Bright Minded

Technology in Education: The Rise of the Tech-Powered Teacher

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:24:03 -0400

Technology in Education: The Rise of the Tech-Powered Teacher:

Best known for our collection of education videos, Khan Academy covers every subject from algebra to art history for grades K-12. A significant piece of Khan Academy, however, is the interactive exercises that allow students to practice math and get feedback at their own pace, while giving…

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Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:18:50 -0400

Cooperative Catalyst

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:10:44 -0400

Cooperative Catalyst:

cooperativecatalyst:

Active Conversations

Homework: Help or Hassle?

When Students Direct their Learning, Teaching is Flipped on its Head

My Inner Pollyanna’s Ed Reform Blue Sky

Swallowing the Pill: It’s good because I was told

Caution: Work in Progress

No does mean “NO”

#HowILearn: a Post Request from @AnseoAMuinteoir

A Positive Vision of a Transformed Education

Don’t be Times Square. Be the Flatiron Building.

What Factors Influence Educational Systems?

skillshare: We couldn’t agree more!

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:05:47 -0400

skillshare:

We couldn’t agree more!

explore-blog: David McCandless strikes again with...

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:03:55 -0400

explore-blog:

David McCandless strikes again with this infographic guide to winning a Nobel Prize as French and American scientists share the freshly announced 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for figuring out how to “observe and manipulate subatomic particles without destroying them.”

For more such treats, see McCandless’s fantastic compendium Information is Beautiful.

explore-blog: Go back in time 13.2 billion years with this...

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:30:51 -0400

explore-blog:

Go back in time 13.2 billion years with this humbling Hubble image of what the universe looked like in its early days, then inhale some of Hubble’s most breathtaking present-day images.

(ᔥ It’s Okay To Be Smart)

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Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:26:12 -0400

hisnamewasbeanni: nbcnews: Chicago mayor sues to end teachers...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:24:53 -0400

hisnamewasbeanni:

nbcnews:

Chicago mayor sues to end teachers strike

(Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong / AP)

Updated at 11:10 a.m. ET: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking the teachers strike to court.

Emanuel made good Monday on promised legal action to try and end the first Chicago teachers strike in 25 years, instructing his lawyers for Chicago Public Schools to file an injunction to get kids and teachers back in class.

Read the complete story.

Cuts school funding and teacher wages to save money…initiates costly legal action.

Claims to be fighting to improve learning conditions…sues teachers.

lettersfromhere: Global architecture firm Gensler has revealed...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:24:42 -0400

lettersfromhere:

Global architecture firm Gensler has revealed its concept for a new London airport to alleviate the congestion at Heathrow. London Britannia Airport would be situated in the Thames Estuary, with four 5km floating runways tethered to the sea bed and the final departure concourse. This would provide access to marine rail tunnels conecting to central London and the European High Speed Rail networks.

This unique solution would minimize noise disruption to existing communities, enable 24 hour passenger arrival and departure, and avoid any demolition of homes. Runways could be floated in and out as required for maintenance and future expansion.

(via Architect Proposes Floating Airport To End London Airport Congestion - PSFK)

samaralex: International Space Station astronaut Aki Hoshide...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:19:06 -0400

samaralex:

International Space Station astronaut Aki Hoshide took this awesome self-portrait. I really hope he’s doing a duck face under there.

jtotheizzoe: The Best Science Writing Online 2012 is Out...

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:19:02 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

The Best Science Writing Online 2012 is Out Today!

That’s right, the annual anthology of the best science writing online is out today in pretty much every form a book can exist in, from Kindle to dead-tree. The best part? I am in it (just check out p. 139)! And so are dozens of other writers, most of whom are far better wordsmiths than myself. There’s greats like Carl Zimmer, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Ed Yong, Maryn McKenna and David Dobbs and lots of up-and-comers.

There’s science storytelling, humor, hard-hitting journalism and detailed and entertaining explainers of everything from Fukushima to facial hair.

I am a firm believer that the best science writing happening today is on the internet, hands down. This is the sixth year this collection has been published, and it may be the best yet. Of course, I can’t view that objectively since this is the first one I’ve been in. It’s writing like that in this collection that first made me want to be a science teacher to the world, that first made me sit down and start this whole bloggy business … I hope that it can do the same for someone else.

Order yours today.

*Please include a return shipping label if you’d like me to sign yours.

How Do Our Brains Process Music? - David Byrne

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:18:58 -0400

How Do Our Brains Process Music? - David Byrne:

jtotheizzoe:

In this excerpt from his new book, How Music Works, musician David Byrne explores some of the latest neuroscience regarding how it is, exactly, certain patterns of sound that fall within particular ranges of frequencies can affect our brains so greatly:

“…the sonic range that matters and interests us the most is identical to the range of sounds we ourselves produce. Our ears and our brains have evolved to catch subtle nuances mainly within that range, and we hear less, or often nothing at all, outside of it. We can’t hear what bats hear, or the subharmonic sound that whales use. For the most part, music also falls into the range of what we can hear. Though some of the harmonics that give voices and instruments their characteristic sounds are beyond our hearing range, the effects they produce are not. The part of our brain that analyzes sounds in those musical frequencies that overlap with the sounds we ourselves make is larger and more developed—just as the visual analysis of faces is a specialty of another highly developed part of the brain.”

Do yourself a favor and go read the whole fascinating piece over at Smithsonian. Some recommended listening to accompany it.

Students Will Flock to Online Study Halls This School Year [STUDY]

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:54:58 -0400

Students Will Flock to Online Study Halls This School Year [STUDY]:

vts-cmt:

What’s the church’s equivalent of an online study hall, I wonder? I’m in an online clergy colleague group where me and several seminary classmates trade questions, tips, and prayer requests. Certainly a lot of learning going on there, and very much along these lines.

eseeducator: A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator: Using...

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:54:51 -0400

eseeducator:

A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator: Using Social Media in 21st Century Classrooms

click on the picture to view the article

The 5 Common Fears Of Using Google Apps For Education

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:54:48 -0400

The 5 Common Fears Of Using Google Apps For Education:

amenimomakezubee:

Sharing the Edtech love!

The Education Nexus: Ed tech: use what's available!

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:54:44 -0400

The Education Nexus: Ed tech: use what's available!:

educationnexus:

As someone who has taught in schools that do not have the luxuries of many of the schools I read about daily, I wanted to emphasize that using educational technology is rarely impossible regardless of circumstance. Many schools often have some form of “rack” of hardware that you may or may not be…

John M. Quick: Publication: Embodied Perspective on Mobile Learning

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:54:36 -0400

John M. Quick: Publication: Embodied Perspective on Mobile Learning:

johnmquick:

One of last year’s blog posts, What is Mobile Learning?, has developed into a recently published journal article in the International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology, and Learning.

Citation

Denham, A. R., Quick, J.M., & Atkinson, R.K. (2012). mLearning: An embodied perspective. …

thekhooll: Success Will Follow ! By Jerónimo Herrera

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:52:09 -0400

thekhooll:

Success Will Follow !

By Jerónimo Herrera

explore-blog: Rare audio of O. Henry, who would’ve been 150...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:40:39 -0400

explore-blog:

Rare audio of O. Henry, who would’ve been 150 today, on the secret of writing good stories.

I’m going to let you in on a few of my secrets in writing a short story. The most important thing, at least in my humble opinion, is to use characters you’ve crossed in your lifetime. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. All of my stories are actual experiences that I have come across during my travels. My characters are facsimilies of actual people I’ve known. Most authors spend hours, I’m told even days, laboring over outlines of stories that they have in their minds. But not I. In my way of thinking that’s a waste of good time.

Open Culture has more background. Also see Kurt Vonnegut on the 8 secrets of stories.

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Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:37:59 -0400