Analyze – Page 8 – iLearn Technology

Dance, Factors Dance: Animated Factorization Diagrams #mathchat

November 15, 2012November 15, 2012Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4110 views

What it is: Dance, Factors Dance is a fantastic site to visualize factorization diagrams. The first “tango” is inspired by the digital clock, with a separate diagram for each of the hours, minutes and seconds. The Factor Conga is a “promenade of primes, composites, and their constituents, arranged with an aesthetically-tuned variation of Yorgey’s rules, one per second.” I love the way these math factorization dances help students visualize numbers and Prime numbers. Brilliant!

How to integrate Dance, Factors Dance into the classroom: Dance, Factor Dance is a stupendous way for students to visualize and think about numbers. I Love the way that the prime numbers are depicted…so easy to see why it is a prime number! Ask your students to explore this site and identify the patterns they notice in the dance of numbers. What happens when a number is prime? When a number is odd? Even?

Dance, Factors Dance is a fun way to learn more about numbers, it is also a wonderful inspiration for finding the art in math. How can students use the site as inspiration to create their own math dance? Could they use stop motion animation and manipulatives to do something similar? What patterns in math do they notice? How can they use color and design to help them better understand math?

This site is a great one to explore as a class, as a center on classroom computers, or individually on student devices. Students can pause the dance, rewind, and fast forward as they explore.

Tips: Be sure to watch (or fast forward) to the three digit numbers…this is where things get really impressive! As a side note, I learned something today from a fellow teacher. When looking at numbers in grid form, you know if a number is prime if it can only make one rectangle. This understanding would have been helpful in math class! Better late than never 🙂

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Dance, Factors Dance in your classroom.

512 Paths to the White House Interactive Infographic for the Election #election2012

November 5, 2012Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4331 views

What it is: Tomorrow is Election day! I couldn’t be more excited to see an end to the obnoxious political ads. Living in a swing state means that EVERY commercial I see is a political ad. At this point, all I have been convinced of is that the world may in fact be ending…the choices here are dire. One thing I am now passionate about: campaign reform. I digress.

512 Paths to the White House is a super cool interactive feature on the New York Times website. Students can test out selecting a winner for the swing states and see the paths to victory available to either candidate. Students can also mouse over the infographic and see what happens in the breakdown of each option. According to the infographic, there are 5 paths to a tie.

How to integrate 512 Paths to the White House into the classroom: This really is a cool infographic to explore before the election. Students can explore this infographic on classroom computers as an Election Day discovery center, as a class on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer, or individually on computers.

This site makes a wonderful opening to discussion about the electoral college, the election process for the US, and why the swing states determine the outcome of the election. At the bottom of the page, there are some specific scenarios for students to explore. These scenarios also open up great conversations about economies in different states, beliefs of each party, political advertising, liberal vs. conservative states, etc.

In the secondary math class, students can explore probability, statistics and unpack the data offered here. It is pretty interesting to see the paths each candidate has to winning based on who wins each battleground state.

Tips: Follow up on Wednesday, November 7th with how accurate the 512 Paths to the White House was. Students can use this tool as they watch the election to predict who the winner will be.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using 512 Paths to the White House in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate (even just your coffee money!) and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

Story Math: Storytelling and Math

November 2, 2012Kelly Tenkely3 Comments5187 views

What it is: Story Math is a portion of the Hey Math! website. Story Math is a collection of 3 activities that use storytelling to present math in a new way. Students take part in the interactive stories to discover math in new ways, help them learn new math vocabulary and understand concepts more completely. There are currently three story activities available on Story Math: Mystery on the Block (students join the Premium Private Investigators and discover that geometry holds the key to the mystery of the missing kittens); The Perfect Arrangement (where students are introduced to permutations and how one clever lady uses math to subdue some squabbling scholars); and A Suitable Partner (where students engage in river-crossing puzzles to help Cammue pass the King’s test and marry Bindu).

How to integrate Story Math into the classroom: Storytelling is powerful! I believe that we are all wired for story. We yearn for it, it helps us to connect with the world around us. Story Math takes the power of storytelling and applies it to math. Through story, students see math concepts unfold and discover connections between math concept and math application. In addition to the story, Story Math includes games and activities where students can practice putting the math they have learned to the test.

Story Math makes a great introduction into new math concepts. Story Math can be used whole-class with an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Students can take turns reading (mute it for this option because the text is read automatically). The story can be paused along the bottom while students discuss the stories and the math in the stories. Each story invites interaction, provide students with an opportunity to interact with the story. After the story, discuss what math connections were made. How can they be applied? What new vocabulary was learned? Follow up with the games/activities on classroom computers as a center activity, or again as a whole class on the interactive whiteboard.

Want to do one better? Show your students Story Math, ask them to explore each of the stories and make notes about the math concept introduced, the vocabulary and the story. Then have students take a math concept that they are learning, and ask them to create a story of their own. The first thing they should do is decide on the math concept they want to teach and the vocabulary that is associated. Next, they should create a storyboard of what will happen in their story. Finally, they can create the story animation using a tool like GoAnimate, Kerpoof Movie, Zimmer Twins or an app like Sock Puppets or ToonTastic.

Tips: The stories on Story Math take a few minutes to load. They are flash based and require a little patience for the first load.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Story Math in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate (even just your coffee money!) and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

myHistro: timeline/story/map/picture mashups created by you!

October 23, 2012Kelly Tenkely2 Comments10671 views

What it is: myHistro is a really great site (and app!) that lets students combine maps and timelines seamlessly into one great presentation of information and understanding. myHistro is more than just data collection, it is a way to share stories. With myHistro, students can create a rich timeline/map mashup complete with additional text, pictures and video. The result is truly incredible! It is easy to get started, just create an event and associate it with a time and place. Events can be gathered together and turned into stories. Stories, in turn, can be used together to create a collection. Stories can be viewed in multiple ways, by events on a timeline, in chronological order with a page flip feature like an album, or as a story summary of chronological events. Create as many events as you would like and add as many photos as you like, all for free! The finished product can even be downloaded into Google Earth format for offline storage. Completed Histros can be embedded in other blogs and websites for maximum usability.

How to integrate myHistro into the classroom: myHistro has SO many uses! At Anastasis, we just completed an inquiry unit on who we are. myHistro was a perfect tie in for students exploring family histories, heritage and tradition. Students could add pictures, and stories along with the interactive map of where events were taking place and a timeline where they could see it all unfold chronologically. This is like a family tree on steroids. Pretty outstanding. Even better? It ties directly into Geni (blogged about here).

myHistro isn’t just for family trees. It could be used for students mapping out history chronologically, mapping out a fictional story, creating a story map for their own writing, mapping how ideas and invention spread, looking at explorers, migration, etc. As I said, the options are endless!

myHistro is collaborative, students can create projects together and even invite parents to join in the learning. Pretty cool!

As a teacher, you can ditch the text book and help students really visualize that history in new ways. A completed myHistro can be embedded in your class blog or website for students to access without having to visit multiple sites or login.

There are a number of fabulous myHistro stories that you can borrow to share with your students. They can view these to learn more about events in history, or they can go on a fact checking mission to double check the validity of the stories created by others. Definitely worth doing!

Tips: myHistro also happens to be an app. Find it in the iTunes store. This can be your first download on your new iPad mini 😉

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using myHistro in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate (even just your coffee money!) and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

Yummy Math! Best Math Blog EVER

October 18, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment5785 views

What it is: Yummy Math is an absolutely fabulous blog/site dedicated to helping students and teachers understand how math is relevant to the world. What a great mission! The blog was started 2 years ago…bummed that I am only JUST discovering it. Brian Marks and Leslie Lewis are the creators of Yummy Math. They have worked together to make an easy way for teachers to bring real-world math into the classroom. Math (like everything else) should be taught within a context. I believe this is key! When understood in context, students can make connections to their learning and, as a result, really learn it. The goal here is to engage students in math so that they yearn to reason, think critically, problem solve, question and communicate…in short: DO math! Each week, multiple activities and ideas are added to the Yummy Math site. This means that you are in constant supply of real-world math problems for your students to engage in.

Categories include:

Algebra
Data and Probability
Geometry
Number Sense
Sports
Holidays/annual events
Math and Science
Math and Food
Math and Social Studies
Math and Art
Movies and Entertainment

How to integrate Yummy Math into the classroom: You know that dry math curriculum that you feel TRAPPED by? Yummy Math exists to free you (and your students) from the endless memorization and unconnected practice. This is the perfect supplement to any math program. Use these activities a few times a week to really get your students thinking outside of the (math) box. These will stretch your students, and help them grow exponentially in their understanding of math and all of the cool things it makes possible.

These are not your typical “real” world word problems. None of that, if train a is traveling north at x, and train b is traveling south at y what time will they meet? Garbage. This is…what is the real cost of owning an iPhone 5? or The House of Representatives passed a law in 2007 to increase the efficiency of light bulbs, what is the real energy savings that can be realized with CFL and LED. Not only relevant, but really interesting!

Tips: You know what is EXTRA helpful? That Yummy Math has already done all the leg work to tell you which Common Core Standards these project are meeting. Yes. They are awesome!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Yummy Math in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Re-imagine & Digital Blooms: different ways to approach learning

October 17, 2012Kelly Tenkely7 Comments11015 views

I’ve long been a fan of Bloom’s Taxonomy…not necessarily for all the ways it has been pushed into different fads throughout the years, but instead for the way that it helps me (and my students) think about the learning process. It helps me approach the learning process in a more holistic way, ensuring that I don’t camp out in one way of thinking and evidencing learning for too long. I think it is human nature to get excited about one way of thinking and suddenly everything we do falls into that. It can be a little bit like the new car that you purchased, you begin to see that car everywhere because you have a new awareness of it. I’ve noticed myself doing the same in teaching. Bloom’s Taxonomy helps me to keep myself cognizant of all the different ways to approach learning.

A few years ago, I created some different versions of Bloom’s Taxonomy for my students. I wanted them to really think about all the different ways that they can approach learning. Learning isn’t just memorization. It isn’t just reading and understanding. Most traditional schooling has them believing that this is all there is to learning. One of my goals over the past year is to help students understand that learning is life. It is a part of everything we do. There is something to be learned in every situation and from everyone we encounter. There are different ways to learn that give us a larger understanding and help us to make connections. That is exciting!

You will notice that my images don’t have the traditional Bloom’s pyramid. That is intentional. Each of these ways of thinking is important in its own right. I have used these with students so that they have an awareness of the different ways of learning, but also so that they can see what options are available to them when they are demonstrating learning. Powerful things happen when students can make decisions about how they choose to learn. Challenge them to enter into learning in different ways. A new approach to the same question can bring about amazing new insights.

Are you looking for the full-size poster version of these images? You can find them here, best of all you will be helping me make personalized education a reality for EVERY child. The poster options are along the right side of the page. My favorite is still the Peacock 🙂

And the digital version:

Breakdown of the digital taxonomy with links:

Remember:

BBC Skillwise- http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/

Spelling City- http://spellingcity.com

Starfall- http://starfall.com

Discovery Streaming- http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com

Lexipedia- http://lexipedia.com

YouTube- http://youtube.com

Gamegoo- http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

PBS Kids- http://pbskids.org

Understand:

Into the Book- http://reading.ecb.org

Skype- http://skype.com

Treasures- http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/

Book Adventure- http://bookadventure.org

Twitter- http://twitter.com

Apply:

Kerpoof- http://kerpoof.com

PhotoBooth- Software

Scholastic- http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp

Fotobabble- http://fotobabble.com

Google Earth- http://google.com/earth

Analyze:

Read Write Think- http://readwritethink.org

Cool Iris- http://cooliris.com

Wordle- http://wordle.net

Creaza- http://creaza.com

Mindomo- http://mindomo.com

Evaluate:

Shelfari- http://shelfari.com

Wikipedia- http://wikipedia.com

Think.com- http://think.com

Nota- http://notaland.com

Create:

Pic-Lits- http://piclits.com

Kerpoof- http://kerpoof.com

ZimmerTwins- http://zimmertwins.com

Wiki Spaces- http://wikispaces.com

DomoNation- http://domonation.com

Glogster- http://edu.glogster.com

Creaza- http://creaza.com

Voicethread- http://voicethread.com

Kidblog- http://kidblog.org

Wetpaint- http://www.wetpaint.com

edublogs- http://edublogs.org

Stage’d- http://stagedproject.com/

Garageband- Software

iMovie- Software

I have also started a breakdown of apps for the iPad by Bloom’s Taxonomy. This one is a work in progress and has not been added to in quite some time.

Open publication – Free publishing – More apps

Are you wondering how you can help me make the Learning Genome Project a reality? Tweet, blog, send it as a story tip to news organizations, donate, send it to family/friends/colleagues/acquaintances. Buy the Bloom’s images above in the Poster version. Thank you for all of your help and support!

Piktochart: Create your own infographics

October 9, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment12660 views

What it is: Piktochart is a great web app that makes it easy to create your own infographics. Piktochart has free and premium options. With the free version, there are a handful of themes to choose from. Premium themes are also available, if you are so inclined. After you choose a theme, the next job is to change the mood and edit the information on the chart. Students can add shapes, graphics (uploaded), theme graphics, and text to the infographic. Students can add a chart where they manually input data or upload a cvc file. This is especially helpful if they have been data collecting in another program. There are some features that are only available to pro users. Not to worry, there are enough available for free that you can make a pretty rockin’ infographic that gets the point (or data) across.

How to integrate Piktochart into the classroom: Piktochart is a superb way for students to work on those statistics/probability standards. Being a visual learner myself, I love the way that infographics seem to make data easier to digest. Piktochart can be used to display any type of statistical or mathematical data in new ways. Students can show what they are learning in history, about the world population (miniature earth), science, in the book they are reading, geography statistics, etc.

The way that infographics allow students to blend learning across the subject areas is fantastic. It isn’t just math; it is math, and art, and science/social studies/history/geography/technology. Any time we can help students recognize the overlaps that exist in learning and subject area, it is a win!

A few weeks ago, students at Anastasis discovered that America’s biggest export is trash. They started digging and found statistics about the amount of trash Americans throw away each day (7lbs/person) and how much was recycled vs. what ended up in a landfill. They also looked at statistics of what receiving countries like China and India did with the waste being imported. It was fascinating! Students created infographics showing what they had discovered in their research. It was eye-opening when they translated that trash per person into a year’s worth of trash and figured out how many football stadiums that it would fill. When they could see it graphically, it had an impact on their thinking. The result was: “it is up to us to change this…”

Pretty amazing when the conclusion to learning is transformation…change.

Tips: In the free version: Basic themes, 5 image uploads, Piktochart’s watermark. Pro version ($29.00/mo): 80 themes (and growing), additional customization, more image uploads, no watermark.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Piktochart in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

Day of Play: Mechanical Bulls, Time Machines, Dancing and Mustaches

October 8, 2012October 8, 2012Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3462 views

Maybe you have heard of Caine’s Arcade? It is a little movement, started by an 8 year old. This video will restore your faith in humanity and inspire you big time! It inspired us at Anastasis Academy, so much so that when the second video came out, inviting us to a Day of Play, we were all in.

On Friday, Anastasis held our own Day of Play. We collected boxes (lots and lots of boxes), tape, markers, pipe cleaners, glue, aluminum foil, rubber bands, tubes, scissors and paper. Then, we let the kids at it. There were no parameters, no specific rules or directions. The goal for our students was to dream as big as they could. It is amazing what happens when you invite kids to dream and build apart from any rules or expectations of what the end goal is. Our students (k-8) gathered in our big “all in” room and built to their hearts content. The amazing part: no two ideas were the same. We had plink-o, a fortune teller, a minecraft adventure, a time machine (complete with crystal), ski ball, tilt the ball, an old-school computer made of new parts, a hotdog/snow cone stand, dance dance revolution, ferris wheel, tanks, and a mechanical bull. You read correctly, a mechanical bull.

The students spent about 3 hours dreaming and building. Some had plans they created the day before, others came in with a blank slate. After all of the building (and a break for lunch) we gathered to play each others games. It was SO much fun! Students even created their own prizes that could be won (mustaches and uni-brows anyone?).

The casual observer might have watched this all go down and seen chaos or a waste of time. A closer look would have revealed the rich learning taking place. The problem solving, critical thinking, discovery, planning, rich conversations, kids working together, designing, creativity. Have you ever seen those words describe a worksheet? A lecture? This was such a RICH learning experience in so many ways. Best of all: it built and fostered a culture of working together, learning from each other and enjoying each other. That is no small feat.

I saw genius today. I am SO proud of these kids, they truly are geniuses. Two of our students (different classes and ages) built a tank together. The tank shot rubber bands and launched a “cannon” water bottle. These boys decided that the rubber band shooter and cannon should have a “safety” just in case something slipped so that they wouldn’t accidentally shoot anything. The way they worked this out was truly brilliant. The cannon water bottle was held in place by a popsicle stick safety. The rubber band shooter was attached to pipe cleaner that kept the rubber band from releasing unless the safety was off.

Our youngest kids built and manned a hotdog/snow cone stand. My favorite part of the stand was the signs that they created for it. One of the signs read “Snow cones choose a color: limeade, raspberry, blueberry, grape.” I love that it said choose a color, not choose a flavor. SO stinking cute!

A dance-loving student created the cardboard version of dance, dance revolution. She created a dance mat with different colors on it. Then, she climbed behind her box and flashed construction paper colors. When the color showed up, the player had to step on the matching color on the mat. Periodically, she would hold up signs that said things like, “you are on fire” or “fail”. Brilliant!

Check out our Day of Play below:

Personalized learning should be available to EVERY child, every day. The Learning Genome Project makes that possible. Please help me spread the word and contribute!

History Pin

October 2, 2012October 2, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3851 views

What it is: History Pin is a really neat website that lets students (and anyone) electronically “pin” historical pictures, videos, audio clips, and stories to a digital globe. There are three main ways to use History Pin: exploring it, adding to it, or curating things on it. History Pin has some great collections and tours that have already been created that can be used in the classroom. Collections bring together content around a theme. Students can explore collections or create one of their own. With a Tour, students can go step-by-step through content, a story, explore a place or walk through time.

How to integrate History Pin into the classroom: History Pin is a neat place for students to learn about history. They can see history through pictures, video and stories submitted by people around the world. History Pin is also a fantastic place for students to demonstrate learning. They can add pins, create collections or tours around their learning. In many states in the US, students have standards that are related to learning about the state history. In Colorado, this is true of our 4th grade students. History pin is a great place for them to demonstrate their learning of their own state. The best part? This learning can be viewed and used by others all over the world. Our students get really excited about sharing their learning when they become the “experts”. History Pin lets them be the experts. Way cool!

Depending on which Collections and Tours your students engage in, there are great opportunities for incorporating other subjects. Our students enjoy comparing statistics from history with statistics of today. They are really enjoying knowing how to use ratios these days!

I love the way that Geography is so ingrained in History Pin. Students can easily see (and track) where history occurred in the world. This helps students understand how movements, revolutions, immigration happen as a result of geography.

Tips: Be sure to check out the school channel on History Pin.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using History Pin in your classroom.

Help me personalize education for EVERY child! Donate and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project.

The Miniature Earth Project

September 24, 2012Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment5198 views

What it is: The Miniature Earth Project is a great website that poses the question: “what if the population of the Earth were reduced into a community of only 100 people?” Based on this assumption, the site helps students understand what the breakdown of nationalities would be, religious representation, how many people would live in an urban area, how many people would have the majority of the world income, how many would live without clean world, those that live on less than $1.25/day, etc. The purpose of the site is to break our quickly approaching 7billion people in the world down to a number (100) that we can more easily wrap our minds around. The point of the site is to help kids (and adults) understand the real landscape of the world and cause positive action.

There is a video on the site that breaks down the infographic in a different way. Students can submit their own videos about the Miniature Earth.

How to integrate The Miniature Earth Project into your curriculum: Right now the Jr. High at Anastasis Academy is looking at the following line of inquiry: “Understanding our rights and responsibilities as individuals and the similarities and differences of others helps contribute to the development of world citizens.” The Miniature Earth Project is a great place to put the world’s challenges in perspective for students. We have been having fantastic conversations about the rights that we enjoy as Americans, and the responsibilities to others around the world that come with those rights. Students have also been exploring rights they believe all world citizens should enjoy and what responsibility they share in making those rights a reality for those who don’t currently enjoy them. As you can imagine, the discussion has been fascinating!

A great place to start this discussion is by asking students to create their own personal code of conduct. What standards will they hold themselves to? At Anastasis we talk often about managing our freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility, it isn’t a free-for all. We also ask students to think about what their actions would look like if it were multiplied by 7 billion people. What would the world look like? Is it a place they would want to live? The Miniature Earth Project is a great place for next steps. Looking at who makes up their world, what kind of challenges are faced. We ask our students to think about solutions to those challenges. They are NOT too young to come up with solutions!

Since the 100 person Earth is such a manageable number, ask students to create graphical representations of each figure presented in the Miniature Earth Project. What questions do they have based on the data? What challenges do they see? What common ground do we have? What are our responsibilities? What rights should we claim for all humans? What are ways that we can make the world a better place for all? What impact can a small change make on such a large population (does it change when you think about it on a smaller scale)?

Want to show students how their actions can change the world? Share the story of the 13 year old who has the world planting a million trees! The story of Felix Finkbeiner is an awesome one! Equally cool for our students: we have a Mr. Finkbeiner who teaches at Anastasis.

Tips: There are great links to more information about our population approaching 7 billion. Be sure to have your students dig into those resources to learn more!

***Want to do your part as a CHANGE MAKER in education? Check out, support and spread the word about the Learning Genome Project!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Miniature Earth Project in your classroom!