Latest education updates from around the world
How Technology is Transforming Homework and Classrooms
I just came across this beautiful visual on the impact of technology on classroom learning and teaching and wanted to pass along some important stats that stood out to me. Technology is radically transforming education landscape and the stats below speak volumes to this transformation:
In a 2009 report released by the National Centre for Education Statistics with the Department of Education:74% of Pre-K to 12th grade teachers said that technology has helped them reinforce and expand content and has also motivated students to learn. 73% of these teachers also reported that technology enables them to respond to a […]
What Does ADHD Iceberg Mean? ADHD Resources for Teachers and Parents
What is ADHD?
ADHD A Difference in Cognition not Simply A Disorder, Stephen Tonti TED Talk
Stephen was first diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) by his second grade teacher. Stephen was rejected from school at the age of 8 because he could not sit still on the chair and he ended up moving to another school. Over the next 11 years he tried every possible career path till he finally found his element.
HUE Animation Studio – The Complete Stop Motion Animation Kit
For the first time in more than a decade I’ve partnered with a company to give away a physical technology product. I’ve partnered with HUE Cameras to give away three HUE Animation Studio – Complete Stop Motion Studio Animation Kits.
Watch my video review of HUE Animation Studio then read on for details about how to enter. The entry period is open now and runs through January 3rd.
To enter:
1. Follow @HUEcameras on Facebook https://facebook.com/HUEcameras and @FreeTech4Teachers https://facebook.com/FreeTech4Teachers
2. Like and share on Facebook.
3. Comment: what you would […]
Best of 2022 – A Big List of Geography Resources
As I do at this time every year, I’m taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year.
This week is Geography Awareness Week. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year! Every year at this time I publish an updated list of some of my favorite games, activities, tools, and lessons to promote geography awareness. Here’s my updated […]
8 Best Habit Building Books
Listening to Audiobooks is one of my favourite things I do every time I lace up for a run. I love self-development books and I find in them a comfortable refuge from my academic work. In fact, self development books remind me that reading is a highly enjoyable activity, one that is substantially different from reading academic journal articles and research papers.
Yesterday, I finished listening to James Clear’s blockbuster ‘Atomic Habits‘ and it was such an incredible learning experience. The kind of habits we develop, that is, those regular tiny activities we do on everyday basis, […]
Best Apps for Creating Educational Games
Educational games are great learning tools that can tremendously enhance students learning. There are tons of online platforms where you can access ready made educational games to use in your class (e.g., ABCya and Digipuzzle). However, you don’t have to limit yourself to these pre-made choices. You can create your own educational games using various tools and apps.
I already covered the different web tools for creating educational games. In this post, I share with you apps that enable you to design games on mobile devices. Check them out […]
Best of 2022 – Image Background Removers
As I do at this time every year, I’m taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year.
Removing the background from an image is a good way to protect your privacy and that of people who might unintentionally be in the background of your pictures. Remove image backgrounds is also a good way to get a stand-alone image […]
Best of 2022 – How to Stop Procrastinating
As I do at this time every year, I’m taking the week off to ski and play with my kids, shovel snow, and generally not think about work. I have some of the most popular posts of the year scheduled to republish this week. New posts will resume in the new year.
I meant to write about this a few days ago. TED-Ed recently published a new lesson that tackles an issue that most of us have dealt with at one time or another. That issue is procrastination.
10 Best New Year Resolution Ideas (2023)
With the start of a new year the resolutions list starts piling up with all kinds of ideas, expectations, and projects that we hope to accomplish during the year and probably beyond. However, a number of these resolutions go to the graveyard before they see the light and some of them go the whole way to fruition.
Quest Winter Sale Brings Deep Discounts to Top VR Titles, Ends December 26th
You might have checked out more than a few ways how you can best spend your first $100 on the Quest Store, but the savings are so deep right now that you might just add a few more top VR titles to your shopping cart today to take advantage of the biggest Quest game sale of the year.
From now until December 26th at 11:59 PM PT (local time here), you’ll be able to save up to 50% on some of the top VR games for Quest 2.
Some of the best savings can be […]
Best of 2022 – A Calendar of SEL Activities
Last month I wrote a blog post about a new app and website called Kikori that provides hundreds of free social emotional learning activities that you can do with students of all ages. One of the things that they offer to help […]
Best of 2022 – Game Templates in Canva
Last week I was recording a demo of how to use existing slides to make video lessons when I came across a neat slide template in Canva. That template was for a game called This or […]
JeopardyLabs- A Great Tool to Create Jeopardy-Like Games
Best Websites to Create Educational Games
Below are some of the best platforms and tools to use with your students to create educational games. No coding skills are required. Designing learning games is a great way to develop students’ analytic thinking and foster self-expression. It is also an effective way to introduce students to basic coding and programming concepts and help them cultivate the 21st century learning skills.
1. Code Academy
Emojis in Learning- Best Apps and Tools for Teachers
Generators, Animations, and Snow – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the wind is howling and the temperature is rapidly dropping. We had planned to ski today, but the wind and ice has altered our plans. So instead of skiing we’ll putter around the house making sure everything is ready for Santa to visit tonight. I predict some cookie eating and hot cocoa drinking is also in our near future. I hope that you have something equally fun and relaxing to do today.
There were two developments in my professional life this week. First, I got hired to be a
All About Reindeer
My daughters are very excited for Santa and his reindeer to visit our house tonight. We’ll be leaving out snacks for him and his reindeer. Last year they spent weeks asking if reindeer are real. Since then they’ve learned that reindeer are real, but only Santa’s reindeer can fly.
Last year I let my daughter watch this SciShow Kids video about reindeer. 4 Facts to Know About Reindeer explains why reindeer are called caribou in North America. The lesson also teaches students how reindeer have adapted to find food and stay warm in cold weather. The […]
10 Best Virtual Gifts to Buy Online
Virtual gifts are not only ideal for last minute shoppers, aka procrastinators, but are also the best option to consider environment wise. No trees cut, no transport vehicle involved, no packages to handle, and certainly no return or restocking fees. And “a gift that exists on a screen or as an activity isn’t going to add to the recipient’s collection of clutter“. It is all a win-win deal. Which digital presents to get? This post features some helpful options which hopefully can help you make your mind.
Best Science YouTube Channels
One of PC VR’s Most Anticipated Games Gets Updated Demo Prior to March Launch
Vertigo 2, the hotly awaited sequel to the original 2016 single-player VR adventure, has had the same demo on Steam for the past three years. Now developer Zulubo Productions has brought a complete overhaul to the free demo, which the studio says better reflects the quality of the final game.
No new content or areas have been added to the demo, although you may still want to pop your head in to see just how the update shows off “how the final game will look and feel,” the studio says.
In addition to adding better visuals and physics, the demo’s intro […]
Tracking Santa and Programming With Santa
My kids are home from school today as this is the first day of their winter vacation. The level of anticipation for Santa’s arrival is quite high (my kids are five and six). One of the things they may do today is track Santa and play some Santa-themed games on Google’s Santa Tracker website.
One of the many games and activities available on Google’s Santa Tracker website is the Santa Tracker Code Lab. Santa Tracker Code Lab has fourteen levels that kids can work through as they apply some basic […]
Short Lessons on How Snow is Made
My oldest daughter is super excited to start her third year of ski lessons this winter. I’m also very excited about it because I’m going to be giving ski lessons at our local ski mountain. While we’ve had some snowstorms this winter, we wouldn’t have nearly as much area to ski on if it weren’t for artificial snow. Still we would prefer to have real snow because, as every skier knows, natural snow is better than man-made snow. What is the difference? And how is snow made? Those questions are answered in the […]
Valve Explains Changes to How VR Support Appears on Steam Store Pages
Earlier this month Valve changed the longstanding format for displaying which VR headsets are supported on a game’s Steam Store page. The company says the change was made to ‘keep up with the growing VR market’.
Earlier this month some folks were alarmed to see that the ‘VR Support’ section on the right side of a game’s Steam store page—which showed the headsets and playspaces a game supported—had been removed, seemingly leaving only ‘Tracked Motion Controller Support’ to indicate that an app supported VR.
As Valve tells Road to VR, however, the information was not removed but merely reorganized and […]
Quest 2 Update Will Boost Performance and Automatically Make Apps Run Better
Meta has announced that an upcoming Quest 2 update will unlock additional performance that developers can tap into to make their games look better. Some apps will benefit from the increased performance automatically.
Meta announced this week that the latest updates to Quest 2 will allow the headset to boost the GPU processing power available to developers from 490Mhz to 525MHz (a 7% increase). That might not sound like much, but with developers limited to the power of a mobile processor, every bit of additional performance counts.
Meta says “no integration or coding is needed to start reaping the […]