Instructify

Being educators, we are often conservative, especially when it involves the law, as copyright does. This has led to a growing concern about missed learning opportunities due to caution because teachers are avoiding doing anything with copyrighted materials, or not allowing their students to produce content using copyrighted material.

American and Temple Universities have been working on this and have a report coming out about the cost of copyright confusion in education. I recently attended a session at NECC given by Kristen Hokanson on this topic. This discussion brought up a concept that is really central to educational use of copyrighted material, and that is transformation. A big part of what makes it fair use is that you’re not just “copying” the work of others, but remaking it into something of your own. One of the best examples is the Fair(y) Use Tale video produced by Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. This video takes snippets from Disney cartoons to teach about fair use. Because it’s both education AND satire, it’s covered by fair use.

I was first introduced to this concept when I did a case-study discussion (a favorite way for lawyers to discuss and educate about legal points) about a potential fair use I had in a classroom project. Transformation is not often discussed, but it’s an important concept for fair use.  Get to know more about it. -ALICE MERCER

Transformative use resources

Stanford University guide to Fair Use in Education check out the section on the “transformative factor”

Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Fair(y) Use Tale

It’s Elementary: Copyright–It’s the Law

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Copyright in education, part 1: Fair use

Photo credit: PugnoM on flickr

Tired of teaching from the text book? Having a hard time fitting environmental science instruction into the school day? Well EcoKids can change all of that!

EcoKids is a Canadian interactive website created to engage students in environmental activities. This site is full of resources for teachers such as lesson plans, printable resources, and helpful links. It even has specifically designed lessons for ESL (English as a Second Language) students using the different environmental themes. Teachers can access information on Wildlife, Climate Change, Energy, The North, Waste, Land Use, and Earth Day to initiate any environmental or science lesson, or provided a great follow up to an end-of-unit study. This site even has a Fact of the Day that teachers can use to initiate classroom discussions or writing activities about the environment. Looking for an environmental project for your classroom or school? You can visit different links on the site that show different types of environmental projects students and schools are involved in for ideas.

Students can access the site and engage in games to practice what they have learned in the different areas of Wildlife, Climate Change, Energy, the North Pole, and Land Use. The games integrate the environmental themes with reading, math, science, problem solving, and social studies. Students can work on their writing skills by responding to questions posted periodically on the site, or commenting on the blog. -MONIQUE ST.LOUIS

EcoKids

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Kids enjoy science most when it’s a hands-on experience. Words like “experiments” and “laboratory” (preferably pronounced la-BORE-ah-tory) mean getting out of your seat and doing something, whether that entails imploding steel drums or launching water rockets.

TryScience knows the value of the hands-on approach. That’s why they boast fun experiments and games, as well as a guide to field-trip-worthy science centers around the world. For a fun class activity, have everyone create boats from aluminum foil and see how seaworthy they. Need to find a scientastic outing for your next field trip? Search by country and state to find a trip near you. If you can’t find anything nearby, TryScience has live webcams of exhibits at science centers all over the world, so you can take a look at human-sized soap bubbles in Japan, a Tyrannosaurus skeleton in Maryland, or the Butterfly Cam at the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science.

If you’re looking for a way to get your students interested in science, TryScience is a terrific place to start. Science is best experienced through action and investigation, and TryScience has both of these in bunches. Send your students there and start experementing. -BILL FERRIS

TryScience

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I loved playing with Legos as a kid. Trouble was, I was always a brick or two short of creating the perfect fort for my G.I. Joes, thus leaving them vulnerable to Cobra attack.

If only I’d had Lego Digital Designer back then, I could’ve designed the forts, plus helicopters and tanks for good measure. With Lego Digital Designer, you have access to hundreds of virtual Lego blocks of all shapes, sizes and colors (plus a wide assortment of little Lego people, too).

Lego Digital Designer lets you build from scratch as well as with pre-loaded kits. LDD will also walk you through the more difficult designs. The download is free, but if you’re willing to spend a few dollars, it lets you order a custom set of blocks to make your digital masterpiece a reality.

This is a great re-creation of a classic childhood toy, and is a good way to prime your students’ creative juices. Now that I’m an adult, I won’t be using Lego Digital Designer for childish pursuits like designing G.I. Joe fortresses. I’ll be using it to design my next house instead. -BILL FERRIS

Lego Digital Designer

A picture is worth a thousand words, and several minutes, too. When it comes to Web searching, we’re stuck trying to figure out if a site is worthwhile by reading a few lines of text on Google’s results pages. Usually, you can tell at first glance whether the page you’ve landed on is what you’re looking for. So why do we waste our time reading text-based descriptions of a site and not just cut to a picture of the site itself?

That’s why RedZee designed its search engine to give you visual results instead of words, letting you find what you need in a hurry without having to read through what you don’t. Type in your search terms and RedZee gives you snapshots of the results. The pics are arranged on a “wheel” that you can quickly scroll through, letting you identify what you want by sight, rather than the traditional process of read, click, hope.

RedZee is also kid-friendly, and not just by virtue of its adorable red zebra mascot. RedZee filters out porn and other inappropriate content, so you don’t need to worry that Little Johnny will “accidentally” stumble across something he shouldn’t be looking at on a school computer.

I like Google just fine, especially their super-handy apps like Google Docs, Google Maps…I could go on all day. But it’s nice to see a new idea in the Web search game, and searching by sight is both fun and fast. You can cover a lot more ground in your searches, so to speak, with visual results. At RedZee, a picture is worth a thousand words you don’t have to scan to find what you’re searching for.-BILL FERRIS

RedZee

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Lights, camera, video…in the classroom? You betcha! If you think kids like watching videos, wait until they start making them. Creating stuff is at a higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy than bubbling in a test sheet. But where to begin?

This handy and easy-to-understand guide from Education.com on producing an educational video is a great place to start. It breaks the process down into pre-production, production, and post production, step-by-step. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment, as most digital cameras today have a video mode on them (my experience with Flip has been fantastic). I would add only one point to this otherwise superb article - for editing there is a free resource for Windows users in Movie Maker. It is not the most stable program (in the interest of disclosure, I have had Adobe Premiere Elements lock on me too, just not as often), but I’ll share a resource that should help you with these problems, PapaJohn - Movie Maker 2 - Issues-1.

A few other resources to help you out are Mathew Needleman’s excellent Video in the Classroom.com site. If you think your kids are too young, wait till you see what he’s done with 2nd graders. If there is an NYU Film school for videos in education it’s the AFI (American Film Institute) which does a lot of workshops teaching educators how to effectively help students make interesting, high-quality videos. -ALICE MERCER

Producting an Educational Video via Education.com
PapaJohn - Movie Maker 2 - Issues-1
AFI ScreenNation
Video in the Classroom.com — Integrating Video Production in the Elementary Classroom and Beyond

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Photo Credit: Stacy Lynn Baum on flickr

Today’s young people are tomorrow’s diplomats. That may be a hard concept to internalize as you watch your students duel over a bag of Hot Cheetos in the cafeteria, but it’s true. To get them off to a good start, send them to Future State, the U.S. Department of State’s website for youths.

The site introduces students to the secretary of state, shares stories from the children of diplomats living overseas, provides starting places for those interested in careers in diplomacy, and links to fact sheets about every country in the world. Games for younger students teach them about world flags and test their geographic smarts.

The most compelling part of the site may be the news and events section, which seems to be targeted toward middle and high school students. As any social studies teacher knows, it can be difficult to make distant countries seem important to a 15-year-old who’s never touched a newspaper. But posts like “An American Girl in Riyadh” can make a far-off place like Saudi Arabia seem real – and even interesting – to the most apathetic American student.

The site can go a long way toward making students feel like the federal government is accessible to them, and that the wide world is not so far away. -EMILY JACK

Future State

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Tired of hearing the crash of math manipulatives hitting your tile floor? Do you ever wonder if your students are engaged in the math lesson while they are building the tallest tower of manipulatives possible? Then the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is for you.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free website that allows you access to a multitude of interactive virtual manipulatives. They range from pre-kindergarten up to twelfth grade. This allows for differentiating instruction for students’ different learning levels. The manipulatives are arranged into five categories - Number & Operations; Algebra; Geometry; Measurement; and Data Analysis & Probability. In each category you can find numerous interactive math manipulatives and activities for many different math concepts.

With the use of an interactive white board or projector these munipulatives can be used for discovery and inquiry-based learning by all your students. Your pupils will become actively involved as they see, hear, and do different math activities with the use of the manipulatives. This site can also be used to allow learners to make connections, and review concepts taught on individual classroom computers, in computer labs, or on home computers. In addition the site can be displayed in English, French, or Spanish, a great resource for our ELL (English Language Learners) populations. The days of manipulatives taking up shelf space are coming to an end. -MONIQUE ST.LOUIS

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do - Do you know how to build a fire? How about CPR, do you know it? Or give directions? All of these things are essential life skills that you should know if you don’t already. This list from Marc and Angel covers everything from swimming to changing a tire in order for you to be more self-reliant.

6 Things Money Cannot Help You Achieve - Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs still have to deal with the same time that you and I do, even if they could buy and sell you and me in a heartbeat. Surely there are other things than the ones presented on this list by Dumb Little Man, but these 6 make good sense. Money can’t buy you self-esteem, unfortunately, nor will it buy happiness.

52 Character Building Thoughts for Children - These might not be great tips for your older students, but the elementary crowd could really benefit from them. Leah Davies, M. Ed. brings us these great quotes on KellyBear.com. There are some real gems here, like this: When I am sad, I help myself feel better by thinking of things that are good in my life.

9 Ways to Save At The Movies - I know this isn’t completely related to teaching, but since school is out for most of us, we might have some more free time on our hands. Unfortunately, free time allows you to spend more money. If you plan to see any of the awesome, or not awesome movies this summer, here are some ways you can save from The Consumerist. My favorite on the list: Be careful with the concessions. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

(photo by Jo Jakeman on Flickr)

So I’m not the greatest at state capitals, or geography in general for that matter. I’m especially terrible at the Midwestern US, which is why I can definitely never remember the capital of Kentucky (Frankfort) or Missouri (Jefferson City). Also, Nevada’s just sounds wrong to me (Carson City?). If you’re anything like me, though, you have more of a photographic memory, so a visual game helps immensely when attempting to recall information.

With the State Capitals Game from Vector Kids your elementary and middle school kids can review their state capitals by selecting a state and choosing the correct capital from three options. I think the best part about this game is that the options they give you are all other capital cities. That way, those 50 cities stay fresh in your students’ brains rather than letting their noggins get cluttered with thinking that maybe Chicago is the capital of Illinois (it’s really Springfield) or Seattle the capital of Washington (Olympia, actually). See, I’m learning already!

Plus - and I think your students would agree - it’s always more fun to learn when you get to play games! -LAUREN FROHNE

State Capitals Game
Vector Kids

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There are few artists more suited to use in the primary and elementary classroom than the late Keith Haring. Many of you may not know who Keith Haring is, but you’ll recognize his quirky and iconic “men” (see the example above). His work was used for a number of public campaigns benefiting children and AIDS, from which he died in 1990. Now that work lives on at the website, Haring Kids.

Haring Kids is wonderful not only because of the art (which is kid friendly), but the writing is also suitable for early readers. The site boasts a variety of activities. First, kids can find animations of typical Haring figures. What’s the Story? is a great writing prompt for language arts. You can also find e-Cards, printable coloring sheets, and games (like Hangman and tic-tac-toe), all of which are rendered in Haring-script and with his figures. The art and project sections show examples from children.

This site is great for both art and language art instruction. So add some (primary) colors into your classroom with Haring Kids. -ALICE MERCER

Haring Kids

There has been a lot of talk about the lack of opportunities for kids to go outside and interact with nature. I once had a class at a school in Oakland that was less than 2 miles from the San Francisco Bay, that could not answer in the affirmative when asked if they lived by the ocean.

Who would’ve thought computers could help get kids outdoors? A Walk in the Woods is a great site from the University of Illinois Extension that can help give background on the woods and how to commune with nature to kids who may not have had that experience. You start with a self-guided slideshow. It gives guidance on what to look for on a sojourn in the woods (the slide show is also available in Spanish). Next is Nature Notes, which provides vocabulary with picture clues. After that, check out the Getting Ready slide show which shows you how to prepare for the trip. And when you’re done, Fun Place lets your kids write about their experience. There’s even a Teacher’s Guide and Resources page. Get ready for your next walk in the woods with this informative and useful Website. -ALICE MERCER

A Walk in the Woods

I have to shake my head every time I hear some Congressman arguing for cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because, “Cable TV provides plenty of early childhood educational programming.” Don’t get me wrong, my son learned a ton about inductive and deductive reasoning from watching “Blue’s Clues” and “Dora the Explorer,” but for actual reading skills like letter identification, phonics and blending, Public Television is the best source of materials. I will never forget how hilarious and memorable Gawain’s Word made learning the concept of blending. But how to get these great lessons into your classroom on your time?

Enter Teachers’ Domain, a resource for teachers from WGBH in Boston. There are a number of special collections, Early Literacy (with Between the Lions), Civil Rights, and Polar Sciences. A special collection is in the Open Educational Resources which will allow you to download, share and remix. Get some of this educational video goodness and start blending up some learning in your class. -ALICE MERCER

Teachers’ Domain: Gawain’s Word: box
Teachers’ Domain: Open Educational Resources
Teachers’ Domain: Home

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“So how about this weather, huh?”

For your average citizen, that question is at best a clichéd icebreaker. If you’re an earth science or biology teacher, however, it’s often a jump ramp to thrilling topics like hurricanes, ocean levels, and adiabatic heating and cooling. To help you out, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA, because I am not typing that again) has some great educational resources for all grade levels. These tools will let your students do everything from learning about the biological importance of coral reefs to checking out how the National Weather Service alerts people to approaching storms.

My one gripe is that NOAA equates “for kids” with the Comic Sans font, the most obnoxious of all type faces. Their “Primarily for Students” page is also pretty text-heavy, especially for their resources geared toward younger learners. That said, the content itself more than makes up for any graphical deficiencies. And after you check out the materials on the NOAA website, you’ll be able to overcome the conversational deficiencies of folks who lead with, “So how about this weather?” -BILL FERRIS

NOAA Education

Way at the top of Bloom’s taxonomy is the often ignored task of creation. Now the Ad Council along with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation is working to “inspire invention.” You certainly have a couple kids in need of a project like this, the bored, the kids who are already inventing mayhem in your classroom, albeit in an unfocused way. Give them a chance to use that inventiveness for the forces of creativity and good, instead of dropping stink bombs during class.

First, there is the InventNow.org - World which is an interactive online cartoon environment where kids can learn about inventors, and invention and get a creative spark to get the brain cells going. Then go to InventNow.org - Invent, and have kids start to put their ideas together. The website has had a redesign since I first used it last Fall, so if you haven’t seen it recently, or have never been there, check it out. -ALICE MERCER

InventNow.org
Ad Council : Inspiring Invention