Food for Thought: Foodpairing November 30, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Health , comments closed
Have students who are exploring food-related topics? If so, consider sending them over to FoodPairing. This tasty site visualizes a list of food products with unique flavor combinations. Visitors select a food product and get a graphic organizer with the chosen food in the center of the image. The tasty morsel is surrounded by other foods that, according to research, compliment or enhance the flavor of the central item. After that, students can take one of the other food products and try to make a new recipe by combining them. The more flavors food products have in common the shorter the distance between the food products. Imagine combining the power of FoodPairing with the World’s Healthiest Foods, where visitors find all kind of useful nutritional information about the healthiest snacks on the planet. Yummy!
‘HippoCampus’ aims to stimulate students’ minds November 29, 2007
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Teaching & Learning , comments closed
The Monterey Institute for Technology and Education has launched a free, interactive homework help web site, called HippoCampus, that provides comprehensive high school, Advanced Placement, and college course content that is suitable for advanced learners, credit recovery, home schooling, and general student use. Thousands of students are already using a trial version of HippoCampus to access multimedia courses in algebra, physics, biology, calculus, U.S. history, civics, environmental science, and other subjects, the institute says. The site gives instructors tools for customization, similar to MyYahoo or MyGoogle. Instructors can point their students to a HippoCampus link that features only the course materials they select and can post messages and bookmark pages of particular interest to their students. “Our mission is to increase access to high-quality education for everyone. HippoCampus is a big step toward achieving that goal,” said Gary W. Lopez, executive director of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education. HippoCampus is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of the foundation’s goal to make “open educational resources” available to students worldwide through the internet.
Out of This World Learning: the Hubbub Over Hubble
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Uncategorized , comments closedOkay, Science teachers and amateur astronomers, this one’s for you. HubbleSite is your go-to place for rich images and all manner of celestial information. Enjoy!
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10 Hot Computer Driven Careers November 28, 2007
Posted by Daniel Rivera in : Uncategorized , comments closedComputermajors.com has a compelling article about some of the hottest computer related jobs out there, and they are not just code-monkey jobs. They include environmental simulations developers, 3D animation technicians, and website network managers. The skills for these jobs are as varied as our students and their interests, and we should keep this in mind when we think about career opportunities. Computer related jobs are growing by the minute, and they don’t all require a pocket protector, a Master’s Degree in math, or 8 hour days of constant coding.
Mostly, they just require 21st Century skills.
The Element(s) of Surprise November 27, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Chemistry, Science , comments closedSometimes, the integration of technology allows educators to make well-known information so much more engaging. By taking standard knowledge and infusing it with rich images and links to remote content, what was yawn-inducing becomes an interactive resource that generates new levels of interest in both students and teachers. For example, Theodore Gray, one of the founders of Wolfram Research (creators of the ever-awesome Mathematica), columnist for Popular Science’s Gray Matter, and element collector extraordinaire has crafted an exquisite Periodic Table of the Elements. Gray’s craftsmanship and obsession with elements makes his Periodic Table a veritable feast for the eyes that learners and instructors are sure to enjoy.
Inspiration for today’s post is due in part to the tireless efforts of Gerard Vlemmings over at the Presurfer (he has such cool content!) who, in turn, snagged the idea from the equally impressive Grow-a-Brain blog. Thanks, guys!
Related Links:
- The 3D Periodic Table is also an attention-getter.
- Elementouch provides a hands-on approach to exploring the Periodic Table.
Cloudy, With a Chance of Information Visualization November 26, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Current Events , comments closedTag clouds are an innovative means of visually representing the number of occurrences of words that are used to categorize (or tag) the content of web sites/pages, image repositories, audio collections, and other, digital resources. They show us the most important keywords (or tags) being used to describe information. Usually, the larger the text is the more often a given tag is being used. Tag clouds aren’t new. In fact, they’ve been in use since the late 1990s. These days, web surfers see them popping up everywhere. The Del.icio.us tag cloud as well as the Library Thing tag cloud are good examples how this form of data visualization helps users to zero in on important topics.
Why should educators and students use tag clouds? A better question is why wouldn’t they? Using tag clouds allows instructors and pupils to efficiently concentrate attention on important content. For example, if a Social Studies teacher and her students want to explore current events, they might consider dropping by Fernando Serboncini’s nifty Google News Cloud where they can scan developing stories and important events from information acquired via Google News. What makes the experience notable is that there’s no hidden agenda in the manner in which the tagged information is selected and represented. All of the tags appearing on the Google News Cloud are automatically retrieved from Google News by a text analysis algorithm.
Another way for teachers and students to use of tag clouds is to visualize word frequencies in their own (or supplied) text. TagCrowd, a snappy resource created by Daniel Steinbock of Stanford University. Steinbock’s innovate resource allows visitors to paste their own words–say from an essay or paragraph or content they’ve found on a website–into a textbox and press a VISUALIZE button after which, a cloud tag of the most frequently used terms appears. Doing so might help students locate the main idea (or, at least, recurring themes) in passages of text.
Happy Thanksgiving November 22, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Seasonal , comments closed
SEGATech is very thankful for its audience! Here are a few, tasty ideas to fill your mind prior to or after consuming a delicious Thanksgiving feast:
- What do you know about the history of Thanksgiving?
- The cornucopia or horn of plenty came from a very special goat named Amalthea.
- Have you ever stopped to consider the importance of cranberries? Since 1951, the Cranberry Institute has been concerned with cranberry promotion and education.
- What’s on the menu? Linda Stradley knows and graciously shares intriguing information at the What’s Cooking, America site.
- Food Timeline, is an excellent, intriguing chronology of delicious information.
- Since we can’t eat with out a little assistance, the History of Eating Utensils is a helpful site.
- Food History News is a snappy resource for delving into history’s pantry.
- Think cooking a meal is a chore? Imagine trying to prepare food before all of our modern conveniences were invented. Dr. Alice Ross asks, “Aren’t we lucky to be living now?“
- For more insight on what it took to plan a meal way back when, check in with the Online Books Page and explore the Cookery section. Cooking, back then, was something of a Herculean task. Take, for example, descriptions of meals listed in The Compleat Cook: Expertly Prescribing the Most Ready Wayes, Whether Italian, Spanish, or French, for Dressing of Flesh, and Fish, Ordering of Sauces, or Making of Pastry (originally published in 1658) or the recipes in Eliza Leslie’s classic Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats (originally published in 1832).
- If old-fashioned cooking is appealing, join the International Dutch Oven Society or attend an annual Dutch Oven cook-off contest in Orem, Utah.
Freshly Squeezed Data: Juice Analytic’s Chart Chooser November 21, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Math , comments closedSo you have students collecting information and you want them to construct charts. You also know that the National Center for Education Statistics has an engaging resource called Create A Graph that’ll allow your learners to generate graphs online. As nifty as the NCES site is, however, you want your pupils to use Excel (or OpenOffice’s equally proficient and FREE spreadsheet tool, CALC) to create a chart. One extremely simple way to facilitate the use of spreadsheet applications is to drop by Chart Chooser. Once there, locate the type of charts you want learners to use, download the charts as Excel or PowerPoint templates, and then have pupils insert their data. It’s that easy!
Related links:
- What is a graph? In case you’re interested, Canada’s National Statistical Agency has some enlightening information about this topic.
- There are all kinds of ways to organize information.
- Microsoft is happy to teach people how to use Excel to make pie graphs.
- Scott Lowe at TechRepublic has some great instructions for using Excel to create advanced graphs and PivotCharts.
- Dave Paradi will help you and your students “think outside the slide” when constructing presentations containing graphs and tables.
- Swivel around and look at some good examples of graphing.
Fowl Language: Talking Turkey November 20, 2007
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Humor , comments closed
What’s that? Hankering for a taste of turkey. Want to cook a turkey but don’t want to make a mess of the kitchen? No problem. Integrate technology and roast a turkey online instead. While you wait for that virtual turkey to finish cooking take a gander at advice gathered from youngsters about the proper techniques for preparing a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal.
- the Baltimore Times-Herald’s collection of cooking advice from St. Joe Fullerton’s Pre-Kindergarten class
- Cheshire Elementary School Kindergarten students
- Cheyenne-Eagle Butte first graders
- Gayle Berthiaume’s Kindergarten students at Becker Primary
- Milaca Elementary School’s Kindergarten students
- Suz’z collection of recipes from young chefs
Related links:
- It’s time for a little turkey trivia and some more turkey trivia.
- Bet you didn’t know that cooking a turkey can be very educational.
- Domestic turkey…what do you know about it?
- Wild turkey (not *ahem* the liquid kind), otherwise known as Meleagris gallopavo, has a lot of names. Makes you wonder what people from Turkey call turkeys.
- The National Wild Turkey Federation will positively stuff visitors with all kinds of juicy facts about this noble fowl.
- Ever heard of a Heritage Turkey? The Heritage Turkey Foundation has the skinny on this plump bird.
- Don’t be surprised if you get new neighbors in your town. Invite them over for dinner.
- Will eating turkey make you sleepy? Only if it’s time to do the dishes. Browse Sasha Brown’s 2006 Thanksgiving related article from MIT’s news office before you drowse. Stuffing? I’m staying!
- Look out! It’s a robo-turkey.
- You’ve heard of a spring chicken but how about a spring turkey?
- Just be careful when frying a turkey. Better yet, consider not frying the great bird. A turkey fryer fire is no fun. Even the Air Force thinks this is a serious matter.
- Hmmm, perhaps we’d all be better off eating Tofurky instead.
Wanna Learn SketchUp? Go to School! November 19, 2007
Posted by Daniel Rivera in : Productivity, Reference, Software, Video , comments closed
SketchUp is a tremendously powerful piece of FREE software from Google. Most teachers and students barely scratch the surface of what this program can do. Learning the basics is easy, but mastery of the program takes a good deal of time and playing. Luckily, there is a great fan site that will help teach you all the tips and tricks of SketchUp.
School (www.go-2-school.com) was founded by Mike Tadros and Alex Oliver – two certified Sketchup instructors and 3D design professionals. It hosts several video tutorials (30+ !!!) for all sorts of projects and proficiency levels. The site also has a robust Forums section for you to talk to other SketchUp users. You can even purchase DVDs of their tutorials for offline viewing.