Geography – Page 12 – iLearn Technology

Shahi

March 25, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2128 views

What it is: Shahi is a mashup of Wiktionary (a Wikipedia type dictionary) and Flickr. This visual dictionary is a great way for students to look up definitions and get a visual representation of the word. Students can choose for the images to come from Flickr, Google, or Yahoo. I find the most reliable image results come from Flickr.

How to integrate Shahi into the classroom: Shahi is a neat mashup of two tools. Having a visual dictionary is great for every student but especially useful for your visual learners. Beyond using Shahi as a dictionary, this is a perfect site for teaching your students the parts of speech. Because pictures acompany the definitions, students can “see” that a verb is an action word. Use Shahi as the base for a part of speech game with the whole class and a projector. Choose a word from reading, spelling, etc. and have students ‘guess’ the part of speech based on the pictures. This is a great way for students to learn the parts of speech through inquiry and problem solving. Shahi would also be a useful tool for ESL or ELL students. Bookmark Shahi on your classroom computers as a resource during reading/writing time. Look up a spelling word on Shahi and have students journal about one of the accompanying pictures. This site could be very useful for writing prompts. Shahi would also be wonderful in the science classroom, students can look up difficult words or concepts and immediately have a good visual representation to aid in understanding. In the geography classroom, students could search places and get a collection of images that will provide them with additional insight into the place. Cool!

Tips: I learned about this site from activeducator on Twitter. If you haven’t yet, sign up for Twitter today, it is a great way to network and learn about education (or anything you are interested in). Don’t forget to add me as a friend, ktenkely! A word of warning with this site: sometimes images will be inappropriate on this site because of the tags people put on their pictures in Flickr. For example “berry” brings pictures of fruit berries but also scantily dressed women named “Berry”. For elementary students, pre-search words you will be using with the class for appropriateness.

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

AR Sights

March 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3508 views

What it is: Augmented Reality, how cool is that technology? Dialing up the awesome factor a couple of notches is AR Sights. AR Sights is a company who makes it possible to view Google Earth right in a web browser and then zoom into places of interest (Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, etc) and take a look at them augmented reality style. The site brings landmarks to life in four easy steps. Download the browser add-on, download some points of interest, print out the AR Sights marker, and zoom into Google Earth and take a look. I am amazed at what this technology provides for students! Students can zoom right in and manipulate the landmark by moving the paper around. Now for the downfalls, AR Sights only works on PC’s right now, us Mac folks will have to hunt down a PC or wait until it is available for the Mac. The other downfall is the downloads, they require administrative rights (some of you may have to convince your IT to let you download this goody). After you print off the AR Sights marker, you hold it up to your camera and up pops the landmark you have chosen in Google Earth, as you twist, tilt, and move the paper the landmark moves accordingly. This is SO outstanding!

How to integrate AR Sights into the classroom: AR Sights makes virtual field trips so impressive! As your students are studying geography, allow them to travel around Google Earth and take a look at the landmarks. Use AR Sights with a projector or Interactive whiteboard to show your whole class landmarks at the same time. Create a travel center on your computers where students can travel around and learn about the world. AR Sights is a great way to bring geography alive! AR Sights also has a download to use with Google Sketch-up 3-D drawing program (free from Google). Older students can create their own 3-D augmented reality landmarks. Students could draw places of interest, your school, etc. and view them with AR Sights as augmented reality. Talented high-school and college age students (or ambitious teachers) could create Sketch-up models that can be used in education such as the skeletal system, a beating heart, the solar system, historical landmarks, etc. for students to interact with in 3-D augmented reality. The possibilities with this could be endless!!

Tips: I learned about AR Sights from a wonderful blog that my friend Raul writes from Spain called technoTIC, check it out! Thanks Raul!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using AR Sights in your classroom. If you or one of your students creates a Sketch Up model for AR Sights let us know about it!

Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail

March 13, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments7149 views

What it is: Those of you who were in school or teaching just as schools were starting to get computer labs will appreciate this post. Remember Oregon Trail? The original Oregon Trail? It still exists!! Virtual Apple 2 has an online space where you can play games from the Apple 2 days. I loved Oregon Trail as a student and now it is back in all of its glory. No need for a mouse you type in a number to make selections, or “Y” for yes and “N” for no. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find this great game just the way I remember it! For those of you not familiar with Oregon Trail, this is a game designed to teach kids about pioneer life. The player assumes the role of wagon leader and builds a team and purchases supplies that will help to make it from Independence Missouri to Oregon by way of covered wagon in 1848. It was a great role playing game that had a lot of learning packed in!

How to integrate Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail into the classroom: Students today aren’t nearly as impressed with this game as I was/am. At first, they will not appreciate playing the game for the sake of playing the game. In my classroom, I like to introduce this site to students to give them an idea of the history of technology and what computer graphics and games looked like when I was a student. They enjoy comparing and contrasting Apple 2 Oregon Trail with the games that they like to play today. This site is a great way to start discussions with students about where technology has come from and where they predict it will go. (What will games look like when they have kids?) After knowing the history of this game, my students appreciate it SO much more. They really get into it and ask the same questions I asked as a kid, “what is yellow fever?”. The difference being that today they can go to Wikipedia or World Book Online and discover their own answers.

Tips: Virtual Apple 2 has all of those games that you remember playing when having a colored screen instead of orange or green was really something. Take a look through and re-discover those games again!

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

ActivInspire

March 5, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments19803 views

What it is: ActivInspire is a new software from Promethean that is free! The free edition is a ‘personal’ license that can be used by anyone. The ActivInspire software works with ANY interactive whiteboard (SMART, Mimio, Wiimote Whiteboard, eBeam, etc.) and even for those of you who do not have an interactive whiteboard, use the software with just a computer and projector! The Promethean Planet website has thousands of lessons and resources that are free to access and can be used with ActivInspire to engage your students. ActivInspire has two launch options, the first is to launch in Primary function. In Primary, ActivInspire is very user friendly for primary elementary students. The second option is to launch in Studio with tools that are perfect for older students. ActivInspire works on Windows, Mac, and Linux based machines. Some of the goodies in ActivInspire include interactive protractors, rulers, clocks, grids, and more. New power tools include intelligent shapes and handwriting recognition. There are themed templates for fast and easy lesson building. ActivInspire supports flash files that can be embeded in Flipchart lessons. ActivInspire can open SMART and PowerPoint files, making it quick and easy to pick up any lesson and improve it.

How to integrate ActivInspire into the classroom: ActivInspire is software that can keep students engaged in any lesson in your curriculum. The software is incredibly intuitive and makes it easy to create amazing interactive lessons. The lessons (flipcharts) can be saved and shared among colleagues. Begin building a library of interactive lessons for your students. Be sure to visit Promethean Planet for thousands of ready made (FREE) flipcharts and activities to use with the ActivInspire software.

Tips: To see the possiblities of the ActivInspire software, take a look at Flipcharts created by the developers of ActivInspire. Promethean also has a great set of support tutorials that will have you up and running in no time!

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

Switcheroo Zoo

March 3, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2362 views

What it is: Switcheroo Zoo is a site I learned about from Kevin Bibo on his outstanding blog Cal Teacher Blog. Switcheroo Zoo has fun interactive games and activities such as “Make New Animals” where students can create their own animal combinations, “Build an Online Habitat” where students choose animals and match them to the correct environment, “Switch Zoo Puzzles”, “Where do I Live” where students help return rescued animals to their homes, “Sound Match” where students match the animal song to the correct animal, “Meerkat Grab-a-Snack” where students help feed a Meerkat by catching food, and “Catch the Moment” where students take ‘pictures’ of wildlife. Switcheroo Zoo also has short films, sound clips, and photographs about animals for students to watch and listen to. Your students also have the opportunity to become a “Switch Zoo Guide” by completing the Switch Zoo Quest. Students play nine fun animal related games and activities to become a guide. When they finish, they will receive a Switch Zoo certificate of merit, a guide badge, and are added to the list of offical guides.

How to integrate Switcheroo Zoo into the classroom: Switcheroo Zoo is an awesome website for students to explore to learn more about animals and wildlife. This would be a great site to visit when studying animals and their habitats. There are three educational animal-themed games on the site that teach about animal characteristics and habitats. Switcheroo Zoo has an educational section that includes lesson plans for art, science, creative writing, and persuasive writing. In second grade at the school where I teach, students complete animal reports as an introduction to research. Switcheroo Zoo has on-site research with 142 animal profiles, a US endangered species map, and stories about unusual animal feats on a Zookeeper’s blog. This site is packed full of fun, useful activities, lessons, and resources! In a computer lab setting, students can research and play games individual. In the one or two classroom computer setting, students can visit Switcheroo Zoo as a science resource center. With the projector or an interactive whiteboard, complete the activities as a whole class or show the animal videos to your whole class.

Tips: This site does have some Google ads. I use these as an opportunity to teach my students how to spot ads on a website and discuss what the purpose of advertisements is.

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

Fliggo

March 2, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments2267 views

What it is: Ever wish you could create your own video sharing site? Fliggo is your answer. Create a video sharing site in under 5 minutes easily! Sharing student created videos on YouTube is not always an option in the school system. YouTube may be blocked, you may have concerns about other video content, or the related videos that are presented to your students may be inappropriate. Fliggo is the answer. You can create a video sharing site for your school complete with school logo. Fliggo gives you control over who can post videos, who can comment, and how videos are approved. Fliggo is simple enough to use with elementary students!

How to integrate Fliggo into the classroom: Fliggo is the perfect place to upload student created video. I have students turn every Keynote presentation into a video so that we can share it online. Students love sharing their work with the world. I get emails from parents, grandparents, and other family members about how excited they are to see what their kids are working on in school. This is an awesome way to showcase student work. Students can comment on other student work encouraging an authentic classroom community. Fliggo is easy enough for elementary students to upload their own videos if you choose to allow member uploaded video. In my classroom, students create commercials on a variety of topics. I like using commercials because students understand their purpose (to advertise), they are short, and they quickly get the point across. Students have created commercials in my classroom for a multiude of subjects and topics.

Tips: I love the idea of creating a school “YouTube” type site, your students and parents will love it too!

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

ARKive

February 25, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2958 views

What it is: ARKive is an incredible website that I learned about from a tweet on Twitter (forgive me I was in the middle of class and didn’t keep track of who- thank you whoever you are!) ARKive tag line is “images of life on Earth”, but ARKive is so much more than just a collection of images, it has thousands of videos, images and facts about the world’s species. This is the digital version of Noah’s Ark! This is the most impressive animal and life website I have seen! I truly can’t say enough about this site, students of all ages will enjoy this one (I’m talking k-12 here!) ARKive has an education section of the site that is a free multi-media educational resources complete with downloadable, ready to use audio/visual modules on a wide range of science, geography, citizenship, and environmental based topics. ARKive also has some great games for students to play that are directly related to the lessons they learn while on the ARKive site. Games range from building a habitat to word searches and digital fridge poetry.

How to integrate ARKive into the classroom: ARKive’s ready made educational resources make it simple to integrate into your science, geography, or general classes. The resources are ready made PowerPoint presentations (which incidentally also open nicely in Keynote which we use). The resources bring learning to life with images, videos, facts, and some interactive pieces. This is what textbooks should be! ARKive’s ready made resources can be downloaded on classroom computers for use by small learning groups as a center, downloaded to a lab of computers for individual student exploration, or used with a projector and an interactive whiteboard for whole class learning and exploration. The ARKive site itself is a wonderful place for students to explore and learn more about animal species and life on Earth. This would be a great place for students to collect information, images, and video to create their own presentations. The games provided on the ARKive site are fun for students and teach them as they play. For example, students who are studying habitat can play the Design a Habitat game and gain an additional opportunity to interact with the concepts they are learning. Older students can dig into the facts provided on ARKive and learn about animal classification and species of the world. ARKive images could be used in the language arts classroom as a story starter or creative writing prompt.

Tips: This is truly an incredible site, I encourage you to take a look at it and use it with your class! (Click on the education link at the bottom of the site for the Resources and Games.)

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

Jeopardy Labs

February 10, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3772 views

What it is: Jeopardy Labs is an awesome website that lets you build a Jeopardy game board without the use of Power Point! All that you have to do to start is enter a password so that others can’t edit your game. Then it is as simple as titling it, typing in categories and then entering questions and answers. This is really SO easy to use! You can also search through Jeopardy games created by others. You won’t be able to edit these but you may find a ready made game that fits your needs perfectly. Jeopardy Labs was created by Matt Johnson, an undergraduate at WSUV. Impressive!

How to integrate Jeopardy Labs into the classroom: Jeopardy Labs is a great way to review and practice class material in a fun, engaging way. Use Jeopardy Labs to help your kids study for a test, to review a unit, or just as a fun learning activity on a Friday afternoon. In the computer lab, I have used Jeopardy as a way to teach students how to perform searches. Students can Google the questions and the first team to find the correct answer wins the points.

Tips: Before you reinvent the wheel, browse through other Jeopardy games…someone may have already done the work for you!

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

Vista Zoo

February 6, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2949 views

What it is: Vista Zoo is a website where students can create incredible virtual tours of the world by combining pictures, video, audio, and objects in 3-D. The tours are uploaded and placed on a map. Tours can then be embeded into any website. Students can also sign up for their own Vista Zoo portal that they can customize and save their projects. Vista Zoo is also available on the iPhone and iPod touch (if you are so lucky to have a lab of them!)

How to integrate Vista Zoo into the classroom: Vista Zoo would be a neat way for students to display geography learning. Students could collect images in history or current images to embed in their maps to learn about a subject. Teachers can also create virtual tours for students to take individually or as a class with a projector or interactive whiteboard. This is a great way to teach geography and history, your visual students will love it! The ability to add audio and video makes these virtual field trips around the world pretty amazing. If your class has a pen pal class in another country, it would be fun for each group of students to create a virtual tour of their town for the pen pals to view.

Tips: Use Creative Commons images from Flickr or open stock images from a site like stock.xchng for images to embed.

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

Prezi

January 12, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2989 views

What it is: Prezi is a unique online presentation builder that seems to be popping up a lot lately all over the web. It is getting so much attention because of its new approach to online slide shows. Prezi has some unique features like zooming presentations that grab and hold viewers attention. Prezi lets you create a sort of walking path through your presentation. The finished product is engaging and impressive looking. The tools in Prezi are different from other online presentation builders but are easy to use and figure out. The tutorial will have you and your students creating in minutes.

How to integrate Prezi into the classroom: Because of Prezi’s unique zooming feature, it would be a good tool for students to use for vocabulary. Students can type in the word to be defined and then zoom in on the definition. Building vocabulary presentations would be good for review and study. Prezi would also be a neat way to explore and display information from history (display a date, place, or person in history and then zoom into facts and details that are related), timeline information (create paths from different dates in Prezi), literature (create a sort of interactive character map of any literary character), science projects (use Prezi’s path to lead through the scientific method), foreign language (type a word in another language and zoom to translate), geography (zoom into details around a map), math, and much more.

Tips: Be sure to check out the tutorial on Prezi, it will have you up and creating in no time! Check out the inspiration to see the amazing things that others have used Prezi to create.

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