iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

Teaching face-to-face during a pandemic is tough and much harder than I think many of us were anticipating.

I added this meme to my Curriculum Night video to parents this year. I think sometimes if we weren’t laughing we’d be crying…my heart also goes out to all of my colleagues who are teaching virtually right now! Sending strength, safety, and good vibes to all educators who are struggling right now.

We’re better together so let us continue to count on one another during these difficult times. I hope this post can help some of you get outside or get active and have some fun with your students

A heads up: Dyson has "created 44 engineering and science activities for children to try out while at home during the coronavirus pandemic, from making a balloon-powered car to building a bridge from spaghetti," writes the Dezeen website. They go on to add: "Comprised of 22 science tasks and 22 engineering activities, the Challenge Cards can be completed by children using common household items such as eggs, string and balloons." You can also find a related playlist of videos on YouTube, one of which appears above.

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students for multiple years. At my one school, I have them in class for a full day each week, and each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days and I love watching how 100% are fully engaged for the entire time.

Learning how to put together inexpensive STEM ideas is a wonderful way to encourage learning oppotunities that include science, technology, engineering, and math. All kids should have a chance to try STEM challenges, Science Experiments, and Tinker Trays.

Games for Learning - fun learning tools and activity ideas with a focus on STEM, teaching resources like apps, websites, programs, books, toys, movies, videos. Parenting and technology tips for busy families.

f you’re looking for helpful ideas and lesson plans – then this is the place to start!

Do you need a refresher as the teacher before planning your simple machines unit? This simple machines facts page is an excellent (and easy) way to jog your memory.

Are you looking for educational activities to keep your students engaged as the academic year comes to a close? Perhaps you are looking for ways students can review material or reflect on their year. Here are 10 easy to implement ideas that involve the use of technology:

Design challenges have the power to encourage creativity in your students – by providing limitations and guidelines, students can actually become more creative. Learn strategies for creating design prompts, running challenges and incorporating the design process into projects with your students. We’ll discuss how to create open-ended challenges and material-specific challenges in a way that will maximize your students’ creativity, as well as how to create passive design challenges that require minimal supervision. We’ll talk about some of the problems that educators face when running challenges, how to help your students focus, and balancing guided projects, design challenges and open-ended exploration. Whether you’ve had a makerspace up and running for years or are just getting started with the Maker Movement, you will leave this session feeling equipped to lead your students through design challenges that will spark their creative genius.

iPad has been increasingly adopted as an instructional tool in classrooms especially in the north American context. As a versatile device, iPad provides boundless learning and teaching opportunities that were to the recent past unthought of. In today’s post, we are highlighting some of the basic skills or activities every teacher using or planning to use iPad in class should be aware of. For each of these skills we provided 3 suggested apps to help you cultivate the skill under question. Of course, the selection of both the skills and apps is subjective and based  entirely on our own experience of using iPad and reviewing apps. The 10 skills we believe are integral to every iPad integration in education include: create presentations, create digital stories, create video content, create animated tutorials, take notes, create educational visuals, create digital portfolios, create books, create audio recordings, and create mind maps.