual data.  So, when I came across kmlfactbook I nearly flipped!  kmlfactbook allows users to tap into the data contained in the CIA World Factbook and the World Resources Institues EarthTrends.  Registered users can also upload their own data sets to kmlfactbook.

Users can access the following data sets from every country contained in the CIA World Factbook through kmlfactbook:

• People
• Economy
• Transport
• Military
• Geography
• Government
• Communications

The data from WRI EarthTrends includes:

• Climate and atmosphere
• Forests, grasslands, and drylands
• Population, health, and human well-being
• Energy and resources
• Economics, business, and the environment
• Agriculture and food
• Biodiversity and protected areas
• Water resources and freshwater ecosystems
• Environmental governance and institutions

The data can be viewed through the web browser in preview mode or can be downloaded as a KML file for use in Google Earth.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

The applications for kmlfactbook are nearly limitless.  The colorful and interactive interface make it perfect content for your interactive whiteboards, tablets, and LCD projectors.  Importing the KML files into Google Earth adds additional functionality and allows students to use the data to build their own Google Earth tours and data sets and allows users to layer additional data to create hypotheses and generalizations.  The ability to readily access data from all geographic areas instantly allows students to compare and contrast with ease.  Downloading the KML files and opening them in Google Earth allows students to create their own thematic maps.  (Not sure what a thematic map entails?  Check out this great Google Earth resource on Thematic Maps.)

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

Here is a listing of some of the additional Google Earth layers that are terrific classroom content.

Don’t forget that if you are a Discovery Education subscriber you can enhance your Google Earth placemarks with DE media.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

To learn more about Google Earth, access training and tutorials, and explore educational applications, visit my Google Earth training site.   You can also download my presentation, Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere: Discovery Education and Google Earth.

I came across a pretty cool website that might be of interest to teachers and students at the start of the school year. ThoughtAudio.com is a website that offers free MP3 streams and downloads of audio books.

Here’s a sampling of some school readings.

Call of the Wild - Jack London

The Prince - Nicollo Machiavelli

The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution

The books are segmented into chapters. The chapters can be streamed over the Internet by clicking on them or can be downloaded for local playback on your computer or MP3 player. For $10/year users can purchase a Zip Pass to allow them to download the entire book’s segments at one time. The Zip Pass is unlimited and can be used for as many books as a user wants.

This might be a great option for students who require audio support for reading. It looks like ThoughtAudio is planning on adding more titles soon. Check them out at ThoughtAudio.com.

The 2009 Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, hosted by the Siemens Foundation, Discovery Education, and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), is now open for entries.  In addition, the challenge has expanded to include elementary school students as well as middle school students this year.  The deadline for elementary level entries is January 31, 2010, and the deadline for middle school entries is March 15, 2010.  The goal of the challenge is to encourage K-8 students to design replicable solutions to environmental issues in their classrooms, schools and communities.

Recently, the grand prize winning team from the inaugural year of the challenge, Team Dead Weight from West Branch, Iowa, presented their project to an audience of peers, UN representatives and media.  View this video to learn more about the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge and Team Dead Weight: http://bit.ly/noUP7.

I’m looking to put together the ultimate playlist for DEN events and I need your help. Please think of some great songs and complete the form below. Click here to access the published version of the playlist.

Image Citation:
Music Note Character. . 2009.
Discovery Education. 17 August 2009
<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>

Need an easy way to get in touch with parents, students and fellow educators instantly? Check out the special offer for Discovery Educators from our friends at Phonevite - http://www.phonevite.com/partners/discovery.

In order to maintain your STAR status, you must report at least two of your events for the 2008-2009 school year by August 31, 2009.

What is an event ?  An event is any time you share the power of Discovery with 3 or more colleagues.  Share an integration idea over lunch with your grade-level team.  Demonstrate to your peers how you use a Virtual Lab in DE Science.  The list is endless.Log in to the DEN website and you’ll see “Report Event.”  If you are not sure of how many events you’ve reported send an inquiry to den_events@discovery.com.