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Monthly Archives January 2005

Phishing

Wonder how phishing works. Here is an example. I received the following complete with several eBay graphics and lots of official looking text. I have never used eBay. It also turned out that many of the links other eBay pages from the site (such as to eBay itself) would not function. Dear eBay Member, We [...]

Posted 30 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

Blogs and Online Predators

The BBC reports that forensic experts are concerned adolescent blogs will attract sexual predators. The article suggests young bloggers should be given some guidance as to what to avoid devulging online.

Posted 26 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

High Speed Home Access

Nielson/Netratings reports that 55% of home users now have high speed access and it is estimated that this number will increase to 70% within the year. Broadband users spend 22 hours per month online compared with 18 hours for lowband users. As the speed of information access increases, it appears the experience encourages greater use. [...]

Posted 26 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

Achievement and SES

The Rand Corporation has released a study concluding that SES and not ethnicity or immigration status is most associated with differences in achievement. Among other factors the study points to the significance of school readiness. ???School readiness??? means that children have acquired the social, mental, and physical skills that prepare them for classroom learning before [...]

Posted 23 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

iPhoto 5

Another blizzard, another evening of exploring new software. The FEDEX guy just showed up at my door and delivered iLife 5. We have been waiting to explore the new version of iPhoto because descriptions we have read seem to suggest it offers some interesting opportunities for student projects. You can really create an entire project [...]

Posted 21 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

Monarchs in the Classroom

If you have used one of our books you may remember our accounts of student multimedia “butterfly projects”. Today, I encountered a description of the Univ. of Minnesota Monarchs In the Classroom web site. This is a great site for science teachers wanting to rear monarchs as classroom projects, follow the migration, etc.

Posted 20 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °

Literacy assessment

Assessment has been a high profile topic. Here is a new perspective on the issue. Just what skills should we be assessing? This is really the core question. The controversy is not whether or not we need to know what students know and can do, but whether the assessment techniques employed really evaluate important skills. [...]

Posted 20 January 2005 † grabe § General ‡ Comments Off °