Category Archives: Digital Video

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Why should education leaders embrace digital technologies in their schools?

Why should education leaders embrace digital technologies in their schools? leadershipday2014_01-300x240

1) If you are in a state that adopted the “Common Core State Standards” (CCSS) you really don’t have a choice. There are many (yes many) English Language Arts standards alone that require students as young as kindergarten to use technology to read, produce and publish digital content and to collaborate in doing so. Just a few examples from the CCSS:

K – 12 – Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

K-12 – With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

6th grade – (NOTE: by 6th grade the “… guidance and support from adults …” is gone. 6th graders are to master this standard on their own) Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

5th grade –  Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

I’m not sure how we get our students to the mastery of these standards, and many others without ubiquitous access to and utilization of the technologies required.

2) Collaboration – This was already stated in the standards above, but those were specifically language arts standards. Communication and collaboration are already key to being educated, but also in getting a job. Learning to collaborate with the student next to you in class or in your group is great, but technology makes it easy (yes, easy) to collaborate globally. Will it be “good enough” if students just learn to collaborate in class? Will that foster solid collaboration skills with today’s (and tomorrow’s) technologies? Not that getting a job is the only reason to learn solid collaboration skills, but getting a job without having those skills is not getting easier. Mastering all the ways collaboration is leveraged personally and using technology is vital.

3) Programming and design – 3D printing (did you know they are printing whole houses, food and blood vessels already?), also –  software development, engineering, graphics, architecture, transportation, art, medicine,  and much more all rely on programming and design skills … this is what is happening now in fields with good paying jobs.

4) Inventing (often referred to as “making” these days) – This is hands on and motivating and requires the skills developed through pedagogy that includes all of the above.

5) Problem solving – (See above)

So you think children are already mastering these skills and technologies on their own by using their smart phones and other technology 24/7? Ok, let’s see how that works out with your students.

I don’t pretend that I’ve included all the reasons that leaders should consider (please add your own in the comments). But these are not easy or cheap changes that have to happen. We’re not going to provide the technology and professional development and commitment to change on the cheap. Only real leadership will get us there.

Learning is messy!

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Lake Tahoe Launch … Messy and Worth It – The Short Version

So after last week’s debacle … we learned to be patient and wait for better wind conditions. Here’s the short version of what happened. We inflated on the beach at DL Bliss State Park:

 

Paddle boarded the balloon out where the clear water of Lake Tahoe was about 45 feet deep:

 

With a snorkeler for help (he also shot some great video with a GoPro I’ll share another time):

 

Next we launched with 2 GoPro cameras 40 feet deep in the lake at the end of a line and 4 more on other payloads:

 

Here are some of the views we got:

For size reference: Lake Tahoe is almost 22 miles long and a bit more than 11 miles wide. (35 km long X 19 km wide). The lake is 1645 feet deep (501 meters).

Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Nevada, Reno and Pyramid Lake from 90,000 feet + (near space)

 

Then the balloon burst somewhere between 95,000 and 100,000 feet – follow the link to see the frame by frame of the burst:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/101610181@N02/sets/72157644958349838/

And the video:

 

 

Then it landed and we went and got it:

There was some animal byproduct to deal with:

It was a great day!

Here is a link to more photos.

NOTE: This launch was part of a project being developed by the University of Nevada, Reno- Mechanical Engineering Department, the 21st Century Division of the Washoe County School District, and Nevada’s Northwest Regional Professional Development Program (who I work for now). We were trying out some technologies and possible engineering and science problems to turn over to area K-12 students to solve for a similar launch next April or May – still in the planning stages.

Learning is messy!

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Ball Chain Inquiry – STEM

Yeah, I know. Ball chain inquiry?

Ball chain is that chain that keychains and the like have been made out of for years. I’ll bet some of you have seen this before – there are several videos online and “Mythbusters” included it in an episode.

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When I saw those videos I had ideas right away for an inquiry piece that would be fairly cheap and easy to do. I haven’t thought enough about it yet to match it to specific standards … but I’m always on the lookout for easy / quick ways to demo inquiry during professional development trainings I do and I saw potential for this right away.

This 250 foot roll came in a few weeks ago but I haven’t had a chance to try out my ideas yet – today not many folks are in the office, so I jumped at the chance to finally mess around with it and see how it works.

Before saying more let’s take a look – click the video below:


One thought I’ve already had besides, “So what exactly causes that to happen?” (is it somewhat on the same principle as a siphon? –  Not sure – just wondering) is to measure out lengths of the ball chain (10 meters say) and time how long it takes to empty the container. Then ask, “How long do you think it would take for say… 20 meters?” (exactly twice as long? … or does it speed up as it falls?) NOTE – I wouldn’t share that with students, let them decide and then in writing explain their thinking. So they need to time it precisely (do more than one trial at each length – probably 3).

Next keep adding lengths to the chain with the connectors and see if students can become accurate at predicting the exact time. AND – then start including various lengths of chain, like 17.4 meters … can they predict that? What math do they require to figure that out? Or involve fractions instead of decimals – “How long would it take 47 3/4 meters to empty?”

Does height play a role? Does it drop at a different rate from different heights? How would we figure that out?

I see lots of possibilities for this. When I get a chance to try this out with teachers and/or students I’ll let you know what I find out … OR – if you get there before me, let us all know in the comments. Any other ideas how this could be utilized as a learning activity?

BTW – I got that 250 foot roll you see in the photo online for $20 and a bag (50 at least) of the connectors for a couple dollars more. (#10 ball chain – it comes in various sizes – that would be another exploration – does different size chain fall at different speeds?)

Learning is messy!

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RECON – Recruiting citizen scientists to explore the outer solar system!

I’ve been busy of late. This week is the NSTA conference, but last week I was included in a team being trained to be part of a project funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) called RECON – Research and Education Cooperative Occultation Network.

Each of the initial 10 teams (which will expand to 40 during the project) was given a Celestron CPC1100 telescope, a  MallinCam B&W Special video camera and more. We spent 4 days last week training at the WNC Jack C. Davis Observatory in Carson City, Nevada. When we do our assigned/scheduled observations we will include middle and high school students in our teams and train them to set up and use the telescopes, cameras and other equipment, as well as the science behind the project. So the students will help collect the data for the project … sometimes at 2 or 3 in the morning!

Setting up telescopes for a practice observation as part of our training.

So exactly what will we be doing? From the project web site: “Our project will consist of a linked network of 10 telescope sites and eventually 40 sites, across the western United States. Each community participating in RECON will be expected to gather a team of 2-6 members. As a team member, you will be working within your community and collaborating with others in our network to collect astronomical data.”

And: “RECON – the Research and Education Cooperative Occultation Network – is a citizen science research project aimed at exploring the outer solar system. Funded by theNational Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Astronomical Sciences, this project involves teachers, students, amateur astronomers, and community members from across the Western United States to conduct coordinated telescope observations to measure the sizes of objects from a region called the Kuiper Belt. *

Our goal and mission is to measure the size of many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), while making authentic scientific research more accessible to local communities. We are discovering more about our solar system – and we couldn’t do it without the help of our citizen scientists. We’d love to have you on board – to get involved, please contact us.

*To find out more about the Kuiper Belt and our 500-km long citizen science observation network, visit our Project Description page.”

It will be interesting to see how I do at work the day after an early morning observation! Fortunately the observation site for my team is at an observatory less than a mile from my house. I’ll hopefully report back as we make observations … the first one should happen in May.

The Reno Recon telescope set up and ready to go as soon as it gets dark.

Learning is messy!

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My TEDxNYED Talk – Posted

Several weeks ago I had the honor of taking the stage on the 40th floor of  7 World Trade Center in New York to participate in TEDxNYED,  “…  an all-day conference focusing on empowering innovation in education, … being held in New York City on Saturday, March 5, 2011.”

I’d like to thank the organizers that brought me there, they were an incredible group that saw to it that things ran smoothly: Karen Blumberg, Co-Curator The School at Columbia University – Basil Kolani, Co-Curator The Dwight School – Dan Agins Pawcatuck Middle School – Sean Freese Lawrence Woodmere Academy – Kiersten Jennings Chou Independent Curriculum Consultant – Tamara McKenna The Elisabeth Morrow School – Erin Mumford – Nightingale-Bamford School – Jeff Weitz Horace Mann School

As I watched the presenters the themes that were reverberating were change, student centered learning, creativity. Find them here.

I’m afraid I went over my allotted time, a minor glitch with the timer, my fault for not noticing as I started, I take solace in that I’m not the first to do so.  : )

Learning is messy!

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Shuttle Launch Experience – What Are The Possibilities For Student Learning?

In my last post I shared that I have this fantastic opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next month. One of the ways this new pedagogy changes things is in how my students can be included in my trip.

If I really manage to go (at best a 50-50 possibility because of budget freezes here) my students would learn about the Space Shuttle program, Cape Canaveral and other topics associated with the trip before I ever left. We would travel there through photos, but also via Google Earth – Where is this place? – why did they choose the eastern Florida coast to launch spacecraft from? We drop right down on the roof of our classroom and travel to locations and back when we Skype to build those geography skills and schema, so we would do that for this trip too. My students all have their own blogs, so I can post photos, videos, blog posts about what I am learning, topics for them to do research on. I will be able to post all my photos and even video on our class Flickr page (often within minutes of taking them) – the students could be asked to make a slideshow – write captions for the photos or any number or possible writing projects or research projects.

NASA is asking me to be there to use Twitter to report out what I am doing, seeing and learning. But I would blog about it and would hope to Skype back to my class to share with them, answer questions and maybe do on-the-spot interviews with some of the people I am supposed to meet there. My students are used to taking notes during Skype-conferences and when we have guests in our class, and this would be no different. I could have it set-up with my substitute that I would call the school and let them know to get on Skype and expect a call.

Students could even have pre-written questions to ask – what would they like to know if they get to interview an astronaut or scientist or anyone else that works there? If NASA would allow it I could use a video streaming application like USTREAM to broadcast out so other classrooms could take part … later they could even share blog posts and comments about what they learned with the classes we connect with all the time. All those students have access to our Flickr pages as well – so they could utilize our photos for their learning.

The point is, my students would not be waiting for me to return to find out what happened during the trip – to learn during the trip … they would participate before, during and after. I can comment on their blogs (even grade them), think of new assignments to give them while I am still in Florida, and my students are learning about a place they can only imagine about now. There are so many other possible ways to include them (and feel free to think out loud in the comments). And we do these things often, so this is not pie-in-the-sky – this is what we do as a big part of our learning. Things really have changed since we went to school haven’t they?

Learning is messy!

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The Tightwad Tech – The Interview

A few weeks ago, after many attempts trying to find a time we could all make, Mark and Shawn at The Tightwad Tech managed to coral Lisa Parisi and myself across timezones long enough to interview us about how we utilize a changed pedagogy utilizing tech (usually for free – hence the “tightwad” connection). Here is a link to the podcast. We had a great time. Give it a listen … and Thanks to Mark and Shawn for inviting us!

Learning is messy!

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Reno Bike Project Winding Up!

We still have a few minor loose ends to finish up, but today we finally can say we have completed our Reno Bike Project, project. Amazing what we got done when we got some consistent time to work the last two weeks (although we took three required assessment tests this week). As I’ve mentioned in my last 2 posts, I turned the responsibility for the last 6 web pages over to each of the six groups in my room with minimum direction (each group was given one of the pages to do randomly – they had to do the page they got). At the end of the day Tuesday the pages were pretty sad and I was afraid maybe they weren’t ready to take this on. But Wednesday we looked at each page as a class and brainstormed ideas and I saw major improvement. Thursday we looked at some professionally made pages and things really improved, and today they just went nuts. The wikis really came out well, with only “consulting” duties on my part, mainly at the request of the students … “does this look better or should we do it like this?”

We also put the final touches on our PSA (video) which had to be re-edited to change the URL it references. So today we burned multiple DVD copies to send to local TV stations.

So what went into doing this project?

*We had a class meeting when this opportunity first came up to decide whether or not to take on the project in the first place.
*We took a field trip to the Reno Bike Project where we shot video and took many of the digital photos we archived on our Flickr accounts.
*We had guests visit our classroom and talk to us about the Reno Bike Project, bicycle racing and the health benefits of bicycling.

*We researched on the web for information for all the wiki pages we designed and to learn more about the science curriculum that was much of the basis for this project.

*We used our Diigo account to archive and annotate much of our research.
*Maggie Tsai from Diigo visited our classroom and taught students about Diigo and encouraged them about the work they were doing.

*We storyboarded, wrote (as a whole class shared writing) the script for our PSA.
*We had numerous discussions about the order of scenes and wording and which clips made the most impact.
*We practiced and then recorded the voiceovers for the video.
*We designed posters, one of the loose ends we need to finish … we have to change the URL on those before we publish them … will probably put some on our Flickr account later.
*We peer edited each others’ work over and over checking writing style and content and whether or not links worked correctly or whether someone could be understood on the video.
Students set up various photos to use in class and outside and took them themselves.
*We Skyped in Will Richardson to talk about healthy eating habits, specifically being a vegetarian.
*We blogged about various aspects of the project.
*Students designed graphics for the PSA and for images on their wikis and posters.
*Students designed the layouts for their wiki pages.
*Students noted “experts” (classmates) at certain aspects of getting the formatting of their wikis to look “right” or import a photo and would enlist their help … which was fun to watch. “Why is she over in your group?” … “Because she knows how to get this photo to show up on the right part of the page with the caption under it and she’s showing us how.”
*Lots of collaboration, planned and not (see above).
*Lots of “messy” learning … mostly NOT planned. : )

*I’m sure I left out lots, but it’s getting late.

Learning is messy!

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Our Blog Video – How We Blog and Why, Is In Production

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Besides video-Skyping today with new friends in Florida we started doing the real work of making a video about how we blog. Last Friday we started brainstorming all the steps we go through and then breaking it down into scenes. Next we assigned each group a different part of our blogging procedure to video. Students are designing how they will “tell their part of the story” and then storyboarding and writing the narration. Everyone has to take part in the group … even out 2 non-english speakers will do some of the narration in english with help and support from their groups.

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As usual the biggest part of their grade is based on how they work in their group. From my experience when that is the main focus of their grade the most learning takes place. Why? Because when students cooperate and include everyone, everyone is involved in what they do and the thinking that goes into it. I always tell them that I might ask anyone in their group what they are doing and why … and they better be able to tell me … that forces them to stop and explain what they are doing and thinking and why they are doing it to each group member and include them. Students get to hear ALL the thinking of what is going into their project … and that is key. We even role play doing that. Kids feel good about being an involved part of the group AND being one of the people that sees to it that everyone understands. When it is humming along with that attitude going in the room – it reminds you why you teach.

My students were simply awesome today. They have to design their scene, storyboard it, write the dialog, practice the speaking parts, practice how they will show that on tape, and then when they are ready show what they are planning to the whole class for critique. We haven’t gotten to the “showing” part yet, but Wednesday some groups, maybe most, will be ready.

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Last year when we made the “Inclusion” video we followed many of the same steps but I probably shot half the video and did all the editing with input from the class (that was their first experience with video and they were 4th graders). We started learning more about editing with iMovie today using the famous “Dog Wash” tutorial that used to come with iMovie. The student laptops are so old they will only run iMovie2, but it works and all their almost 8 year old iBooks have Firewire so this should be fun. We plan on having each group shoot all their own video, edit it, do the voiceover narration and then run it back to video and probably my laptop for a final assemblage of all the scenes into a final product. Truly “MESSY” learning at its best.

Learning is messy!

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Animal Ark “Design An Animal” Video Available

Here in the Reno, Nevada, area have a fantastic resource for studying animals, namely Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary. I learned about Animal Ark in 1993 when I first taught in a classroom here. I had the good fortune of having a student in my class whose parents train big cats for the movies. They had donated some lions to Animal Ark, and at their suggestion I made my first of many visits and field trips to this fantastic facility.

Last year we took a field trip there as part of our study of animals and specifically animal adaptations. We took photos which you can see on our class Flickr page.

Years ago when I was teaching a 4-5-6 Image class we were returning from a trip to Animal Ark when a student suggested we visit their web page. I replied that they didn’t have a web page … and the students decided we should make one for them … which we did. It won several awards, but it died 2 years ago of neglect … and the fact that Animal Ark has long since developed their own web site. Then wikis came along and so we made an interactive wiki web site for them.

Each group of 3 or 4 students in my 4th grade class last year made three wiki pages (over 20 total pages) about the kinds of animals at Animal Ark. They searched the web for the best sites they could find about the animals they were assigned, looking specifically for information about adaptations, how they obtained food and so on … all per our science standards. They also had to pick sites that were easy to read for students their age and they had to rank them from what they felt was the very best site they found to the next best … you get the idea.

Once that was done we used our site ourselves in the way it was actually intended. We used the sites to learn about animal adaptations and survival and then had to design an animal to live in the Great Basin Desert of Nevada where we live. Students had to design each part of their animal from eyes to feet or wings or nose to survive the climate and conditions here. We shot video of the process – and now it is finally posted and linked from the wiki page.
Check out the wiki page project and the video.

Learning is messy!

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